parents of children who have ear infections often and what they did. Are there options besides putting in tubes? Are there pros and cons to tubes?
ainawgsd
Favorite Answer
If it's constant, then it's time to see the ENT specialist for proper diagnosis.
My son had constant ear infections from about about 7-10 months. The first one cleared up completely on antibiotics. After that though, the infections did not get better, or got better and came back immediately after stopping, with antibiotics. My son was also starting to show some odd developmental delays (he was pulling himself up, but wouldn't sit unassisted). The pediatrician and ENT agreed that there was little benefit to waiting and we decided to get tubes. My son will be 3 in September and hasn't had a single ear infection (although he did have a particularly bad cold/sinusitis a few months ago that resulted in yellowish discharge from his ears as his sinuses backed up into his eustatian tubes) since getting the tubes put in. He also started sitting within a week or two of having the tubes put in. Yes, there are always risks. But no one would put tubes in a kid's ears if there weren't also benefits and those benefits outweighed the risks.