The Backstory:
Ear infections are the worst. Ever since our son, Sutton, was a little baby, he was sick all the time. From 18 months on, he was sick every other week for an entire year.
As soon as we would hear his first cough or a sneeze, my husband and I would literally get sick to our stomachs and say, “How is it possible that he’s sick again?!”
Another cold. Another fever. Another ear infection.
The next three days would be filled with doctor’s appointments, cancelled plans and lots of tears (mostly mine.) We would fall into a mixture of emotions: sadness for our poor, sick toddler, frustration, exhaustion, confusion and anger.
We knew that Sutton would be hurting, that none of us would get any sleep and that we had to pay more money for another doctor’s appointment.
For over seven months, we noticed a continual pattern of ear infections, but the doctor’s just kept putting us on antibiotic after antibiotic. Every single time we went in, they told us that his eardrums had almost ruptured. Over and over and over again.
After six double ear infections in less than 2 1/2 months and Sutton repeatedly asking us, “What?” because he couldn’t hear properly, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was emotionally drained. I was also pregnant for a lot of this, so that didn’t help. 😉
It got to a point where I felt so incredibly guilty for pumping Sutton full of medicine that I started seeking other options from anyone I could find.
A Temporary Solution:
One of the best recommendations that I received in the interim was the all-natural Kid’s Ear Clear Oil from Sprouts or online (Garlic Oil is similar and should work just as well!)
This oil helped to heal Sutton immediately three separate times and prevented us from having to go to the doctor. Unfortunately, Sutton’s ear infections were so bad and recurring that they just continued to come back and the Ear Clear Oil stopped working.
However, if your little one is tugging at their ears and might be in the early stages of an ear infection, put 3 drops of Ear Clear Oil every few hours and lay them on a heating pad or hot washcloth (this draws out the infection.) You should see symptoms disappear quickly!
We finally spoke to enough people who recommended the ear tube surgery that I began to consider it. I was hesitant at first because he was so young (Sutton was 2 1/2 years old at the time), but I realized that anything would be better than his continual suffering.
We called countless doctors and hospitals and they were all scheduling over 3-4 months out. We couldn’t wait that long! We were desperate. We called an Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist (private office) and although it was slightly more expensive, it was worth every penny.
The Consultation:
Look at those sick eyes! 🙁 We visited our doctor’s office for the consultation and as soon as he looked at Sutton’s ears, he noted that they were so incredibly infected that he was surprised our pediatrician hadn’t recommended the surgery a long time ago.
He allowed us to look into his ears and we saw what looked like severe inflammation, redness and mucous.
My little man had this surgery twice once before the age of 2 and a second time when he was 4. It helped us tremendously my momma heart broke every time he had the sniffles it was a double ear infection!
Oh wow! That is so young – I can only imagine how worried you were. And I can definitely relate to the broken heart with sniffles – it’s like an automatic ear infection and it’s SO discouraging! I’m so glad you got it figured out and that he’s doing so much better. <3
My youngest daughter Brooke was born with a cleft palate. Because of her cleft she had to be fed upright but regardless she always got fluid up in all of her sinuses because of the opening in her palate. She was getting several ear infections and could hardly hear. She failed every hearing screening. At 6 months old she had tubes put in and we were worried that she wouldn’t be able to hear completely. At 8 months old she had her palate repaired. She was in surgery for nearly 3 hours talk about a train wreck! After her surgery she still had pretty regular visits with her ear Dr and continued to fail the screenings. It wasn’t until she was a year and a half where she passed the screening on both ears. Even though tubes being put in is a fairly fast procedure it is so scary to send your little off. So glad Sutton is doing so much better.
Oh my goodness, momma! That is heartbreaking – I am so sorry that your little one (and you) had to go through that! But I am so, so thankful to hear that she’s doing better now. But yes, it’s never easy to have any surgical procedure on our babies (and they will always be our babies!) Hugs to you!
Thanks for this! My little girl is 16 months and is going in tomorrow for her tubes! I’ve heard it’s life changing but needed to read this today as I’m anxious about it!
Thanks for the post!