I hear you!

      As most of you know I have a 2 year old daughter. About a year ago she began to have chronic ear infections with fluid buildup in her ear. Ear infections are more common in children because the Eustachian tube is shorter and horizontal. This makes it easier for bacteria to enter and the smaller diameter hinders the movement of fluids. The Eustachian tube is a tube that links the nasopharynx to the middle ear. Additionally inflammation of the tube due to infection can cause swelling and trap fluid in the ear allowing bacteria to grow in the fluid. Some of the signs of infection are fever, irritability, and ear pain as a result of the buildup of pressure. Hearing loss may also result from the buildup of pressure but most children do not have long term affects to their hearing. Antibiotics can be given to treat ear infections but they may resolve on there own. In our case most of the time a round of antibiotics would clear up the ear infection within a week. In a few cases we had to change antibiotics in order to resolve the problem. This became an ongoing process with about 1 to 2 ear infections per month. Our pediatrician recommended a more invasive procedure of having myringotomy tubes put in. myringotomy tubes more commonly known as ear tubes are small tubes made of plastic, metal, or Teflon. The tube is inserted through a incision made into the eardrum while the child is under general anesthesia. The insertion of these myringotomy tubes allow the trapped fluid to flow out of the middle ear. Since we had the procedure done this past January we have only had one ear infection.