Your child's experience with Glue ear.

[claireh]

My one year old had his follow up check today for his glue ear.

He has been responding really well to me and is mimicking lots of sounds and can say quite a bit (mama, dada, quack, quack, woof, bye bye, night night and meow) so I was quite shocked when they told me that his hearing is really very poor in his left ear. He wouldn't really respond to any of the tests. The woman said that he is responding to sounds now as its very much one on one plus his other ear is good but if he was at school just now he would really struggle to hear /follow things.

They are going to follow up with more tests in three months.

I was wondering what has happened with other damsel children.

Im aware that by age 5 the skull shape changes so the eustachian (sorry no idea how to spell that) tubes can clear as they become more vertical. I'm also aware that grommets can be used.

My concern is that this issue isn't resolved by the time he starts school. I would be really interested to know what happened with your little ones.

[mrsdunny207]

DD's glue ear wasn't picked up until she was at school and tbh even though her hearing in her right ear particularly was quite poor it never impacted her speach or strangely her ability to hear and respond (that I noticed ). Nothing has been done about it as it seems to be getting better on it's own as she is growing so no grommets required and she doesn't get constant ear infections.

[thirzasmum]

hmm, maybe what you don't want to hear...

3 sets of grommets, first just before reception, last at about aged 10 but with persisting glue till at least age 12 when finally discharged (but she's still loud and I do wonder how her hearing is really..).

However, she's always been bright, linguistically and academically able etc . Her first grommets were done on BUPA as really the NHS didn't want to bother, as she wasn't developmentally behind . But she was getting so many really unpleasant ear infections.

THe average glue ear is out grown by the summer after they are 6.

It is strongly associated with household smokers, so if you do, then stop...

It is also strongly associated with atopy ie asthma/eczema/hayfever (we have a family history but DD2 is the least affected!).

Grommets are magic- hearing is instantly better, to the extent that she held her ears after the first ones! BUT multiple sets risks holes in ear drums that will not heal.

Interestingly DD2 is quite musical and sings well- even though her hearing is probably not 100% normal now she does well.

We have deliberately decided that her hearing now is clearly acceptable and we wont even get it checked as she'll just worry about it.

I do worry that the NHS ruling that " we will operate if it's holding back their development! is in one way fair enough (rationing is inevitable) but in another way really unfair- she could be einstein and not be able to reach her full potential!

[thirzasmum]

Claire make sure he has a check up in the winter, glue ear will naturally resolve over the summer. If we have a mild autumn then early October he may still have the "summer blip" before he gets worse again!

[claireh]

Mrs D that is really reassuring. I do feel he hears me well which is chalk and cheese to when he was first tested. Then he wouldn't react to the loudest sound.

Thirzamum you reply is really useful. Like all parents I want my kids to be happy and want to help them achieve their potential, whatever that may be. I've said to DH that I want to do whatever is needed to help ensure that he can hear as well as possible.

Obviously I need to see what happens over the next few years and I would need up on potential courses of treatment. Oliver has had some dreadful ear infections. He gets them every time he gets a cold, it's horrible seeing him in so much pain.

Eta - last winter was dreadful. He was I'll from November pretty much constantly until spring so that doesn't surprise me.

[Ruby]

My youngest had glue ear. He had grommets put in in the spring and he is much better.

He didn't talk particularly well at two and I thought he was deaf from being quite young. I let people reassure me but I was still certain there was something wrong and was unsurprised when his hearing test showed significant problems.

Every time he got a bad cold he would end up with a burst ear drum - sometimes as many as 5 or 6 times during the winter.

I do think it affected his development - in the winter especially, he would be quite withdrawn and play very much in his own world. From the first bad hearing test to his grommet operation was about two years as the NHS has to be sure that it wasn't going to get better on its own and/or it was affecting his development.

[LiLi]

DD had her first set of grommets put in at 4, after a year or so of repeated hearing tests as I was sure her hearing wasn't very good. It's amazing how long you have to spend convincing people it's not that they're just not listening! Her speech development was never affected though.

She had a significant amount of fluid in both ears, and the grommets were an instant success. Recovery from the op was really quick, and she was up and bouncing round in no time. Apart from the pain of having to keep water out of her ears, they were no trouble at all, and lasted about a year.

She then had a second set of grommets, and we had no end of trouble after them - repeated infections, wax build-up, and ear pain on and off for a year before they came out. She's now had a final check up, and it seems to have pretty much resolved itself, although they're monitoring her every few months for a while. It's not perfect, but as thirzasmum said, we've pretty much decided it is ok enough.

It never affected her schooling - we mentioned to her teachers that occasionally her hearing wasn't too great (despite the grommets), and both they and she were always careful to sit near the front if that was the case. TBH school is so noisy anyway, I don't think she missed much even when it was bad!

From a practical point of view, these are fab for keeping the water out of their eyes in the bath: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BATH-TIME-...item19d38cf6c0, and I'd recommend Putty Buddies http://www.amazon.co.uk/Putty-Buddie...3203519&sr=8-1 and Zoggs ear bands for swimming http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoggs-Junior...ef=pd_sim_sg_6

[Purple Lady]

DD3 who is now 15mths may have to have grommets so this thread makes interesting reading for me. She always gets lots of colds etc especially as she is teething and just had another ear infection.

She isnt saying any words yet but she does respond to me/tv/music etc.

[Ruby]

It's amazing how long you have to spend convincing people it's not that they're just not listening!

That's really true. Even my other half. People were constantly saying, "Well, he's got selective hearing hasn't he. Ha ha!" No, you twat, he's deaf.

I would echo that the operation is really straightforward. It's day surgery and my son was literally jumping around less than an hour after the operation.

[cheeky_biscuit]

Dd2 had her first set of grommets at 15m, she'd had about 6 ear infections requiring antibiotics before she was 1 and countless viral treat with ibuprofen for 72hr infections. She wasn't babbling, screaming in pain at night (the pressure builds up when they lie down) & she had regular temp spikes with vomitting, and high temps. Then just after her birthday she got an infection that wouldn't shift, she was on antibiotics from the September to the January when they put the grommets in (range of antibiotics plus prophylactic low dose trimethoprim).
So she had the grommets & she started copying us - we had some support from talk together - speech therapy for the under 2's. By the April she was on a 3m daily course of trimethoprim as she continued to get infections & be acutely unwell with them. Then she had chicken pox (July-ish 2009) & she hasn't had a cold or ear infection since then!
She'll be 5 in September, her grommets fell out at some unknown time in the last 12m. Earlier this year her hearing was terrible, a hearing test in April said her lowest sound she could hear was 40-45db so pretty dire. She's had a retest this month and it's now borderline normal (20-25db minimum); she's also quieter and doesn't step in front of bikes she can't hear.
It does fluctuate and we are still under the consultant.
She learns at preschool in groups of 2-3 so is doing well but she struggles in group situation.