Prayer and advice

[erin74]

My 11 month old, Nathan, has been having lots of ear infections lately (4 since mid january), and has also had glue ear (and I think still does), and had tonsilitis last week - very badly.

We have a referal to and ENT who I suspect will want to put in grommets. In the meantime, today he barely slept, and I suspect it was because of the pressure in his ears from glue ear. He won't be operated on for about 2 more months I think.

Has anyone got any suggestions for helping kids with glue ear sleep. I really don't know what to do with him. He was happy as long as he was up, but as soon as you put him down he would scream. He only slept about 40 minutes all day!

Please pray for him.

Erin

 

[lucypevensie]

Do pain relivers help at all? Children's Motrin or Advil might help.

Our daughter got to the point where she just constantly had fluid in her ears, and in the meantime before the tube surgery could be done we could only treat the pain. And it kept us all sane for a couple weeks. Check with your doc if it's OK to administer pain meds.

 

[erin74]

We have been giving him pain meds - yesterday paracetemol was not really helping. We did eventually give him ibuprofen and that seemed to help. I don't like using it too much as it can lead to stomach ulcers apparently - we gave it to him with some milk - apparently that is the way to go if they haven't got a full tummy already.

He has had so much pain relief lately though, with all the ear infections and tonsilits. Partly for pain management, partly to bring down fevers. I just worry about giving it to him so frequently...

Erin

 

[Neenie1]

Try Nurofen. Nurofen is more powerful than paracetamol, and it lasts for 8 hours rather than 4.

Would he go to sleep if you put him in the car, I know that's a pretty expensive option, but if that's all that works that's all that works.

Also, if you are worried about giving him too many drugs, is there a child nurse or someone you can ring and ask how much drugs he is able to handle for his age?

 

[erin74]

Nurofen is ibuprofen - you have to be a bit careful with it. Studies are showing that there may be some bad side effects. Always give it with food - at the very least a drink of milk, otherwise they may get stomach ulcers.

I think I may give my doctor a call in the next few days - our child nurse - early childhood worker - is like 78 years old, and while lovely, not exactly up on all the most recent medical studies.

He did fall asleep in the car yesterday - at about 7pm. Fortunately today has been a lot better, so hopefully we have gone through the worst of it.

 

[bliz]

A possibility... An allergy to milk can cause all of the problems.

Milk allergy is really quite common and we tend not to think about it becasue we all know how good milk is for us. Milk is also in so many, many different things! And the lables don't always say "milk" - they'll say "whey" or "casian"... Kids with milk allergy often have dark circles under their eyes, a perpetual runny nose, bad breath and sometimes (though your son is young for this) a crease across their nose from when they shove their noses up.

If you want to check it out, remove all milk from his diet (takes some work to do this, especially a lot of lable reading) for 2 weeks solid and see if his symptoms clear up. I had one kids with this problem, and what a difference it made! It's free, non-intrusive and has no risks to try it - but if it is the problem, we needs 2 full weeks without one drop - one serving and he will have all the problems again. Continue all the meds while you try.

 

[Zoomer]

Poor thing! I know how he feels. My eustachian tubes sit at a funny angle so fluid builds up in my middle causing horrible ear infections, so I know how painful it can be. I had tubes at 4, then the ear infections cleared up until I had to get tubes again at 20.

I would call the ENT and see if you can get an earlier appointment, and stress that your son is in pain and cannot sleep. Hopefully, he can see you sooner. They used to prescribe me nasal spray and ear drops but I am not sure what is safe to give to an 11 month old.

 

[erin74]

Bliz - I don't think it could be milk - he only started having milk in the last few weeks, and he doesn't have all those symptoms. Also the first ear infection followed a really really bad cold.

Zoomer, while I love the idea of seeing someone earlier, we only have the specilist come once a month to our town, and I got in the next time they come. If I want him to be operated on here, and I do, then I have to wait til they come. Otherwise, to see the same doctor (as it is a friend of my mum's that is coming up anyway - same person I would see if I were to go to him), it is a 9 hour drive, and there is no guarentee I would get in any earlier. This is actually pretty quick for around here. We have to rely on the public health system (which isn't bad at all) as we don't have insurance. This is really the only option.

When I do see them I will ask about the ear drops and nasal spray though - thanks for that advice.

Erin

 

[texseeker]

A possibility... An allergy to milk can cause all of the problems.

Milk allergy is really quite common and we tend not to think about it becasue we all know how good milk is for us. Milk is also in so many, many different things! And the lables don't always say "milk" - they'll say "whey" or "casian"... Kids with milk allergy often have dark circles under their eyes, a perpetual runny nose, bad breath and sometimes (though your son is young for this) a crease across their nose from when they shove their noses up.

If you want to check it out, remove all milk from his diet (takes some work to do this, especially a lot of lable reading) for 2 weeks solid and see if his symptoms clear up. I had one kids with this problem, and what a difference it made! It's free, non-intrusive and has no risks to try it - but if it is the problem, we needs 2 full weeks without one drop - one serving and he will have all the problems again. Continue all the meds while you try.

Absolutely do consider allergies as a good possible cause. My son had years of chronic infections, three sets of ear tubes, etc. Finally, I mentioned to a new doctor that he would get clogged up (sinuses) and never drain. She said "Well, he needs an expectorant." He took one (like Robitussin) and it helped drain him, so that fluid didn't sit there and go into an infection.
Ever since then, he has never had any trouble that couldn't be helped with the expectorant. Don't ask me why no other doctor in years had ever thought of it. They always seem to go to the latest prescription and never consider a basic over the counter medication.
He does have a lot of allergies and ADHD.
Hang in there. I hope you can get a handle on it quicker than we did.

 

[erin74]

Except when he actually had the cold he hasn't actually been clogged up at all. His breathing is fine.

Last night I was up with him at 12:30, 1am, 1:30 and 4-5:30am. My hubby was away, and fortunately I had a friend staying with me, and she was eventually able to get him to go down. Now he has learned this wonderful new behaviour and tonight wouldn't go down. I don't think he was unwell tonight, although may have been last night. He didn't have that edge to his cry that he does when he is sick. I think it is just the fluid draining.

So tonight we let him cry for a while and then resettled him, and eventually gave him a little teddy bear to go to sleep with. Heard him in there laughing about 20 minutes after we put him down - little rotter! So I am pretty sure the crying tonight was just a learned behaviour from last night.

I will mention the allergy thing to the specialist next week though - just in case. Thanks for that advice.

Erin

 

[andiesmama]

Just wanted to let you know I'm praying for relief for your little one....it's hard on us mommies to see our babies unhappy!!

Funny story though about him laughing in bed with his teddy bear, though...the little ones can be pretty smart, huh??