Hello Ladies!!
So my husband and myself have struggled with the reality of ear infections within the last year (If I never see antibiotics again I'll be totally fine with that). So my smallest step daughter Ashley had a bout with ear infections in early 2015 for a few months. She had about 8 ear infections in 10 weeks, I know insane right? We took the pacifier from her when she was under a year old (I think they're ridiculous but that's just me). Unfortunately she's exposed to second hand smoke during the week CONSTANTLY and was given the pacifier at her other home religiously. So this is something that hits home with me. Ashley was sent to an ENT and until recently when we got her medical records didn't realize how serious the concern was for tubes. Needless to say she never had tubes put in her ears (don't make your shocked face yet, my life gets better). She was diagnosed with speech delay AND hearing loss. I wanted to bring some awareness to this situation because yes, tubes can be a scary thing. When the doctor comes out and says your child has to be put under to get tubes in I can imagine what goes through every mothers head. Anesthesia, pain, keep the ears dry, do you even bother bathing them? It's summer time and my child wants to go swimming plus four hundred million other questions. Here's the low down on the tubes process for all you worried mamas out there! Normally a child has to have so many ear infections in a certain amount of time before they suggest tubes (we hit that goal pretty quickly). The pediatrician will suggest you go to an ENT (which we did). During Ashley Badashleys experience the ENT put her on long term antibiotics to see if he could clear up the infection. Unfortunately that didn't help at all, she got an ear infection pretty rapidly after that. Because Ashley didn't get the tubes put in when she should have they did some significant damage. She had to see an audiologist which determined some hearing loss :( Don't wait to put tubes in, the Doctors are pretty good at what they do and it's such an easy process they'll never even know it happened! I've also attached a few resource links for you guys about the dangers of pacifiers and exposure to second hand smoke for EVERYONE especially children. Hope you guys have a fantastic day and this stuff helps you out for your little ones! I've recently added a screen shot of a comment from my Facebook of my friend staci who's son had tubes put in! Thanks for sharing staci!
Tubes:
http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/ear-infections.html
Exposure to second hand smoke:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/tobacco/Pages/Dangers-of-Secondhand-Smoke.aspx
Pacifiers yay or nay?
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/in-depth/pacifiers/art-20048140
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