Conference moira::parenting_v3

    There are several studies being conducted by some of the medical
    schools in the area on this, and apparently the results are
    encouraging.  The way it is works is to give a very low dose of the
    same medication they would take for the infection to help prevent it.
    You only do this during the cold and flu season, when ear infections
    are most prevalent.
    
    I did this with my second, and I have several friends who did the same.
    It worked out pretty well, but didn't stop them altogether.  
    
    However, consider the implications if the constant ear infections
    continue.  It can slow speech progress (they can't hear), and can cause
    partial hearing loss.  Not to mention the pain.
    
    
    Laura

    
    My experience with prophylactic medication is first-hand, but as an
    adult, not as a child.  But maybe the info will help you anyways.
    
    After about 2 years of getting UTIs *every month*, my doctor decided
    enough was enough, and decided to try the prophylactic, or
    preventative, approach.  I took one Bactrim a day for a year.  Not
    only did I not get a UTI while on the Bactrim, but after I stopped
    taking it daily, I didn't have another one for a very long time.
    I don't think antibiotics can be addictive, so that shouldn't concern
    you.  And the effectiveness did not wear off - I can still take Bactrim
    in "normal" dosages when I need to.
    
    I stopped seeing that Dr. around the end of that year of taking
    Bactrim, so I never really discussed with her *why* this works, but in
    my mind, taking one a day for a long time made sure that the medication
    killed every last one of those germs!  :-)
    
    As I said, this was about 10 years ago, and I was an adult.  But a
    man who works in my building has a one year old who has had a large
    number of ear infections, and his Doctor now has him taking Bactrim
    every day.  So far, it's working.
    
    Good luck!
    Lynne
    

    James had six ear infections in his first year of life, from SEpt. 1988
    to May 1989.  I still call it "Winter in Hell."  He was on a
    prophylactic dose of either Gantricin or Ceclor -- I honestly can't
    remember -- and he managed to pop an ear infection while he was on
    the antibiotic anyway!
    
    It isn't necessarily the last stop before putting in tubes, Andrea, but it
    is one alternative.  My pedi is conservative when it comes to this
    operation.  Most kids tolerate the antibiotic very well, some have
    a day or two of "loose poops" when they first start it.  But if you
    keep 'em on a bland diet for a couple of days they should be all
    right. I don't recall James having much of a reaction to any antibiotic
    -- guess his poor little system needed them!
    
    I should add that after May 1989, his ears cleared up and he hasn't
    had an ear infection since, thank God.  How much of this is due to
    the antibiotics, how much of it is due to just plain ol' growing up,
    I don't know.  But giving James an antibiotic a couple of times a day
    was vastly preferable to having him go through surgery to have tubes
    put in his ears. 

    Lexi had fluid in both of her ears for 7 months straight.  About once a 
    month the fluid would get infected.  She was on 4 or 5 different
    antibiotics, including a nightly dose of amoxicillian to try to prevent
    infections.  Nothing would completely dry up her years.  After 7 months
    of this, and very poor speech development, Lexi had tubes put in.  
    The anticipation of the tubes was very difficult on us, but it was
    a simple operation and I am so glad that we did it.  Lexi was 18 months
    when they were put in.  She immediately started talking, learned new 
    words every day, has not has an ear infection since (6 mos) and her
    ability to run improved dramatically.   Although it is a hard thing
    for mom and dad to go through, the tubes were definitely the best 
    thing for Lexi.  
    
    If you are in the Maynard area, I would be happy to give you the name
    of the doctor that did Lexi's tubes.  He is at Emerson and a wonderful
    kind man.
    
    Sorry that I got a little side tracked...
    Good luck,
    Penny  

    Ryan did prophylactic doses of Augmentin a couple of different times,
    to give his ears time to heal completely. Since the alternative was
    tubes, I was more comfortable with the low dose of antibiotics. After
    getting through the bulk of his teething, the ear infections abated
    quite suddenly, and knock on wood, have not recurred in a year.
    

Oh, can I relate!  Kathryne had ear infection after ear infection that
we tried treating with Ceclor followed by low dose of Gantricin.  She
also managed to develop infections while on the Gantricin.  In the end
we had tubes put in and it was absolute heaven to have her go 9 months
with no infection.  She did have a second set of tubes, along with having
her adnoids removed.  One tube has since fallen out and I took her to
the Dr. Sunday and she had infections in both ears again.  We're treating
that with Ceclor and will probably not go for a third set of tubes, we'll
see.  I've decided that about the second or third time this new baby that
I'm waiting for gets an ear infection we'll go for tubes.  I'll agree it's
much more difficult on mom and dad than the kids.

	Katie got her first ear infection in Oct 89.  She was on antibiotics 
constantly  (I mean without a SINGLE day off) from then until late Dec 89, at
which point, both ears were finally both clear. (They had fluid but were not 
infected.) We dropped back to a prophylactic dosage and within a week her
ears were infected again.  I think it took about a month to get them cleared 
up again.  We then tried the low dosage again.  We stayed clear for a few weeks
I think and then we started in again.  

	Our pedi group is conservative about tubes and we agree with them. They
had two goals with the antibiotics. 1) Try to get to the warmer weather to see
if once we were out of "ear season"  we could stay clear with no intervention.
2) Failing that, get to Katie's 1st birthday before scheduling her for surgery.

	Well May is summer here (S.C.) and Katie still had infections.  So she 
had tubes put in a week after her first birthday.  (Late May 90)

	She has not had an infection since.

	Miscellaneous thoughts:
	
	We didn't mind waiting, because Katie was still sleeping through the 
night, eating, being her own cheerful self. (She generally has the disposition
of an angel.)  We never knew about the infections by her behavior but from 
the 10 day rechecks.  (The conversations at the doctor's would go like this:
Dr: How has she been sleeping?  Us: Sleeps through the night as always. Dr:
Eating well?  Us: Like a pig.  Dr: Amazing!  Her left ear is so inflamed and 
swollen that the eardrum is about to burst!

	On the other hand, the predisposition to ear problems is hereditary 
and my parents both have hearing loss from repeated ear infections in their 
childhood, my Dad to the point that he has had 4 operations over the last 10 
years to attempt to restore his high and middle frequency hearing.  So when 
our pedi group said "tubes" we didn't argue.

	It was a relief to not have to get the antibiotics into Katie everyday.
It was a pain in the butt, lugging them back and forth from daycare and on 
trips.  The biggest problem was the thrush and yeast infections that we had
to fight to keep under control as a result of the antibiotics.  (Feeding Katie
yogurt did wonders to help here!) 

	I didn't have much apprehension about the surgery.  So many parents 
here said that it was a piece of cake...  For us, at least, they were right.

	Bottom Line:

	I'm pretty pleased with how things went.  I'm glad we didn't jump into 
surgery when Katie was 5 months old and first started have problems.  By the
time we decided on tubes, everyone involved (pedi, ear doctor, second opinion
doctor, us) was sure that it needed to be done.  

Good luck in whatever path you choose,

	Tracey

    Thanks for all the responses on and off line. Berk went Monday for his
    10 day recheck. The fluid is still in one ear and will either end up
    infected again or drain off. I'm expecting to be back at the doctor's
    within a week the way things are going!! Unfortunately, Berk is one of
    those kids like Katie (.7) and you can never tell if he's just tired or
    is really sick. Luckily, his glands have also gotten swollen almost
    every time he's had an ear infection so I'm now constantly feeling his
    neck to see how they are doing.
    
    Has anyone plagued with this problem noticed that it is always the same
    ear? I'm noticing a pattern in his left ear. Do they do tubes in one
    ear alone (seems kind of senseless because if the kid is under you might 
    as well do them both)?
    
    Again, thanks!!
    Andrea

    
    After a Fall season of ear infections with Kathryn, then 11 mo., the
    doctors put her on a prophylactic dose of Bactrim and it worked!  We
    went from Jan thru April with no ear infections.  She had a few more
    ear infections after that, but not repeated ones like that fall.  
    
    Kathryn's ear infections also corresponded to the months she was
    teething...
    
    She also started walking right after we got them cleared up.
    
    Also Bactrim is a little easier as it doesn't have to be refrigerated.
    
    Debbie

    I'm glad to know this is working for some people.  David's had two
    ear infections this winter -- he's got *five* teeth coming in
    right now -- and will probably go on the prophylactic antibiotics
    if he gets another infection soon.  Ear tubes won't help him
    because he doesn't build up fluid between infections -- his ears
    are perfectly clear of fluid until the infection starts.  It's now
    been four weeks since the last one, so maybe (she says, knocking
    on wood and keeping all her fingers crossed . . . )
    
    Steven never had any ear infections, but Kat used to get them when
    she was teething and then later as a complication of tonsillitis. 
    
    --bonnie

    We've been in the same boat!!!  Phillip got his first ear infection at
    10 weeks (Nov).  We went throught several medications - (excuse
    spelling) Amoxicillin did nothing, Cecleur gave him terrible stomach
    pains, and Bactrim seemed to work.  I was in the pedi's office every
    week until the end of January.
    
    He finally was put on a maintenance dose of Gantrasin every day (saving
    the Bactrim if he got an ear infection) until April 1st.  It worked!
    
    His first summer was infection free!  However, after his first birthday
    in September he started up again.  Phillip would get an infection
    even if he didn't have a cold.
    
    We were in again every 10 days - sometimes twice a week.  The pedi
    suggested we start again with the cycles of medication.  We tried the
    following:  Amoxicillin, Cecleur (same result), Bactrim (didn't
    work this time - resulted in a double ear infection), Augmentim.  
    Finally Suprex worked - and we immediately went to Amoxicillin for
    maintenance.  He's been on Maintenance - 1 1/2 tsp daily - for about 6
    weeks.  No infections.
    
    Phillip is now 16 mos and has had about 12 ear infections!!  
    
    My concern about maintenance doses is the possible side effects.  I've
    heard that some children develop allergies.  Has anyone experienced
    this??
    
    Laurel
    

    Boy is this timely !  I took Cory for his 15-month checkup yesterday
    and the doctor discovered that he has another ear infection.  She put
    him on Suprax and will followup with a maintenance daily dose of
    Amoxicillin.  She suggested continuing the daily dose through the
    winter months.
    
    BTW, this is his fourth infection since the beginning of September.
    
    I'm looking forward to any info. on side effects.
    
    
    - Terry

	I'm terribly suspectible to strep.  When I was growing up I *lived* on
Penicillin for a couple of years.  In the 2nd grade, I had a terrible reaction 
to it.  I'm now allergic to penicillin.

	One theory that the doctor posed was that I had "OD'd" on it.  On the 
other hand both my mother and maternal Grandfather are/were allergic to it, so
it's hard to tell if it was overexposure or heredity in my case.

Tracey

    Hi
    
    FWIW... What I did (past tense) and what I would try today :
    
     I - sorry my daughter - went through this... We ended up having
    tubes put in... The antibiotics and ear infections went... All in all a
    great success.
    
    However... My daughter's permanent teeth are full of whitish spots...
    This can happen but I did ask the dental hygenist if there could be
    any particular cause (nor her dad nor I have similar problems in either
    family).  Besides confirming "this can happen..." she did specifically
    ask if Claire had been on antibiotics - alot - when she was a baby as
    that possibly could be the reason.... I am not saying it is, nor was
    the hygenist confirming "it was *the* reason", but it suggests - I repeat
    suggests - that months of antibotics - even a low doses made lead to 
    not-so-sightly permanent teeth.
    
    Today... I will spare the details, but I would suggest you try to find
    a reputable ostheopath... The one I saw last year says she has an 80%
    cure rate on kids... and all they do is "massage" your head to give
    the scull bones and passages a little/sufficient mobility for the own
    body to do the rest.  I have had fantastic personal results from her
    treatment and if I had a baby with ear infections today, I would
    certainly try this first.  In fact, in a latter discussion with our
    pedi, he confirmed that he is starting to send "ear" patients on this
    route himself before resulting to surgery.
    
    Good luck - hope Berk is happier at the new center !