Hearing in 3 month old

[SnowPrincess]

My 3 month old seems to only be hearing from his right ear. If you rattle a toy on his left side, he doesn't react, but does react on the right. I went to the CHN this morning and she made an appointment for me at the Telethon Hearing Centre but it's a whole month away!

I'm seeing my GP tomorrow about it to see if we can go somewhere else privately and get him seen sooner than a month.

Has anyone elses baby had hearing problems? If so, what was the problem and what can they do to help? Could it just be wax or something?

Do you think a month will make much difference if there is a problem? BTW His newborn hearing test was fine in hospital.

Hope someone can help shed some light. TIA...

[squidipa]

firstly i know first hand how stressfull this is the not knowing. My son would not move or jump or react to anything even if i held him and yelled at the top of my lungs he didnt care. He didnt care if the kids were noisey nothing at all. Took him to be tested as at a couple of months old. they tested all the normal common sounds you need for speech development. Turns out he can hear fine they said he was just to content thats why he was not bothered by the noise.

now just turned 1 i say joshie or cheeseball and he looks at me he can hear. Just wanted to tell my story hope it helps.

try not to worry intill you know the result as hard as that is.

[DaintreeDream]

My DD passed her screening test at birth also. She had another test at 3 months and failed in one ear, they were happy to leave it for further testing at 5 months, her hearing had worsened so we were sent to Australia hearing and ENT for a hearing aid, it has been confirmed that her middle ear is blocked. She will be getting gromits in November which should clear the blockage and we should then be able to assess the damage. My DD has alot of other medical problems and she is getting gromits at the same time as cleft repair at 18 months of age, if it wasn't for her cleft she would have had grommits by now.

Your DS will have a test while he is sleeping, they will be able to assess the loss in each ear seperatly, they will also do a seperate test to check for middle ear movement to be able to find out if it is blocked or if it is further inside the ear.

If it is blocked they are likely to refer you to get grommits, I am not sure what age they do this with 'normal' babies but it is before they are one, they may offer a hearing aid depending on the loss and when they are able to get grommits, it usually but not always means short term loss until the blockage is cleared, but some children do experience some long term damage unfortunatly.

If it is not middle ear then he will get a hearing aid and I believe it means that the damage may be long term, I do not know much about this side of hearing loss.

I hope this helps a little. Feel free to ask me any questions, if I can help I will .

[satya]

My son also passed the hospital test but has failed every hearing test he's had since.

I would never have thought he had a hearing issue as he appears to hear normally but the tests show otherwise. He was only tested because he was in SCN for over 3 nights at birth and it's standard at my hospital to send such bubs for hearing tests. He turns to his name being called from behind, claps along when music starts, bounces to music and is speaking normally for a boy of his age. Yet they still say the tests show he has serious hearing loss.

He has had fluid in his ears for all the tests done outside of the hospital (thought to have been there since birth as they don't test for that in hossy) so it is hoped that gromits will fix him up. There is a possibility that he could have permanent damage but we wont know that til the gromits are in. We have a 6 month wait for gromits, but as he seems to be hearing & speaking fine and not getting ear infections I don't mind waiting.

They will test your son while he's asleep which can take a while if he keeps waking up (like mine did). I think a month wait is quite common & if fluid is involved they tend to just get you to come back in a few months & test the bub again in the hope that the fluid has cleared.

I believe that fluid is the most common reason for hearing issues in bubs and gromits fixes up the majority of kids.

[DaintreeDream]

I would never have thought he had a hearing issue as he appears to hear normally but the tests show otherwise. He was only tested because he was in SCN for over 3 nights at birth and it's standard at my hospital to send such bubs for hearing tests. He turns to his name being called from behind, claps along when music starts, bounces to music and is speaking normally for a boy of his age. Yet they still say the tests show he has serious hearing loss.

This is alot like our story.

Wow Satya you explain it so much better than me .

[satya]

This is alot like our story.

Wow Satya you explain it so much better than me .

Why, thank you, I actually thought you had explained it well when I saw your post.

I hope the gromits are the answer to your DD's hearing issues. You already have enough on your plate as it is.

[SnowPrincess]

Hi guys

Thanks so much for the reassurance and the info. Sorry to hear that your babies also have hearing problems.

I feel a bit better about it today. I went to see the GP and he managed to get me an appointment next Thursday at a different place (Lions Hearing Clinic). I'd rather pay for the appointment privately than wait another month to get the free one at the Telethon clinic. (BTW for anyone else who is interested they are doing free appointments for children under 5 until the end of October but the wait list is about a month)

They did mention that they will do the test while he's asleep, now I'm just wondering how to get him to sleep at his appointment time?!

[DaintreeDream]

I didn't find it to hard to get DD to sleep for her appointment, I think I was lucky though.

I had my DD's tests at the royal cildrens hospital and they leave you in a dark quiet room to allow you time to get your baby to sleep, I turned up 10 minutes early and they showed me straight to the room (I am not sure if this is the same everywhere, but if they expect you to get your baby to sleep I expect they would).

I held her feed until we got there and fed her there and then rocked her in her pram, they were able to test her while she was sleeping in the pram. She did open her eyes a couple of times but they said as long as she stayed still it was ok, she drifted back to sleep though.

Best of luck with your test, it is nice to hear you were able to get an earlier appointment .

[Pandora]

Is your bub b/f? Sometimes they will do the test if your baby is awake but breastfeeding, as was the case when DS2s newborn screen was done, as there was no way I'd have ever gotten him to sleep during the day.

Fluid in the ears can impair the result, there is a special instrument they use to tell if there is fluid, but it can be caused by teething or a cold. It's my understanding that lots of kids it will drain on its own but in others gromments help facilitate this.

[SnowPrincess]

Hey guys

Just an update, we went in for the appointment yesterday. DS was pretty mellow & they said that was ok that he wasn't asleep as long as he was quiet. They did some tests in the sound proof room and the result was that he was responding appropriately for his age. When he started crying (over tired and over stimulated) they took him to do the ear pressure test. That came back fine aswell. His cochlea was normal and he had no fluid in his ear canal - so all ok. They said he has no permanent hearing loss.

So it's great news, but I'm still a bit puzzled. They are the experts and I'm sure they know what they're talking about but just want to be sure, so I've have kept the Telethon appt for a second opinion

[squidipa]

snow princess sounds like what happened to us glad it came back all good