Toddler with trouble hearing - advice?

[littlebear]

Hi girls,

Not sure if it's okay to post here and whether it should be in children's medical conditions? Admin please advise if you'd like me to move it?

The last 2 weeks DS who is 22 months old has been touching his ears and then the last week it seemed to have gotten worse as we have been constantly shouting at him. At first we thought it was just a stage and he was ignoring us but we decided to take him to the GP today just to make sure. The GP had a quick look and said his left ear looked a bit "dull" and gave us a referral to a ear/nose/throat specialist but I can't get an appointment until early February! The GP explained to us that there might be a blockage behind the eardrum which would cause deafness in that ear as the drum can't vibrate etc... And that the specialist would do a quick test to figure out what's causing it (fluid or something else) and go from there.

Has anyone else gone through this? I'm not really sure what to expect and I'd really like to get as much advice as I can to handle this situation as best as possible as bub no.2 is due in 5 weeks!

Also any advice on how to handle the loss of hearing until the appointment? It's ok if we're nice and close to him but from across the room he seems to have trouble hearing. Has anyone taught their toddler hand gestures? Where would I start?

Thankyou!

[peanutter]

not sure if it's what you mean, but a girlfriend of mine has to go to the Drs and get her ear syringed out every few months - wax or whateer builds up, which creates a blockage which makes it hard for her to hear ... she gets her ear drained, and it's fine again

and both my brothers had tubes (grommets, whatever you call them) when they were younger ... hearing was find after that, and they fall out when they're bigger (and the problem apparently sorts itself out when they're older...)

good luck!

[~me~]

It could be glue ear, alot of GP's don't seem to find glue ear, not sure why.
My DS2 had it and the ENT picked it up within seconds of looking, the GP didn't see it all!
The ENT put grommets in the first time and DS2 was fine after that, he did have a repeat of the grommets and also his adenoids removed to help with drainage. It apparently quite common for boys in particular to have small ear canals when young.
I would be ringing the ENT to try and get an earlier appointment.
I had to ring our ENT everyday , after a week, I fluked a cancellation.

[Ginger]

i have just been through this with ds1. your ENT will probably give you a referal to an audiologist who will do a hearing test. if the hearing test indicates a hearing loss, then the ENT will want to put grommets (tiny tubes) into your ds's ears to help clear the fluid. my ds1 had grommets put in 12 days ago and the improvement in his hearing is remarkable. he actually noticed bees buzzing in a tree in our back garden for the first time ever the other day!

if you have any questions- please feel free to ask!