Are There Long-Lasting Effects After My Child's Ear Infection?

Your little one suffers from one ear infection after another. There have been several rounds of antibiotics. If your baby or toddler is getting more than their fair share of ear infections, you may be wondering if they’ll cause permanent harm to your child. 

Dr. Nilesh Patel, board-certified otolaryngologist, specializes in ear, nose, and throat disorders. When your child suffers from chronic ear infections, Dr. Patel can help. 

Why is my child getting so many ear infections? 

Babies, toddlers, and young children are more prone to ear infections than adults. Your child’s Eustachian tubes are channels that extend from the middle ears to the back of the throat. These tubes allow fluid to drain from the middle ear and keep the right amount of pressure in your ears. 

If the Eustachian tube is blocked, fluid builds up in the middle ear, which can lead to an infection. If fluid remains behind the eardrum, your child can develop chronic ear infections. 

It’s easy for infections to take hold in your child’s ear because their Eustachian tubes are shorter and more horizontal than those in adults. As your child grows, the tubes begin to curve, allowing better fluid drainage. 

Will my child have complications from ear infections? 

Thankfully, complications from childhood ear infections are rare. It’s important to treat your child’s ear infection right away, though. Here’s why. 

Possible hearing loss

Ear infections in babies between 6 and 24 months of age are common. However, this is the time when babies are learning language and attaching meaning to the sounds they hear. Therefore, it’s critical that their hearing not be interrupted repeatedly from chronic infections, which can lead to some hearing loss. 

With proper, prompt treatment for ear infections, you don’t have to worry about your baby’s hearing. 

Possible speech delays

Your baby’s first years are a critical period for learning language. Any loss in hearing can affect speech and language development. Ensuring that your baby isn’t suffering from ear infections is important to their language normal development. 

Repeated ear infections that affect your child’s hearing could lead to a difficulty with auditory processing, which means that your child has trouble processing the speech they hear. Therapy can help. 

Eardrum rupture that doesn’t heal

If too much fluid builds up in your baby’s ear, the eardrum can rupture and create a hole in the ear. It should heal in a couple of weeks with treatment. If it doesn’t heal, Dr. Patel may need to perform surgery to repair it. 

Treatment for ear infections 

Modern antibiotics take care of most ear infections. If your baby or toddler has repeated infections — more than six in a year — Dr. Patel may recommend putting tubes in their ears temporarily. The tubes help drain the fluid, which helps to avoid infections.

Call the Midtown, New York offices of Dr. Nilesh Patel for a same-day appointment or book an appointment online if your child is crying because of an ear infection.