Neverending...

Based on the clinginess, the return to lack of sleeping, the protesting when being laid on his back, the poor eating, and the ridiculous amount of snot, I'd guess Simon now has another ear infection thanks to the week and a half of grossness that RSV brought us. The poor baby can't catch a break. It also occured to me the other day when I was pondering how quiet he is (while he does babble here and there, for the most part he is very, VERY quiet... I think unusually so for a 7-month old), that it probably has something to do with the fact that he has had two ears full of fluid for the past two months. Part of it is probably just his generally quiet personality, but I'm certain that not being able to hear well is a factor. :( And that makes me sad... this poor baby just thinks being sick is a way of life at this point.

I really want to get him the ear tubes a.s.a.p. because I saw how quickly they turned Ben around... no more constant snot! No more ear infections! No more antibiotics! And I don't think it's a coincidence at all that about two weeks after the tubes went in, he started talking nonstop and much more intelligibly. (prior to the tubes, some of his word pronunciations actually sounded like that of a deaf person)

But here the problem. Well, there are several, actually.
1) He can't get the tubes until he is healthy. We can't seem to get him healthy! He hasn't even been able to get his six-month vaccinations yet!

2) For the surgery he'd have to not have anything to eat past midnight the night before. He still wakes up to eat sometimes in the middle of the night. To NOT feed him then would mean hours of pitiful screaming.

3) He's so young. The tubes are only supposed to last a year or so (though Ben's are still in)... this means there's a HUGE likelihood we'd have to have it done more than once because he won't have grown out of the drainage issue by the time the first set of tubes fell out.

So much to ponder... I was doing some research and am wondering if prophylactic antibiotics aren't the way to go (apparently that is a popular option)... since he keeps getting the ear infections because it's cold and flu season and his brother keeps bringing things home, keeping him on constant antibioitics until spring might give him the change to get rid of the current infection and keep away new ones... just until he is a little older and we can do the tubes.

Anyone out there have any btdt experience with a young baby and constant ear infections? Ben was almost two when his started, so it was a different ballgame...