My 2 year old son is partially deaf. Half rant/Half cry for help.

[Pinkzy]

Thanks everyone

On top of this we have to find somewhere else to live ASAP and my husband's just been made casual from full time (entirely his fault) - so obviously we'll be downgrading from a house with air conditioning to probably a small unit with ceiling fans if we're lucky.

Phew. Keeping calm.

[mim1]

My ds got his first ear infection at 9 months and I think I cried for a week. He got 3 or 4 infections in 6 weeks including abscesses behind his drums and I was SO upset. Of course, having him wake multiple times a night hysterically in pain didn't help my mood. I was convinced he'd have serious hearing problems and issues for life.

Well, he had grommets at 15 months (with great success) and then his speech improved. This was after about 4 or 5 hearing tests mind you and thankfully only one ENT visit. Since then I've lost count of the hearing tests he's had and he's had maybe 5 ENT visits and probably 6 - 8 ear infections (one resulting in him losing his balance and falling over, splitting his head open and the ambulance needing to be called). The most impressive ear infection (as just mentioned) also resulted in him being completely deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other ear for 1 - 2 weeks. He didn't have hearing issues immediately prior to the infection. He was in Kinder at the time and I was worried how he'd manage, but I spoke to his teachers and they were wonderful. They sat him up the front of the class, but didn't make a fuss and yet he was able to participate fully without him noticing any real change.

I know he has intermittent hearing/ear issues and your son probably has a different type of hearing loss, but I do feel a little of your pain. This year in his Kinder class there is a little boy with a hearing aid and the teacher wears a special microphone (hearing loop) that makes it easier for him to hear. My ds mentions it quite often, just as part of 'normal' routine at Kinder that the hearing loop is used. The little boy with the hearing aid seems to be enjoying himself and managing well whenever I see him in the class.

As for antibiotics causing hearing loss, I think you'll find that the antibiotics your ds had at 12 months would be a VERY unlikely cause of his hearing loss. There are some super strong (usually used in hospital) antibiotics that cause hearing loss in a tiny minority of people, so I doubt your ds having antibiotics at 12 months of age was a problem.

Write down your questions/thoughts/etc before you go to the ENT and make sure you get the questions answered. Take someone with you to hear the answers too, so that you don't have to remember it all yourself as it will probably be a little bit of information overload.