If the children have more than 3 ear infections in 3 months or 6 or more infections in a year, then tubes are in order. Sometimes if the children have fluid buildup and it just isn't going away and the ears are not clearing, then the next best think is tubes. Medication will only help if the fluid is infected. They are both 2 years old and have no comprehensable speech so the doctor said they won't be able to hear unless we get the tubes. I think it would be a good idea to talk to an ENT MD who does tube placement, to see what he thinks would help.
Some docs are conservative and want to wait a while, while others are ready to go ahead.
Fluid, infection and delayed speech development. I think the tubes are very helpful to many children. Almost 500,000 are placed annually. I guess my main concern is not getting them wet. The tubes are not meant to be permanent.