Disclaimer: I am in no way a medical professional. This post is our experience with tube surgery and what we learned along the way. 

To some parents, reaching the point where your child is referred to the ENT is a relief. There is nothing worse than suffering through multiple ear infections with your little one with no end in sight. Trust me, thirteen ear infections later and I can attest to the stress ear infections create. Jude suffered his first ear infection at four month sold and after that, we just couldn’t shake them. His pediatrician didn’t want to rush into getting ear tubes when most children grow out of the ear infections, so we watched closely and tackled each one. It was a sleepless first year of life. Then summer came and it seemed like we had finally hit the light at the end of the tunnel. No more ear infections! We had hope that he had grown out of them just like his sister had. Then fall came again and we found ourselves back in the same spot. It was finally time for ear tubes.

I had ear tubes as a kid and I knew it to be a simple and common procedure…until it was my kid. The idea of putting my child under anesthesia was S T R E S S I N G me out. I was so anxious about the experience and no matter how many times I reminded myself how simple of a procedure was, it still made me so nervous. I kept thinking if I knew what to expect then I would have felt so much better. Insert this post. For you. The mom who is getting ready to take their child in for ear tube surgery. Let me help you out some, relieve some of that stress.

What to expect when your child has ear tube surgery:

They won’t be able to eat or drink.

This is typical to most surgeries that involve anesthesia, so you probably are aware of this. The older your child, the easier it is to explain this. The younger your child, the more crying involved. If your hospital is anything like ours they do the surgeries in order of age. Jude was the second in line for his tube surgery meaning there wasn’t a long time to keep food from him. We had to leave our house at 4:30AM so he was so out of it that he didn’t even realize how hungry he was. His surgery was at 7:20AM so it really wasn’t as big of a problem as I was worried it would have been. We kept food and water out of his sight and being in a new place distracted him. I thought it would be worse than it was.

The Pre-Med really works.

I am not sure if this is something used at every hospital, but just in case I wanted to mention this. There is a pre-med they give the child that helps calm them. Their exact words were “calms them and causes them not to realize they are leaving mom and dad.” Sounded really creepy and like a crazy drug if you asked me. I had envisioned Jude screaming down the hallways when they took him away from me, but this stuff, it worked. As creepy as it sounded, it wasn’t. It was just weird. Jude became super relaxed and in a out of it state. She grabbed him and walked right out and he didn’t even realize it. In fact it happened so fast I barely had time to realize what happened.

It’s quick.

Remember how fast I said she took him? Well, that’s the part that it really sinks in. They grab your baby and walk right out so they don’t have time to realize what’s happening. This is a GOOD thing. You feel much better knowing your baby wasn’t taken away kicking and screaming. BUT it does happen so fast that when it sinks in you realize you are in an empty room and you just handed your baby off to surgeons and it’s pretty scary. Then ten minutes later it’s done. Seriously. Within ten minutes the doctor was in our room telling us how well it went, that Jude was waking up, and providing after care instructions.

Watching your little one come out of anesthesia is hard. And it’s okay.

This by far was the hardest part of the entire experience. When they wheeled Jude back in he was SO out of it. He was staring into the distance as if he was there, but not really there. It’s a bit hard to see and makes your heart break in a way. I wanted to cry and grab him and not let go. I waited to see if he was more comfortable just coming out of it, or if he wanted to be held, but the moment he saw me he tried to get up so I grabbed him. They warned me that coming out of anesthesia could make babies pretty cranky. It didn’t mean they were in pain, it just meant they felt icky. The anesthesiologist on that day had this medicine that they give the little ones through their nose as they are coming out of anesthesia to calm them and prevent this reaction. Not every anesthesiologist does this, but this one did. Jude was fairly calm when he came back. He would whimper occasionally, position himself differently, and be fine again. Whatever the anesthesiologist did made a big difference…in the hospital. When we got home it was an entirely different story. That is when he reacted and cried for over half an hour. Nothing would calm him. He would run around in circles, cry, ask to be held, want down, cry some more, and repeat. This went on for what seemed like forever. It was really hard. No funny slap happy moments with a baby coming out of anesthesia, that’s for sure. I had to take a moment and hand him off to daddy to collect my emotions before going back. It wasn’t easy seeing my baby so upset! So mama, seriously, if this happens to you it is okay. It’s normal. They will be okay.

They need to sleep.

Once you’re able to get them to rest, do it. Jude took a good four hour nap that afternoon and once he woke up, he was perfect! He was back to his normal self and I felt so much better about the experience. He just needed to sleep off that leftover groggy feeling and he was back to himself in no time.

It has been about a month now since his ear tube surgery and he got through his first cold ear infection free! The 7-10 days after the tubes I questioned if he had another ear infection because he wasn’t sleeping well again. I gave it some time and I think he was still adjusting to the difference in hearing. Life was a bit louder to him, so it could be overstimulating quickly. His ears were a little tender, but not infected. I would give it a good 10 days to see changes and not be concerned if they don’t seem to bounce back immediately.

At the end of it all, I am glad we finally went through with the ear tube surgery. I can tell he is hearing better than he ever has in some of the ways he reacts to things. His speech also took off almost instantly. I can only imagine how different the world sounds to him now! Even though ear tube surgery can be a little overwhelming, it was worth it for the difference it has made. I am sure that knowing what to expect can help the process as well.