No Grommets

Today we had an appointment with a doctor in regards to Lauryn's ears. Intially we figured she would need them put in since she's has 3 ear infections in 2 months and the last one wasn't cleared with antibiotics. But I have to say that since she has been off the antibiotic two weeks ago, she has been better. No snotty/runny nose and pretty happy. We have had the odd day where she has been a pain like Saturday. She still isn't sleeping straight through the night but again that could be habit now more than anything but I'm not going to let her suffer with her ear still being inflamed and red. Anyway, one look at her right ear and he said it was pretty gross with mucus and blood. But he then stuck this air syringe thing in her ear to see if the eardrum was working. And it was. He said her eardrum is functioning completely without any issues and that is what the concern is when considering grommets. He said most GPs will see the redness and mucus and right away think they need to see someone about grommets but unless they have one of the air bulbs then they can't see for sure how or if it's working. So his suggestion was not to have a grommet put in. Her left ear is completely fine. I'm happy with this decision. Obviously if her eardrum was not working properly then we would get the grommet put in. He also had some questions for us about her speech and interest in things. That hasn't declined. At the end of the day, it was our decision to make. I feel it's unneccessary at this stage. He said he certainly wouldn't recommend grommets now since we are going into summer. Since she should be better through summer. He also mentioned there were a few things we could do to help her with the mucus and blood build up. One is to stop giving her a bottle. Which I was going to work on this summer anyway but now is a good time. And two, to take her for walks along the beach so she can inhale the salty air to help dry it up and clear it away. So we'll be doing this. When you live only 5 minutes from the beach, that should be simple enough. And another great thing is if we have any more issues and need to see him, we don't need another doctor's referral. We can just call and make an appointment for him to see her and reassess her again. And obviously if she is sick then we treat the symptoms as you would any illness and keep watching the ears. He also said grommets weaken the eardrum as well and if she would need another one, then it makes it even more weaker since they would need to put in a bigger one. I'm not one that turns a nose up to intervention or scares easily when it comes to things needing done for my children but I also don't 'overdue' things either. I don't like over giving them antibiotics if their little bodies can heal themselves. Nor do I feel the need to put a grommet in her ear yet since everything is fuctioning normally. So for now we will hold on tight and hope her wee body can fight this and hope that the changes we instill will help her to improve as well.