Paediatric ENT specialist - anyone been?

DD has been referred on the basis of having a seriously snotty nose for almost 5 months. The GP thinks it's likely that they'll remove her adenoids. He also thinks it's likely that sleep apnoea is a big contributor to her very frequent night wakings

Does anyone have experience with such things? What is the appt likely to involve, and the surgery? And what can I or should I be doing for sleep apnoea? I'm horrified by the idea that my baby is stopping breathing

Yep - DD has seen an ENT several times and had surgery to place grommits.  She may need her adenoids (tonsils on the back wall of the throat) removed later on.  She gets very snotty and has pretty frequent ear infections.

Your ENT appt should involve the ENT talking to you about medical history and thing along those lines and then much the same sort of examination that your GP probably does but a wee bit more specialised.  They will probably look in ears, maybe nose, and definitely throat.  At my DD's first appt (which determined the need to surgery for her ears) they spent probably no more than a minute or so looking at ears - they lay her on the bed and looked at each ear one after the other.  I was right there and helped to hold her arms while they had a look.

In terms of surgery I'm not quite sure I'm afraid.  DD's ENT said that they (Wgtn) prefer to remove adenoids at closer to 18 months o it'll be interesting to see what PN say.  Make sure you ask any questions you want to and if you think you might have more later, ask for contact details for their nurse specialist.  She / He may not be at your appt but they are very likely to have one.  They are the best people to answer questions often.

Oh how scary for you!!! But if it helps your bubs sleep better, imagine that!

Thanks so much ladies. That has put my mind at ease a bit.

And if it works, oh it will be so great. A happy baby and some sleep for both of us! We were back to half an hour up, half an hour down all night last night

My boy 2.5 months had his adenoids removed about 2 weeks ago for the same reason. Permanently snotty nose - about 5-6 months every year. and bad sleep, general grumpiness from being tired all the time, snoring, mouth breathing and palate changes etc.

Appt was fine they took an xray which showed the enlarged adenoids, apart from that just looked in the nose and ears etc, had a hearing test.

Then we had an appt to discuss the surgery, then about 4 weeks later the op.

Took him in at 7.30, had the op at about 9.30, he was awake by about 10 - 10.30 and we were home for lunch. He was a bit grumpy for 3 days but totally ok and NO RUNNY NOSE YIPPEE!!!

The great thing about just adenoids is that it doesn't hurt too much cos swallowing eating etc don't touch it. More the effects of the GS than the op. They cauterise them off actually too.

Medtronic launched “Shruti” in July 2013 with a philosophy to create sustainable program of low-cost otology care including awareness, screening, diagnosis, and treatment to the underserved, particularly in densely populated, low-income urban settlements and rural areas by leveraging medical technology, telecommunication, and frugal innovation. It is a hallmark example of health system innovation, serving dual objects of social impact and business viability simultaneously.
With an ENT surgeon as the central point of care, the programs are operationalized through trained community health workers (CHW) equipped with an “Ear Screening Kit.” Patients with a positive provisional diagnosis are routed to the point of care for receiving low-cost treatment, including advanced diagnosis,medicines, audiometric tests and surgical interventions.
Ear Screening Kit
The Ear Screening Kit, now in its third generation, is a CE certified production-version. It consists of four components: an otoscope, a digital image capturing and transmitting device (smartphone), a light source for the otoscope, and a mobile data SIM card. A telemedicine application is loaded onto the device to record an entire case, including images of the ear and provisional diagnosis. The completed test is then transmitted to a cloud server over 3G which can be accessed by the ENT surgeon.

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