10 month old with chronic ear infections?

Re: the tubes - your doc is very good in trying to avoid them for that long, because one of the risks of the procedure is permanent hearing loss. Some doctors do it a lot, but that doesn't change the risks. seems like a good idea to minimize that risk, IMO. However, I would go find an allergist that specializes in food allergies - most don't. Checking with a local allergy support group and asking which doc they recommend would probably be a help. Most doctors are told (and tell us) that food allergies are rare - the anaphlyactic ones are, from everything I've seen. However, many parents are finding that their kids get low levels of stomach pain, mild body-wide inflammation, and/or behavioral problems from ingesting certain foods.The more sensitive ones can get it from foods their mothers are ingesting, if they are breastfeed. When the little ones are small, as was mentioned in other answers, the ear canals are small and even a little inflammation can cause problems. However, in my own experience, a number of mothers I knew who had infants with ear infections, that they outgrew, turned out to have food allergies. They didn't actually outgrow the ear infections; they grew larger ear canals so that the inflammation no longer causes such problems. But it still caused other issues. If a child has an actual allergy, something called an 'allergy shiner' can often be seen. Like under their eyes is perpetually a little shadowed or swollen. A good food allergist, however, who is looking for foods that make your child sick, NOT just anaphylactic allergies that do so, can help work with you on an elimination diet and a food journal. At this age, it's pretty easy to do, since you have so much control of their food and they haven't experienced a lot of foods yet. The diet and food journal is also free, non-invasive, and doesn't involve medication. Just takes some work on your part. Little to no risk, possible solution. So it's a not a bad thing to check, I've always thought. Many problems with kids these days are viewed as normal or something they'll outgrow. But not being healthy? Not normal, really. Getting a lot of colds and such, that's normal. Getting a lot of bad reactions due to these colds and such: not normal. There's something going on to cause this when it happens, we just don't know what. And yes, maybe an infant has even smaller than normal ear canals than other infants, but as a species, we weren't built so poorly that we run such a huge risk of losing our hearing due to chronic ear infections in our infancy, you know? Food allergies, reactions to the environment, a problem with the immune system, an auto-immune disease, something to do with the ear - something is usually going on. It's probably worth your while to keep looking until you find out what it is.

This was my child and I was concerned, just as you are. The pediatrician told me infants are vulnerable to ear infections because everything internally is so close together that cold germs migrate very easily. I don't know how much you take him out in public -- grocery shopping, etc. -- but you might try keeping him more isolated at home so he isn't exposed to germs. FWIW, my daughter eventually outgrew the ear infections.