Mom of 3month old with hearing loss

N

NewMom

New Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hi everyone! My name is Rosemarie and i am a new mom of a 2 1/2 month old baby boy. He is my first child. In the hospital he failed his newborn screening tests. At ten days old he failed another OAE in the pediatricians office. At one month, he failed another screening OAE at the audiologist. We were finally scheduled for a diagnostic ABR which he had on Jan 4th. I was not able to go to that test, so my husband took my son. He told me that the audiologist told him that our son was able to hear loud and medium sounds, but not soft sounds. She said she was unable to complete the test in the left ear because he got fussy. She told my husband that she wanted him to come back so that they could repeat the test and see if she could get him to hear soft sounds. In the meantime i scheduled an appointment with an ENT. then i got the results of the ABR in the mail. Which said he had moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. All the numbers on the test were between 60 and 80. When i went to the ENT, she said that the baby will definitely need hearing aids based on the abr, which she said is not wrong. She said she will repeat the abr a second time to confirm the degree of loss prior to putting in hearing aids. She does not think i should get my hopes up because she says the ABR is not wrong. This all has been very confusing to me because my son seems to be able to hear. He has always responded to my dog barking or loud noises. I am also able to wake him up from sleeping by speaking his name and even by whispering his name. I dont understand how his hearing can be mod to severe hearing loss when he can hear me speaking and whispering?

This has been a very difficult experience. As a new mom, i feel that the enjoyment and happiness of a new baby has been replaced with incessant worrying and preoccupation with hearing and hearing aids. At this point i even find myself worrying about whether my baby has any associated syndromes to go along with his hearing loss.

Any input/advice is appreciate! Thank you!
 
Welcome and congrats on your baby boy! It's rather quiet here today, which is unusual. Maybe everyone is playing in the snow?

I hope that you find the info here helpful. Be sure to contact your local government and access resources where you are. Is there a deaf school in your area? You could contact them.

Regarding syndromes, I have a syndrome and I just deal with some health issues. I'm happy with my life. It's possible for your son to have a good life even if he does have a syndrome. I understand that it's overwhelming but it will all work out.

Welcome again!:wave:
 
:lol: I have two syndromes. One for eyes, one for ears, completely separate. I have had a great life so far.
 
NewMom said:
What syndromes do you have, if you don't mind sharing?
Click to expand...

Ocular histoplasmosis syndrome and Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

They are nothing you need to worry about. I am only pointing out that life is wonderful and enjoyable .
 
I was born deaf and now I am living a productive life.

:welcome: to AD!
 
I told my dr that I prefer the term "medically interesting." :P
 
Stick around, NewMom, and venture into the different threads. You will find many inspiring stories from the deaf/Deaf members here.
 
I believe that the life your son will have will be based on you and your husband. To your son, being deaf...is normal. He's not missing out on anything, until people try and bring him or you down with "how can he live without hearing music, or the ocean, or voices" etc. He'll be able to "hear" more things through vibrations then I probably could with my ears :D. The Deaf culture is an amazing group of people who have stories, and jokes, wisdom and encouragement to share for your son and your family. There are MANY and I do mean MANY D/d adults who are very happy being deaf, with careers and families. Do not feel discouraged, feel empowered. Find local Deaf chats in your neighborhood, deaf schools...get involved now. I wish you and your family the best. oh...Congrats on the Baby Boy :)
 
When i went to the ENT, she said that the baby will definitely need hearing aids based on the abr, which she said is not wrong. She said she will repeat the abr a second time to confirm the degree of loss prior to putting in hearing aids. She does not think i should get my hopes up because she says the ABR is not wrong. This all has been very confusing to me because my son seems to be able to hear. He has always responded to my dog barking or loud noises. I am also able to wake him up from sleeping by speaking his name and even by whispering his name. I dont understand how his hearing can be mod to severe hearing loss when he can hear me speaking and whispering?
Click to expand...
Does he play the " Now I hear you, now I don't" game? That's very common. Second of all, a false positive on the ABR isn't that unusual. Also, hoh kids have residual hearing without hearing aids. We can hear, just not well.
 
Megan8987 said:
I believe that the life your son will have will be based on you and your husband. To your son, being deaf...is normal. He's not missing out on anything, until people try and bring him or you down with "how can he live without hearing music, or the ocean, or voices" etc. He'll be able to "hear" more things through vibrations then I probably could with my ears :D. The Deaf culture is an amazing group of people who have stories, and jokes, wisdom and encouragement to share for your son and your family. There are MANY and I do mean MANY D/d adults who are very happy being deaf, with careers and families. Do not feel discouraged, feel empowered. Find local Deaf chats in your neighborhood, deaf schools...get involved now. I wish you and your family the best. oh...Congrats on the Baby Boy :)
Click to expand...

Well said. That was a realization I came to the day my son was diagnosed: for him nothing changed. It only changed for me.
 
jillio said:
Well said. That was a realization I came to the day my son was diagnosed: for him nothing changed. It only changed for me.
Click to expand...

:ty: For the past year I've followed you, shel's and even PFH's posts. :D I've learned a lot about the culture and language from everybody. I'm blessed to keep learning about it and try to help other people when I can
 
NewMom said:
I dont understand how his hearing can be mod to severe hearing loss when he can hear me speaking and whispering?

This has been a very difficult experience. As a new mom, i feel that the enjoyment and happiness of a new baby has been replaced with incessant worrying and preoccupation with hearing and hearing aids. At this point i even find myself worrying about whether my baby has any associated syndromes to go along with his hearing loss.

Any input/advice is appreciate! Thank you!
Click to expand...

Its possible your baby can feel the vibrations of you walking into the room, or the air moving near his face when you whisper. The loud noises could be some of the residual hearing.

My best advice for you is try not to waste your time worrying. Whatever is going to happen will happen. Enjoy the time with your son. He is the same child whether deaf or hearing. Learn some basic baby signs, they will be great for your child no matter his level or hearing. And just continue to live your life. Go to the doctors and get tests done, and if you feel something is not right then pursue it (mommy's instinct is important!), but dont let it take over your life!
 
welcome to AD
I, 2 have a mysterious hearing loss like your son and I had to wear hearing aids

my hearing loss was detected at 10 months old and I ended up having a mild/moderate loss

for this year, I'm about to order the pediatric hearing aids for me which is the Oticon Safaris :)
 
Megan8987 said:
:ty: For the past year I've followed you, shel's and even PFH's posts. :D I've learned a lot about the culture and language from everybody. I'm blessed to keep learning about it and try to help other people when I can
Click to expand...

Good for you. That is the way we get the information out there. Keep passing it on, and thank you for your efforts.:ty:
 
marcyp06 said:
Its possible your baby can feel the vibrations of you walking into the room, or the air moving near his face when you whisper. The loud noises could be some of the residual hearing.

My best advice for you is try not to waste your time worrying. Whatever is going to happen will happen. Enjoy the time with your son. He is the same child whether deaf or hearing. Learn some basic baby signs, they will be great for your child no matter his level or hearing. And just continue to live your life. Go to the doctors and get tests done, and if you feel something is not right then pursue it (mommy's instinct is important!), but dont let it take over your life!
Click to expand...

Chances are, he is going on visual cues and responding to those rather than the whispering or the speaking.
 
Wirelessly posted

It is true he is relying more on visual cues. My range also is 60-80db. This means he can hear some such as dogs barking, cars, planes etc. His range is below the 'speech banana'. So he cannot hear speech what it would sound to him if he can hear anything would be like hearing a foreign language for the first time all the time. Dont be fooled into thinking that if he had assistance from hearing apparatus that would ' fix the problem'alone he still needs visual so please use sign language and also use your 'mother's natural intuition' to teach him just as you would anyway. Read to him 'aloud' so he can pick up speech reading and let him see the words and pictures on the page. That is how i learned to read and speak. Your son most likely can hear enough that would fool people into thinking he can hear fine, but he will need as much visual cues as he can. Don't worry as long as you are aware of his needs he will do marvelously. I have done very well in my life and i didnt have access to sign language until about 2 years ago. I wish i did because although it is achievable to master both the spoken and written language without either assistive hearing apparatus and sign language. It would have been a much easier road if i had access to sign language from the beginning. For me with the lack of it I had and still need to rely on every other visual means I can.
 
Last edited:
Hi NewMom,

I have a 10 month old daughter with bilateral moderate-level hearing loss. Luckily for her, her loss appears to be mainly conductive. We've been discharged from audiologists and are officially an ENT client until she has tube placement at which point they may take her back in the infant hearing program depending on the outcome.

Our ENT visits so far have been disappointing (though I haven't had one in 3 months). She's now falling behind her peers with her speech development (eg, she doesn't babble, doesn't understand "no" :giggle:, is iffy her name). Other then that she's doing fabulously (taking her first steps, crawling, etc).
 
10 month old daughter with bilateral moderate-level hearing loss. Luckily for her, her loss appears to be mainly conductive. We've been discharged from audiologists and are officially an ENT client until she has tube placement at which point they may take her back in the infant hearing program depending on the outcome.

Our ENT visits so far have been disappointing (though I haven't had one in 3 months). She's now falling behind her peers with her speech development (eg, she doesn't babble, doesn't understand "no" , is iffy her name). Other then that she's doing fabulously (taking her first steps, crawling, etc).
Click to expand...
Odduck, what type of conductive loss does she have? Does she have something called atresia? That is strange that she's falling behind with her speech ...most hoh kids don't tend to have deaf style speech delays.
 
Back
Top