For my son, getting ear tubes at 18 months old helped quite a bit--they didn't stop the infections (he has a primary immune deficiency and constant infections are the norm for him) but they at least made the infections easier to diagnose and treat, and they were less painful for him. But his tubes didn't fall out nearly so quickly. Is there something about the shape of your DD's eustacean tubes that both leads to the infections and maybe makes keeping the tubes in difficult? Six months seems like a pretty short time for them to stay in. It took about two years for one of the tubes to come out of my DS's ears, but the other one stayed in for quite a while after that (which I was told was unusual). I also thought that most kids outgrew the recurrent infections by age four or five, unless there was an underlying reason for the infections and not just normal childhood stuff. Even with my son and his total lack of IgA and IgG, he stopped getting ear infections when he was about five (now he just goes straight to sinus infections or pneumonia. I preferred the ear infections.).

Given that your DD is reaching the age when ear infections should be lessening and that you've tried the tubes twice without great results, I'd probably start looking for another reason for the ear infections. Allergists and immunologists often work in the same offices--I'd start there.

Good luck!

Sarah