My 2 year old son (28 mos) had sooo many ear infections, esp around his first birthday. It seemed that each month, everytime he cut a tooth, his nose would run and that night he'd be up with the ear infection. We took him to an ENT, and they checked his hearing very quickly and painlessly, and that checked out fine. But we weren't crazy about putting him under for surgery, and asked the doc what he tells nervous parents. This guy was lacking on the bedside manner, and said he did it for his son, and it's no big deal. Well, to us it was, and when he gave us the same statistics as someone mentioned above, I wondered why we'd want to do something with a slight chance of success.
So I was saying one day to my best friend (mom of 3) that I wished there was just some other option to try before going to surgery, and she reminded me that the same thing happened with her oldest, and she took him to a trusted family friend who was a wonderful chiropractor who adjusted him a few times, and it seemed to work. So for a few weeks I made the hour-long drive to the doc who was very understanding and the appts would only last a few minutes, and whether it was coincidence or not, he's only had 2 in over a year - the latest one this past weekend b/c we just started him in daycare.
I'd suggest finding someone who's highly recommended, and has a practice that takes care of children. We have a good friend who's a chiropractor, but I wouldn't trust him adjusting my son. Give it a shot before putting them under, if you can.
Also, we packed away the bottles when he turned 1, and had a rough week of him being PISSED that we were giving him his morning milk in a sippy cup instead of his bottle, but it didn't last more than a week, I promise.