Wednesday 18 February 2009

Tummy pain in an 8 -month-old

I am the mother of an eight mont old premature baby boy. He is so pleasant anf friendly. I’m just a bit worried that he’s not crawling and refuses to go on the floor but beside the crawling I have a question to ask.

 

On Sunday day morning he woke up with a fever of 38.64 degrees. He was crying and nothing helped sooth him. He refused to have his bottle and fell asleep on my breast. He cried every time he pasted a wind down there. It was loud, continuous and very smelly. He woke up again at 3am and then at 4.50am crying and also refused to drink from my breast.

I took him to a homeopath which couldn’t rely tell me what the problem was. He gave me something for the fever which helped bring the fever down to 38 degrees. The next evening he continued crying through the night and refused to drink the bottle and breast.

Last night he woke up every half an hour, nagging and pulling his legs up to his stomach.

Today we went to another GP for a second opinion. He advised that us that our baby has a viral infection. I couldn’t wait to leave the consulting rooms as my boy didn’t stop crying. It was as if someone was murdering him. Once we got the script for the pharmacy we were on our way.

I completely forgot to ask him, what actually causes the viral infection.

 

Please would you be able to give me advise.

   To answer your last question first, we all pick up many viral infections in our life, the commonest one is a cold (coryza). We nearly always catch these from some other human. It is often not realised that if someone sneezes or coughs onto a surface which your baby touches or you carry on your hands to the baby's face, then the baby becomes infected with a virus. I suspect your doctor saw a sore throat when s/he examined your baby.
It is possible that this virus will cause gastroenteritis and he will develop vomiting and diarrhoea. Your baby obviously has tummy pain from your description and I wonder whether he has chronic constipation. Both these conditions could explain the pain and foul wind.
Please write again and tell me what the bowel actions are like. Also has he ever had blood on his bowel action.
There is one serious condition that requires surgery called intussusception and I would go back to your doctor and enquire about this possibility if the pain has not settled by the time you get this e-mail. This is a rare condition but very important.
Finally I would not be concerned about a premature not crawling by 8 months.
David

Thursday 12 February 2009

Baby speech not developing

Hello,
> We have a couple of concerns about our daughter who is 15 weeks old.
> She seems to be
> developing normally in most areas but there are a couple of things
> that we are seeing recently that
> don't seem quite right. Just as background... I had a normal
> pregnancy and delivery. She makes
> eye contact and smiles at us. She can reach for a toy but is not
> interested in rolling over at this
> point.
>
> The first issue is that she seems to be vocalizing less than she was
> a month ago. She used to
> repeat vowel sounds that we made and would say "ah-goo" when we said
> it, as well. She still
> makes noises, but they aren't the consonant sounds that we expect
> and the "ah-goos" are
> completely gone.
>
> Secondly, she has begun sucking on her fingers like there is no
> tomorrow! In fact, she sucks on
> them so much that she will lie in her very dark room looking at
> nothing (we don't have a mobile or
> any toys in her crib) for a long time (perhaps an hour?) so long as
> she is sucking on her fingers.
> For instance, last night I woke up at 2:30am because that's usually
> a time that she wakes at night
> to nurse. I just went in to turn down the heat in her room and
> realized that she was awake and
> lying there sucking on her fingers. I'm not really concerned about
> her weight gain right now; she
> eats plenty during the day. Our concern stems from the fact that we
> thought that babies her age
> were supposed to be soaking in the world around them while our
> little girl seems content to lie in
> darkness with her fingers in her mouth.
>
> We don't know if these issues warrant a trip to the pediatrician.
> She is our first child an we don't
> want to be overreacting, but at the same time we want to be the best
> advocates for her that we
> can be.
>
> Any advice that you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
>
I share your concern about your daughter's regression in speech and the possible disinterest in the world around her,
I think you should see your pediatrician and that s/he should arrange a formal hearing test.
From the way that you asked your question, it appears you are concerned about developmental retardation and/or autism. While these are possible, hearing loss is much more likely but you should raise these concerns with your pediatrician as well.
I hope I am wrong about all these things but, if they are present it is important to find out as early as possible so treatment can be put in place as soon as possible.
Please let me know what happens and don't hesitate to ask more questions.
Yours sincerely