what does your childs chest look like?

[whyareallthegoodnicknamestaken]

Dd is 6 and since she has lost all of her puppy fat and is now looking rather skinny (she's still a normal weight) I have noticed her chest looks a little indented. Had many a trip to the gp for other issues and it has never come up as an issue but after a quick Google it looks as though she may have 'funnel chest'.
Will make an appointment for gp on Monday but just wanted to ask if anyone else's skinny LO's have a bit of an indent?

Children are supposed to have their ribs sticking out a bit. We have got so used to seeing fat people/ children that we have forgotten what normal children look like.

The outline of my daughter's ribs show when she breathes out. She is healthy and normal and so his your daughter.

Ds3 has an indent in the middle of his ribcage, it's odd looking and when he was ill in hospital the other year it was commented on. There is a name for it but it's not anything to worry about.

Yes funnel chest or pectus excavatum or something it's called. Anyway unless it is very severe it's not a problem :)

Do yourself or Dh have the indent 5madthings?
It's not that I can see her ribcage reallytired it's that there's such an indent between them. Kind of looks like her chest is sunken in.
an A&E driver mentioned it when she was taken to hospital with breathing problems due to a virus last year but only to ask if he chest seemed more sunken in than usual, which it didn't.

My dd2 is 6 and I think she has this too. She has always been very thin so it is quite obvious. I thought it was just her shape but I might get it checked out next time we are at the GP now that I now it is a 'thing'.

No neither dp nor I have it but we discovered recently that mil does! None of the other madthings have it.

Ds3's is very noticeable and we call it his freaky chest. But he was checked over when in hospital for something unrelated and they said it's nothing to worry about. I will try and get a pic of ds3's tomorrow if you like?

If very severe it can affect breathing etc but most are fine however in America they will operate on it for cosmetic reasons! Madness! It's a huge operation that involves breaking the ribcage!

Yeah I just always thought it was just dds shape but obviously not. I have terrified myself with Dr Google! Do you or anyone you know have the same problem octopal?

Yes it is called pectus excavatum and can be caused by having sleep apenoa as a very young child - the extra stess breathing can cause the indentation and will remain even if the apenoa is grown out of. My ds has this and though the apenoa was cured by a tonsetectomy the indent is permanent. It is not really obvious and i don't think it will ever be an issue for him - his consultant did advice though that if it was there is an operation that can be performed though as i think it involves breaking and resetting ribs i personally would only consider if it was really very prononced.

That's very reassuring 5madthings. Thank you :) yeah that would be brill if it's not too much trouble?
Google only brings up the more extreme looking cases where the indents almost look like holes.

Oh nightswift you have just cracked it!! Dd has sleep apnoea because of large tonsils and is waiting to see if she needs a tonsilectomy in Jan. She really sucks in her chest to breathe.

Glad to have helped - my ds1's overnight oxygen saturation test was inconclusive for apenoa but the consultant took one look at his chest and scheduled him for the op straight away as that was all the evidence he needed!

I have no idea if ds3 had sleep apnea as a baby, obviously not or I would have known? He is ten in a few weeks and his is quite pronounced, esp as he is a lanky skinny thing!

Bizarrely ds1 did get sleep apnea and had to get tonsils/adenoids out but he doesn't have the dippy chest!

Sounds like you should mention it to gp if it's related to the sleep apnea.

I shall get a pic of ds3 in the morning :)

Thanks everyone hoping she has the tonsilectomy really as she's such a noisy sleeper and seems so uncomfortable during the night. Poor thing hardly ever gets a full nights sleep.

Ds2 doesn't have the indentation but had tonsils out at 2 yrs- consultant diagnosed apenoa early because of ds1 and i think caught it before any dip took hold! Ds1 was 4yr when he had the ops and already had a dip by then.

My DH has this. If you leave him in the bath and let the water out it makes a well. I can pretty much fit my fist in it. No knowledge that he's ever suffered from sleep apnea. Newborn DS1 looks like he might have it a bit too. I've never thought of it as something to talk to the doctor about tbh but interesting that it's not congential and can be acquired.

DS1 has had pectus excavatum since birth - he's now 5. It's pretty noticeable though he's only just realised he has it and that's because I inadvertently told him He thinks he's special. We saw a consultant about it when DS1 was a baby and IIRC he told us it shouldn't cause any problems but he could have the op at 7 or 8. As I understood it it's for cosmetic reasons but they'll do it on the NHS because of the potential for bullying. This was 5 years ago though so I've no idea if that's still the case and we haven't looked into it any further since.

I think my brother has something similar. I must ask my mum about it. Dd is the healthiest thing you could imagine. Never any tonsils/breathing issues at all and a very quiet sleeper too.

I must read more about it when I have time.

A friend's teenage son had it, and had an op to correct it.

My three children have this to a greater or lesser extent. It is genetic, but dd2's is more marked due to her sleep apnoea associated with her very large tonsils and adenoids.

First time I've heard of this :) I googled some pictures, and it can be pretty impressive!

Thought you all might enjoy this page of (really quite hot) famous people with PE. Joaquin Phoenix!!!

My friend used to drink pepsi out of his with a straw as a party trick. I know several people with it.

Is pectus excavatum the same as harrison's chest sulcus? The latter is what we were told dd has as result of obstructed breathing and repeated chest infections in her early years. It improves as the chest issues resolve, we were told it was an indication of problems rather than a problem in itself, if that makes sense. She is 6 now and it is much better than a few years ago (she had adeno-tonsillectomy at age 4 which made a massive difference to the apnoea and the chest issues), though still noticeable.