calcium

[tin]

my baby is three weks old and was recently taken into hospital as she was not gaining any weight and was being sick. She also has a slight rattle when breathing which the doctor said may not be coming from her chest but from hre nose. Two days on and we have been discharged with no further steps to when we first arrived. They said they monitered her breathing and that was ok but she still takes only a few onces and is still bieng sick. My main corncern now is that they said she has quite a high level of calcium but would say no more about what the problems would be or how this would affect her and so i am more worried now than i as before. I have never herd of having to much calcium or what the effects would be and am hoping some one may know a little more on the subject.

Tin ... all this sounds worrying for you and unfortunately I don't have any advice for you .... I am a bit shocked that you DD has been discharged from hospital without finding out the cause of her sickness. Did they mention something called Pyloric Stenosis at all? My son had that (started being sick at 11 days old) and he ended up being hospitalised at 4 weeks and had a very simple and tiny op to sort it out.
I don't know anything about Calcium levels though and I think it is awful that they send you away without any information to set you mind at rest ...
Anyway ... I thought I would bring this to the top of the active conversations board so that someone who knows what they are talking about might see it and might be able to help ... Good luck!!

Tin...My son has had calcium problems since he had heart surgery at 16 months. He usually has low calcium and takes medication to keep it at a normal level but once when he was overmedicated he had high calcium. Nobody realised for about 2 months and he dropped 3 centiles in weight, he was sick quite a lot and was generally tired and irratable. Apparantly it can give them stomach cramps too. He hardly ate anything but drank and drank water and had sopping nappies. This is because it effects kidney function so they can get dehydrated.
My DS is a bit of a medical mystery and has had lots of investigations. The doctors tried to put it together with his heart defect to suggest he had a syndrome of some sort but all the tests were negative. They think he has a problem with his parathroid which is the gland which helps produce calcium. He is very healthy and thriving now his calcium is regulated.
This is very rare in babies and infants so you need to go back to the doctors and push them for some answers. It could be one of those odd things which happens and then sorts itself out again without any further problems but you need to get it investigated. You might find the doctors haven't said anything because they haven't seen it before and are a bit baffled. You need a metabolic specialist.
I hope I haven't alarmed you even more. Just keep at them.

Tin,
I checked on the 'Net and nearest I can tell is that the "high Calcium" is probably indicative of electrolyte imbalance. Or, put another way, the baby isn't getting enough fluids & nutrition. Which you kind of know from her poor weight gain, anyway. I sure hope you can sort out the weight gain problems quickly. Don't be afraid to hassle your HV & GP for more direction & help.