Has anyone had a baby with these symptoms (for want of a better word)

[strawberrycake]

DS is a slow/ poor weight gainer (75th to 2nd centile over 5 months)

diarrhea every day ranging from pale putty to green froth to green/ black to mucus

ongoing cough

ongoing runny nose (clear)

said to allergic to milk

Does anyone have any thoughts? He's happy, pale but so am I.

Am I being a nervous mother or would you think something of this?

there is no point asking the GP much, just get the referrals. particularly to allergy person

HV is different each time at the clinic so re-explaining it each time. Plus useless. One said she'd ring hospital for me, then left a voicemail 3 weeks later asking if I still wanted her to do it. Then no contact. Another one took all my details, said she'd help, no contact and never seen her again. The other one just says to wait. Daft advice like eating butter thrown in.

I got one referral, but I didn't know what to say really. 4 min appt with me being useless I guess I went in their expecting her to know history and ask further questions but she sat me down and asked me to voice concerns. I was rather inarticulate, plus it hadn't been going on long then.

I would agree, that sounds like one suffering babe to me, and a paediatrician is definitely the way forward as I see it.

I don't know a suitable paed in London but I would probably be inclined to get him an initial appointment at the Portland. You need to get your GP to refer you but this can be done rapidly if necessary.

Portland Hospital Children's Unit

or Great Ormond Street

Harris International Patient Centre

or try Mark Rosenthal at the Harley Street Clinic perhaps, as he does respiratory diseases and allergies.

Mark Rosenthal

PS Budget £150-£250 for a consultant's appointment, and £150 for any associated tests. If you run out of money at any stage you can get referred back to an NHS consultant.

Take notes, write everything down. I kept a detailed food diary of everything he ate and what happened (you could just keep a diary of sleeping patterns/naps/nappies etc)

The annoying thing for me was we where private !!!! We finally got the tests/help on the NHS .....

Have you tried ringing our of hours Doctors and getting to see some other doctor on call or the NHS walk i? because if they don't know you or your child they may refer you just to be on the safe side.

The sleeping a lot doesnt sound right. DS3 slept virtually all day and night for first 10 wks. After blood tests they found he was hypo-thyroidic.
Ask for blood tests. Ask for everything, this is not normal.

Good luck...x

Food is easy! No solids yet at all.

I must say he is a very happy baby. Usually happy. Very calm, not active though compared to others but developmentally good.

yes definitely write down all your concerns.
write who you have spoken to thus far and what has been suggested and whether or not it has made a difference
say what YOU would like to see happen.
ask their opinion on it

Was he tested for Cystic Fibrosis at birth?

strawberry - what's he like when he's feeding? Has he had true weight loss? Has anyone properly listened to his chest?

I think you need to think about switching his milk tbh.

My DD (2.9) had similar symptoms and was put on neocate at 8mths.

You can buy neocate over the counter although its very pricy (about £40 for a small tin )

But if you try this and the symptoms go then you can tell dietician/GP you want a prescription for it.

Has he had a stool sample tested??

He used to scream/ arch when feeding. He's calm now but eats very little for his age (3oz a go). What's true weight loss? He's gained, just slowly. Odd small losses of 2oz or so. He is on a steady, nearly flat, curve on the chats across the centiles.

He had the heel prick test.

What do I want to see happen? I KNOW I sound clueless but I'm one of these never ill people, have no dealings with doctors and if anything I'm wary/ scared of them.

He's had no tests whatsoever.

Listening to his cough, said 'chesty' and gave antibiotics ut no success with moody ds and stethoscope.

DD also used to scream/arch back etc when fed.

She was on aptimil but only got really bad when weaned at 6mths and I noticed she was especially bad after yogurt....

She was also put onto wysoy at 7mths and was horrifically constipated on it as if there is a problem with dairy then a problem with soya is more common Although nobody told me that at the time

They can test for lactose intolerance through a stool sample, testing the amount of sugars in it IIRC.

Am happy to send you a tin of neocate if you wish to try it.

I have loads

I agree, write things down. It's difficult for doctors to take a proper medical history as it's putting together a complicated jigsaw puzzle and the more you help them, the better results you are likely to get. So you need to cover the following sorts of things:

When and why you first became concerned?

What are the symptoms and what is the pattern to them?

What other illnesses has your baby had, such as chicken pox and so on?

Has your baby had any accidents?

The type of pregnancy you had and whether you took anything or had any problems during the pregnancy

Is your baby developing normally apart from this problem and the slow weight gain?

The type of birth and whether there were any problems

Family history of similar health problems or allergies

Whether the baby has siblings, pets in the house, that kind of thing

I am sure there are lots of other typical questions but I imagine these would be the main ones.

BTW cystic fybrosis was my first thought as well, but I had assumed all babies were screened for this at birth.

Forgot to say DD does not get a cough but always has a runny nose and although her weight has been ok, they (pead/dietician) are now worried about her height as she is very small in stature but sturdy in weight iyswim.

But she is also about to be tested for coeliacs as others have mentioned earlier...

Simpson, would be hugely grateful for neocate. Hugely.

BoffinMum, very very helpful list. Thank you for taking the time.

Had heel prick test so CF ruled out.

He's not short actually, 98th centile for height, only 2nd for weight.

Don't be scared of doctors, they are only human and all look the same as we do underneath!

PM me your address and I will try and get a tin out tomorrow

I know what its like battling with doctors though

The first pead we saw when DD was 6mths old thought there was nothing wrong with her and it was all in my mind

It's silly isn't it Simpson, they'd only have to look at my (lack of) medical record to see I'm not a fusser! GP commented there was nothing on me pre-pregnancy, that's because I hadn't been!

BoffinMum-SOME are normal!

By true weight loss I mean a loss of weight from one week to the next. You shouldn't really be seeing any loss at this age.

Look, I'm going to put my cards on the table here because I wish someone had done it for me. My dd has a heart problem and many of those symptoms, slept lots, poor feeder, sicky, wet cough, green mucosy poo, pale. I don't want to worry you but neither would I want to ignore it. It could absolutely be nothing of the sort, could be allergy, ongoing UTI, some sort of malabsorbtion issue, reflux or just a poor feeder who'll imrpove on solids. But I do think you should go back to your GP and voice your concerns. He can refer you to a paed same day - he just has to send you to the hospital.

I think the heel prick test only tests for the more common forms of CF.

I'm sorry if this worrys you more. It's not my intention at all.