umbilical hernia

[Mrskbpw]

My son is two and I think he's had a hernia since birth - he has a small bulge above his belly button. It's never been a problem - i used to notice it when he was tiny, when he was crying, but since then I've not really been aware of it. My health visitor at the time said it wasn't anything to worry about.

But a couple of nights ago, when I was getting him undressed for his bath, I noticed it was suddenly much, much bigger - about the size of a plum. By the morning it had gone away again - well, it's always there but usually very small.

He has a doctor's appointment this afternoon with our rather rude, quick-to-dismiss-concerns, GP.

So I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this? Googling (yes, I know this was a bad plan!) seems to suggest umbilical hernias normally close up by age 2. Should I push to get it investigated further?

DS developed an umbilical hernia when he was about 5 weeks old.

This was seen by several health visitors, our GP and a consultant paediatrician during normal check-ups.

All of them said the same thing - if it gets suddenly much larger, if it gets hard and can't be (gently) pushed back in, then get medical attention immediately, as that may be caused by the hernia becoming strangulated, which is very serious.

We were also told that surgery to close umbilical hernias isn't normally considered until age 4.

But in your position I'd be pushing to get it investigated sooner because a hernia suddenly getting big and then small again doesn't sound normal.

I hope your appointment goes well.

DS2 had his operated in when he was 3.5. We were also told to seek urgent medical attention if it suddenly swelled or went red/ hot etc. it did get bigger which is why they did his surgery a little earlier than usual.

Good luck.

my ds2 has one his was quite big and they talked about operating but as it wasnt causing him any problems i didnt want the risk of a general anaesthetic. sometimes it would stick out more, sometiems less, i was told that as long as you can press it back in when they are lying down and its not red or inflamed then its ok, if you cant press it back in and it is red etc go straight to a&e as thats an emergency and they will operate.

we opted for monitering of ds2's and then when he was 4 they decided that it was small enough now (as his tummy muscles strengthened naturally as he got older) that it wasnt a concern but they would still operate if wanted for 'cosmetic reasons' we thought that wasnt enough of a reason!

anway he is now almsot 10 and tho its still there its tiny, really tiny ie the size of a smartie maybe a bit bigger? and doesnt cause him any issues and he isnt bothered, tho he does have na outy belly button.

Oh thank you. It's barely there today - but it was so frightening to see it had suddenly popped out. I didn't try to push it back in, but it wasn't red - just skin coloured.

At least I know it's something that needs to be watched, so if doc tries to fob me off (she has a nice line in dismissive hand gestures for when she can't even be bothered to talk) I can push for it to be monitored.

def get it checked out and its worth monitering it, if its not bothering him and its not red or hot looking its probably fine but yes when he lies down flat on his back you should be able to gently press it in and it shouldtn hurt him.

they do look a bit freaky, with ds2's one if i touched it i could feel the milk glugging around in there! and could hear it was well! bit freaky but he is fine now :)

Morning. Thanks for all the advice. Just to update - we went to the doc on Friday.

She said there's a weakness there that should have healed by now, so she thinks he might need an op. She's referred him to the hospital.

But she also said it wasn't anything to worry about, though we shouldn't ignore it. And told me all the stuff you guys had already told me about going to A&E if it got hard etc (of course, I pretended it was all new information and didn't say I already knew thanks to many wise MNers).

Glad we got it seen. Thanks for all your help.