8 month old had a cold since birth..

[Huwlett]

Hi there,
I'm new to mumsnet and the whole message board thing in general but my 8 month old daughter has had a cold or at least symptoms of a cold since birth. We have had the odd day without symptoms but the most was three days when she was finishing antibiotics for a chest infection. Can anyone offer any advice? she has always been a poorly baby, was a failure to thrive for the first five months, had prolonged jaundice, had norovirus for 4 weeks, had a chest infection for two weeks and leading to that she'd had a cough for nine weeks. She is developmentally delayed but only by a little and has recently been diagnosed as having Optic Nerve Hypoplasia but only on the mild end of the scale and though her vision is only just below 6/6 she will be monitored regularly for this. We are awaiting an endocrine work up as often with ONH there are hormone abnormalities which in her case they think growth hormone. Am I just being paranoid to consider her having had a cold for eight months as excessive? When I was last at the children's A&E the dr mentioned it could be dust allergies or an underlying condition such as asthma but left it at that saying he would consider giving her a chest x-ray next time he saw her. My Gp has never been bothered about it, I mention it every time we go which when we've had 34 appts in her life so far is regularly (Not for this issue, for other matters, see above etc) but they don't seem worried or want to do anything about it. I have another appt today for her and one on wednesday for a development review and will try and get some sort of referral but I don't know where to. Any ideas anyone? Does anyone else think she may have a low immune system or should I not be worried? FYI the symptoms I speak of are constant running nose (which now occasionally has blood in it), sneezes and when it's bad a temp.
Any views greatly appreciated. Thanks. I don't want to keep bugging the GP if it is a common thing and she will grow out of it but at the same time if it's not normal I want someone to listen to me and take it seriously.

From a confused and frustrated mamma..

I have never heard of a cold going on so long, but it does sound as though her poor little body has had an awful lot to fight in a short time, so how much difference that would make I don't know. I could well imagine her immune system has had an awful lot to deal with and so polishing off a low level infection such as a cold would be bottom of the list when the immmune resources are used for other stuff.

Is she still bf or formula, as in is she still getting your anti-bodies? There are breastmilk donations which can be drawn on for poorly babies or babies of mums who can't bf - maybe she would benefit from a dose of that to give her a boost if you are not bf yourself. milkshare.birthingforlife.com/

If an adult had all those illnesses they would be feeling pretty wiped out, so it could be that as she gains strength she will be able to fight it off.

In the meantime you could try to make sure there are no possible aggravating factors like dusty/damp environments.

Blood in a runny nose which has been like that for a long time would not be surprising as the blood vessels in there are so delicate and close to the surface, I get that if I have a severe cold for some time.

I would take heart that a cold isn't serious, unless it gets on her chest, but of course you want her to be well and not suffering. Sadly there is no medicine for a cold so until her own body fights it off there is little you can do. Hope you see some improvement soon. Good luck.

sorry that link is american, a better one is

babyworld.co.uk/2011/06/how-to-donate-breastmilk/

I can't think of any other way to give her immunity a leg-up. hth

One possibility that it might be is that her sinuses and tear ducts are all a little misaligned. DD has this, and in her case it means she seems to have a permanent runny nose, red dry eyes (that she rubs a lot) and a frequent cough, as she basically has a post-nasal drip all the time. Apparently it is reasonably common - about 1/10, my GP told me, though in most babies its sort of the opposite of how DD has it, so most babies with this normally get gunky eyes - and most babies will grow out of it by the time they are toddlers.

Thanks for the responses and your positive and helpful comments. I breast fed for as long as possible but that was only until about she was about 7 weeks old as she wasn't gaining any weight and was starting to lose it instead although she was feeding often. After going onto bottle it still took some time for her to start to gain any weight and was slow increase, hence the failure to thrive for her first five months. Thanks for the suggestion of breast milk from other mums, I'll look into that.
The gp today was really supportive and is going to write to her endocrinologist for him to investigate her immune system and sinus'. The Gp mentioned as was helpfully suggested about the possibility of it being a sinus issue so thanks for that info too. Hopefully we will get some answers soon. At least something is being done now and I don't feel like I'm not justified in bringing to the attention of the doctor.
Thanks again.

Awwwww - glad you got some progress with the doctor today. You did the right thing to keep mentioning it to them!

It is important a baby thrives (obv.) and my friend has just had the exact same problem with her dc - constant bf'ing but still losing weight - stress is the most likely culprit in her case for why her body wasn't producing enough milk for baby, she was checked out for retained placenta etc. For you to have kept going for 7 weeks is good going when faced with that issue, so don't feel you didn't do well enough because you did. She will still have had a good dose of antibodies from you.

Hope you get some answers which will help you worry a little less, and hope she feels better soon. :)

That's great to hear. If it is the sinus issue, I had to see my GP three times as they kept brushing me off, but I could see she was snottier, drier-eyed and rubbing her eyes more than other babies I knew. Whatever the problem with your baby - and hopefully it is something minor like this - you know that something is wrong, so keep pushing for answers.