Floppy larynx& bronchi

[mummyto2boysandagirl3]

Anyone any experience with the above please?

Yes, DD now 4 born with floppy larynx. Absolutely fine now, I honestly can't remember when it "went" but after her birth, the consultant wasn't at all concerned, very typical for children to grow out of. Of course, we were worried sick at first, I had visions of mute child and difficulty breathing...none of which happened.
What is your experience? Have you a recent diagnosis? Please don't worry x

Sorry for being vague just spent the day in the hospital and was shattered. Dd is 11 months and has been getting recurrent croup which lasts around 2 wks at a time. She also wheezes in between illness and has had bronchiolitis and pneumonia thought to b caused by the croup lingering do paving the way for secondary infection. She's also had trouble with solids and until new yr couldn't eat anything as she gagged/choked on even yogurt and when she was born she was gagging on my milk but gp said it was just my let down and the volume was too much for her to handle. Paeds however told me yday that it was this laryngiomalaica? And ahe will have been born with it. This is apparently the cause of her recurrent croup and y it's lasting so long. They're not ruling out asthma but don't feel she will benefit from a prescribed puffer so r just going to monitor her. I'm just wondering if anyone knows of anything I can do to help her or do I just need to b brave suck it up and just comfort her throughout all this illness ?

Thank u for replying btw :)

Yes had exactly the same diagnosis and issues with DD. They are expected to grow out of it by the age of 2. We had lots of recurrant chest and ENT infections (helped cause her glue ear actually) and pneumonia. Used to worry myself sick over it as the stidor (noisy breathing) made her sound like she was struggling for every breath. Slower to get onto solids and slower to babble. Age 3 now and fine - grow out of it as promised and ear tubes fixed the glue ear.

That's good to hear my ds1 has glue ear and is waiting for grommets tonsiladenoidectomy so uv reassured on both lol

Did ur dd have the stridor even when not poorly? Dd gets it when crawling round I'm also a bit concerned about the amount of steroids she's had. She had prednisolone last month for chest infection and two doses of dexamethalone this wk and paeds said if she's struggling with the stridor with any future viral infections shel need more steroids. I know if she needs them she needs them but just worried about her having them regularly :-/

we also had the nasal adenoid blockage removed :) yes she had the stridor permanently. much worse when she was sleeping or lying down; had to prop her up to sleep. I was carrying her once and a colleague stopped me to ask if I had noticed she had a problem breathing - like I wouldn't have noticed! She was very noisy!! I actually thought she hadn't outgrown it as promised, when back to ENT who said she will have, bet she has a nasal blockage. One scope later - bingo turned out to be the most severe level it could be. Immediate improvement post surgery. Even her voice changed. DD never had steroids at all - were never even suggested actually.

She had the prednisolone for the chest infection but she was struggling and did need it and this recent episode is the worst croup she has had so the dexamethalone was given to open her airways. I suspect she may end up with glue ear as paeds said her ears looked a bit blocked yday.

Did u do anything that helped with the solids we r blw as she point blank refuses a spoon but obv when she's ill she struggles to swallow anything even mash potato

Thank u for replying tho u have made me feel much better just hearing that they do grow out of it

i generally gave her baby food from the jars as it is nice and wet. i would giver her the earliest stages - she was eating well 'below' her age in terms of what i was giving her, and soup in a bottle before gradually building up to a spoon. she really hated the spoon and fought against it but it did gradually get easier with perseverance. At 11 months mine was exactly the same - really struggled with solids and hated spoon. just take it slowly - helped me when dr. said to think of her as being about 6 months delayed in development in this area so not to push too much too quickly. good luck

My son has bronchomalacia, he is 2 now and day to day we don't really notice it-apart from the fact that winter is open season for bugs and he spends most of the Winter on antibiotics for recurrent chest infections. I should point out those, that this is exhascebated with him having to have a tracheostomy (now decannulated, but still a hole there) so he is still at much higher risk of bugs.
Have you/can you ask to be referred to a specialist children's hospital for more specialist opinions, as to be honest, it sounds like you need a clearer plan of action, and the more specialist hospitals do this. We are under the Evelina in London and see the respiratory consultant there. That might be something for you to consider-also maybe ask to be referred to Speech and language therapists, as they can check that your daughter's swallow is safe, and that she is not aspirating into her lungs, thus causing more infections, when she eats.
Anyway, please feel free to PM if it helps. :-)

Hi mummyto, just seen your post - yes, dd2 (now 7) had laryngomalacia. Diagnosed at 4 weeks when she got very very sick with bronchiolitis and landed herself in HDU for a week.

She had her tonsils and adenoids out age 26 months, and at the same time they checked her larynx and added a small extra surgery - cutting a flap so her airway was wider, in effect. It made a huge difference as she had sleep apnoea, and wasn't eating solids anymore, though that was probably the tonsils more than the floppy larynx (combination isn't great!).

Here's the important bit: our ENT consultant told us when dd was 7 weeks old that most babies with laryngomalacia ALSO have reflux. They treat (at that hospital) automatically for the latter when floppy larynx is diagnosed. Sure enough, I battled with the GP for a couple of weeks before that as I was convinced dd had reflux - silent, for the most part - and was clearly in pain.

Reflux, untreated, will also contribute to chest infections etc - so its very very important that it is treated. dd had, iirc, Domperidone and Omeprazole, or something similar. Gaviscon (from the GP originally) did nothing but constipate her.

Is your little one being treated for reflux?

In addition, dd's gagging and choking got a lot better after her tonsils were taken out - but that was nearly 2 years after her original diagnosis, and for a year or two reflux meds did the trick. Presumably until her tonsils grew so big.

Please feel free to pm me if you want to ask anything, as I often forget to come back to MN threads

And, for the record, my 7 year old is hugely energetic, fit as a flea, and hardly ever gets sick

Oh - one other thing. dd2 also refused a spoon, and started to lose weight until we switched to baby-led weaning and just put things on her tray: she helped herself to pasta, cheese, biscuits, broccoli, all sorts - just not mush. Mush was the hardest for her, she always preferred the 'grab and suck to death' variety of food!

Thank u both for ur replies :)

I had a huge row with the gp before she was admitted they won't refer to a specialist paed said they should have referred but he's happy now he's done the investigations that we r ok to treat the infections he did chest X-ray to check she hadn't aspirated anything and wasn't too chuffed gp hadn't thought to rule it out!

We r blw all 3 of mine have refused spoons I only tried spoon with dd cos of the gagging and choking but she's having none of it and will happily pick up food she's a mouth full of teeth so unfortunately is biting bits off so iv had to start cutting things in to little pieces for her to use pincer grip

Ds1 had terrible reflux so I can safely say 100% dd doesn't have it I am not going to b shocked if her tonsils also need to come out at a later date as my other 2 dc r waiting to have theirs out.

Paeds said I'm to go to gp for referral if I feel she's getting worse or not improved over next 6 months I forgot to ask tho do I ask for paeds ref or ent?

I think you can ask for either, and once in the hospital system they can cross-refer if needed?

Great that she doesn't have reflux: that's rare, apparently Though dd2's was never of the obvious sort - pain, but not constant chucking up iyswim. She's always been a bit 'choky', still now occasionally - feels as though food is 'stuck' in her throat and has learned to just chew well and keep water handy.