Is this Laryngomalacia? (floppy Larynx)

[justmewithmylifetoday]

DS2 is 12 weeks and since birth we have been dealing with the following:

Initally we put our struggles down to the fact he was in SCBU for 2 days when born (planned C-section) for grunting/respiratory distress. Then he was diagnosed with tongue tie, then later reflux...

*Struggled to establish breastfeeding (has expressed bm/formula top ups)
*Often coughs/gasps/splutters during bottle feeds (even with MAM bottles and slowest flow teat)

• On Omeprazole for suspected reflux which is helping. *Often gasps and 'chokes' on own saliva/nothing. *Quite noisy breather (mini Darth Vader at times!)
• Can get very uncomfortable at times when feeding will frantically gulp some then turn head rapidly to catch his breath. *Noticed (more when smaller not as much now but he has neck rolls now so difficult to see!!) his neck dimpling/sucking in when feeding. *Had tongue tie procedure done at 4 and 8 weeks as it reformed. He has been a bit better since the last tongue tie procedure but it hasn't 'cured' by any means so don't think it was just the tongue tie causing issues.

After some research I've come across a Laryngomalacia and it seems to make so much sense with DS, wondering if anyone has any experience of this?

Thanks!

I'd say it was still a tie and possibly cmpa

@Nutellaspoon thanks Nutella! had dismissed CMPA as his poo's are I normal as far as I can tell.

Anyone else? The more I read about it the more I'm convinced. Will phone GP Monday to put my mind at ease, or should I contact HV?

I had one with it but they had 101 other things also. Are they being fed completely upright and kept upright for a substantial period after feeding? There’s generally nothing done apart from this from memory, mainly it firms up with growth and intervention is only required in really rare cases.

I have two with cmpa, only one had poo issues. It can present differently with different babies.

Any stridor breathing?

@HoppingPavlova yes we've always sat him quite upright and sit up in bouncer or over shoulder after milk.@Nutellaspoon that's interesting to hear, so hard to know what's going on with little ones isn't it if it isn't clear cut. @LapinR0se his breathing just sounds congested and snuffly most of the time. Only time I hear a stridor sound is if he's struggling to feed and does sharp intakes of breath as if choking. I have noticed his neck tugging in when breathing.

@HoppingPavlova that's good to hear that if it is this it's nothing to panic about and it's obviously not severe if it is that as he is putting on weight and not in severe distress etc. Thanks for the reassurance.

Hi op,

This is a copy and paste of a similar post I've replied to before:

My son has laryngomalacia. We noticed when he was around 8-12 weeks old but were dismissed by the doctor. Our son was premature and we took him to his consultant for a check up, and she noticed it straight it away! It's a very particular sound - lots of people commented on how noisy he was and assumed he was constantly battling a chest infection.

Your child needs a referral to an ENT. They'll put a scope down their nose to check their throat and how much skin is blocking their airways. If it is laryngomalcia depending on your child's symptoms they'll decide whether or not to operate (it's rare to operate - only in about 10%) of cases. Our son had the op (just one night in hospital) at around 6 months old.

Our son struggled massively with reflux - would projectile vomit with force and refuse to feed/take an hour to feed. This is associated with the condition. It sounds like your child is struggling to feed too. Our son was on gaviscon and ranitidine (this was recalled and he was put on lanzoprasole instead) - these helped a bit and he took some feeds. It was just a matter of perservering and trying little and often. We also saw an SLT to help with feeding. Once he weaned he was much better.

Having said all of that, most children have it midly and grow out of it on their own. Our son is now 3 - he has no problems eating or drinking milk but still very occasionally gets his strider if upset, tired or full of cold!

Sympathies OP - must be so stressful navigating all that. I think in your position I would be asking GP to refer to Paediatric ENT and a speech and language therapist to investigate the possibility that he is aspirating feeds. Some
of his symptoms point that way to me…

Hi OP!

Did you get any answers for this?

I could have written this about my little boy as we are currently going through this now..

Especially coughing on his bottles, my little boy is 7 weeks old, but was 6 weeks premature