Swollen lymph nodes in child

[mommycarol]

Hi mommies! I will get right to the point :) so 3 months ago i discovered 2
lumps in my sons neck,one on each side right
below his jaw i think?! I freaked out,called our pedi who is an oncologist as well and said is nothing and that swollen lymph nodes are very common and not to worry. I was reassured for a while but then my anxiety kicked in and decided to book a private ultrasound. Long story short
she told me tha indeed he has swollen glands on both sides both if them 2 cm. On the
report was saying, that what she sees is characteristics more of reactive nature rather anything concerning. And advised if has any symptoms,which he doesn't or if in 3 months still swollen to recheck. Our pedi saw the report and said there is nothing to worry. 3 months later still there still swollen!! What should i do? I know that 2 cm is quite big right? Do any of you mommies experienced anything similar? Big swollen glands but nothing serious? Im really afraid,but i dont want our pedi to think that im a neurotic mother :( by the way my boy has hypertrophic tonsils as well. Any experiences would be very helpful! TIA and sorry for my grammar..im not english speaking.xx

My little boy is 4 and has swollen glands on both sides just under his neck. Really obvious when he turns his head or looks upwards. I’ve been anxious too but have he’s been seen by two doctors (one of which happened to be a Consultant in paediatric blood disorders) and one in A&E. His bloods are fine and an ultrasound showed no concerning features. I’ve stopped worrying as a result. I was told that it is incredibly common, rarely an issue and that anything sinister would present itself very quickly as there would be other symptoms. Reactive lymph nodes are so frequent in young children and anything up to 2cm in diameter (short axis of the lymph node) is rarely concerning. Try not to worry 🙂

@Foreverbaffled Hi,thanx for replying! Glad your little guy is ok! Yes,i guess what worries me is the size..cause im reading that 2 cm is quite big..on the other hand the radiologist checked for concerning features and everything looks ok. But i cannot stop stressing...would you think if anything was wrong would he have other symptoms as well??

@mommycarol So the main concerns with swollen lymph nodes in children is the extremely rare possibility they are a sign of leukaemia or lymphoma (and believe me these cancers ARE rare even though we hear about them a lot.)

The consultant we saw explained that with leukaemia the deterioration is rapid, we’re taking days to weeks with many other symptoms (mainly lethargy, easy bruising, easy bleeding, being systemically unwell, feverish etc). You would know pretty quickly.

Lymphomas in children also tend to be rapid and aggressive and tend to start in several areas of their body - usually with an abdominal mass which would also bring many other symptoms (gastric problems for example) so again your child would become very sick very quickly. These abdominal masses are often noticed by parents as they protrude.

The consultant said that that 2cm tends to be the cut off but even the vast majority of nodes over 2cm are harmless, just slightly increases the risk. My sons lymph nodes feel and look massive but the width (smaller axis of measurement) is only 1cm and the length is irrelevant (I have no idea why just passing on what I was told.)

Ultrasound is a sensitive measure for screening lymph nodes. Obviously it isn’t as definitive as a biopsy but it can give a very good idea and we were told that a biopsy was not necessary. I’m not remotely worried now (and believe me I was a wreck before - I struggle a lot with health anxiety when it comes to my children) and I don’t think you need to be either. I think you need to trust the experts. My sons lymph nodes have been there 6 months now and haven’t gone down, I’ve been told he will grow around them!

@Foreverbaffled I see!! The weird thing with my sons lymph nodes is despite the fact that are 2 cm you cannot see them!! Only if you check his neck!

My daughter has had a swollen lymph node behind her ear since she was born, now 9 months. It gets bigger when she's Ill and it is starting to get smaller now :) Same thing with my first born the injections triggered one lymph node behind her ear to swell and it lasted forever !

My son had swollen lympth nodes in his neck at around 3. He had various check ups and blood tests.
They checked everything out because alongside the swollen lymph nodes he was also incredibly lethargic. He use to sleep 14 hrs a night and still have a 2-3 hour daytime nap. He was constantly picking up every virus going and suffered with high temps and headaches.
However it was just one of those things, nothing major underlying and eventually his lymph nodes went down. Now he is a healthy 12 year old, whose lymph nodes still tend to go up a bit if he's unwell and he is slightly more prone to viruses than the rest of the family, but that's about it.

Hi :) injections? Like vaccines?

@Messy1 injections? Like from vaccines?

Yeah

@Messy1 Interesting! How old is your son? My son is 3.5 years old. Did he got the swelling right after the vaccine? Or later?

sharing what happened to my son, it was extremely traumatic and basically i lost my faith in gps… it seems like there is check list…patient must return three times before they refer on to other services
My 17 year old had this at 3 and 12 years old all childhood vaccinations in the uk

at 3 it looked like mumps so basically swollen from under ear to middle of jaw

tried I think 2 antibiotics over a month from gp and no reduction in size of lump and increase in pain and difficulty swallowing, unable to do day to day things like preschool, play dates, extremely painful when freezing undressing over head
EVENTUALLY sent for ultra sound…solid lumps …okay have 3 month old baby and trying not to pass out in a panic every 5 minutes

decided to remove lymph nodes under jaw…seeing your little one going under anaesthetic is not like them going to sleep they basically collapse

nerves were damaged and he had a lopsided mouth/face for several years

at age 12 lumps appeared on back of neck on same side and when taken to gp he was fast tracked to paeds oncology and the were whipped out so he has a 2 long scars. Facial muscles recovered

@Hyvsvaar Hi,im so sorry to hear what you ve been through..i hope your boy is fine now!

Thank you for this post. I suffer with health anxiety and have found this very reassuring