Newborn has inguinal hernia

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My LO has an inguinal hernia? I’m so stressed that it will become strangulated and have been told her won’t have surgery until he is 6 months. Does anyone have any experience?

My son had an inguinal hernia as a baby. It was right during covid so wasnt expecting much to happen, but I had a telephone consultation with a GP who immediately referred us to a pediatric surgeon. He was operated on the same week. I think he was around 4 months old at the time of his operation, so I'm unsure as to why they are making you wait until 6 months.

Both my boys had this. One had the surgery at 4 months, the other at 5 months. In fact my youngest’s has just come back at age 5 which is annoying. The advice given to us was to check it was still soft. I noticed it was less prominent in the morning meaning it was still retracting. It is worrying but just keep an eye on it and if you are at all unsure or concerned then call 111 or go to a&e. Handhold though, it’s scary when they are so tiny.

@Killerqueenie they have more or less said because at 6 months they would require less observation after and could go home that day rather than needing a bed.

@MrsALambert I have found his gets very hard and then does eventually retract. I have been to a&e a few times. It’s hard not to panic

Yes my DS’s would get hard, especially when laughing or coughing but I think that’s okay. Still not nice though

My son had this and had surgery at 7 weeks. Very straightforward, one night in hospital.

@MrsALambert did you find your son was a bit more aware of what was going on because he was abit older? I would prefer it now for that reason (and my anxiety levels). Sorry yours sons has came back, didn’t even know that could happen!!

Fustrating that other hospitals do the surgery earlier. Glad it sounds relatively straight forward procedure

Is it the actual surgeons who have told you he needs to wait until 6 months, or someone else presuming that? In our region, the paediatric surgeons will happily do a hernia op at a few weeks old.

Not especially. We just call it his lump and I ask him to show me it after his bath so I can check it. We are at the drs next week to see if he needs another op. He was premature and his original hernia was very big so I wonder if that’s why it has returned. It’s no unheard of but not common I believe.

@nocoolnamesleft an actual surgeon. I asked to speak to one the last time I was in a&e about it. Very annoying when it’s not that way in other places

My DS had the surgery for this, very straightforward in his case. He was about 2 and recovered very quickly

That's frustrating. We were out the same day, even though he was only 4 months. He had his op in the morning and I was prepared to stay, but they were happy that he was feeding as normal once the anesthetic wore off and he had a wet nappy, so they let us home.

My daughter had one when she was a very young baby. I first pointed it out the HV at 6 days old. It would be more prominent when she was screaming and definitely got bigger over time. We were told to keep an eye on it not retracting and becoming hard. We took her to a and e a couple of times but it had always retracted by itself by the time we travelled there or the doctor could push it back in. I was called a couple of days before the first lockdown to say her operation could take place the next day. I was so worried about the covid situation and her catching it in hospital (remember this was the awful time of daily news reports of hospitals being overwhelmed etc) that I couldn't make a decision on the spot. I was told I had an hour to speak to her dad and they would call me back. They never did. She had a check up a few weeks/ month later at the hospital and the hole in her tummy wall had closed by itself and she would not need surgery after all. Don't know how common this is. It was such a worrying time. She is 5 now and has never had any problems since. Ironically I am recovering from an umbilical hernia op now since baby number 2 and surgery was so simple.

DS had this and it became strangulated when he was 5 weeks old. He screamed until one of the doctors in a&e was able to push it back in. Alderhey hospital insisted on operating the next day even though he was so tiny. They wouldn't let us go home to wait for a scheduled surgery but I think that was because there was a higher risk of it becoming trapped again.

@Mummen when it became strangulated at home was he just crying constantly?

Yes he started crying one afternoon and nothing would settle him. After trying all the usual things and when he still didn't settle after a couple of hours and a bath we took his to a&e.