Sorry this may be a bit long. I wanted to back sure to give as much background as possible ☺️
My 3 week old has been having episodes where his hands, arms, feet and legs go blue/grey/purple, worse on the right hand side. It happens during/after a feed and will come and go for a period of time, but when it resolves he can look very pale, especially his hands.
I know discolouration on newborns hands and feet can be normal but I took him to the GP the next day just to be sure. She agreed it could be normal newborn circulation and the usual warning signs to look out for. I had him back at the GP to get some milk thickener for his reflux and I mentioned it again yesterday as it seemed to be getting worse on the right side and she made an urgent paediatric referral to get him a more thorough checking over.
I ended up taking him to A&E tonight. He had gone around 10 hours without a feed last night, he normally fuels himself during the day by feeding every 2 hours then has a 6/7 hour stretch of sleep after his last bottle and as he was a good weight when born I never set an alarm to wake him for a feed which is how he ended up going so long without me intervening. During the day today he was drinking around half his usual amount and his soft spot looked slightly sunken. He was still having wet nappies and drinking enough for his weight, and the doctor said his heart and lungs sounded good so he wasn’t concerned about it being something serious which was very reassuring. He thinks he might be feeding less due to noticing the change with the milk thickener being added to his formula and his feeding should pick up again in a few days once he’s used to it. He also mentioned acrocyanosis or harlequin colour change as possible explanations and said it was reassuring that the leg that’s affected the worst stays warm and that the colour change is mainly one sided.
The only other things I’ve noticed are that he tires quite easily during feeds, gets sweaty sometimes, occasionally tugs in around his neck and has some nostril flaring. No blue lips/tongue, obvious pulling in around the ribs or anything else to suggest he isn’t getting enough oxygen when this happens.
I’m happy enough with the possible explanations and how they weren’t concerned it was anything serious causing it. He told me if I’m still worried then absolutely bring him back up or if his feeding doesn’t return to normal. But I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced similar with their newborn? Did it resolve on its own as they got older, or did it turn out to be something else?
I’ve added a few pictures to give a visualisation.
Thank you ☺️