Is she teething or is it something serious?

[badjelly]

Firstly sorry this is so long and rambling! I was just wondering what you all think is going on with dd (7 months).

Over the last couple of weeks she's gone off food and slowly off her drink (both milk and juice) to the point that yesterday she only had 14oz of milk all day and nothing else, she sleeps all the time (probably due to lack of food?) and has turned from the happiest/bounciest child ever into one that is content to just lie and gaze into space (again from the lack of food?) with the odd grizzling session. She's also gone from sleeping right through the night (which she's always done) to waking up every hour. She's also had a few, very minor, nosebleeds during the night last week but these have stopped now.
The thing that has made us worry more is that she got sent home from nursery on Friday and they very rarely send anyone home.

We initially thought it was teething (she's been dribbly for about 3 months now), then we thought it was the heat but it's been going on for a few weeks now. We tried Calpol but that just made her like a zombie (and we hardly gave any!) and teething gel hasn't helped much.

I don't want to ring the H/V as last time we rang (about something else) she just told us to ring the doc - when we went to see the doc he said "there's nothing at all wrong, first time parents are always a bit neurotic" (by this time she had a temp of 102). Anyway that's irrelevant.

Just wondered what you all thought - any advice greatly appreciated!

hmm, have to say that the sleep and lack of hunger I would put down to teething but not the rest of the symptoms and not the lack of appitite for such a long period. Has she been off her food for 3 months? Or is that just a recent thing? How are her nappies?
Re your doctor - I've always been under the impression that yes maybe first time parents are a bit neurotic but parents in general know their children better than anyone - in any case a temp of 102 was definitely something to be concern about.
Does she have a temperature at the moment? I think i'd definitely get her checked out - it could be something else minor that's keeping her down at the moment, and if it is just teething, then it'd be good to know. Let us know how you get on.

I would also take her to the docs just to get things checked out. Would you be able to see a different doctor perhaps if you felt the first one was not very sympathetic?
I know that several times we've blamed on teething what later turned out to be minor illnesses from a cold to a throat infection and it was picked up very quickly by the doctors once we took him and easily sorted out. I'm sure any good doctor wouldn't really mind if it did turn out just to be teething and you would put your mind at rest.

Hope all goes well and your dd is soon back on track

Message withdrawn

Thanks guys - I had almost decided to take her to the docs anyway but just needed a push!
eefs - she's been off her food for almost 3 weeks now and considering how much she used to shove down her throat that's a miracle! She's got a little bit of a temp but I think that's more of a weather thing at the mo!

I think the problem with the doc is that it's not the main surgery that we usually go to (the main one is 10 welsh miles away) so appointments are hard to come by and if they feel the appointment has been "wasted" they get a bit peeved about it

Thanks again.

I'd say take her again.

My GP said, "Don't worry about bringing your baby in, you know them much better than I do and you know when something has changed. If you are concerned, and it turns out to be nothing, then at least you will know in future". (I like my GP, and no, I don't go round there every 5 mins)

If you can list the changes in the way that you sent them out in your post, I don't think that he could say that you are only being neurotic.

PS I speak as a "neurotic" mum! I called the on call locum out to DD1 for vomiting when she had a cold. He then (very patiently and using words of few syllables) explained that this wasn't unusual in small children. Fine, but it wasn't in my baby books, or the bumf from the HV, so how the hell was I supposed to know that?

badjelly,

You have concern's about your child therefore do not be put off by thinking an appointment with the doctor is not worth asking for.

Act on your instincts - I am not one for running to the doctor at every little cough etc the children have, but in the past, albeit only a few times, I have acted on my instincts, gone, and usually found these visits to be well justified (IYKWIM).

Childrens health (especially babies) can be a mystery at times. It may be something...it may be nothing....whatever, do not feel you are 'neurotic', believe you me you are actually just a very normal, concerned parent.

Suggest you right down brief notes of what has been happening with your daughter these past weeks (similar to your post) and take these with you (it might even be worthwhile reading the notes again yourself to see if any pattern is emerging that might connect what is happening to some other factor - ie you might find the answer is already there). Be clear and concise in what you put and use these whilst at the appointment.

Hope it goes well.

butterfly

badjelly, please take her in to a paediatric a&e as lisalisa suggested. She is too young to leave her for that long, especially with nose bleeds and being listless. Or take her to your regular gp (not the one who called you neurotic...that was very wrong of him).

I used to have a terrible gp who always gave me a hard time when I brought my ds in. One time he was really ill (12 mo.), threw up on the way to the surgery, causing me to be 15 min. late for his appointment (had to stop and clean him up) and they made us wait an hour in the waiting room (he was totally naked in the middle of winter) as a punishment. After that I always took him to the local paediatric A&E for even minor things. I have since switched gp's and the new ones are super wonderful and never make me feel bad for bringing the children in.

By the way, my dd (10 mo.) was poorly for a few days and I finally brought her in to the gp and it turns out she had a raging ear infection.

Well I managed to get her an emergency appointment at the GP last night and also managed to see a different (totally gorgeous) doc to last time. He's says that she has a really bad ear infection which is complicated by a virus and teething. When I explained that I hadn't taken her back earlier as everyone I spoke to thought it was down to teething and the heat he said that he would have thought the same, so that's a big relief - I don't feel quite so awful now.

I did find it quite interesting that on her notes the last doc had written down - sore and inflammed right ear, to monitor. Nice of him to tell us that at the time!!! GRRRR

Thanks all

thank goodness for that, i was thinking about your DD last night and was really coming to the conclusion that something was wrong. They really suffer with their ear infections don't they! Hopefully she will improve soon.

Tell me about it - I don't know why I didn't figure out that that was what it was, after all I had ear infections every other month for about 8 years when I was little and my 2 young cousins really suffer with them aswell and often have to come into hosp because of them - hope dd doesn't follow the family trait!

p.s thanks for thinking of us!

Glad you got to the bottom of it badjelly, hopefully she will be feeling better soon and back to her usual happy, bouncy self.

Our 1st son suffered terrible with ear infections when little, even almost caused us to have to extend a holiday because doctor advised against flying(thankfully, day before, he was given all clear and we were able to set off for home as planned).

bad jelly

don't blame yourself. Ear infections are notoriously difficult for a lay person to spot in a baby as the symptoms are so non-specific. She may well have had some sort of conjestion from the virus which has only just caused the infection. At least if she feels off colour in the future you will have something to point to as a measure of whether she is really unwell.

Hope she feels better soon,

Message withdrawn

Glad to hear you've sorted out what's wrong. Sometimes not knowing what it is is the worst thing, so glad you can not worry and concentrae on lots of tlc instead.

I'm glad you've got the diagnosis - here's hoping for a speedy recovery for your dd.
Don't feel bad - little babies are like that - they can't tell you when they feel bad except by crying and that could mean anything from 'I'm bored' to 'ow'. As I said before, we'd done the same thing a couple of times (see, we don't even learn!) when ds had throat infections. I now have a good barometer of when ds really is coming down with something. Dh invariable says ' oh no, he's just developing his personality and is going to be naturally stroppy and badtempered' ahem!