Laryngomalacia & stridor in baby

[CrazyDi]

My little one has laryngomalacia/tracheamalacia and has done since birth. He is 4 1/2 months now and its getting worse...He was admitted to hospital by our gp this week, is home now but i just wondered if anyone knew more about this.

I know what it is and what causes it etc..my main concern at the moment is he has bad recession everytime he breathes..does that mean its affecting his oxygen intake?

The recessions are quite bad and VERY noticable on both sides of his ribs/chest..

Any info would be great

Sorry to hear about your little one. My son had this when he was born. He was in SCBU for the first 5 days. He was a noisy feeder and sleeper for the next 12-14 weeks but it improved on it's own. We didn't need any further investigations for him. Another friend of mine's baby had this until his 2nd year but he too improved on his own. Each case can vary, some can be quite severe and need further medical intervention. Do you have a follow up appointment with the paediatric team at your hospital? What did they tell you on discharge?

I'm sorry I have just seen this, so not sure if it would be still of help

DS had also Larynomalacia. He was a noisy feeder, a noisy breather and used to choke with his own larynx. DS also had very noticeable recessions when breathing which were exacerbated if he had a stuffy nose, it was affecting his oxygen intake BUT we were told not to worry too much about it unless we could see his lips turning blue (in which case an emergency call to NHS direct was required).

In the case of DS it helped to change his position (turning him to the other side would make thing better)so the floppy area of the larynx was in a more favorable position, it helps if you keep a monitor in his room or his cot in your bedroom, we used to jump to change the position when he seemed to get in trouble and immediatly was fine, though we could hear the breathing of our little Darth Vader from most rooms in the house.

DS was refered to a paediatric ENT doctor who decided surgery was a good idea, the waiting list was enormous, as usual, and have to say that by the time he got admitted for the operation (5m old) the stridor was almost gone. Many times I wonder if it would have been better to wait a further month rather than going ahead with the operation. He certainly was outgrowing the condition.

If you are worried about the recessions, ring NHS direct, better to err in the safe side. HTH

my son also had this!

we were told that it would get worse before it got better, which it did

have you been to see a consultant about it at all yet? we ended up seeing one by taking ds along to a&e one evening (before he had been diagnosed) because we were so worried about him

he spent a night in hospital being monitored and they said he would grow out of it.

he is now 7 months and it is almost gone. we miss the darth vader!

Thanks for your messages!! We have just got back from the hospital, he was admitted to a&e the other day for breathing difficulties, they kept him in as his oxygen intake was too low and he has got brochiolitis also, so he's having difficulties at the minute

He has to go back every 6 weeks for monitoring, and also has an open entrance direct to the childrens ward, so no waiting in the a&e from now

I felt so sorry for him, seeing a 4 month old baby with oxgygen masks and nebulisers on his face all night was awful

But he's home and well again now

Good to hear your little one is over the worst. You must have been very stressed by it all. Great to hear that you have easy access to the paediatric ward. It makes a world of difference and is very reassuring for you.