Any ideas on what might be wrong with my baby?

[mm22bys]

DS is just not right, I just have an intuition that something is wrong with him, but no idea what...

He is now almost 14 weeks old, but came 3.5 weeks early...

Here's his history:

He was born healthily following a natural birth and we were sent home after 36 hours in hospital. When he was 3 days old I took him to hospital to have some jaundice looked at. Hospital told me not it was not bad enough to treat so I took him straight home.

8 days later I took him back to hospital because he was still jaundiced, but by now he also had an eye infection, and an infection in his groin.

The jaundice was still not bad enough to treat, but we were admitted for 48 hours for intravenous antibiotic treatment.

He also has had a white patch on his tongue that's had 2 courses of Nystatin, one of Daktarin, and now a course of Flucloxacillin that we started today, but patch is still there.

Pretty much since he was born DS just hasn't been right. He sleeps alot, he cries alot. When he is awake and not crying he seems disinterested. He has smiled a total of about two times, hates being on his tummy (he can barely move his head from one side to another), and he has mediocre head control. He doesn't look at me when I talk to him, but will follow with his eyes his mobile over his cot. He doesn't try to hold objects, bat them, or pull them toward him. He doesn't coo, or laugh, but he does make slight grunting noises when he's "happy".

I was hoping that he was just a "slow developer" but with each day that passes I feel he is not getting better but further behind.

Something is "wrong" with him, but I don't know what, and I don't know what to do about it. Is it possible that all the drugs he's taken have affected his "system"? How can I get his system balanced again?

I just want to know what is wrong with him! I am going to call a dr tomorrow. Should I also see an alternative practitioner?

Sorry to hear about all this mm22bys, I hope that your intution proves you wrong. I think you do need to be more assertive with these medics, who seem to be not really taking you or your son seriously.
Maybe he is just a slow developer. My dt1 was very slow to smile. But you need to know for sure, is he your first child?

Hiya - I have no real advice but didn't want the thread to go unanswered. I guess from your chat name that you have other dc's - I would go with your instincts on this one and push for him to be seen - Make a note of everything you have mentioned here so that you can tell the dr (incase you are like me and forget by the time you get there, don't forget that as he was born early he should only be 10.5 weeks so I don't know whether that would make a difference. Anyway, sorry I haven't been much help but I am sure you will get it sorted out.

You could ask your health visitor for him to be referred toa paedatrician (sp)

He's my second, my first was a real live-wire from the day he was born (still is!). I know every baby is different, but can't help compare....

Even if my intuition is right, hopefully somebody somewhere will be able to tell me what's wrong and we can work to get it right, not knowing is hard!

Thx

Hi. Sorry to hear you are having a hard time. You need to go back to gp and be really firm in asking for more help and assessments. They may say he is fine but at least it will put your mind at rest. my friend had similar experience with her son. They eventually found he had a zinc deficiency so picked up every infection going.
make a list of everything you are worried about before you go otherwise you may forget and dont be fobbed off.

Do you do baby massage? Babies usually love it and respond really positively and it has physical and emotional benefits for them. If you find a group or instructor who is qualified in developmental baby massage (sometimes also combined with something called soft gymnastics) this would be the best kind as it's been designed by a therapist called Peter Walker so stretch and strengthen the body - it's not just nice touching, if you see what I mean. He has a website.

A Complementary or Alternative Practitioner would probably need a diagnosis from a doctor to really help you properly. And your son is a bit young for diet and lifestyle advice! You could, however, see a cranial osteopath or a regular osteopath with experience in treating babies - and they could give your son a checkup. An Aromatherapist could make you a massage oil which would have immune strengthening and balancing essential oils. You could use this in conjunction with the Peter Walker massage.

Are you breast or bottle feeding? If you are breast feeding, make sure you are taking a high quality multivitamin/mineral supplement designed for lactation and a fish oil Omega 3 supplement that is high in DHA (not EPA).

One thing to be really specific and strong with the doctors with is this white patch. They are obviously assuming it's thrush - but thrush should respond to anti-fungals. So it's very logical that it is something else and they should rethink their diagnosis / treatment. A request to be referred to a pediatrician can't hurt.

Lots of love in the meantime.

Another vote for asking to be refered - by the time it comes up you will either be able to cancel it or glad that it's finally come around.

I totally agree about being referred but also wanted to add that my ds had quite a health history and when his body was fighting infections etc it was like that was all he could manage and the outside world and interacting with it didn't feature. I was worried but kept trying different means of helping him including paediatritians, bowel specialists (this was one of his health issues), allergy specialists, dieticians (was breast fed and ended up cutting out parts of my diet), cranial oesteopaths, cranial sachral oesteopaths, homeopaths, naturapaths and so on and so forth...when we got dismissed by someone, I tried someone else as I knew things were not right. On the developmental front his health is much better now and consequently his development is catching up rapidly (2.5yrs)
What I am trying to say is that if he has some sort of infection on his tongue or even a persistent virus of sorts then he may be putting all his resources into fighting that and that is why he seems to be less able to "develop" steadily (My son at fourteen weeks had very poor head control, could not be laid down, did not engage with others, maintain eye contact etc, etc so sound extremely familiar...sorry for long post hope some of it helps.

Thanks for everyone's advice and support. I am breastfeeding (had our issues there too but he's a champ now), so will look into a good multivitamin and will try to improve my diet (it's not too bad just need to eat fewer carbs and more fruit & veg!). I got him some massage oil and he had his first massage yesterday, and seemed to like it for quite a while.

The first couple of drs I saw about his tongue did diagnose thrush, but I have had no symptoms and it's only on his tongue. A third doctor (who actually was a locum) was the first to take a swab and they did grow something hence the antibiotics.

I agree, he seems to have had something not quite right about him pretty much since he was born so maybe his little body is just busy fighting the infections.

I am going to take him to see the health visitor today, I have known her since my first was born and we have a good relationship. Depending on what she says / suggests I will make an appointment with a GP and seek a referral to a specialist.

Thanks again for your advice and support, it's really appreciated.

Keep us posted. We all know how worrying it is, when they are so little. Even when they are not our first child. I personally, feel pretty anxious for the first 6 months, you have such limited communication, and they are so small and defenceless.

He's away sleeping again...

Well I went to the health visitor, and the usual one I see, wasn't even there. They only had a locum. My usual one is back next week, so I am going to phone her to see her.

I am also going to make an appointment with a GP (not my usual one, I really do want to see someone quickly now!)

I know what you mean about being so worried for the first six months. I look at my DS2.9, and he is at such a lovely age (apart from the tantrums!) - he looks so big and strong and healthy, and it's nice being able to talk with him, read to him and sing songs with him. I am not wishing away DS2's life but part of me can't wait till he's that big too (or at least a bit more communicative....)

Will let you know how I get on next week, thanks again.

Going back to the baby massage idea, as a baby massage instructor i would say that it is obviously a good technique to use. But i would also push for a referral as a mothers instinct should be heeded.

I am going to get a referral on Monday, have an appointment at 9am. They will refer me.....

Will try to get some massage time in over the weekend.

He's been awake for a while now this afternoon, and he's actually been doing some smiles. It's taken a lot of effort on my part, but at least he is smiling!

I've looked at his tongue too, and it looks to me like it might be clearing up a little.

BTW, what does an "empty stomach" mean in a baby? Stuff I see on the internet defines it as taking the medicine 2 or more hours after last eating, and one hour before the next meal.

Is it the same for babies?

I didn't think to ask the dr (or even the health visitor today) when she prescribed the a/b...

Thanks,

My son was born 4 weeks early, which meant he was 4 weeks behind initially....I was told not to just check his age in weeks when it came to what he should be doing but also his age if he had been born on his due date (if that makes sense).
It would mean although your son is 14 weeks, if he had been born at 40 weeks he would now be 10.5 weeks old.

Glad you've managed to get an appointment, hopefully they'll be helpful. Its definitely best to trust your own intuition if you feel somethings not quite right, but I agree with Upsadaisy, if he was early he might develop slightly later anyway. At about that age my DS didn't smile much, didn't laugh until he was about five months, cried a lot, had a permanently white tongue, really hated being on his tummy (still does!) and only looked in one direction! I also worried about it and the doctors couldn't find anything but then all of a sudden he started doing everything 'normally', and now at six months he's fine, sitting up, grabbing toys, laughing, etc. They all develop at different rates so he may do things later than your first LO but I'm sure he'll catch up.

Like I said its definitely best to get him checked out but hopefully there isn't anything wrong with him.

He can barely move his head from one side to the other.

Is this still the case? If so, he may have torticullis. Does he have a flat patch on his head?

I think you should really follow your instincts and follow this up.

Can you remember if the Guthrie test was done on him at about a week old? (Heel prick). If so, have you had a negative result given to you on it? Or have you heard nothing? If you (and/or your HV) have heard nothing and have been told "no news is good news", then chase it up and just see if it is clear.

I have a child who was born without a thyroid gland (which is one of the things that the Guthrie checks) which causes slow metabolism and delayed brain development and growth if untreated. It was picked up quite early (by day 9) in our case because ds happened to have massive jaundice that he couldn't shake off so they looked into underlying causes, but I know other hypothyroid children who haven't presented such obvious symptoms and have only been picked up on the Guthrie.

Also Guthrie test papers quite often get sent back from the lab to be redone because of a failure to collect blood correctly so there is scope for babies to fall though the net slightly. Also if it is done too early (before 5 days old) you can get false positive results. I'm sure both of these scenarios are extremely rare, but then all these extremely rare things do happen every so often!
I'm sure your lo is fine, but his failure to fight off infection and thrush, his jaundice, his sleepiness etc do sound as though there may be a slow metabolism and that is one of the things which might cause it.
And if he IS hypothyroid, prompt treatment is essential. Treated children are 100% fine, just have to take a tablet a day. Untreated children typically do not develop well and end up with IQs of under 60. The difference is so massive it is amazing (which is why they check every newborn).

This is all probably completely irrelevant, but I thought I would mention it. And to say DON'T ignore your instincts, make sure he is seen by a paed quickly and really make them think about everything you tell them. Don't mess around with an alternative practitioner until you have been thoroughly checked out medically - if any thing at all IS wrong, early diagnosis is almost always much better in the long run.
Best of luck!

mm22bys - you posted on mears' thread about diabetes. Are you diabetic? I don't have knowledge of it but is it something worth considering.

I would definitely push for a paed referral - as pph said, you need to trust your instincts here.

However, ds was born and got quite bad jaundice (but never bad enough to be treated) and had it for around 6 weeks. He then developed a chest infection (which seemed to prolong the jaundice) and we, quite honestly, did not hear him cry till he was 4 months old the poor child was so poorly.

Being ill at such a young age really can knock them for six BUT I guess you would also hope for a fairly swift recovery once everything is out of their system.

Don't let the GP fob you off - get the referral and get the paed to check him out.

good luck btw - let us know how you get on

He had the Guthrie and that came back normal.

No flat head...

Don't think it's DM, if it was he would have a smelly breath (ketotic), he would be peeing excessively (soaking through his nappies), and he would be thirsty all the time too. And he would be losing weight.

He's got none of those symptoms.

Am worried about the IQ thing now!

Thx, and will let you know

mm22bys
just a note to say i've been where you are at the moment, sorry i don't have any medical knowledge to offer you but just to say, keep pushing for information/diagnosis, and i hope it all comes good for you soon. take care.

Hello,

thanks very much.

I took him to a GP yesterday who did end up referring me, but he said his arm and leg movements are strong and symmetrical, that his head movements were good and that his eyes look normal.

I saw a friend on Sunday who has trained as a pediatrician, and other than a gunky left eye she didn't notice anything obviously wrong.

My HV at the local clinic is back today and I am going to try to see her too.

Since Saturday he's actually been a lot happier and a lot more alert. Maybe the antibiotics are doing their thing!

Thanks again,