Pyloric stenosis in newborns

[popsycal]

My sister is due next week and has just found out from her partner's mum that he had Pyloric stenosis at 6 weeks and had to have an operation. SHe has since read that it is familial and the baby is 20% likely to have it.

She is too worried (and cross at just finding out now!) to google so I said I would find out a bit for her.

Does anyone have any experience of this condition?

Many thanks

Hi popsy ...

The main thing to do though, is to make sure your sister doesn't drive herself mad thinking everytime her baby throws up, "Oh my god, has he got PS?"

Although my doctor was a tosser and patronising, in a way he was right, babies ARE sick and it IS called possetting ...
The key is the baby's age and the amount he/she is sick ...
Reflux is so common isn't it and everyone has a tale of the sickiest baby in the world ... but reflux babies still tend to put on weight (even if it is slowly) ... PS babies, when it gets bad, lose weight rapidly. But it takes a while to get to that point. And the vomitting gets steadily worse and worse ...
I was told that usually the symptoms of PS start around 3/4 weeks and then a baby is usually diagnosed at 6 weeks. My DS was unusual in that he started younger and was diagnosed and operated on quite young ... which is why my doctor and HV didn't believe me - as he was young IYSWIM?
Don't let your sis get her knickers in a twist expecting it ... make sure she enjoys her baby and doesn't panic every time he is sick. It will become obvious if the baby has it ...

Thanks ghosty.

It is a fine line, isn't it, between being vigilant and being neurotic and looking for it. Hard when you are a new mum, sleep deprived, hormones kicking in etc.

Thanks for taking the time to come back and reply.

Have to agree with Ghosty in that I struggled to get DS diagnosed aswell.

I instinctively knew that it was more serious than reflux but had no idea what it was (had never heard of pyloric stenosis) - spoke to the HV when he was 6 weeks old and she said it was probably reflux, took him to the GP that afternoon who diagnosed gastroentritus, took him to another doctor 4 days later who diagnosed reflux and prescribed gaviscon (cue the porridge as described by Ghosty ) - he woke up that night and there was dried blood in his vomit so we took him to A&E there and then (they weighed him and he had lost nearly a pound in just under a week!) and eventually he was diagnosed in hospital - but tbh, it was a relief when they did diagnose him as I was glad there was a reason for his vomiting and it could be cured - the stress of the constant cycle of feeding, vomiting, feeding, vomiting etc was horrendous - particularly as the vomiting could be upto 2 hours after the feed so you could never relax.

Although I think it was difficult to diagnose because his vomiting was not truly projectile - so the doctors did ask me that bith times and I said no (presumably if I had said yes, it would have been diagnosed a bit quicker)

And to top things off, after his op, I took him back to the clinic 3 days later to be weighed and spoke to the HV who had told me it was reflux - when I explained what he had, she said it did occur to me that it might be that but I didn't want to worry - wtf?? It would have been nice if she had mentioned it so at least we were aware of it - still bugs me to this day!

Ceebee ... did we have the same HV?
After my Ds's op she said, "Oh, yes, I could see it was going that way ...."

All water under the bridge now though ... my PS baby is a PS baby still - but now PS stands for Play Station ...
Only at weekends of course as I am a prudent mother

Hi, just thought I'd let you know that I had PS and was operated on at 3 weeks old (over 30 years ago). I never suffered with any more problems and have been absolutely fine since. I went on to have four children and thankfully none of them had PS. .