Worried about ds....... :(

[pucca]

My ds is 17 mths old, and in the past 2-3 months he has had 3 episodes of his lips being blue and ice cold. The colour does come back after a while but was still worried so i took him to GP who seemed quite concerned, GP said if it happened again to bring him straight back. My GP was shut today so i will be going to talk to him in the morning (open surgery - which is fab!)

It happened again this morning, at the time he was having some warmed up weetabix so definately an odd one this.

Then it came back to me, that when ds was born it was touch and go as to if he needed to be transfered to special baby unit due to the fact that there wasn't enough oxygen in his blood. Is that quite common with babies born by c-section or do you think there may be something more sinister going on? in which case this could obviously have stemmed back to then.

Anyone have any experience of this? or know anything about blueness/coldness of the lips? i really do not want to google it tbh.

Thanks

A friend's ds regularly used to get blue lips very easily. He's a strapping lad of 16 now so it wasn't anything untoward in his case. Best get it checked out, though.

my DDs get this (even when having warmed up wheetabix and the like). They have Raynauds syndrome - it is very common and rarely serious. Look out for puffy red hands, white fingers or toes too - often the blue lips are the first things you notice as you see them most often. Also look and see what colour his feet go when getting in or out of the bath. It may seem weird to you that he is blue in a particular situation but young children respond to temperature changes very differently to adults. Raynauds gets better with age usually.

Definitely go back to the doctor and don't be at all suprised if you get referred to a hospital. My DD1 was referred and the consultant diagnosed her almost before we had gone through his door. She has very blue lips very often but has had all the necessary checks and all was fine. It is very worrying, luckily for me (raynauds sufferer too) I had an inkling what was wrong with DD. Lets hope this is all your DS has too.

btw DD1 was obvious raynauds sufferer from very young but DD2 showed no symptoms until she was about 15 months - now it is pretty clear she has it too.

good luck

By brother frequently had this when little- he had a really fast metabolism, and would get cold and/or hungry really easily. My mum used to put woolly tights on under his trousers (when he was this age!) and make sure he didn't go too long without food.

He grew out of it eventually.

My dd (23mo) has been similar the past couple of weeks, with cold hands and feet too. I think its because we've been getting up later over holidays, and she's having breakfast later, so being hungrier. Once she has some food in her, she's fine.

My DH has raynauds though, so maybe she'll be like him. He had a cryogenic fit as a child, which was very scary for his mum (turns blue all over- starts hands and feets and spreads up the body). Don't know what changed, but last couple of years he's been much better- but we do have central heating now, so maybe thats linked.

erm My obviously just had a peek, and he's gorgeous btw!

Sorry can't really help wiht the question but lovely dcs! EPPM got me looking too.

My dd2 gets blue lips at unexpected times too, I have always worried she is developing asthma (she has peanut induced anaphalyxis).

Coby I was very interested to read about Raynauds syndrome, what colour do their feet go when they get in the bath?

Is it something that should be diagnosed officially and treated?

Thanks everyone

Has definately made me feel better about it all, didn't manage to get docs this morn )had a bad night with dd being sick) but i phoned and have been told to phone back at 2pm so i can speak to the GP.

hellish - usually their feet go very red in the bath and sometimes they stay red for quite a while when they get out.

It doesn't need an offical diagnosis or treatment in the vast majority of cases - many people don't even realise they have it. My DD was checked out as she used to go completely blue all over when I put her on her changemat when she was little and I wanted to check it wasn't anything more untoward. She just used to overreact to the slight coldness of the plastic.

I would say though that you should see the doc if their lips go blue - just to rule out other problems. Look out for the white fingers, red puffy hands, red feet and discomfort in the cold too as this will help the diagnosis.

EachPeach Raynuads is a genetically inherited condition so your DD may well have it. My DD is worse when hungry or generally run down and mine got a lot better when we had central heating installed too.

Coby- yes- re-reading your posts made me think that too! She also goes red in bath, even though we keep it at a low temp (using baby bath thermometer, even though she is coming up to 2).

Have read that ginger is good to get the system going, but is there anything you have been recommended to do to help improve the symptoms?

HIYA

Ummm I think I have reynauds - i get white toes and my hands and feet are always freezing and when i get in a hot bath my feet go white a ssnow and they burn but in a cold way(?!?)

My son also gets blue lips! But i never really worried about it too much, can you pass reynauds on?

Ive never been diagnosed but IM 99% sure its what i have!

Eachpeach have a look here raynauds association there are some tips and leaflets available that should help. Most of what I've done to help my DDs has been learnt from having it myself - think the link I have given you doesn't have lots of advice on helping the symptoms.

Cotton rich socks and shoes made from breathable material help a lot as they allow the feet to breathe - if the feet sweat they get damp and then cold.
Fleecy sole inserts in wellies are a huge help too - they just need to be the sole inserts not the whole boot liner - I'm having probs finding them at the mo but I'm in the middle of nowhere, my mum says she has seen them in her local shoe shop - they are like fake sheepskin. Definitely recommend those.
Draughts and dampness are the main problems for people with raynauds.
If you need to warm someone up quickly - your body heat is the best way. It's not too hot and does the job gradually but quite quickly. When DDs get really cold hands and are in pain I get them to put their hands between my legs to warm them up ASAP.
Despite all their raynauds they still refuse to wear gloves arghhhhhh!

I use a bath thermometer for DD1 (3.5) too but mainly becuase I can't judge temperature very well.

hth

MrsKittylette - yes, it is prinarily genetically inherited and very common - have a look at the link on my prev post - should tell you what you need to know.

Thanks Coby!

I have noticed recently dd trying to put her feet inside my top when I'm changing her!
She is actually pretty good about keeping gloves or socks on.

I have those insoles myself I feel the cold easily- I think I just got them from a shoe shop. Haven't seen them for children.

thats what my DD2 does when I change her!..it then morphed into kicking under top and has now become No1 fave game 'kick the baby' (DC3 on the way).

Last time I bought the fleecy insole things I got some huge size ones and cut them down and just got 2 pairs of kiddies size ones out of them