advice please - dd always ill, and only 10mo - what should i do?

[Kerri28]

hello, please can anyone help me?

my dd is 10 months old and for last 2 months has had recurrent bouts of sickness, sometimes diarrhoea too, but mostly just sickness, stomach pain and lack of appetite. she is dairy intolerant and on special formula, but literally is ill for a whole week, better for a weak, but still not much appetite, then ill again. I am knackered from the night time stomach pains, my washing machine is constantly full of sicky clothes and I've had enough!!!!

doctor just says there are lots bugs around at the moment and as long as she's not dehydrted or excessively tired she'll be ok. health visitor puts it down to teething, but really? teething?

is there anything i should be doing? anything i should be worried about? has anyones dc been like this for a few months then recovered?

please help i'm despairing!

anyone?

anyone at all?!

go and get other things checked out, this happened with DS (now 3) it took us until he was 2 for them to diagnose lactose intolerance he was constantly ill and its affected his general development and speech.

DR's can be bloody useless at times, DS dropped of the weight chart and they still said he wasn't ill it took a referal to get a diagnosis for us.

There may be other intolerances or it may be lactose not dairy and she may still be getting some lactose in her diet. Best of luck on getting it checked out.

Go with your instinct and insist that your GP gets this checked out. It could be gluten/wheat intolerance. Maybe the special formula doesn't suit. You won't know and certainly won't be happy until you know you have checked it out. HTH

I agree Don't be fobbed off, get him checked out properly, you can ask for Paed... Good luck. It is not usual for a baby to be so sick.

Definitely don't be fobbed off! I allowed myself to be for 2 year. When someone finally listened to me and referred DD1 to a paediatrician, it turned out she has coeliac disease which is managed by eating a gluten free diet. The symptoms sound similar to my daughter's - regular vomiting, diarrhoea/constipation and complete lack of appetite. Lactose/dairy intolerance can be a symptom of undiagnosed coeliac disease.

Keep on pushing with the docs till you at least get a referral to a paed. Good luck.

oh btw the soya forumla milk we got didn't suit DS at all, the lactose free stuff was better and then when he was 2 we moved across to non powder cartons of ordinary soya milk.

thanks everyone, you've all managed to convince me that i need to act and not leave it
have got doctors appointment first thing on monday and i will not take no for an answer, i want to see paed and will not leave without it. Wish me luck!

Good luck Kerri, let us know how you get on.

Keep a detailed, written record of your baby's diet and her bouts of diahrroeah/vomiting. The medics will take you more seriously if you can provide evidence of your concerns - otherwise they can write you off as overanxious, particularly if you're a first time mum.

No way is what you describe down to teething!

I'm a GP and agree that your child should be referred to a paediatric gastroenterologist for further assessment.

I can't agree with Janni's comment about you being 'written off as overanxious', but a food and symptom diary is extremely helpful in establishing a diagnosis.

Emma - I'm sure YOU would treat Kerry with the utmost respect, but I recently spent time as a parent on a general paediatric ward. There was a first time mother there who simply could not get them to take her concerns about her baby's feeding seriously...In desperation she arranged a private appointment with a gastroenterologist. He realised that the baby had an undiagnosed cleft and was aspirating his feed.

Hence my comment about 'overanxious mothers'. It does happen!

I've also had the experience of being a parent on a paediatric ward having had to resuscitate my 8 week old baby. I can't say it was a happy experience- and that was as a 'medical parent'. I was treated like a complete cretin.

It does happen, but please don't write off all doctors as cruel and uncaring and get on the defensive before the consultation has even begun- some of us are OK and most will take you seriously.

Sorry to hear about your baby, Emma - hope s/he's fine now.

No way am I suggesting that any doctors are cruel or even uncaring, but they have to prioritise cases and as a parent you need to know how to get them to take your concerns seriously. Sometimes medics don't refer on as soon as they should and kerri's baby's case could well be one of those, for various understandable reasons.

is your DD at nursery?
My DS was ill for about 8 weeks with on-off D&V around his 1st birthday, we were told "it's a bug" etc. Ended up getting an infection and feeling really ill Kept getting better, going back to nursery and then ill 24 hours later. I posted on here "Is this normal" as all HPs were telling me it was. His development slowed and he lost weight.
Took him out of nursery, gave him a full month to recover and then started him at a new one. He is now fine - it's lovely having my happy little boy back

Thanks all,

Janni i have a recent sort of diary detailing 2 weeks worth of night waking and vomiting but stupidly not food intake, because i was goping i wouldn't have to go to that trouble

emma, thanks for your views on doctors, I'm quite relaxed about the thought of seeing a doctor again, but determined at the same time, not even a thought of doctors being cruel or uncaring, quite the contrary, a work acquaintance is a doctor and he sat down with me on Friday and expressed concern and gave me things to mention to doctor if said doctor was dismissive

polarbear, dd goes to nursery one day per week, and i did wonder if she was picking up bugs etc, the only reason i posted was because of the incredible frequency of them, and the fact that dd is perfect, but quite tiny

had long weekend awayso am off to bed will update you in morning.

Thank you.

hoping, not goping....

Hope it all goes OK for you and dd, Kerri

Hello all, doctor listened and was very sympathetic but said he didn't know what it could be and that as dd wasn't in the "failing to thrive" category that he really wasn't too concerned.

I said that I was concerned, not because dd ever acts ill, but because I don't know any other mums who feed their babies in a cafe and then spend the next 60 minutes stressed out in case they projectile vomit over the lady sat next to them

Doctor said if i'd like a second opinion he'd gladly refer me to a paed for one, although he didn't think it was necessary.

I said i would like one, not because I don't trust him, but because it'd put my mind at rest. So I have the referral, and will now just sit and wait for the appointment. I'm going to keep a diary in the meantime.

Thanks for all your support and words of advice, not sure I would have pushed for it without your help.

That's great news- well done.

I hope the paeds can look into it and help to set your mind at rest.

Glad to hear you've got a referral. Hope they can sort it out for you.