UPDATED - Ask a Paediatrician Anything. Answers Posted

[JoshMumsnet]

Hi,

After our successful AMA with a midwife, next week we have Dr. Chinedu Nwokoro - who has kindly agreed to answer all your questions related to children's health.

He's a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, specialising in respiratory conditions; but he's happy to answer any questions you might have on children's health.

What have you always wanted to ask a paediatrician? Things you suspected, but never were sure of? Dr. Chin will answer as many as he can (within reason!)

Just pop your comment or question in this thread and we'll ask Dr. Chin. The video will appear on this thread next week.

(A somewhat obvious disclaimer, but please do not use the video instead of seeing your healthcare professional!)

How do you make a child sleep on his own! My 13mo screams if we try to put him in his cot alone. He won’t sleep unless he’s snuggled up to a parent in bed. It’s destroying our marriage.

Also what are normal milestones for the first couple of years? Every website says something different. There are often threads along the lines of “My X month old child hasn’t hit this milestone yet, should I be worried?”

My DD (3 years) has CMPA. It was not diagnosed until 11 months but was on lactose free formula for a few months before that. I suspect the issue may have been contributed to by the large doses of antibiotics I had for spesis when she was 2 weeks old. At the moment we are stuck at stage 2 of the milk ladder.

I am due baby 2 this summer and I was wondering if should go dairy free before starting to breast feed or if this is not a good idea?

Does BF makes a difference?

I have a six year old who wont sleep alone I'm in bed with him now if I get out of bed he sleep walks to find me so I cant get him to sleep in his bed and leave so far this month he has found me having a bath ironing downstairs putting the dishwasher on and when I left to go to the toilet if he cant find me he screams in his sleep it's quite....disturbing

My daughter is approaching 6 months old and has been on every prescribable medication for silent reflux. She's back on ranitidine which we tried from when she was 3 weeks old to 3 months will little result. She's been on omperozole also which worsened the problem. She's so miserable and barely sleeps and can be up in the night up to 6 times sometimes. It's utterly soul destroying. Is there anything else we can try. She is under paediatric care and we have a follow up next Friday.

My now grown up child has enthesitis related arthritis.

My son (4) is complaining about sore knees.

Both have different dads. I know there's a genetic cause of my daughters arthritis.

When do I take my son to the gp or is it unlikely. Sore knees due to rough and tumble? That's partly my gut feeling but he's coming up to the age my daughter was diagnosed. So I do tend to have anxiety that he will be diagnosed.

My husband thinks he is OK.

Sorry, I'm not asking you to diagnose over the Internet, I just am curious about the probability of both kids having arthritis.

at what age roughly do you think it is appropriate and helpful to seek an adhd diagnosis?

school are pushing for my 6 year old to be assessed. she showing some signs of inattentiveness. we received a questionnaire but couldn't answer some of the questions as she's far too young for some of them to apply. she has seen a peadiatrician who had no concerns and discharged her and salt who again have no concerns. they think she'll grow out of it. she actually scored very highly on the tests and has a very good vocabulary for her age but struggles with written work and concentrating on tasks like getting changed for p.e.

Hello

Is a circumcision the only option for a tight foreskin that won't retract? No ballooning, no infection.

My son is 9.

Might things loosen up during puberty?

Many thanks

Hi! How long does a cough have to go on for to be concerned about? My little boy always seems to be coughing to some degree. In the past I’ve been told it’s just one virus after another. Is this true? Or can it be a chronic chest infection or asthma etc?

What causes growing pains? My dad has been investigated and nothing found but still occasionally gets leg pains at night - for 3 years now.

How many people that you have met have genuinely mixed up paediatrician and paedophile? Is that a real thing?

How do we solve the national recruitment crisis in paediatrics before the entire service falls apart? Oh, sorry, that would be more for the politicians...

At 18 months, if a child is not yet saying understandable words, is it time to seek a medical opinion or still too early if comprehension is good?

My daughter has had a stomach ache for six months, she complains of it daily (including on weekends!) and her appetite and energy are both reduced, although she has not missed any days of school or anything. The GP won't refer us to a paediatrician because he says it's likely to be something psychological. I am worried, and wondering about spending money to go privately. If it was your daughter, what would you do about this? Would you just leave it, or what kind of investigations might you recommend starting with?

Ds2 is nearly 4. He started to hold his poo at about 20 months. Ds1 started doing this so we potty trained him and it stopped. Thinking ds2 was similar we potty trained him at 24 months.

The potty training didn't help and got so bad at one point we were doing suppositories weekly. We have tried movicol, lactulose everythibg. We started to recognise the signs and as he talks we know when he needs to go but it can take 40 minutes of sitting on the toilet.

The other problem he has a beige diet since the issue with his poo holding and I'm thinking it may contribute to it,

We are at a loss, gp says he will grow out of it but I'm worried about long term
Damage

Do picky eaters eventually grow out of it, or at least get easier to tempt into trying new foods?

My son will be 4 in July, and I am absolutely at my wits end with his eating habits. He has steadily got worse and worse since age 2 (frankly he wasn't a brilliant eater to start with) discarding more and more previously acceptable foods, and now has an extremely limited diet and eats hardly anything. Almost everything I offer him is deemed "too yucky" and he just refuses to even try most things, seemingly preferring to be hungry.

I've tried to get him involved in cooking to see if it will help and he really loves making things with me - still won't bloody eat it though!

I just don't know what to do with him.

Would you or your colleague's recognise Infantile Spasms or would you send them away thinking
It's just reflux?

Is the chicken pox vaccine worthwhile? I'm considering getting it for my DD SOON - she's 2 in April. No underlying conditions. Also is it safe to give your child when you are pregnant? I know it's a live vaccine

Also interested in ADHD. Does a paediatrician diagnose or is it a multi disciplinary assessment like for autism? What diagnostic tests are used for it? Thanks

DS is 4.5 and had laryngomalacia when he was a baby along with reflux and difficulty weaning. He's now largely grown out of it but I can still hear a slight wheeze. Will this continue to fade as he grows or is there life long problems? Increased risk of asthma?

Why is it so difficult to get a diagnosis of any of the conditions under Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)? Varies hugely around the UK, some people have to pay thousands to go to a clinic, others can eventually get a free diagnosis if they can succeed in being seen by a paediatrician who recognises and can diagnose. Even then, ongoing support is patchy & inconsistent.

FASD is thought to be more prevalent than autism and research has identified it as the most common, non-genetic cause of learning difficulties in the UK, a condition that is life-long and untreatable, but entirely preventable - source:

www.adoptionuk.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=91c9c083-a3a3-41a1-887b-b3c089c6f7ff

Thank you.

My son who is 10 has regular, what I assume is migraines which seem to come out of nowhere, he goes from feeling normal and then he goes very pale, feeling very sick/or being sick, and crying and saying his head really hurts (he wants to be in a dark room) and he struggles to get upstaires and I have to hold on to him as he's going upstaires because I can't carry him up anymore. We give him Calpol and he then goes to sleep for a few hours. This seems to happen monthly, or a bit over monthly. We have taken him to our GP who said that nothing happens regular and there's not much anyone can do about it. This has been going on for years though. Is there anything that we need to do, do I need to get another opinion or is it just something he'll grow out of? thankyou :)

My son is 3 on 20 th March, he rarely has a solid nappy and he also gets a chest infection every time he gets a cold no matter how minor. It's hard to speak to doctor as he screams every time we go

My five year old was a reflux baby and has had what he refers to as "sicky burps" for as long as I can remember.

For the last six weeks, he has had no control over being sick and will throw up liquid/partly digested/undigested food between 10-30 times a day.

He's been prescribed Liquid Omeprazole (5ml) which he's been on for nearly a month which reduces but does not stop him throwing up. The being sick tends to only happen outside when he's exposed to a change in temperature.

I have no idea what to do. Pediatrician and GP just want to medicate but he can't keep the reflux meds down and it doesn't really resolve the issue that a five year old shouldn't be sick 15 times a day.

Please help - have absolutely no idea what the next step is.