Observer wants Mumsnetters' views on whether parents over react to their child's health

[carriemumsnet]

It's on the back of the Sharon Stone story where allegedly she suggested botoxing her son's feet to stop them smelling - and the judge's finding that she 'overreacts to many medical issues.

The Observer want to hear from anyone who has any fun stories about your most dramatic over-reaction to your child's health and, on a more serious note, why some parents feel compelled to behave in this way; how they're treated by the GP or doctor, and what would help them put their child's health in perspective.

The Sharon Stone story is www.tmz.com/2008/09/30/judge-says-stone-wanted-to-botox-her-kid/

Thanks all
MNHQ

ds was taken to out of hours gp due to crying, he was about 2 weeks old
oh and he had some strange of rash, which was just the mark of my fingers holding him
sometimes his skin was blue and mottled, but that would be the cold house

I bet Casualty has spawned a generation of paranoid parents

PMSL at pre eclampsia

We had one woman who was adamant her daughter had leukemia beause she had a bruise.

Documentaries on rare or unpleasant diseases have a similar effect LittleBella.

Mind you I guess some lives are saved by knowing the symptoms of some illnesses (like arm pain and heart attacks) so it's potentially benign.

you can tell i didnt read the thread before i posted.
where;s your sense of humour folks

It's in A&E.

I took my six year old son to the dentist as he complained of toothache. The dentist checked him, did the x-rays and said "Your son has a wriggly tooth. Just keep wriggling it, it will be out in a day or two".

On the other hand I was taking him back and forth to various doctors for two years, as he wasnt eating much, he was often sick, had temperature, complained about tummy ache, etc. Every doctor said the same thing "He is just a fuzzy eater, he probably cant localize his pain very well, must be his throat" He got so ill and lethargic, he was admitted to hospital whilst on holiday in Poland, and diagnosed with severe iron deficient aenemia. I had asked the doctors to get his iron levels checked, and told they did not do this as the needle could be so distressing. LIke hell, as if the two years of his life where he was in pain and couldnt eat was not distressing?

Putting him on a high iron diet along with multivitamins with iron helped, though he still complained of tummyache, until he eventually he had an appendectomy. The surgeon said that some children had a very long and slow build-up to appendicitis.

My problem has not been taking him uneccesarily to the doctor, but getting the doctors to believe that my son was actually ill. Trust a mothers instinct.

mis filed perhaps?

Maybe Sharon Stone is so concerned because she herself suffered a stroke so young?
Give the woman a break!

I have called an ambulance for my dd- once when she had a febrile convulsion (about 11mo) and once when she started turning blue (9mo).

I think the 'over-reacting' thing is about confidence of the parent.
I was much more scared when she turned blue-she had fallen off the bed, stopped breathing, and was going blue. Turns out she was just 'shocked' and held her breath- I didn't know babies did that stuff! I was dialling 999 in a blind panic, with tears running down my face, though by the time they answered, she had begun the screaming.

With the convulsion, I knew what was happening, called 999 very calmly, whilst stripping her, and telling DH to wet a flannel to cool her down etc. It was all very rational- but I had read about febrile convulsions, and other friends with DC the same age had been through the experience 1 or 2 months before. It was a very different experience, and the ambulance crew re-assured us that we'd done the right thing calling them.

most of us reach for advice from somewhere
here
nhs direct
a book

And on a more serious note? Well yes I have one. My only sorrow is that I should have been more over dramatic and should have gone on my gut instinct after dd fell off a small garden swing. After a visit to A&E she had her arm put in a cast and then we were sent home. When I did make a fuss, 2 days later and another visit back to A&E, because she was in so much pain we got sent back home, then 2 weeks later, for follow up, I had to hear "to keep mummy happy will put your arm in a cast again for another 3 weeks, but there is nothing wrong" at which point they still hadn't figured out she had a dislocated elbow and was in constant pain. Thankfully the plaster technician listened to me and decided she wouldn't put it in a cast and could see how much pain dd was in. She insisted they looked at the xrays again and only then noticed it had been dislocated all that time. So 3 operations later and 10" scar and limited mobility and will never regain full rotation in her wrist. No not funny at all.

That's terrible bitemylip.

Yes I still feel like crying today as I let her down.

No, I don't think you did. You took her back and you listened to her. I think you did everything you could. I am always telling parents on here to get their children checked over for this very reason. Sometimes they don't listen.

Thanks. Mistakes do happen, we are all human at the end of the day, so go with your instincts, I agree hand on heart.

i took ds to a and e once because he had bashed his foot and was very upset and couldn't put weight on it etc.

i was sent away after being told, it's just a bruise and he'll be fine. i spent a week trying to get hm to walk on it and then i got a letter from the hospital asking me to take him back in., it was broken.

they'd missed it on the x rays.poor little boy-no wonder he didn't want to walk on it.