When my daughter was two months old, she had an episode where she went limp in my arms and stopped breathing. She started losing colour in her face, and we had to work really hard to stimulate her (rubbing her feet and back etc) to get her going again. She would come and go in and out of consciousness and it happened about three time. We were taken to the hospital by ambulance. By the time the EMTs arrived, the episodes were over. The blood and urine tests at the hospital didn't find anything, and the doctors said that maybe it was acid reflux and she had choked on acid that was coming back up(it had happened after a feeding). We were skeptical but had nothing else to go on so we went home on prevacid. She is now five and a half months old, and we had another epidsode yesterday. It was very similar in symptoms to the first one, but this time she was in the bath and was three hours post feed. I really don't think it has anything to do with acid reflux. I saw her starting to go limp so I took her out of the tub and held her in front of me. She went limp in my arms and her head dropped into my chest. Again, she started losing her colour and wasn't breathing for about 8-10 seconds. She started breathing and then stopped when I stopped stimulating her. It happened three times before I she kept breathing on her own without stimulation. We are at the hospital now but I am afraid they are just going to blame acid again. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Are there specific questions I should be asking? Thanks so much!
EDITED TO ADD: I'm sorry for any confusion in my post. I want to clarify that by "at the hospital now" I mean that we have been admitted. Baby girl is getting tests done by the pediatric specialists including EEG, EKG, a chest xray and head ultrasound. They are not doing blood and urine samples at this time as they did them last time so we will see what these further tests show. Thank you all for your advise thus far. I will keep you updated as to what happens!
It's not acid reflux. This is very serious, and a doctor needs to diagnose her right away. Don't let them send you away without a proper diagnosis. I agree with starting with a pediatric cardiologist etc.
no, but it sounds terrifying.
i can't imagine how acid reflux would cause any such reaction.
i hope you get better answers this time.
khairete
S.
Take her to a heart specialist and to a neurologist right away. If you hear of any other ideas find out what kind of doctor specializes in that and go to the specialist. It sounds like it could be a seizure. How awful. I will be thinking of you and hoping you can get to the bottom of this quickly. Please come back to let us know.
welcome to mamapedia!
So your daughter is now 6 months old and she's passing out again? Why hasn't she been seen by a cardiologist and a neurologist? or even an pulmonologist.
If you see it happening? RECORD IT. Have your husband record it and you work on her while you call 9-1-1.
Get infant CPR certified - BOTH of you. it's important for ANY parent to have. Call your local fire department and find out when they are holding classes.
I'm truly sorry you are going through this. My youngest son was born with pneumonia and flat lined on me when he was just 4 hours old. I understand how scared you are.
Good luck
You need to get your baby to a Pediatric cardiologist and Pediatric neurologist. That is where I would start. Talk to your Pediatrician. Tell them you what her seen by the above mentioned specialists.
I agree. Keep your phone near you and when this happens film it. It will help the doctors see exactly what happens. Could be heart, could be seizures. What tests are they running on her? Your are her advocate.
This is not reflux. Call the pediatrician or a children's hospital to get a team assembled. My guess would be to start with a neurologist but you need a good team approach so that other specialties have a chance to weigh in.
Write down what you have written here. These episodes come on too quickly for you to be able to video them, which is often a good strategy for other things when you want to show the doctor. But these are quick, with unexpected onset, and potentially life-threatening.
Demand and advocate for your child. If you don't know a specialist and if you feel your pediatrician is not responsive, then call a children's hospital and set up an evaluation asap.
Hard to do when you can't predict when it will happen but it might help if someone can record it when it happens so you can show it to the doctor.
I'd be worrying about 'what if this happens in the night when we're all sleeping?'.
I'd be afraid of SIDS - and I'd want a monitor on her so it would wake me if I needed to help get her breathing again.
Work with your doctor.
It could be any number of things and it might be something she can outgrow - but I'd want to work with a doctor and get this figured out.
You need to consult a Dr and not rely on ER for diagnosis.
I have a relative with a now 4 yr old who had breathing spells where she'd just stop breathing. She's pretty much outgrown it. After many tests ( baby's dad is a surgeon and they still talked to specialists). Nothing turned out to be medically wrong. They finally determined it was anxiety.
This child is #4 of 6 so maybe that had something to do with it. She's very mellow now.
ask for every test known to man.. your baby is stopping breathing randomly. acid is not to blame. there is something going on and needs to be diagnosed so baby can be treated to prevent it from happening again.. (what if it happens and you are not there to stimulate her back to breathing?) i would pursue it till i get an answer and a treatment plan.and if they try to passit off as being the acid then get a second opinion.
(EEG, EKG, MRI, CT, bloodwork with CBC and every other thing to test for. and don't stop there, ask for further tesing when they don't have a diagnosis that fits and a treatment plan for it)
Never accept a "diagnosis" at the ER as the final answer. Their job is to stabilize. True diagnosis must come later by the appropriate doctors. You need to ask for a pediatric cardiologist and neurologist to start and go from there. No matter what the ER says, always follow up with your pediatrician as soon as possible. If you do not get answers, go for a second opinion and seek out specialists. What you have described should be considered very serious and you must keep vocal and advocating for your baby until you have some answers and a treatment plan.
I knew a woman a long time ago that had episodes with her son. I am not sure exactly what they were but she also had the doc suggest other things were happening. She took a video of an episode so the doc could see what actually was happening. It showed the doc that she wasn't just a worried parent for every little thing. Keep your phone near and try to capture what is going on. Talk through everything so it can record--especially if you are alone with her. You cannot hold her and record at the same time of course.
I'm sorry you are going through this. How terrifying! I'm am not a medical person but I if it were me I would want assurances that this wasn't some kind of seizure. I would ask that she be evaluated by a neurologist. Then I would ask if they should do an eeg, and/ or an MRI of her brain. Best of luck!!!
I would video tape it next time. Keep a log of when and how it happens.
I'm thinking off top of head but fainting spell - from your description of her losing her color and going limp. You don't usually stop breathing though but it can become shallow.
I'd ask them to listen to her heart and take her BP but I'm guessing they already have.
Sorry you're experiencing this - it must be very worrisome.
ETA: Glad to hear they've ordered tests. Keep us posted :)
Ask about a seizure.
After SWH thank you for the update! I'm relieved to know she's in the hospital.
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The ER only deals with the emergency. Did they not refer you to a pediatrician or a specialist? What you describe is extremely serious. Ask the ER doctor who your baby should see. Now!
I think I may have seen something similar. A young couple fled to Seattle. Their baby, perhaps just a few weeks old was having seizures. They chose to drive to Portland for medical care. I was in the ER when they came in. Even tho the baby was not having seizures on the drive down, the doctor was very upset. She said the baby could have died on the way down. Dr said same to me when parents weren't present.
Circumstances.were different then yours. Baby was much younger and had had seizures since birth. Parents were very young and had removed baby from hospital when they couldn't legally do so because CSD had legal custody.
I'm wanting to emphasize the importance of following thru with medical appointments. I am frightened for the baby. He stopped breathing. One cannot live without breathing. I suggest this could be a symptom of a condition that causes SIDS. Every SIDS death I've sèen, happened while the child was untended in their crib. Until you know what caused her to stop breathing she is not safe.
I wish I'd given you this information while you were in the hospital. There is a medical devise that the baby lies on that senses when baby is not breathing and vibrates to get baby breathing again.
I hope that the ER doctor discussed possible causes with you. If he didn't think further medical isn't necessary, Did he tell you why to your satifaction?
It sounds like it might be seizure, please let us know what the hospital says.
Could be a seizure or some other brain thing. It could also be that mechanism that isn't working right with SIDS babies. I would demand a monitor for her to have on 24 hours a day. So that if this happened when she was asleep or out of sight I'd hear the alarms going off.
