Im wondering if any other moms havef experienced this. My 10 month old son just got out of the hospital after 5 days of treatment for bilateral pneumonia. He was treated with IV fluids, Steroids, Oxygen, IV Antibiotics, and mask treatments. They sent him home 2 days ago after they took him off of the oxygen and he was able to maintain 97% blood oxygen.
They sent us home with puffers to use as needed and a 5 day course of oral antibiotics.
Since he has been home his activity has gotten way better, we are having a really hard time getting him to drink anything, but we are just offering it more often as the dr suggested
My concern is that I have noticed randomly a few times a day his fingers and toes are turning blue. He doesnt appear to have a hard time breathing when this happens, the only symptom is that his fingers and toes are turning blue. Its not while he is coughing, just happens randomly. I took him back to emerg last night and it didnt happen the whole time we were there. The dr said they didnt know why it was happening and to bring him back in if it started to last a longer time. So far its only lasted 2 - 3 mins a time.
Anyone else experience this with their babies> its really scaring me.
Thanks for all the responses. We did get him in to his pediatrician this morning and she confirmed it is just a normal part of the recovery. As long as the blue doesnt last or get worse its ok. Basically its just his lungs healing and we should see less and less bluness in the finger and toes over the next couple of weeks as he recovers. We do have an apnea moniter already that moniters his breathing and heartbeat. The pediatrician said that blueness int he fingers and toes means his blood oxygen is a bit low as his lungs heal, but that it is not going low enough to put him in any sort of danger.
Thanks again for all the responses =)
Please take him back to the hospital. This scares me. I don't think that the baby is ready to be home. If you wait for the blueness to stay longer, he might not make it to the hospital in time.
Thinking of you~
Dawn
You need to let doctor know. If his fingers and toes are blue then his O2 sat should not be that high. Are you measuring it when he turns blue? Make sure his hear is elevated at least 30% above his heart......do tell doc though-immediately. call drs # and ask for on call physician, theyll help you.
You need to TELL the Doctor, and take him in.
Or, since it didn't happen when you took him to the ER, then photo him or video him, with your cell phone or something or your camera to show the Doctor.
I have asthma, and I have had Pneumonia, and typically, having your extremities turning blue, is not a good thing.
I am surprised the ER you took him back to, did not do anything.
Being he had a serious Pneumonia case, and was hospitalized, and he is only 10 months old...I would think... that the Pediatrician would have told you, to come in for a follow up appointment, regardless if he is getting better or not.
If not, then you .... need to call the Pediatrician, and go into to see the Doctor.
And he is so young.
And being he is so young, and hardly drinking anything, then DEHYDRATION is likely. And in a baby, this is dangerous.
Is he, taking in breastmilk if you are nursing, or Formula?
This is a baby's primary source of nutrition.
I don't think a baby turning blue, is something that can be waited out. I do think you should take him back to the Dr ASAP. The longer a child stays blue, the worse it is. Frankly, I'm shocked at that advice!! Do you have a Children's Hospital near you, with an ER? If so, take him there.
If any part of the baby is blue, you need to go back in asap. That means he isn't getting enough oxygen. I would defintely call pedi tomorrow and check in with them. I hope your little one is better really soon!
This may not be serious. Having fingers and toes turn blue is common. Think of when you go out in the cold. That is one cause and does not cause serious damage. That said, I urge you to call his pediatrician. He's familiar with your child and can be much more able to determine why this is happening.
ER physicians are generalists. They don't have the depth of knowledge that a pediatrician has. And they do not have your son's medical history. Call you pediatrician and tell him what is happening and ask him for information.
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/blue-skin-in-babies
this is the article I refer to for my daycare moms. It's a starting point. & since your son is recovering from pneunomia....I'm not surprised it's happening. I notice it most during diaper changes when the child is lying still for me.
Hope all is well.....
This happened to my son when he was about a year old and we actually took him to the ER for this. His fingers and lips would randomly get blue. Turns out he had pnemonia. They did a chest scan and that is all they found. So it could be related to him having that?
This is called cyanosis, and from what I understand, it can have a number of different underlying causes. Many aren't serious, but a few are. My advice is to have him checked out ASAP, just to rule out a more serious problem. If possible, try to get a regular ped. appt. They're usually less rushed and will get a more complete medical history than an ER doc.
I'd ask the doc for a home use O-2 monitor. I know they have something like this. When my friend lost her grandson to RSV at 5 weeks the mom was super distressed when she found out she was pregnant again about 6 months later. When her twins were born she was frantic. She couldn't sleep, she was constantly watching them to make sure they were breathing right, you can imagine.
So the doc wrote a prescription for a monitor that had little hearts on the tabs, like and EKG machine has tabs. The tabs stuck to the baby and monitored the heart beat and O-2 levels. If they dropped even a tiny bit the alarms went off and it sent a report to the doc's office.
So if they still have something like that it might make it easier to monitor and record when this is happening and to see if the oxygen is dropping in intake.
