Baby health question...

[Jeff G]

My DD Madison just turned 9 months old yesterday and was in for her routine check up. What was supposed to be a short exam turned into a couple hour ordeal that has left our family on pins and needles.

Madison has been extremely underweight for some time now weighing 11 pounds at 6 months and now 13.5 pounds at 9 months which is off the charts by a lot but consistant. We were aware this was a concern since they've been monitoring her weight monthly but never seemed to be more than a precaution. Now with her 9 month check up she has fallen from the 20 percentile for height to off the charts and her head measurement also fell but not by much. Couple that with the fact that she has had a yeast infection and several battles with thrush(candidiasis) it appears the doctor's office is rather concerned for her. They hooked her up to an IV and ran a lot blood tests yesterday (not sure which ones). Today they called us back and said almost all the checks came back fine except her liver enzymes which were slightly elevated, not sure what that means but the nurse said that could be from the thrush she's got or from a cold she is getting over. They are still waiting on her digestive results which are due in next week.

Currently they have her scheduled to come back in 6 weeks to run the liver test again. Neither my DW or I really understand what all of this means and were are very scarred. Madison is a very happy & healthy looking little girl who cries very seldom and smiles constantly and all other areas of her development including motor skills are normal. Nothing seems wrong with her but with the comments the doctor made, ie. poor growth & weak immune system kicking the candidiasis we are freaked and confused.

The doctor seemed so alarmed yesterday but so cold today offering no answers sounding as if everything is fine. We tried to call back today because we are curious what the liver enzyme test is for and why they ran it but have yet to here back.

I don't want to talk to my parents or family about this and get them in a panic if there is nothing to be alarmed and don't know where to turn.

Does anyone have any advice or been through a similar experience? I'm sure were overreacting to this but when it comes to my kids they are the world to us.

[TikiGoddess]

No advice, but lots of pixie dust and prayers sent your way!! I have a sick child right now and I know how worried I am... hang in there!

At least you know all but one of the tests came back with good results. And you have a good indicator that she is doing well -- happy, smiling child!!

Let us know how she does--
TikiG

[medic9016]

Antibiotics and meds such as tylenol can cause liver enzymes to elevate. If you gave any of these for the yeast infection or the thrush that may be the cause. Elevated liver enzymes are pretty common.

[Donald]

I would ask to have a consultation with the doctor. Go in with a list of questions and make sure he gives you an answer to every one of them . Do not talk to the nurse. As informed/experienced as the nurse may be, a nurse is not legally able to diagnose. TALK TO THE DOCTOR!!!! Get a second opinion-it couldn't hurt. I hope and pray for your sake that she is just a happy healthy little girl. Good luck with the candida/yeast infection. (Dental advice: oral candida can be very tender-clean her mouth as thoroughly as you can with a super soft wet washcloth a couple of times a day.)

[Deesdisney]

I am going to tell you a story and try to make it short.
I was 40yrs. old and had a dd 15 and ds 13. When we got a very happy surprise. On the first day my doctors office went into a mode I had never seen due to my age. After going to the special hosp. for loads of testing and getting a clear bill of health they started on my surprise.
Needless to say when she was born I had alot of problems. They looked at her and immediately sent for the ambulance to send her to the childrens hosp. I was having 7 bags of blood pumped in me when they told me. I broke down.
After 5 days at the hosp. and my dd in another they finally told us she was fine.

They thought she might be Physically handicapped due to the look of her forhead.

What I say to everyone that go through this is do not panic until they give something to worry about. I know this is hard to do. Another thing is please see a second doctor. PLEASE.

When my other dd was sick when she was only 1yrs old they sent her home for 2 wks saying it was a cold. We almost lost her. She had the german measles.

So please even though you hear what you want to hear please seek a second doctor if not a special doctor in that field.

Alot of and prayers.

Boy that was the shortest I could make it.

[merlinmagic4]

for you for some answers and more good news.

I would ask about her kidney function. Ask what her creatinine was. Unfortunately, not all doctors realize that a child's creatinine should be MUCH lower than what will show up as "normal" on most lab slips. Normal creatinine for an adult is .8-1.2 but your daughter should be around .2 or .3 (don't quote me on that but it should be low).

You would think that doctors would know this but we had an experience with an on-call pedi who insisted my son did not have decreased renal function because his creatinine was 1.1. The thing was he was 2.5 years old and he actually only had about 30-35% function (something like that........it was a long time ago).

Anyway, I certainly don't want to worry you and it is most likely NOT a kidney issue but it can't hurt to ask.

Also, my son has definitely had elevated liver enzymes and has no liver issues at all. I think it can happen for a variety of benign reasons.



The most important thing is that she is happy and otherwise healthy and is developing appropriately

[RenDuran]

I hope everything is okay with Madison. It sounds as if she's well, even though the doctor got you all riled up with blood work and his strange attitude! My son is extremely thin...he's in the 95th percentile for height, but only 5th for weight!

My daughter had thrush constantly for her first year-and-a-half. She was on nystatin so much it got ridiculous. I finally mentioned this to my ob/gyn and he said that she would outgrow it as she got older. She did. She's so healthy. The only reason I mention it is that you mention your daughter having problems with thrush.

[Minniemouse27]

My dd was tiny for her age until almost 2yo. She was around the 3rd percentile for weight until about 18 months...and only 17lbs at her 1yr appt.

If she is progressing w/ weight gain on her own schedule (ie gaining at each appt but not necessarily on the charts) I wouldn't be too worried. Those charts are for ALL kids... 50th percentile is in the middle which means some children have to be at the 1st percentile and others at the 100th..YKWIM?

Good Luck!

[Sean Riley Taylor's Mom]

I do not have any advice but, I just wanted to send you some good thoughts and .

I hope you can get some answers and that everything will be just fine with your DD.

I have three kids. All have had some minor and some scary health issues over the years. It is always a scary feeling to think something could be wrong with your child. I know I worry every time they get a sniffle!! I hope your fears are put to rest soon!

[Jeri]

My second son is 31 pounds and is 4 1/2 yrs. He also is very active and was very early with developmental milestones. ( crawled at 4 1/2 months, walked along furniture at 5 1/2 , walked at 9 months, climb up things at 10 months) When he was 9 months they became worried because he was not on the charts at all for weight. He didn't gain any weight for almost 9 months. The Dr was concerned so she ran blood test and stool cultures. The blood was normal but they found abnormal fecal fat levels and we were sent to a Pediatric GI doctor.

The first thing he asked was what do the grandparents think? He said that if your parents don't think they look too thin and they are basiclly healthy then they are really not that concerened. He said if you or your husband were tiny as a child so will your kid. He said that the elevated fat in the stool was not concerning because it might just be from a very fatty meal the day before.
He ran more test and basiclly sai that my son was just too active and we could not get more calories in then he was burning. We just give him extra calories when we can and as long as he is growing consistantly at each check up and not getting sick alot they are not concerned.

I would not worry too much, I also think a second opinion, or specialist is a good idea.

I will say they do catch up. My oldest was very skinny too, however he was very sickly when he was younger (weak immune system, infections that did not respond to treatment). The poor kid was on meds for about 3 years. He did however catch up when he turned 8 and has gained between 10 to 12 pounds each year for the past 2 years and now at 10 is in the normal weight range.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[Mickey'sGirl]

I have no experience in this area (I have honking big kids) -- but I wanted to send a and for you and your family while you figure this all out.

[brownie]

Jeff, sorry to hear about this. Don't be afraid to ask the doctor questions, and keep asking until you are satisfied with the answers and feel you understand them.

I'd also advise you to talk to your parents, don't worry about causing a panic. They may have advice, and should have plenty of love and support to offer in any case.

I hope everything works out; we'll keep your daughter and family in our prayers.

[MsMin]

Sending I understand your upset. My dd was supposed to be a "big" baby. After they checked me twice for twins (I was growing 8 centimeters a month instead of 4)b/c they thought the ultrasound missed one they concluded that I was going to have a very big baby, about 9 or 10lbs and warned me to watch my weight as my doc explained that I normally deliver @ 33centimeters.
I had a 7.3lb baby @ 38wks. and by a year she weighed 15lbs slightly more than her double her birth weight and still wearing 3-6mos. A baby should triple their birth weight by a year. She is still my runt weighing near 100lbs @ 22yrs old. The weight issue was b/c she was very petite.
I agree with the second opinion. I prefer a doc who will talk to me.
I know that toxins will elevate a child's liver enzymes and diabetics and pre-diabetics will often get yeast infections but there are many reasons. I hope that if it's something it is something simple.

[DisneyDudet]

There are a lot of things that could be causing your daughter to not gain as much weight. I was a thin child, and they thought there was something wrong with me. They had to give me my 20 lbs shot way late, before I turned 20 lbs, otherwise I'd be off schedule too much. I have since bounced back, but was always thin as a child.

Have you given Madison any medications recently? Tylenol, medications for her candida? Many medications cause liver function tests (LFTs) to elevate, because that is were many medications are "processed" for use by the body. This causes the liver to work harder, therefore making their "by products" go up. A lot of this is benign, but should still be monitored, especially if she is going to be on long term therapy for anything. Also, the liver processes fat, along with the gallbladder. Sometimes, when one isn't working too well, we can't process fat and other things, which an elevated LFT might indicate.

Also, I assume the thrush is in her mouth? This causes quite a bit of pain in the mouth and throat, which makes people not want to eat. Nystatin (mycostatin) is what we treat adults with thrush. It can be swabbed in their mouth with a rag to help with that, which I'm sure your dr has already given you. Other antifungal medications are also helpful, but might be the cause of the elevated LFTs. Overall, thrush may or may not be the cause, but it certainly does not help Madison's eating habits.

Also, her elevated LFTs might show a digestive problem, that is keeping her from absorbing certain nutrients, causing the liver to process things it isn't used to or doesn't know how to process. The digestive test should test the enzymes used to break down certain nutrients into chemicals the body can actually use for energy and such. Sometimes, we lack a certain enzyme that breaks down one or more things. Most of the time, they are treated with synthetic enzymes, and all that is different is pills everyday. I went to school with a boy that was lacking a certain enzyme, and he took pills every time he ate. It is very manageable.

Altogether, the problems Madison is having could be all caused by one thing, or many non related, benign things. You need to speak with the doctor face to face to discuss the plan of care. It is your right to know what are the possibilities and options that you might face. If you are not satisfied with this doctor, feel free to find another. Most doctors in the hospital I work at welcome a second opinion, just because two heads are better than one. You should feel satisfied and confident in your doctor. If you are wary, I suggest looking into another doctor, at least for a back up.

I'm sending Pixie Dust your way. I sure hope that you get to the bottom of the weight issue, and I hope that everything turns out well. Please keep us posted!!

[Jeff G]

Thanks so much for all of the information and kind wishes!

Madison is our fourth child and her weight has been a concern for the doctor but not a major concern. None of our other kids have weighed more than 16 pounds at nine months but all are very healthy and both my DW and I were both twigs growing up. The concerns are coming from the decline in height (she was 70% at birth, 20% at 6 months and off the charts now) & head size, elevated liver enzymes and the reappearing thrush. The doctor said all of these items seem like to many red flags all at once. We did get in touch with the doctor's office today and they explained that the liver enzymes are very slightly raised and not a cause for concern.

On a positive, her appetite is crazy. She eats more than my 2 and 8 year olds do and still nurses the recommended number of times per day. I wonder if she's not getting enough when she nurses?

When we get next weeks digestive tests back we plan to schedule a meeting with the doctor to further discuss what everything means. Depending on how that goes we may seek another doctors opinion.

[Jeri]

I just read that you said she is still nursing. I wonder have they also treated your wife for yeast? The reason I ask is I use to work in a Pediatric clinic and when babies that had thrush and still nursed came in they would paint their mouths purple and also the mothers breast with a special medicine that worked way better then the regular medicine. I don't remember the name now though. I had to have my sons mouth done becaause nystatin wasn't working. We would just send the purple stuff home in a cup for the mom to put on herself.

I know it sounds weird but it works. They just look like they ate something purple for a few days.

[Mary M]

I think the scariest thing that can happen is something with your child's health. Sending pixie dust, of course.

I'm glad to hear that she's still nursing. No matter what, that will definitely help!

I'll also echo previous posters' advice to keep pushing for answers from your doctor. It's their job (for which you are paying them) to keep you informed about your daughter's health. Don't be afraid to be pushy to get information - remember, they work for you!

Good luck and hopefully this will soon just be a good story to tell at dinner.

[RenDuran]

they would paint their mouths purple and also the mothers breast with a special medicine that worked way better then the regular medicine. I don't remember the name now though.

It's gentian violet. It will stain like crazy, so if you use it, be warned! You can ask for it at the pharmacy....no prescription needed!

[Jeff G]

It's gentian violet. It will stain like crazy, so if you use it, be warned! You can ask for it at the pharmacy....no prescription needed!

My DD had to use that in her mouth while my DW used that topically because whe was nursing. I've heard my DW grumble quite abit about this because it stained the skin and clothes. They have now given DD a two week perscription that has made her vomit and makes her look out of it.

[RenDuran]

I'm sorry that I keep coming back to that yeast discussion, but I had a thought while up at 3 AM with my son. Have you all tried acidophilus? It's safe to try.

It comes in several forms, but I get the powdered acidophilus and take it every morning. I've had sinus problems for years and take it for yeast in my sinuses....of all places! I can tell a difference when I don't take it. I also use it for the kids when they take antibiotics so they don't get thrush again.