Cystic Fibrosis?
Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at
10:55 pm
jttigger asked:
My son has had lab work today for his failure to gain weight. He is 7 months old. One of the drs concerns was the possiblility he may have cystic fibrosis. Anyone have any children with this or know any of the symptoms other than slow weight gain. Any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.
my son weighs 13 lbs
The drs have checked his lungs and have determined them to be clear, but he has always had a bit of a congested breathing sound. the dr did put him on a new formula similac alimentum
Tagged with: Cystic Fibrosis • Drs • Lungs
Filed under: Cystic Fibrosis
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I can tell you that they can do a sweat test for this. Cystic Fibrosis usually does cause slow weight gain, and it has something to do with lacking enzymes to digest food properly.
Can you look on the March of Dimes website for info?
ETA: I agree the salty thing is a give away. CF babies have salty skin.
I didn’t exactly feel like sharing this but my son has had this test twice (sweat test).
Yes yes and yes. My son is failure to thrive. How much does your son weigh? Have you done any tests to rule out anything ?
This may be long, but i hope i can help.
My son is over a year, and 17 lbs. He was diagnosed as failure to thrive at about 5 months old. We did 3 sweat chloride tests (CF test) 2 times he didn’t sweat enough, 3rd time we got a negative.
The doctors say CF because that is the first thing that comes to mind, so dont panic. My son was seen at a Gastrointerologists (SP) office… or GI doctor.. they made him drink barium and did xrays to check and see if there were any blockages in his digestive tract. They tested him for tons of stuff… ciliac/siliac disease.. where they cant have wheat gluten…did a fecal test, to see if he suffers from malabsorbtion
EDIT: Sounds silly, but if you lick your baby’s cheek, does it taste salty? Have you noticed mucous in his poops? Some mucus is OK, but if it’s with every poop, that could be cause for concern. those would be signs that CF may be a possibility.
EDIT again: What percentile is your baby in weight? My son is negative on the chart. I dont think the weight he’s at is a “OMG” reaction. There maybe a possibility that it’s just genetically… “Small Jeans”?
how much does your son weigh? my son grew very slow too. he is 3 now and weighs 24 lbs. the reason foe his slow weight gain was he had acid reflux which made him throw up. he stopped that at 2 and between 2 to 3 gained 6 lbs. sorry i know its stressful, but hopeful (if he has something or not) when he gets older he will have a big growth spur.
Symptoms include failure to thrive & gain weight. They will often have a “chesty” mucousy cough.
Bowel movements are explosive and have a foul (more foul then normal poop) smell.
CF babies have a salty taste. They have the classis CF “kiss test” where you can lick your lips and rub against babies cheek. Taste your lips for salt.
1 in 30 people are carriers of CF. It takes both partners to be carriers. If you are BOTH carriers you have a 1 in 4 chance of having a baby with CF. Odds are in your favor.
Hang in there. I know the wait is going to seem like forever..
There is a test the dr should do that will tell them. whether it is CF or not. Other symptoms could be lots of congestion and very loose stools. If you find out he has CF, send me an e-mail and we can chat more. Please get the testing done.
Good luck
they did a sweat test on my son at about 8m. they did this b/c he was having chronic nasal/sinus congestion, runny nose & asthma. I told them he didn’t have it (I have strong faith) but allowed them to do the non-invasive test so they could have in their little records that he tested negative for it. come to find out though, that he’s allergic to milk and he was in reality just having a chronic allergic reaction to the milk in his diet. so without doing alot of research, and from what I remember from the girl I went to high school with who had it, the baby has alot of breathing problems. does your son have asthma or any troubles breathing? I think that’s one of the 1st symptoms to show up even before the slow weight gain.
just curious, but what kind of diet is your son on? BF or formula? food or just milk/formula?
if this helps any, both my kids were about 19lbs at 12m. so if he could gain just a little, he wouldn’t be too small. also, has he lost weight or gone down on his growth chart, or just staying the same? the Dr’s weren’t too concerned w/DD because she was little from birth & didn’t drop on her growth chart. but now with DS, he has dropped on his weight on his growth chart & they are monitoring his growth again now at 18m.
Good Luck!