Salty skin?

elleswarth

So I know they say that babies with Cystic Fibrosis have salty skin, and that there's a sweat test that they perform if they think the baby has it. It's also one of the things they test for in the newborn screening too, I believe? Well, I'm crazy hypochondriac mom over here, and yes, I just licked my baby's forehead. Is there any other reason that baby would salty? The more I type this the dumber it sounds, but I'm just curious if it's worth contacting the doctor about?

MLC1990

I giggled a little reading your post. The only thing I can come up with is if you snuggle baby a lot they probably just have sweat on them. I know my little girl gets really sweaty when I lay her on my chest. I imagine if I licked her she'd be salty too.

JMcBick

I think there's a 99.99999% you're just being a worried mommy (which is not a bad thing to be!) and tasting either your sweat or hers. But that being said, for the 0.00001%, the newborn screen typically only screens for the top 4 mutations (depending on your state) for CF, so in theory it is possible for the newborn screen to be negative and still have it. But if she isn't having any symptoms (failure to thrive, loose frothy poop, thick mucous etc) then there's no reason to worry!

JMcBick

nursesouder said:

And you are a nurse...nurses are THE WORST! Yesterday LO was twitching a bit and I had myself convinced he had epilepsy.

Agreed. I work with liver transplant kiddos... Pretty sure I'm gonna be convinced my kids in liver failure when they have "normal" jaundice.

elleswarth

I know, being a nurse is the worst. I'm pretty convinced I have every disease/disorder under the sun, or I'm worried I'm going to get it. I worried my whole pregnancy too. My mom was like, "good thing you aren't having another! You would have a mental breakdown!"
I think it is one of the heel sticks, but like @JMcBick‌ said, they only test for certain mutations. I'm unsure if DH or I are carriers, we've never been tested since there's never been a reason to. I'm sure LO is fine, I've just noticed this a few times. I'll bring it up at her 3 month check up, and I'll stop licking my baby. Thanks ladies

nursemarie925

nursesouder said:

And you are a nurse...nurses are THE WORST! Yesterday LO was twitching a bit and I had myself convinced he had epilepsy.

This is true. We diagnose ourselves with EVERYTHING!

soon2bejp

Ahh, this made me laugh so much I was concerned I'd wake the LO. Fellow nurse here and my kid "has" seizures, gerd, cdiff, etc. I will refrain from licking her head for fear of contracting cdiff.

I'm glad I'm in good company!