Soo I took my son whom is 6 months 6 days to his 6 month check up on Tuesday! His pedi was worried about his heart rate being so rapid (he was rolling all over the face, bouncing while he was in my lap and babbling like crazy so I thought that was making he breathe faster) so she ordered a chest x ray so on top of the 3 shots he had just gotten + not napping all afternoon + holding him down for a chest X-ray = A very unhappy baby and a sad mommy!! I was very worried when she said they were going to do this and she didn't give me much explanation as to what it could be...... She just called me back today with results & says it doesn't look like anything major but maybe signs of a cold?!???? He shows NO signs of being sick, no fever, no cough... Nothing! He's never been sick but since be was a newborn he's always sounded congested and I've had 4 pediatricians opinions and they all said "it's nothing".... Anyways, she wants to see him back on Monday to monitor is respiratory rate & all that. She said if she sees more concerns they can do more studies & possibly refer us to a pulmonary doctor? Has anyone else dealt with this or heard of anything like this? I don't want "google answers" because I've never found those helpful! Thanks! Sorry this was so long! FTM obviously
Re: Chest X-ray
... I'd find a better Dr. Because that's bull, after putting your lo through that.
^^^^ Ok, this is bad advice.^^^^
Well, please know that I'm not trying to alarm you, but as the mother of a baby with congenital heart disease, I'm going to give you some good advice.
Well, there are many minor heart defects that go unnoticed until the baby is older. Your baby may be active, perfectly fine and meeting all of his milestones and still have a heart defect. One of the first signs of a heart defect is rapid breathing, or labored breathing.
I wouldn't be alarmed if I were you, but I would definitely request a pulse oximetry test as well as an echo and ekg, just to be sure. If the heart is not working properly, it may not be sending enough blood into the lungs, since the rapid breathing. Heart defects are the #1 birth defect and it is really common at 1 in 100 births.
I hope that is not the case with your son, but you should really have that checked. Many doctors don't recognize the first signs of heart failure, so be proactive and have his heart checked.
Look at the picture of my son. He is the poster child for health (on the surface). Well, he has a broken heart and he's having open heart surgery next week. We are so lucky to have found out about his defect in an ultrasound while pregnant. But many babies are not as fortunate and are in full blown heart failure when they find the problem.
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I disagree. This dr. made an inexperienced rookie mistake. Ekg's and an U/S detect heart problems. Xrays are pointless for this type of thing, especially in a small child. I'd find a different dr. Based on inexperience alone then covering her a by saying LO has a cold??? Reading the situation based on OP is offputting to say the least.
i actually agree with this mommy. I don't have a baby with CHF, but I am a NICU nurse and sick babies are my specialty! To OP, I don't think you have anything to worry about if the doc says you don't! But, the CXR was a smart idea- it's a quick test , and much easier and less invasive than an EKG. Believe it or not, most doctors don't want to snap pictures of babies just for the fun of it, and they aren't seeing the money in their pockets anyways.
Certainly, if you're still worried, request a follow up with your doc and either talk with the, about what they found, or request further testing- thats absolutely your right! But to walk away from someone who looked further into something that could have benefitted your baby seems positively crazy to me.
EDIT: I think I should add that the CXR can diagnose an enlarged heart, which would most likely be present if some sort of cardiac disease was occurring. Had the CXR been abnormal in some way, further testing such as an EKG would certainly be warranted. I'm sure the doc was just trying to go for least invasive/difficult on baby at the beginning.