Laryngomalacia anyone?

[lilycat88]

Here's the definition....

Laryngomalacia, or congenital laryngeal stridor, is the most frequent cause of noisy breathing in infants. The typical inspiratory, fluttery, sometimes hic-cup-like squeak of laryngomalacia results from turbulent airflow through the laryngeal airway. Upon inspiration, some or all of the supraglottic soft tissue structures, including rhe epiglottis, aryepiglottic folds and mucosa overlying the arytenoid cartilages, collapse inward and impede airflow.

DS is a VERY noisy baby. Since birth, he's had stridor and it's getting worse. It really seems as if he is always either snoring or squeaking from stridor. Anyone else ever dealt with it? Most of the time it's just something that has to be outgrown but we're trying to figure out whether to push for any further evaluation by an ENT/pulmonologist. The airway blockage does, we think, interfere with his eating to some extent in that at 8 weeks, we're still very lucky to get 3 oz. in him at a feeding. He is formula fed now. He's growing fine because he eats ALL THE TIME it seems. He's wanting to eat every couple of hours. He is on Prevacid for reflux and what I'm reading indicates that the laryngomalacia could be caused or exaccerbated by uncontrolled reflux. He has no red flag outward signs that the reflux is uncontrolled but we're wondering if it is and since he is a silent reflux kid that we just can't see it. He still seems to be in pain someimes to some extent as if the reflux isn't all the way controlled but it's improved on the prevacid.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jamelin

[brittone2]

Nak-
we had it here with DD. It was totally not a big deal in our case, but those early weeks were a little scary. Our doc originally mentioned tracheomalacia but my research lead me to suspect laryngomalacia. He let it up to us whether to see an ENT. We did and I'm glad. He was really relaxed about it and we went in a few times for followups. He said it usually resolves by age 1. We should tell anyone in case of emergency about it so that if there was a need to intubate, etc. they would know.

I don't know when exactly it went away. It became less obvious as time went on and was definitely resolved prior to her turning 1.

DD didn't have any sign of reflux (by observation, not testing). SHe just had the cry that just sounded...worrisome. I spent a lot of time worrying at first. It did not impact DD's feeding.

Not sure if that helps, but I thought i'd post since we went through it. Oh, and ENT just diagnosed by parental report really. He was very relaxed about it but was a good doc with a solid reputation. I'm not sure he even *heard* her cry ever...it was pretty much entirely from parental report IIRC. Not sure if that is typical.

eta: best of luck with things. For us it really was a minor thing and didn't impact anything day to day. It was just scary until we got an official diagnosis.

[lilycat88]

Thanks for the input. I'm really on the fence. If it were a sometimes thing, I'd be better with it. But, literally, there are very few breaths this child takes that is quiet. In fact, I worry about apnea episodes when he IS quiet. :ROTFLMAO:Positioning doesn't help at all. He's slept head elevated since he was 4 weeks old. It's significant enough that we get "the look" from folks when we're out. The "what in heaven's name is wrong with your child" look. We've got a great established relationship with an ENT because of all of DDs ear issues so we might just go get his opinion.

[brittone2]

It is embarrassing that I can't recall 100%, but I think DD's was fairly tame or not noticeable at rest. She had classic colic symptoms from week 2-6 where she'd cry every evening from 6-9pm or so, and it was really pronounced with the crying jags.

If you have an established relationship with an ENT you might want to just have them take a look. The ENT was very relaxed about it. I don't think it was necessary (I kept wondering what we were doing at office visits sometimes as he pretty much never heard DD even cry somehow...), but it was nice at the same time to have him confirm what our suspicions were and to reassure us it is not really a big deal for most kids.

[larig]

DS had it. Man, it was frightening. Thanks to Baby 411, I diagnosed myself, then took DS to the doc, but had to see our normal doc's partner. DS saw an ENT at Children's Hospital at 3 mos (we had a long wait to get in because of referral confusion). Waiting was excruciating. I really think he had it pretty bad. He often had retractions in his ribs, etc. (sign of respiratory distress) It was awful. However, the docs were convinced that he was okay (because he was gaining weight) despite the other physical signs. I had him sleep in our room until he was about seven months, when it was a little better, but I felt comfortable enough that he was going to not have a problem in the middle of the night. DS was just so noisy all the time, so he sounds a lot like your little one. I sooooo feel for you. It is so hard to listen. We let DS sleep in his swing a lot, which seemed to be when he was quietest, and best for his reflux. He would seriously projectile spit up sometimes. DS didn't take any meds for reflux, but we were super conscientious about burping him.

I remember one incident when he was asleep in his stroller at BRU, and this woman thought there was something seriously wrong with him. I just explained that he had extra tissue in his throat, etc. It was indeed embarrassing also to take him to a wedding we went to when he was 8 weeks. It was always worse when he slept.

I'd go to the ENT, if it's a pediatric ENT. It really made me feel better about things.

PMing you also!

[bubbaray]

My DD#2 was diagnosed with this and outgrew it by about 6m of age. She d/n have reflux.