First this article will describe what pyloric stenosis is , and then I will give you my experience with it when my son (2 months old at the time) was diagnosed with it. Pyloric Stenosis is when the opening of the pyloris (the lower part of the abdomen that leads to the lower intestine) is too small to allow food to pass from the stomach to the small intestine. This is caused by the muscles around the pyloris being too large.
How common is pyloric stenosis and who is at the most risk of having the condition?— Well the good news it happens in only about 3 out of every 1000 newborns, this means it’s 3/10 of a percent chance your child will have this condition. It is 4 times more likely to occur in males than females, so the chances for females having the condition are even rarer than .3% of the time.
What signs will there be that I should look out for?— The most common is “projectile vomiting”. Now just because your child has an occasional case of projectile vomitting does not mean they necessarily have pyloric stenosis (and more often than not they do not have it). Acid reflux is not uncommon in newborns and sometimes people will think their child has a more serious condition when that’s all it is. Actually that’s what our pediatrician thought my son’s condition was at first and tried to treat it that way. But when after a month it continued it became clear we were dealing with something more serious. Also, let me give you an idea of the type of projectile vomitting you should be looking for. This will happen with almost every bottle feeding, if not every one I would say about 75% of them. Also the “projectile” is meaning it will go several feet across the room. If it’s just occasional it’s more likely to be acid reflux.
Ok, What Happens If My Pediatrician Thinks My Newborn has Pyloric Stenosis? — They will send you to a medical center to have an upper G.I. (general intestinal) test done which involves drinking a liquid with a dye that can be used to trace the track of it electronically. They will be able to give you an analysis pretty much immediately and let you know if they can rule out Pyloric Stenosis. If it can’t be ruled out at this point, your child will most likely have to have surgery.
Surgery? How Dangerous Is This For My Child?—- Believe me, I know your fear. Remember I went through this with my son. In the end the surgery is rather minor , but of course any surgery on a newborn is a big concern for their parent. The will make a small incision in the pyloris to increase the opening and allow the food to pass from stomach to the intestine. The most concerning part of this is that they do have to give the child anesthesia that will “put them to sleep”.
How Long Does This Surgery Take? —- Overall our son’s surgery took about 1 hour from when he went in to the room and we were able to see him in the recovery area.
How About The Recovery? — Recovery time varies from child to child. Expect it to be 24-72 hours on average. After the effects of the anesthesia wear off the next step will be feeding the child small amounts of formula. The nurses will want to make sure the child is able to digest the formula without the condition repeating. They will also check the diaper to make sure everything is passing through ok. Many hospitals will allow both parents to stay with the child if you are not local to the area, otherwise it is usually just one parent that is allowed to stay overnight. I will warn you, with a child that size the monitors do not fit very well so you will hear beeps and alarms all night, do not stress (I know that’s not easy when it’s your child). The nurse will check your child but it’s most likely because they can not get a good fit on the child for the monitors.
Are There Any Long Lasting Effects? — I have very good news for you. After the surgery as long as there is no setbacks during recovery this is something that will have no long lasting effects on your child. They may have a very small scar on their abdomen but otherwise there will be no signs there ever was a problem.
Okay, You Gave Me The Official Information, But How Was It As A Parent Going Through This? — Nobody can tell a parent how to feel when your child is diagnosed with a condition that requires surgery and the use of anesthesia. Myself and my wife were very worried and nervous the entire time. Of course when I say “entire time” I mean from the beginning when we saw our son projectile vomitting until after he recovered from the surgery which was probably about a 45 day period. Yes, it will wear on you, I’m not going to lie to you, hey it’s your child, this is natural for you to feel that way. The nights in the hospital can be very tough hearing the alarms go off and then luckily finding out they are false alarms. During recovery for the first 5 days they tell you it’s normal for some projectile vomitting to continue. That doesn’t exactly calm your fears if it happens. Our son did it once on day 4 while we were home and the next day was my first day back to work. I think I was calling my wife at home every hour checking if there were any more problems. Luckily for us there weren’t.
Overall, Pyloric Stenosis is a very rare condition, but it is very treatable. As long as it’s caught early on there won’t be any malnutrition problems (which was the most significant damage to children when it took longer to diagnose them before we had the technology we have today). Again, I will stress as a parent this logic really won’t mean much to you when your child is in harm, but hopefully it will be just enough to help relieve some of your fears. As I said, my child had this surgery just about a year ago (we actually spent New Year’s Eve for 2005 and New Year’s Day 2006 in the hospital with our son for it), and now he is a perfectly normal, happy child who is gaining weight and nutritionally fine. I just hope this article will help some of you out there who may have to experience this with your child. In the end I’m sure your story will have a happy conclusion like mine has.
