human
1 year old sudden loss of visionOn Thursday, my 15 month olds babysitter noticed that she wasnt making eye contact like normal. At home, I noticed the same thing. Normally, if I look at her and smile she smiles back. But it looked like she was looking right past me. Along with that, she was not tracking objects with her eyes.I took her to the pediatrician on Friday who was concerned and wanted her to see an ophthalmologist right away. So we did that, she had a full eye exam with her eyes dilated and there was nothing wrong (like far sightedness or strabismus etc) with her eyes. The ophthalmologist was concerned too and called a neurologist who wanted us to go to the ER so we could be admitted into neurology over the weekend.The ER did a lot of blood work, a spinal tap for fluid (I cant remember the name- Im sorry.) and the doctors there just generally said they were stumped.We are on day 2 of being in the pediatric neurology unit. Shes having an EEG done for 24 hours and hopefully an MRI today. The neurologist says hes fairly confident she isnt having seizures but wants to cover everything.I hope one or both of those things gives us an answer but in the mean time all I have to do is think. What could possibly have caused this loss of vision seemingly overnight? She responds to sounds but not objects. Shes had hundreds of lights (from nurses doctors etc) flashed right in her eyes and she does nothing like youd expect. They shined a light in my eyes to show me how abnormal it was that she did nothing because I instinctively moved my eyes.Also... no falls, no high fevers, no recent illness, her birth was normal, shes developmentally normal.Does anyone have any idea of what this could be?
gpt
Sorry to hear about your daughter. It is hard to know the cause without all the test results at the current time, especially the MRI, as this seems to be something less common. If she looks well in other aspects (except for the vision loss), and has already been evaluated by a pediatrician, ophthalmologist, and a pediatric neurologist, you are doing everything you can, and it seems that everything necessary is being done. Vision requires normal eyes, normal optic nerves connecting the eyes to the brain, and normal function of the visual cortex of the brain, and of course normal response to vision requires good function of the rest of the brain. Generally most problems affecting the eyes affect only one eye at a time, and can be seen by the ophthalmologist (either anterior chamber problems such as cataracts or posterior chamber issues such as retinoblastoma). Problems affecting the optic nerves (e.g optic neuritis) are more often seen in older kids (e.g with multiple sclerosis) and are very rare at 15 months. Rarely, there can be problems near where the optic nerves come together just behind the eyes (optic chiasma) when masses (eg. craniopharyngioma)/cysts push on them and can cause visual loss. It is also rare for things to affect the visual cortex of the brain. I suspect that the MRI will be of help. If it does find something, it might need other specialists (e.g. neurosurgeon) to provide further information on management.
Is it PPA or is there something wrong with my 9 week old son?I want to mention that Im not a FTM. This is my second baby. My first didnt sleep consistently through the night until 2.5. But I really feel like this isnt normal and no one is taking me seriously.Around 2 weeks he started refusing to sleep on his back. Weve had to resort to bedsharing(not what I want to be doing) and he still will only sleep in 30-60 min max increments. He breathes through his mouth a lot. And sounds like a pug when he breathes sometimes. He will stop breathing for a few seconds and then wake himself up with coughing/gagging noises. He frequently gags/chokes when breastfeeding as well. My pediatrician thinks the breathing is normal and that hes working us by crying when we put him to sleep on his own (told us to keep putting him on his back in his crib and hell figure it out. But he screams immediately).Hes had his tongue and lip tie removed a month ago. Chiropractor appointments. Hes on reflux meds. And Ive been dairy and soy free (was having green mucousy diapers) for 2 months. All of this has greatly improved his colic/fussiness- hes usually happy now. But not his sleep.My last resort is maybe an pediatric ENT. But idk what they would even do. Everyone keeps telling me his breathing is normal but I just have a feeling its not. I dont want to waste anyones time.Ill link a video of him breathing and screenshot of his owlet sock showing oxygen lvl and how frequently hes waking (orange is awake). I really really appreciate any advice.
See the pediatric ENT.The breathing sounds to me like he may have a "floppy" airway and could have a condition called laryngomalacia or tracheomalacia. It's fairly common, often does not require medical intervention, and typically improves with age, but you should have him evaluated particularly given the nighttime coughing and awakenings, which are likely because of the condition causing temporary drops in oxygen (as you saw on the owlet) resulting in the body's response of cough/awakening to bring oxygen back up. The pediatric ENT can use different techniques to determine whether this (or another) condition is present and responsible for the symptoms.Interestingly, children with this condition are sometimes recommended to sleep on their stomachs as it helps relieve the upper airway obstruction caused by the floppy larynx and/or trachea, so by refusing to sleep on his back, your son might just be telling you what his airway needs right now. The ENT will provide guidance on how your child should best sleep as well as any other recommended modifications to help with the condition.If bedsharing, practice safer co-sleeping techniques as much as possible as described here. Most important is firm mattress, no pillow/blankets present that could possibly obstruct the face during sleep, no smoking, drinking, or siblings.