>Hi everyone
>
>I'm posting for a colleague on a new English private practice IBCLC 
>list, who seeks your collective wisdom.  She writes:
>
>"What is best course of action for spotting bluish colouration 
>around a 3 day old baby's mouth?  Baby had had a little (breast)feed 
>but not a good one and mum had not long given a tea spoon full of 
>expressed breastmilk.  It didn't seem to last long and colouring 
>returned to normal after a feed? Is this cause for concern? I shared 
>with her that during a feed it might indicate difficulty 
>co-ordinating suck-swallow-breathe (I think I have read this 
>somewhere?) but as this was not during a feed I wasn't sure what it 
>meant. The mum reported that her midwife said the blueness around 
>the mouth can sometimes occur due to wind, particulary in bottle fed 
>babies.  I have read about cyanosis during a bottle feed but of 
>course my worry was that the baby was at rest, is not bottle fed and 
>was not feeding. The wind idea could fit because mum had just spoon 
>fed her baby and had thought she was windy."
>
>We've found several lists for mothers which discuss blue/grey 
>colouring around the baby's mouth after feeding as a consequence of 
>"wind", but can't find anything from a more, er, respectable source. 
>What do you think?  How would you deal with this?


Will be most interested in responses to this, because the blueness = 
wind is something I often hear but no one can ever explain to me how 
wind in the stomach travels to the mouth to make it blue.....I think 
it is more likely that the baby's natrually translucent skin shows 
blood vessels (appearing blue) when the baby is under stress, and  of 
course can mean cynosis.

A baby whose mother was supported by a colleague had this blueness, 
and had been told many times 'wind'. It turned out this baby had a 
serious heart defect and his life was saved by being admitted to 
hospital when a better-informed HCP saw the baby at a bf support 
group.

Blueness round the mouth should be assumed to need immediate 
investigation, IMO. I am not an HCP but I *always* urge immediate 
checks when this is reported to me.

Heather Neil, UK

>
>Many thanks if you can help.
>
>Pamela Morrison IBCLC
>Rustington, England
>
>             ***********************************************
>
>Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
>To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
>Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
>COMMANDS:
>1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an 
>email: set lactnet nomail
>2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
>3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
>4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome


-- 
http://www.heatherwelford.co.uk

http://heatherwelford.posterous.com

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome