Dads know your Pyloric Stenosis

A couple of weeks ago I spent the best part of my Saturday in the hospital after my 3 month old son had pretty much vomited for 2 days solid. When we got to the hospital he stopped (don't we know that one ...) - still the doctors didn't take any chances and told us they would like to check him for Pyloric Stenosis which is particularly common for 3 month-old boys.

As usual I had no idea this condition even existed ... the doctors were brilliant in explaining it to us though (in plain English! YAY). Basically there is a muscle at the end of the stomach which controls the passing of food from the stomach to the intestines. Babies who are diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis have an extra strong muscle that prevents food from passing through. Since there is nowhere else to go for the food it goes back to where it came from. Typically in a very violent manner (which means you will most likely have to redecorate the nursery).

We were told this is not a serious condition and can be fixed easily by a minor surgical procedure. As it turns out one of our friends' boys was diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis and had to undergo surgery. He is doing really well now and eats just like any other baby.

So after a few hours of hanging around at A&E (which isn't great at the best of times but as I found out on my first trip to the hospital with Noah is even less fun with a 3-month old) we got a slot at the Ultrasound. Hah - and here was me thinking we were done with ultrasounds after birth. Anyway, the painless examination reveald that Noah didn't have it. But apparently he has a large stomach ... which explains all the frequent feeds. Thank god - nothing wrong and he's since stopped vomiting.

It's good to be aware of this though - so if your boy is approaching 3 months and throws up a lot you may want to have him checked for Pyloric Stenosis.

-Stef