Any toddler preemies with high blood pressure?

• By socsmurf
• Posted November 9, 2008 at 10:16 am
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I was wondering how many times they took it before the diagnosed her? How many visits? Was it more then one doctor's office?

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• By laurakennedy77
• Posted November 10, 2008 at 2:33 am
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It was at a routine neonatal follow up appointment that the initial discovery of high BP was made. We the followed up with our peditrician and she confirmed. Our ped is not concerned about it being a "fluke" or "white coat hypertension" since she is very calm at the doc's office and in fact, she looks forward to the visits. The readings occured at 3-4 different appointments which were a couple of weeks apart in two different doc's offices.
I also have severe hypertension but only since my preganancy with this child endingthree years ago at 26 weeks due to pre-e. My mother died from end stage renal disease after being on dialysis for 18 month due to damage to her kidneys from severe high BP. Sorry I didn't give much info in my ffirst post, I just wasn't sure if I would get a response....
Thanks for any info, Laura

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• By socsmurf
• Posted November 10, 2008 at 9:07 am
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I doubted it would be white coat - long story short I have it only sometimes hence the asking.

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• By socsmurf
• Posted November 10, 2008 at 9:08 am
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If it was a new doc. Do any other kids in the family have high numbers?

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• By mom21
• Posted November 10, 2008 at 11:35 am
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I haven't heard of this before but it has always been a worry of mine, my husband has high BP and bloodpressure was one of the biggest issues we had during our NICU stage. I have often wondered when they start taking it again. We only go to NICU follow up once a year and I don't remember them taking it then. Are there any other things that you noticed as symptoms?

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• By laurakennedy77
• Posted November 10, 2008 at 12:22 pm
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mom21-
There were no symptoms, just the routine check that caught it. We also go to the follow up only every 9-10 months and that is the last time it was checked. It was normal at that time. My ped said that they start taking BP at routine appointments at age 3. I'm sure they would have done it at any previous appointment if I had asked but I had no concern before now. In the NICU she didn't really have any BP issues...

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• By laurakennedy77
• Posted November 10, 2008 at 12:22 pm
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mom21-
There were no symptoms, just the routine check that caught it. We also go to the follow up only every 9-10 months and that is the last time it was checked. It was normal at that time. My ped said that they start taking BP at routine appointments at age 3. I'm sure they would have done it at any previous appointment if I had asked but I had no concern before now. In the NICU she didn't really have any BP issues...

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• By Mgnsmom
• Posted November 11, 2008 at 8:55 am
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Megan did have high blood pressure when she was taking steroids for her hemangioma (birthmark). It would get up into the 140's. They did not put her on medication for it at the time.

She stopped taking steroids in June 2008. She is now taking Propranolol (infant high bp medication) to treat her hemangioma. She has done so well with the medication and has not had any problems or side effects. Her bp is back down into the 90's.

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• By KellyP
• Posted November 16, 2008 at 11:49 pm
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My son had high blood pressure while still in the NICU. His kidneys did struggle during the early weeks in the NICU so (although the doctor never said this) it might have contributed to the readings.

He was also diagnosed with a heart condition (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome) while in the NICU and was put on propranol. Propranol also controls blood pressure.

Once he comes off the the medication he will have to return to his nephrologist for a blood pressure check. We're hoping it's returned to normal for good.

Good luck with your daughter.

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• By Christina4
• Posted November 17, 2008 at 8:00 pm
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Although my ds has not had a problem with high blood pressure, I asked the question at his follow-up with cardiology because I had heard preemies can have bp issues. I can't explain it in detail, but I recall he said high bp in preemies is usually related to the effect of using an umbilical IV which is commonly done with small preemies in their first week. You may want to ask or see a cardio...

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• By kyliesmommy1
• Posted November 17, 2008 at 8:22 pm
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Are they taking her BP manually or with an electronic machine? My daughters bp is always high when they take it with the machine. At every appt the nephrologist then takes her bp manually and it reads normal. It also seems to run higher when the take her bp on her leg rather than her arm. Not sure if this would be an issue since your daughter is no longer an infant.

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• By TiffanyT
• Posted November 19, 2008 at 3:38 pm
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My baby is 2 months old and his bp is the same and sometimes higher. He just came home. He was in the NICU for 10 weeks., He also sees a Nephrologist and is on bp medicine. I had him at 32 weeks due to pre-e too. They couldn't find a reason for his bp issues. They say sometimes they never find a reson and it resolves itself in babies.

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