Join now

Already a member? Sign in

Welcome to Inspire!

What - Inspire is a place where you can connect with people who share your health concerns and find information and advice in groups sponsored by organizations you know and trust.

Why - As a member you can use Inspire to let friends and family know how you're doing, contact others who share your health concerns, receive personalized updates and information about participating in surveys and clinical trials, and more.

How - Joining Inspire is completely free and usually takes less than a minute. Join now!

corner corner corner

Any toddler preemies with high blood pressure?

laurakennedy77
0 Recommendations

I posted a similar question a few weeks ago but thought i would try again.
Does anyone have a former preemie that has high BP? Do you know hat is the cause?
Our daughter will be 3 years old in December and was just diagnosed with high BP (avg. reading 118/74) She currently weighs about 25 lbs.
We have an appt. with the Nephrologist on 12/8 so I'm sure they will be ordering some tests. If anyone has any info on this I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks.
Laura

Explore topics in this discussion:

Dialysis Hypertension Propranolol Hemangioma

12 replies

socsmurf

I was wondering how many times they took it before the diagnosed her? How many visits? Was it more then one doctor's office?

laurakennedy77

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

socsmurf

I doubted it would be white coat - long story short I have it only sometimes hence the asking.

socsmurf

If it was a new doc. Do any other kids in the family have high numbers?

mom21

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?

laurakennedy77

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...

laurakennedy77

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...

Mgnsmom

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.

KellyP

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.

Christina4

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...

kyliesmommy1

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.

TiffanyT

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.

Add to the discussion

Don't have an Inspire account? Join now!

Forgot password?

Group leaders

You