Last year after Carson was born, everytime he had so much as a sinus infection, we got at least 2 nights in the hospital from it because of the Gerd and laryngo-tracheomalacia... He retracted 24-7 and even worse when he was sick.
How long does the automatic your in the hospitals last with these babies? Carson has croup, tonight seems to be the worst night with his breathing since march of this past year. Hes not retracting, actually just barky..... we played over the humidifier some, and he don't sound bad at all. I am a respiratory therapist, and I feel "comfortable" with his breathing, when normally we would be packing bags.

DOes is sound like things with the laryngo-tracheomalacia have resovled enough to not have to go in the hospital over respiratory bugs?
I am scared that I am just "numb" from taking care of babies this past month at work that were a 1000 times worse, so I am overlooking something?:banghead:

thats a hard one, i would say if you are worried take him to be looked over, evenif it is just to put your mind at rest ,

Ask your self if he was a patient of yoyur would you keep him in or send him home, and if you would keep him in then i would take him to be checked over

Im sure what ever you decide it will be the riigh decision

good luck

gosh, I know nothing about this.
But, I do know that one night Grace had croup so bad, and she would wake up and not be able to catch her breath. It's just scarey.

You probably won't sleep tonight. Poor baby. ((((hug)))) :hug:

I read that you are a respiratory therapist, so I would say that you would know far more than me, but I would take him in if he is getting that bad. But if you have the steroid there, maybe just keep a good eye on him and see.

I'm a respiratory therapist also. One of the things I remind myself of when Brenna's sick is that I'm her Mommy not her therapist. I think sometimes we (in general) take the monitoring capabilities that we have in hospitals for granted. I have never been in a position with her that I haven't been comfortable, but I would hate to wait until I'm in a position that I'm not comfortable with to get our Ped (a coworker) involved. Oftentimes, he will suggest something that makes perfect sense, but that I hadn't given a lot of thought to. I would be concerned about the possibility of RSV on top of the laryngotracheomalacia. That would be a situation that could fall apart very quickly. I hope that your little guy is feeling better very, very soon.

Welcome to IRD!

Thanks rspr8r, He is actually much better. I just remember last year when the laryngotracheomalacia was awlful and he retracted just from a little stuffy nose. I think that now I have got so used to rushing him to the hospital everytime he did get a little sick that I expect the same now. Well he just had croup and didn't even need a respiratory treatment, just some humidity... the ped doc told me that he would reach the point one wonderful day when he wouldn't have to go to the hospital for upper resp bugs.. we are there now!!!! I also know I have seen a lot of really sick little ones in the er this past couple weeks, and some that were bad enough to go on o2 and in the hosptial for a few days. Carson never got close! He just got over rsv a few weeks ago, and it was like a nasty cold.. no wheezing at all with it.

the mommy/therapist thing is hard to separate sometimes... thanks guys

Congratulations on the mild RSV. We've got a Peds ward full of it, on O2, Xopenex, etc. I'm so happy that Carson is better able to manage colds/URIs despite the malacia. It WILL get better and better.

My son was just diagnosed with laryngomalacia, although we don't have the laryngoscopy until Monday to diagnose the severity. I'm just wondering how severe your son's was and if the tracheomalacia is what leads to more hospital stays?? I'm concerned that we're going to have to be hypervigilant about every little cold symptom as he "squeaks" on inhalation almost 24/7 now, but has only had retractions once. He does periodically have pretty good coughing spells at night, though, and that's without a cold! Just wondering what we should be on the lookout for...

Kelley - Occupational Therapist in ventilator weaning hospital (Select Specialty)
Myles 2/20/07 - GERD and laryngomalacia
Maddie 1/15/02 - healthy after having reactive airway disease and allergies as an infant and toddler

my son when a baby was diagnosed with tracheomalacia... they told me he would grow out of it by 2... when he was a baby his breathing always souded like a cat purr after 2 it did pretty much go away but sometimes when running around or getting excited i hear it... but i don't know if this is the same thing Dylan is 13 now Laryngo-tracheomalacia or just tracheomalacia

My son was just diagnosed with laryngomalacia, although we don't have the laryngoscopy until Monday to diagnose the severity. I'm just wondering how severe your son's was and if the tracheomalacia is what leads to more hospital stays?? I'm concerned that we're going to have to be hypervigilant about every little cold symptom as he "squeaks" on inhalation almost 24/7 now, but has only had retractions once. He does periodically have pretty good coughing spells at night, though, and that's without a cold! Just wondering what we should be on the lookout for...

Kelley - Occupational Therapist in ventilator weaning hospital (Select Specialty)
Myles 2/20/07 - GERD and laryngomalacia
Maddie 1/15/02 - healthy after having reactive airway disease and allergies as an infant and toddler


Carson at his worst was about one step away from a fundo and the repair surgery for the laryngo-tracheomalacia. He is at 19 months still squeeky when hes active, but no retractions since March of last year. I would say his reflux not being controled properly, the winter season that he was born in, and his laryngo-tracheomalacia was just worsened because of his bugs, and swelling from reflux.

Looking back he retracted almost 24/7 the first few months, and when he got about 5 months old, and was placed on elecare formula and the prevacid, we were able to drop the freq hospital stays, ent doc visits (now down to every 6 months), haven't seen a pulmonologist since april of last year, and haven't taken a breathing treatment since he was 5 months old.

The laryngo-tracheomalacia makes it harder on them when they have the slightest sniffle because they are already compromised, and that can make them have retractions. Our rule of thumb scared the crap out of me literally, we didn't take him to the er unless he was having apnea, severe retractions, and or turning blue. We still ended up with 15 hospital stays and about 20 something er visits.


So my answer is the bugs he caught and the reflux had more to do with his hospital stays than anything where he was already comprimised.

Good luck with the procedure!

One thing that made us feel more at ease was an apnea monitor also.