Baby's red, swollen, hot legs - Advice?

[WishUponAStar]

Hi!

My partner and I have just got back from A&E where our 4 month old son was seen by an emergency GP.... We didn't get any diagnosis there for what happened to our baby tonight and wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

At about 8.30pm our son woke up crying like he's never cried before, obviously in pain. After trying to settle him for a few minutes we took off his clothing to check his nappy and skin. When we unbuttoned the legs of his sleepsuit they were quite obviously bright red from mid-thigh down, very swollen to the point where there was no definition between his legs and ankles, and his feet were blue/purple in places. His cry escalated even more if we touched his legs where they were red/swollen. We went straight to the hospital but on the way there he fell fast asleep again like nothing was wrong and when we got to the car park his legs were back to normal again. The triage nurse saw him soon after we got to A&E and his temperature and pulse was normal and took us through to see the emergency GP. We were with him less than 5 minutes, he looked at his (now normal looking) legs and listened to his chest..... Only to then tell us that "it must be one of those things".

We're still a little worried though.... He hasn't really been himself much today and over the past couple of nights he has woken with the same crying fits but we hadn't looked at his legs before. He'd gone back to sleep after we'd got him up and cuddled him for a while, just like tonight when we got in the car.

Has anyone else had experience of this happening, or have any ideas what could have caused it....?

We're a very worried mummy and daddy at the moment

 

[hajis-sweetie]

sorry, no advice but lots of hugs.xx

 

[loopy_lou]

No idea sorry but if it happens again take a photo so if by the time you get to see a doctor you can show them.

 

[WishUponAStar]

I've been thinking.... and could my baby's legs have gone red, hot and swollen because his sleeping bag is too small/short? He's quite a long baby and his 0-6 month sized sleeping bag is only a couple of inches longer than him now. Maybe his feet got stuck in a position that made his feet and legs swell? This is driving me crazy.....

 

[sweetlullaby]

Could it possibly be he's allergic to the popper's in his sleepsuits seeing as it's down his legs?

Not sure on the sleeping bags but my LO has got his wrapped quite tight around his legs sometimes wiggling about especially when he was younger.

Agree on taking photo's straight away if it happens again hun!

 

[loopy_lou]

Harriet is very long and was a little small in her sleeping bag one night but no rash just a grumpy baby so we did not use that again...

 

[Emmas Nini]

Hi,

I found this site and your post from a Google search. I was babysitting my granddaughter who is 6 months old, and suddenly, while I was feeding her, she began to scream. It was a hard and scary pain cry. Rocking and walking did nothing, so I removed her sleep suit to check her diaper, and that's when I saw her incredibly red and swollen legs

Hers were very red, from mid-thigh down just like your son's, and her ankles and feet were puffy and swollen. I decided to check the internet quickly before I phoned her pediatrician and that's when I found your post. I did also call her doctor, who told me she had no idea what it could be, but that if it didn't go away on it's own, to bring her to the emergency room. Luckily, after about 15 or 20 minutes, her legs also went back to normal. I don't understand what it could possibly be. I've had 3 kids of my own and have never seen anything like this before. It's comforting to know there is someone else that this has happened to.

If I by some chance I do find out what caused it, I will definitely let you know, and I hope you'll do the same for me. Here's hoping it doesn't happen again, right? Good luck.

 

[JayeD]

It could be that the sleep suit twisted around his legs in a certain way that started to cut off the circulation. Is his sleep suit too tight or close to being too tight around any part of his body, especially his legs? You might want to go up a size.

 

[Adzcat01234]

I have had the same problem recently but with my twin boy and girl. Last Friday when trying to feed my 19 week old boy he began screaming Luke never before. After checking numerous things we noticed his kegs were red from the thigh down. His feet were swollen and had purple patches on his legs where the veins were really prominent. This lasted for 5 minutes and then everything went back to normal and he was fine. We couldn't work out what it was and went through everything. It happened again 2 days later. We originally thought it may have been positional but both occasions were very different. On the first occasion he had just cone out of his car seat which fits on the buggy but had only been in it for 20 mins. On the 2nd occasion he'd been out of the seat for 1 hour. We looked at tightness of shoes which didn't apply as he wasn't wearing shoes on the 2nd occasion. Nothing had been changed at home-no new products etc. Nappy or clothes weren't too tight etc. We were baffled and took him to the gp
Out of hours clinic on Sunday after the 2nd episode to be told they didn't know what it was. I made an appointment at my g.p's to get a referral. Then on Monday evening just before her bedtime feed his twin sister had an episode the same-again lasting only about 5 mins then everything back to normal. Has not happened since-now thursday. They are both on different milk which has been the sane for about 3.5 months now. We are totally baffled. They don't think it's vascular as why would non identical twins both have this reaction at roughly the same time? Dr didn't think it is allergic as comes and goes so quickly. Currently waiting for urgent referral appointment but hoping it won't happen again. The only common denominator is that they had their 3rd set of immunisations 8 days before my son's first reaction. For those who have experienced similar had their lo had immunisations?

 

[PepsiChic]

my first thought was diaper/clothes are too too tight, BUT most of the time if you cut off circulation to something it stops the blood flow and skin looses color and goes blue/greyish not red.

so my second thought was an allergic reaction, either to material in whatever he was wearing, or maybe the laundry detergent used to wash his clothes.

thirdly it could just be over heating and once you took the clothes off and he had time to cool down he was fine.

and finally it could be position, if he moved his legs around in the sleeping bag, had them lying on top of one another or twisted slightly it could of caused the swelling (which in turn can be red)

make sure you keep a close eye on him, take photos next time it happens (lay him on a white towel when you do so the dr can see just how red and swollen they are!)

hope hes ok
x

 

[Emmletine]

Hi. My 3 month old baby has experienced almost identical symptoms. She is normally completely placid and happy but today screamed for over an hour like she never has before. Nothing would soothe her so I took off her clothes looking for a rash. Her legs were scarlet and hot and one of them was swollen. Instantly her clothes were off, however, she calmed down and was back to her usual smiley/chatty self within minutes. I took her to the doctor who found nothing wrong with her pulse.

I wondered if anything further had happened to others who posted similar situations. Thanks

 

[Murphy98]

I haven't had this happen but didn't want to read and run. How awful hun - no wonder your worried! You probably already have but run through a list of anything that might have changed - new detergent, new food, new bottles - maybe he had a reaction to something? Is he too hot in his room or over dressed for bed?

Hope it doesn't happen again but that was a good suggestion above to take a picture if it does.

 

[crazydiamond]

I realise it is sometimes a bad idea to google these things but the symptoms do possibly sound like lymphedema https://www.lymphedemapeople.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=12

 

[tribalbetty]

Hi!

My partner and I have just got back from A&E where our 4 month old son was seen by an emergency GP.... We didn't get any diagnosis there for what happened to our baby tonight and wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

At about 8.30pm our son woke up crying like he's never cried before, obviously in pain. After trying to settle him for a few minutes we took off his clothing to check his nappy and skin. When we unbuttoned the legs of his sleepsuit they were quite obviously bright red from mid-thigh down, very swollen to the point where there was no definition between his legs and ankles, and his feet were blue/purple in places. His cry escalated even more if we touched his legs where they were red/swollen. We went straight to the hospital but on the way there he fell fast asleep again like nothing was wrong and when we got to the car park his legs were back to normal again. The triage nurse saw him soon after we got to A&E and his temperature and pulse was normal and took us through to see the emergency GP. We were with him less than 5 minutes, he looked at his (now normal looking) legs and listened to his chest..... Only to then tell us that "it must be one of those things".

We're still a little worried though.... He hasn't really been himself much today and over the past couple of nights he has woken with the same crying fits but we hadn't looked at his legs before. He'd gone back to sleep after we'd got him up and cuddled him for a while, just like tonight when we got in the car.

Has anyone else had experience of this happening, or have any ideas what could have caused it....?

We're a very worried mummy and daddy at the moment

i have just returned from a&e with my 12 week old son with EXACTLY the same symptoms. he had his immunisation at 11.40am and at 5pm started screaming, his legs were swollen his feet were blue. when we got seen by the doc his legs appeared normal. then they did it again and when it went away there were dark spots like little bruises under the skin. they did extensive blood tests for every thing from whether his blood clotted ok to viruses and the only thing that showed up was his white blood cell count is high. it seems ha has had a rare reaction to imms, his immune system has been a little over zealous when fighting the vaccines to gain immunity. the docs said he should be fine, just got to keep an aye on the spots to make sure no new ones appear and make sure he is feeding ok etc.
one thing though, if your baby had just had jabS you MUST GET THEM TO GIVE ANY MORE IMMUNISATIONS IN HOSPITAL....that way they can keep the baby under observation. chances are it wont happen again but better to be safe than sorry.

 

[tribalbetty]

* sorry i put a&e...we actually had to stay in overnight so it should read childrens ward!

 

[tribalbetty]

back in hospital for 2nd set of imms.....same thing happened again but without the screaming. nurse took a photo to send off to specialists. they did every check conceivable....4 limb blood pressure ruled out circulation problems, ecg ruled out heart problems, bloods ruled out infection. apart from the strange reaction my son is a picture of good health!

the flash went off so you cant really see just how blue his legs were....the nurse got a really good one.

found this on a website, it shed a little light...


Discolored leg syndrome after vaccination--descriptive epidemiology.

Discoloration of the leg following vaccination is a relatively unknown entity. We carried out a study of discolored leg syndrome (DLS) during a 10-year consecutive period with the objective of characterizing DLS in infants following vaccination received in the Dutch National Vaccination Program as well as its occurrence and association with different vaccines. Discolored leg syndrome was defined as an even or patchy red, blue or purple discoloration of the leg(s) and/or leg petechiae with or without swelling. All reports of adverse events following immunization that were made to the passive surveillance system between 1994 and 2003 were included-a total of 1162 identified cases. Red, blue, purple discoloration and isolated petechiae were reported in 39, 19, 27 and 14% of these cases, respectively. Of these 1162 cases, 1105 were considered to be related to the vaccination, based on a predefined risk window with symptom onset after vaccination (48 h for discolorations and 2 weeks for petechiae). Of the 1105 cases, about 50% occurred after DTP-IPV+Hib1 vaccinations, and 30% occurred after DTP-IPV+Hib2 vaccinations. Discolored leg syndrome was frequently accompanied by fierce crying (78%). The median time interval between vaccination and the occurrence of DLS was 3.8 +/- 46.7 h, and the median duration was short (2 +/- 61.7 h). Advancing the vaccination schedule from 3 to 2 months of age caused a small increase in DLS. Discolored leg syndrome manifested mainly after the first and/or second vaccination. In addition to dose, the occurrence of DLS may be slightly age-dependent and self-limiting. The pathophysiology is unknown but may be the result of a vasomotor reaction. Future studies should elucidate the recurrence rate, identify risk factors and assess late outcomes.

and this...from patientsville...

DTAP HEPB IPV (PEDIARIX)(produced by GLAXOSMITHKLINE) problem was reported from OK, USA. Female patient, child 00.2 years of age, was vaccinated with DTAP HEPB IPV (PEDIARIX) on Apr 2006, 24. 10 minutes after Pediarix, Pedvax HIB, PVC were given infant turned purplish blue on legs and arms with red splotches all over them. His face was normal colored but did have splotches on cheeks and forehead. Infant was taken to ER for observation..Patient was taken to emergency room. Patient recovered.....

even though there is no obvious ALLERGIC symptoms it is most definately down to the imms.

 

[tribalbetty]

 

[WishUponAStar]

Thank you for all the info tribalbetty! Your baby's legs in the photo look just like my son's did back in November, although his had less definition between his leg/ankle/foot. As scary as it was at the time, I'm glad the research you provided doesn't seem to show any adverse effects. My son had his imms on 8/28, 9/24 and 10/22. The reaction in his legs occurred on November 23rd. Do you think this could still be attributed to what happened to my son too?

 

[tribalbetty]

i am almost positive it is down to the immunisations....too much of a coincidence in my babys case as it was on the same day within hours of the jab. however after the first jab, if he gets really upset his legs go blotchy again. this never happened before he had the pediarix jab and both myself and the doctors here are pretty much convinced that it is the fault of the jab. they couldnt have run more tests if they tried!!!
i think even though it was 24 hours before your baby reacted i would print off this info and get some pics so if you need to take baba to a doctor again you can show them. i go back for the 3rd dose on july 21st anf fully expect the same to happen again. it is not so much an "allergic" reaction, rather just a rare and strange reaction. i will be taking all the info i have when i go back, i already gave permission for them to use the photos of daniels legs in order to educate other doctors so that parents arent so worried. if we dont share how will anyone know eh?
upside is that although it is strange and a little scary, and when it goes away in a split second the doctors look at you as though you are nuts, it doesnt seem to be at all serious as my baby is otherwise very healthy!!! hope the info eased your mind somewhat....

 

[tribalbetty]

forgot to say, the first time it happened my babas legs were very swollen and painful, luckily it wasnt as bad 2nd time round.

the docs are sending all the info to glaxo smith kline, who make the vaccine, in the hope that they will list this reaction as a possible side effect so parents can be made aware of it.