Our pediatrician saw Lyric yesterday. His examination was non-descript, really. He checked her reflexes, weighed and measured her, etc—all in all, she’s healthy; she even gained back her birth weight. He of course heard the strider in her throat—that which we were told was tracheomalacia. He referred us to a pediatric pulmonologist for further investigation.
However, upon speaking with an old friend of mine, who happens to be a pediatric ENT doctor, we discovered that tracheomalacia is rare in newborns. What is more common is larynomalacia, essentially a “floppy” windpipe due to immature cartilage. But, he said, that may not even be what she has—you need to get a camera into her throat to see what’s going on. There could be a cyst, scar tissue, anything.
The soonest we could get into the pulmonologist was March. As fortune would have it, we got an appointment in the city with a recommended ENT doctor for today at 5pm. Someone had canceled and we slipped in. We didn’t even have to pull strings.
It turns out she has no kind of malacia whatsoever. Her right vocal chord is stretched a little, making it weak. Moreover, the condition is aggravated by acid reflux (the doctor saw the bits of milk in her throat—yuck). So the sounds she is making have nothing to do with a breathing problem, which is great news. The condition should resolve itself within a month, the doctor said.
Until then, she’ll just squeak :)
