Hyperemesis Gravidarum Support and Research Forums

I am a mother of 3 - and survivor of HG. I was hospitalized 4x for dehydration and ended up with a PIC line to my 36th week. From my 7th week and a trip to the emergency room with severely low potassium levels due to the vomiting, I began trying one antiemetic after another. Each on had either a severe adverse reaction or an allergic reaction.

My only choice left was Prednizone. This drug did wonders for my vomiting and I put on a lot of weight - that I have yet to loose two years later. If it hadn't been for the steroids I don't know what I would have done.

Unfortunately there was a side effect that no one mentioned to me, besides the trouble losing weight. My daughter was born full term at 4lbs. She is an extremely small child still and is not even on the growth charts. At 2 yrs old she wears a size 12mo. The doctors have labeled her "failure to thrive". She eats well but cannot absorb calories and nutrients properly. I cannot get a straight answer if this is linked to the Prednizone usage, but I feel very strongly that it is.

Please discuss all possibilities of the effects of anitemetics and steroids on your baby before taking them.

I'd like to know if anyone else has a similar story.

Katismommy - I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's "failure to thrive." How do you deal with her inability to absorb calories? That must be so difficult.

Failure to thrive was something I was very concerned about after HG and because my daughter was a bit premature (born at 35 weeks), but we were very lucky. I took steroids from week 6 until 10 days post-partum. My daughter weighed 5 lbs 1 oz at birth, dropped to 4 lbs 10 oz at 1 week, and bounced back to about 7 lbs by her first month appt. At first, she was a little "behind" on the growth curves but she very quickly caught up. So she fortunately did not experience the growth problems your dauther has. Were you able to find out if any of the antiemitcs increase this risk for the baby? I never heard about this side-effect with steriods...only the increased risk for cleft-palate and lowering of the mother's immune system.

Your daughter is in my prayers.
Take care,

Kati takes pediasure 2x daily. She eats pretty well and we have gone through a nutritionist, and a specialist in child GI. No real conclusions but we have ruled out several serious diseases. She is a very intelligent vibrant little girl. Her gross motor skills were a bit behind but she seems to be catching up a little. Her speech is progressed slowly, and luckily she has no mental impairments. Thank you for your prayers that is very kind.

katismommy

I am assuming that she has been tested for celiac disease? I can't imagine that the docs missed that one, but it runs in my family and I know that at least for adults, it is often misdiagnosed but when it gets bad the patient has uncontrollable weight loss and can't absorb any iron or some other things into their bloodstream.

Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience. You may want to call Motherisk in Canada and at least let them know. This is a new one to me, but they keep track of things like that.

i had hg with my daughter and had home IV's only this time and she was born a healthy 7.11. 2 weeks after she was born she began to drop weight and not grow well. she had the label "failure to thrive". she was 14 lbs at age 1 and almost 18 lbs at age 2. she has had some reflux problems but other then low iron she was fine. the drs finally said it was her growth pattern and that she will always be small. she is a healthy 4 3/4 year old and a tiny 27 lbs. (my 20 month old is 25lbs!) she is gaining slow and had some set backs with weight loss but she has developed normally in every way. i know that the big difference is that i never took steroids but as far as the failure to thrive, it is usually not a big deal. as long as progress is being made. i'm sure your daughter will be fine too.

it is such a worrysome thing though, and i feel for you.
best wishes