My 11-Week Old Loses Color to Her Face and Her Cheeks Are Often Ice Cold

I don't know. That would scare the crud out of me too! Have you mentioned it to her pediatrician? If not, I definitely would. It could be nothing, or it could be something. When it comes to my babies I tend to err on the side of caution.

Just try to relax and remember that babies are not born fully mature....if they were, none of us would EVER get back in THAT ring for a second round! lol!

Her system just hasn't caught up and fully adjusted yet. These things take time.

I like to think of childhood development as a system of credits and debits. A child possesses only so many developmental credits at any given time. If they are all being used, then one of the systems needing development is going to have to wait until more credits are earned through sleep, eating, time and stimulation. Your daughter's circulatory system just needs a little fine tuning. As long as her core body temp is normal and the rest of her extremities are staying a comfortable and safe temp I wouldn't worry about the cheeks.

HI honey,

I hate to jump off the bandwagon, but I, too, am one of the mamas that will wake up to check constantly. All of mine slept with me, so it was for only a second, as they were inches from my face or chest. Babies are really made to snuggle. Once when our power was out and we were stranded at home in a blizzard with no heat, it got down to 30 degrees in the house, and I had a newborn. She slept bundled up next to me, under a stack of quilts, with me nervously pulling her hat back on and willing all of my body heat into her. She snored blissfully, quite warm, while I was a nervous wreck!

But I digress. YOU are the mama. If you have a concern, follow your gut. What does your little girl eat? Is she breastfed? If she's on formula, you might try finding some goats milk, as it's much easier to digest. Raw milk has it's own enzymes. "They" say not to give cow's milk to babies until they're one year old....then "They" push formula made from pasteurized cow's milk...go figure. If you cannot find raw goats milk, it's available in quart containers from most stores, even Walmart, now. If she's on soy, that may be causing the problem, come to think of it...

If she's nursing, giving her the opportunity to nurse at night might keep her system running in a more harmonious way, rather than in highs and lows. One way or the other, in the same way that two horses pulling a cart will fall into step, or two people holding hands on a walk will fall into step, being close to mama may help regulate an infants body. I believe I read a study about being close to mama's heartbeat causing that effect.

I don't know if any of my ramblings help, but I hope there's something in there! I do agree with you--it sounds like it goes back to her digestion.

Best wishes and blessings to you and your little girl.

----oh, heck, I forgot to add something--have you ever noticed a blueish tinge to her lips? Particularly the middle of her bottom lip? This can indicate an issue with nitrates. Breathing in airborne nitrate contamination can cause this effect, which could possibly cause what you are talking about. If you are in town, you would probably have to be near something like a fertilizer plant or a golf course, probably a long shot, but I thought I should mention it.

go buy an anglecare baby monitor. It has a sensor that lets you know that baby is breathing. If baby is breathing than she has a pulse. The monitor allowed me to sleep without worring about my dd. You get the monitor at babies are us for about $130 but it was soooo worth it to not worry.

I went through something similar with my now 2 year old son. He was born a few weeks early, and had digestive issues. He was sooo cold when we first had him at home, particularly any time we would put him down, that we just kept cranking up the heat until we were at 85 degrees all the time.

It turned out that he was having problems, and he ended up going back to the hospital after a week, at the time for jaundice (he was never yellow), and then they realized he had a temp problem. Bottom line, the doctors at the in the special care nursery were much more concerned about him than our pediatrician or I had been, and would not let him go home until he could maintain his temp.
He eventually grew out of it, which you daughter would have by now. So I would definitely keep going back to the doctor and push to see specialist as long as the problem persists.
One more thought...I might also check for food allergies, particularly if you a breastfeeding, cause I have food allergies and when I eat an offending food, I have an upset stomach and my core body temperature plummets, it can be 85 degrees outside and I have to wear a down parka.

As for my son...I did end up cosleeping with him after that episode though, cause he still would get cold at night....of course now he is a little heater.

I am also on Babycenter.com and they have a group called the reflux rebels there are quite a few moms on there with children with Sandifers...might be worth a look.

I am sure that things are fine...as the other Mom's have said, a baby's heat regulators aren't finely tuned yet...and as long as the trunk of her body is warm ...don't be too terribly concerned. And please, do yourself a favor...get some sleep!!! You are making yourself a nervous wreck by watching her every breath at night...you need your sleep to be able to function well during the day!!

My daughter probably had Sandifer's Syndrome. Here's a link to a good page with info about it:

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/931761-overview

And here's our experience - hope it's not too long! Our experience sounds a little different from what your baby is doing, but Sandifer's can present in slightly different ways. My inclination is that you are correct in thinking it's a circulation issue though. Perhaps when she's pushing super hard she holds her breath? Is she constipated? If you can maximize the breast milk and minimize any formula she may be getting that might help her poop more easily, or she may just not quite have figured out exactly how that part of her works yet. :)

OK, back to our experience with Sandifer's: Our daughter had four episodes that I first thought were seizures. Two occurred during naps and two happened while she was asleep at night, and they all happened when she was between about one month old and three months old. In all of them, I heard her cry out in a way I had never heard before or since (one of those cries that just brings you RUNNING!) Her head was turned to the side and she was crying out and twisting her body a little bit and kind of spasming. The first time I thought she was too hot (her skin was bright red, actually) so I stripped her down out of her clothes and took her temperature, which was normal. The other times I just picked her up and once she was in my arms she settled back down instantly, didn't even really open her eyes, and was back asleep within seconds.

These episodes were very spread out, and aside from very frequent spitting up she was otherwise completely healthy, gaining weight like crazy and thriving, so it took until the fourth one for me to realise that there was a pattern and suspect that maybe they were seizures and call her doctor. We got a referral to a neurologist, and it was he who suggested that it could be Sandifer's Syndrome. Basically doctors seem to think it's a physical reaction to the pain caused by reflux, or GERD. The child is in pain, and apparently stretching out the esophagus (by turning the head to the side and otherwise twisting) may relieve some of the pain. We did an EEG (normal) to try to rule out any kind of seizures, and that combined with my description of the episodes pretty much ruled out neurological issues, thank god! I continued to breastfeed her on demand (which was every 45 min. during the day and every 2 hours at night) so that she ate smaller meals and diluted her stomach acid frequently to keep things less painful, and while she continued to spit up with amazing frequency she was a happy and ridiculously chubby baby. (She weighed almost 19 lbs at four months.)

We never had another episode of the Sandifer's after that. When she was about three and a half months old I did limit my diet to try to avoid foods that irritated her tummy (saw almost instant positive results from that - went from a baby who screamed every time I laid her down to change her diaper to a baby who would lie quietly in just a few hours!) We also ended up putting her on Zantac Efferdose tablets at four months b/c she wasn't napping for more than 45 minutes at a time b/c as her natural sleep cycle progressed and she entered a lighter sleeping phase the pain from her stomach would wake her up. (An aside: if reflux is diagnosed and you do choose to try Zantac, get the Efferdose tablets!!! They cost more than the liquid but are infinitely easier to get your LO to take. Medicine is no good if you can't get it in to the baby, and the liquid tastes HORRIBLE, even with flavourings added!!!!) We also purchased a Tucker Sling (www.tuckersling.com), a foam wedge with a harness that allows your LO to safely sleep on an incline. You can do the same thing by putting the baby to sleep in her infant car seat, but we didn't want to get our four month old used to sleeping in her car seat so we got the sling and used it for two months. We stopped the Zantac at about nine months and she's had no sign of GI issues since.

Hope this helps, and that you are also fortunate to find out that what affects your LO is something relatively minor that will clear up on its own.

I would be waking up several times a night too!

Also, do the basics first.
- Have her sleep in a full body sleeper so that her feet are covered. Just because its summer doesn't mean she can't wear a light weight one.
- Put a light weight hat on her.
- Put a room temperature gauge in her room so that you can tell how cold/warm the room is. The room should be between 70 - 72 degrees.

If I had done all that and it were still happening I would talk to the pediatrician about making an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. Just to check things out.

Also, you could have her hydration checked. I have times where I get freezing after sitting still for awhile. My dr. told me to drink more liquids. As you get dehydrated your blood vessels constrict and your fingers, toes, nose become colder. (just another thought).

Good luck.
M.

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I agree with Dyreka. As long as her trunk or main body is warm she is fine. I've often noticed small babies with cold hands and feet even tho their body was warm. It does just mean that her circulatory system isn't mature yet but it will be.