Pea like structures at the back of baby's head

Blank
Hi Everyone,

Has anyone experienced pea like lumps at the back of the neck and lower part of the head.

My son who is now 6 months has two laps at both ends of the head (lower) and some close to the neck at the back.

The doctor reckons they are lymph nodes. But I noticed the pea like structures when he was younger too.

Any pointers or should I seek a third opinion


Need all the help.
Sam

On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 00:44:17 +1100, "Samantha"
wrote:

Blank
Hi Everyone,

Has anyone experienced pea like lumps at the back of the neck and lower part of the head.

My son who is now 6 months has two laps at both ends of the head (lower) and some close to the neck at the back.

The doctor reckons they are lymph nodes. But I noticed the pea like structures when he was younger too.

Do you have any particular reason not to believe your doctor?

Any pointers or should I seek a third opinion

Lymph nodes are a normal part of human anatomy. They are all over the
body, and in some areas are located close enough to the surface to be
felt. Parents often find the occipital lymph nodes in their infant and
think they're something pathologic, but I have never encountered one
who doesn't believe me when I tell them what they are (as far as I
know).

Normal occipital lymph nodes in an infant typically are felt over the
bone of the lower back of the head, usually about the size of a pea,
just under the skin, and are somewhat mobile (not affixed to
underlying structures), with no overlying skin changes. They tend to
be more prominent in infants with cradle cap (seborrheic dermatitis)
as they are reacting to the inflammation of the scalp.

PF

Samantha wrote:
Blank
Hi Everyone,

Has anyone experienced pea like lumps at the back of the
neck and
lower part of the head.
My son who is now 6 months has two laps at both ends of
the head
(lower) and some close to the neck at the back.


Those are usually lymph nodes.


The doctor reckons they are lymph nodes.

Sounds about right.


But I noticed the pea like
structures when he was younger too.

he was born with them. He will die with them. Sometimes they
may be bigger or smaller than others. Nothing about him
having them before makes them less likely to be lymph
nodes - in fact it makes it more likely.



Any pointers or should I seek a third opinion

Third? So far I count only one.

Need all the help.

Why? You have one answer. Do you have some reason to doubt
it?

--
00doc

BlankThanks Everyone for sharing your input.

Sam
"Samantha" wrote in message . ..

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone experienced pea like lumps at the back of the neck and lower part of the head.

My son who is now 6 months has two laps at both ends of the head (lower) and some close to the neck at the back.

The doctor reckons they are lymph nodes. But I noticed the pea like structures when he was younger too.

Any pointers or should I seek a third opinion


Need all the help.
Sam

Hi I felt the same lumps on my baby's head too she will be 4 months old in
2 days.
she has pretty significant cradle cap and facial eczema so I dont know if
that's the reason why.
the thing I am concerned about is that she has been on elidel which is an
immunomodulator from her pediatric dermatologist on and off for the last
few weeks and whether that has anything to do with it. I will call the
derm to see if she needs to stop the elidel.
any pointer from anyone?? I need help since I called the elidel company
and they cannot tell me anything either

bettina4 wrote:
Hi I felt the same lumps on my baby's head too she will be 4 months
old in
2 days.
she has pretty significant cradle cap and facial eczema so I dont
know if
that's the reason why.
the thing I am concerned about is that she has been on elidel which
is an
immunomodulator from her pediatric dermatologist on and off for the
last
few weeks and whether that has anything to do with it. I will call
the
derm to see if she needs to stop the elidel.
any pointer from anyone?? I need help since I called the elidel
company
and they cannot tell me anything either

Any inflammatory process (eczema, cradle cap, etc.) can cause
enlargement of the lymph nodes "downstream" of the site of
inflammation. This dovetails nicely with the fact that you feel the
lymph nodes on the back of your baby's head, "downstream" of the cradle
cap.

Elidel is a topical immunomodulator. That means that it works at the
surface and very little if any is actually absorbed into the baby's
system. I do agree that you ought to talk with your dermatologist
about your concerns, if for no other reason than the fact you know
he/she is a doctor. You can't take the word of anyone on Usenet when
it comes to stopping or starting your child's medicine; how would you
know you're corresponding with someone who knows what they're talking
about?

Mark, MD