[bbull]

Hey there. Eli has been home since March 5th, but my concern today is Rosemary. She has had difficulties with sleep (including terrible night terrors) since before I brought her home over a year ago. So - Eli sleeps all night at 8 months, but Rose just can't do it at 20 months. She struggles with going to sleep, naptime, etc and wakes up very often.

My pediatrician is very respected and has some internationally adopted children in his practice, but he just doesn't get it. Neither of my children have had blood tests, stool tests, etc since they've been home. I've repeatedly asked if we should do a routine cbc or even a tb skin test. Finally they did a tb test on Rosemary at her last well baby visit (and it was negative.)

I just know in my gut that something more is going on with Rosemary (besides her little brother coming home) and I feel like it's psychological. They both had the same fmom, but Rosemary still has some strange behavior with her food (hoarding, etc.) I just think she had a tough time.

So - finally....... does anyone know of a good international specialist who may do a phone consult to let me know what I need my ped (or new ped) to test for?

I'm a single mommy to two under 20 months and I'm barely making it here. Rosemary not sleeping is killing me.
Help!!???

[dspakowsky]

There's a person who does phone consults. I want to say its the lady who wrote The Connected Child, but I'm not certain.

My youngest is almost 2 1/2 and STILL is restless in the night. She'll be in a deep sleep, then wake up an sit up, fuss a little, then go back to sleep. Also, she tosses and turns ALL night long. She's still in her crib because she falls out of EVERY bed I've ever put her in.

[DPline]

Here is the list we received of recommended tests at homecoming:

Hepatitis B screen, including Hepatitis B surface antigen, Hepatitis B surface antibody, and Hepatitis B core antibody
Hepatitis C screen
HIV ELISA and/or PCR screen
Complete blood count
Lead level
RPR or VDRL
TSH, preferably state metabolic screen
Tuberculosis
Urinalysis
Diphtheria and Tetanus antibodies and Polio neutralizing titers (not complement fixation titers)
Immunization titers

Rainbow Children's Hospital in Cleveland has an adoption clinic. You might try calling them. Hopefully you can get some more consulation recommendations as well.

Good luck!

[TheFoxx]

I know you are in Arkansas - do you have a local Children's Hospital? I'd start there first.

If it's feasible (and you are not getting the results your child needs) I'd say go to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They are #1 in the Country (and probably the world).

If you need contact info - PM me and I'll get you the details.

[mildredjohn]

When our kids came we took them to one in Baltimore. She's great and has a son adopted from Guatemala. She works for Johns Hopkins Hospital.
If you are interested let me know to pass you her email.

[nannyisme2004]

Hi. Congrats on having both of your children home. I am a single mom of two and I can totally relate on the not sleeping issue. I totally feel for you.
Go to Home - Center for Adoption Medicine. These two great docs are in Seattle. Dr. Davies is who my DD used to see and who my DS sees now. Dr. Davies is the keeper of the website and you may want to start out by asking your questions online and Dr. Davies is the one that will answer them. When I first brought home my daughter 3.5 yrs ago I did not having blood tests, etc. done right away. I waited. But looking back I wish I hadn't waited because of what we found out. I ended up not liking the doc and dermatologist I originally took my DD too so like a year after coming home we went to see Dr. Davies and had all the testing done. Found out she was severally anemic and he was very helpful in helping us relieve her constant constipation, etc.

Maybe ask your question online or call the phone # they give you for the phone consults. Everyone you speak with will be very nice.

I should think you should be able to take the list of tests the other forum member gave you to your peditrician and tell him these are the tests you need to have done on your kids. It took some trial and error to find the docs and specialists that are currently working with my daughter and I know they have her best interest at heart and know what they are doing. Not everyone I took her to did.
Good luck.

[angelkisses0102]

Dr Dana Johnson from Home - International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota does phone consults. He is considered one of the top IA doctors.

Good luck!

[Saya]

You could also try Dr. Jane Aronson's office in New York:

Orphandoctor.com

I know they do phone consults, but I'm not sure if they are limited to certain circumstances or how much they cost.

Also the website for the Minnesota adoption health clinic angelkisses mentioned above has lots of great info.

[joepegcamp]

Dr. Lori Miller at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston wrote many books in IA medicine. We met with her when our son first got home and she's wonderful. She has a good handle on attachment issues and how they manifest themselves in sleep cycles and in the body.

[debhorner04]

We are using Dr. Farber(IAP) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has been absolutely wonderful.

[LJR1974]

In addition to an IA dr, I'd also suggest Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

There is a small section on night terrors. Basically the book says if night terrors are present before puberty, the are not associated with any emotional or personality problems. And recurrent night terrors are also often associated with chronically abnormal sleep schedules. Enabling them to get more sleep is the way of treating over tired children who have frequent night terrors. The author says he has observed that night terrors disappear when parents moved the bedtime earlier by only 30 minutes.

How much sleep does Rosemary get? Have you tried moving up her bedtime?

Our 21 month old ds has had trouble sleeping thru the night. We were skeptical, but moved his bedtime up dramatically and we are seeing dramatic results only 4 days in.

[susy...patience]

There is also a great adoption dr. in the DC area....PM me for details if you live near there. I know that he and his nurse do phone consults.

[emsd55]

I am in the New York Area (long island). DH and I brought both our son and daughter to a specialist affiliated with Winthrop University Hospital. His name is Dr. Paul Lee. I am quite surprised that that the pediatrician "just doesn't get it". Our kids pediatrician (knowing that our kids were adopted internationally) was the one who had suggested that we bring our kids to an infectious disease specialist. the specialist does runs a whole bunch of tests.

If you need anymore information, just contact me and I will be glad to give you more info.

Good luck!!

[kzwief]

I second Dr. Dana Johnson at the University Of MN International Adoption Clinic. He is wonderful. I have just dealth with him via email for our referral information and continue with our monthly medicals. Our daughter has several health issues. He is wonderful, timely and extremely knowledgable!

[maxine10018]

I'm in St Petersburg FL... The childrens hospital here - All Childrens ( just google it) has a Dr. on staff, Dr Chevez. He went to med. school in Guatemalal City and had traveled all over Europe. Very nice man..... When I had trouble with my son, I took him to see him even thou insurance would not pay for it. Dr Chevez was able to give me a lot of insight into how babies are raised in GUA and what to look for. My visit to him made such a bug difference. I felt soo much better that he knew exactly how my son was rasied for the first 10 months. He talked about most foster families, what you don't see or hear about. (not bad, just not what I knew)

I'm sure if you called the office, they would help. Also, he personally knew the Dr that treated my son in GUA and was willing to call him if we found any specific issues.

PM me if you want any additional info.

Karen