Saving the life of an 8-day-old baby girl whose milk turns to poison when consumed

The girl has a metabolic disorder, so regular milk can be toxic, making the symptoms worse. She needs to tolerate special types of milk.

The girl is being treated at Children's Hospital 2 - Photo: Provided by the hospital

On the afternoon of March 1, according to information from Children's Hospital 2, the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit had just performed continuous blood filtration, promptly saving the life of an 8-day-old baby girl living in Binh Duong . The baby was born full-term, weighed 2.65 kg at birth, and suffered from a congenital metabolic disorder.

BSCK1 Nguyen Pham Minh Tri - Deputy Head of Neonatal Resuscitation Department, Children's Hospital 2 - said that on the 8th day after birth, the baby suddenly had a high fever of 39 degrees Celsius, was tired and lethargic, and the family tried to wake him up but he did not wake up.

The child was taken to Children's Hospital 2 in a state of coma, convulsions, and apnea. Test results showed that NH ₃ in the blood was very high. The patient was immediately prescribed continuous blood filtration to lower NH ₃ , and specialized tests were performed.

Thanks to timely intervention, after 3 days of dialysis, the patient regained consciousness and test results returned to normal.

Dr. Tri added that the results of the in-depth tests showed that the baby had Isovaleric Acidemia. This is a rare congenital metabolic disorder caused by a defect in the enzyme Isovaleryl-CoA Dehydrogenase in the process of metabolizing the amino acid Leucine.

Leucine is an essential amino acid found in baby milk. Due to a defect, the body cannot metabolize this substance, so drinking regular milk will cause the accumulation of toxins that are harmful to the baby.

For children with metabolic disorders, regular milk can become toxic, promoting more severe symptoms.

Therefore, children need to consume different types of milk, which plays a vital role in maintaining and supporting the development of children. However, the cost of these types of milk is quite high, which can cause difficulties for many families.

Watch out for early symptoms of inborn errors of metabolism

Parents need to pay attention to early symptoms (in the newborn stage) that children are at risk of the disease such as poor feeding, vomiting, hypoglycemia, coma, convulsions, etc. Late symptoms of the disease, that is, when the child grows up, include intellectual retardation, physical retardation with neuro-motor disorders.

Early detection of the disease helps children receive timely intervention, increasing the chance of survival and reducing future sequelae. This reduces the burden of treatment costs if there are long-term sequelae, contributing to improving the quality of life for children.

As soon as parents notice unusual signs in their children such as poor feeding, prolonged vomiting, hypoglycemia, convulsions, strange body odor, change in urine color, etc., they should take their children to the hospital for timely diagnosis and treatment.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cuu-song-be-gai-8-ngay-tuoi-cu-uong-sua-vao-la-thanh-chat-doc-20250301140323413.htm