Hormone Signalling Levels On Babies.....?

[phleb]

My friend had her baby, and she took him for blood tests. The tests show the
hormone signalling levels are at 9 and baby is two weeks old. Is this bad? They are doing a repeat test in another 2 weeks. Any advice would be great. thanks. xx

[Sqad]

Sorry...I have never heard of hormone signals or signal levels, unless you mean pituitary hormones. The " levels" that you mention are meaningless to me...sorry. Unless of course there is a suggestion of hypothyroidism or lack of growth hormone.......again there will be more helpful replies.

[Sqad]

I have just had a thought..............is the baby jaundiced (yellow) ?

[phleb]

The baby isn't jaundiced. It's to do with the thyroid, she has hypothyroidism.

[Sqad]

Aaaaah! gotcha.
The figure of 9 represents the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) in the blood and is borderline high, which means that the baby may well have congenital hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) OR no thyroid gland at all.
It is important to make the diagnosis as if untreated there could and would be serious developmental problems.

However all is not lost, as if the next test shows that the figure of 9 has been reduced ( normal being about 7) then all is well.
If however the figure has increased, then treatment will need to be instigated OR, if the rise is only slow or slight after 3-4 months, then it may be that not treatment at all need be necessary.

The next test in 2 weeks is the important one.