swollen red/blue legs/feet

[omgimdoinitagain]

i feel like a hypochondriac by proxy at this point but this is one scary thing that happened this weekend , my 6 month old grandson had three nights of 15-20 minute screaming "fits" which 2 nights (2x on friday night) i attributed to gas or a bad dream ,but he didn't pull his legs up , rather he straightened them 'til they were rigid and he was arching backwards .last night we had put feet-less jammies on him, when the "fit" started after about 5 mins we turned the overhead light on we noticed his legs ,from the knees down were bright red, swollen and hot to the touch and his feet were bright red , blue and purple in areas . within a few minutes of holding him upright against me they went back to a pink healthy colour right before our eyes (we took snapshots for doc to see) he stopped crying and fell back asleep like nothing happened . we didnt give him anything new to eat, his bed/clothes were freshly laundered in the same detergent we have been using (Free & Clear) .his nurse had once mentioned his legs were "hard" (fostermom had started him in a walker at 2 months old! )and showed us massage techniques to "loosen" them . im leaning towards a circulation issue but such a short period to "fix" itself seems unlikely .or is it ? has anyone ever even heard of this or experienced it?

[omgimdoinitagain]

so apparently this is caused by how a baby is positioned .... "positional circulation " after viewing the images i had taken she said if it cleared up that fast (frame by frame) it is positional and it is quite common in babies ..? I've never seen nor heard of such a thing. but it makes sense ,
He was propped up in his carriage (head about 4 inches higher than his legs) because of his stuffiness, for his naps, as well his crib had a pillow under the mattress to raise the top an extra 3 inches. for three nights .though recently he started to move about his crib he is a "dead" sleeper once he is out. i literally have to put my hand to his chest, he is so still. It is painful for them just like it is for us *sigh* but in almost all cases they grow out of it as they get older .
" Hard legs " was discussed also , there is no such thing and the nurse who told me that is wrong ...

[ra11en]

Glad it ended up with a good outcome. Sounded pretty scary in your first post!

[omgimdoinitagain]

thanx ra11en :-) ,,but ,all the articles i've read suggest this "positional "circulation issue is NOT painful and would be accompanied by COLD ,blue hands/feet ... I called my niece ,a geriatrics nurse with 2 children under 3 and she said her son did get that quite a few times and his feet/hands turned ice cold ,NOT hot . We're actually going to make an appointment at Hasbro, a childrens hospital in Rhode Island . since i myself suffer from DVT,RLS as well as a D word with 100 letters (it makes it feel like my nerves have been placed outside my legs and even holding them together makes me scream in agony), we feel a thorough exam by a specialist seems prudent ,even though this doctor (#2, i think we've hit the motherlode of idiot doctors in my area) said inherited circulation problems would not apply in a baby .

[ra11en]

With the medical history being what it is, I believe you're very responsible to get him checked out regardless of what the believed diagnosis is. Especially since your pediatrician seems so incredibly bright (not).

Hope to hear it turns out okay!!

[marlaac21]

My son is 3 1/2 months he was born premature 31 weeks.. He is great. But i noticed that 1x his arm turned blue/purple but once we moved him around he was ok.. another time his whole hand went white and ice cold... also once we grabbed and and started rubbing it, went bakc to normal. I called the Dr and the Dr. said i could have held the baby wrong or the baby could of been leaning on one of is many many nerves and was not a problem... Today my baby was crying in his sleep which I also thought was gas or a bad dream i touched him and spoke to him and he calmed down.. few mins later he started doing it again... i got him up and figured he is hungry even though he ate only 3 hours ago. He ate his bottle up, but was still crying as if something was bothering him.. i rocked him, held his different positions... went to the changing table to change him and get him dressed for the day and his left foot was bright red and swollen and very hot to the touch. I am toatally freaked out. My husband i rubbed his foot and wiggled his legs and it went away slowly ... you can see the foot change colors... he is perectly fine now... We are waiting on the Dr. though... This is my 1st baby (Max) and i am also nuts abouts every lil thing. Reading your post clamed me down very much. I also have problems with my legs, i get swollen and hot and puffy in my feet also they go ice cold and my toes are white when the rest of me is normal... i have rls at night also... Could this be that he got my circulating problems?