Infant thyroid

[cherry9109]

kindly share thyroxine requienment of a infant with absent thyroid gland till six months. If infant is fully on mothers milk, can he survive without medication?

[magpieannie]

NO! Breast milk alone will not replace the absent thyroid hormone in your infant if he /she was born without a thyroid gland. My daughter was also born without a thyroid gland in 2000. I breast fed her for a year and she was on Synthroid the whole time, which she began at 3 weeks of age. Proper brain growth/development and body growth is dependant on the proper levels of thyroid hormone in the body. While brest feeding is a good addition and idea for many reasons, your thyroid absent baby MUST be on thyroid hormone replacement. It is vital that you take him to a pediatric endocronologist ASAP! His life and development depend on it proper medical treatment NOW!!!!!!

[Super_sally888]

Hi,

even with breast milk the baby needs replacement thryoid hormone.  This is urgent and very important for his normal physical and intellectual development.  Lack of thyroid hormone in infancy causes severe mental retardation.

His level will depend on his test results.  You need to get him on meds asap, if he is not already.  He will need regular testing also until his levels reach target.  This would be in the upper half of the reference range for FT3 and FT4.  TSH will probably be between 1 and 2, but most important is the FT3 and FT4 results.