Baby Balloons In Size (PHOTO)

A 22-YEAR-OLD mother at Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region is struggling to find an antidote to the unusual excessive weight that her 11-month-old baby girl has developed. The baby girl started putting up weight at lightning speed soon after she was discharged from hospital, where she was treated for severe umbilical pains. The mother of the child, who only gave her name as Abiba, said she was even scared of the manner in which her child was increasing in size. She feared the rather strange situation was endangering the life of the baby. Abiba said her baby could not eat, walk and even breathe well since the bloating started. She suspected a medication administered to her baby by medical doctors was causing the child to put up the disproportionate weight, which clearly didn�t match her age. Abiba, who looked utterly disturbed, was speaking to Abeserewa, host of �Kyenkyenbiadimawu,� a social issue based programme, which is aired on Metro FM in Kumasi. Throwing more light on the child�s condition, Abiba recounted that the young girl�s condition started two months after being given several drips at the hospital to cure her umbilical pain. She said she had sent her child to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi for cure to her umbilical ailment, last year, when the child was just two months old. She claimed the baby was admitted to the hospital for one-week during which period medical doctors administered four drips daily to help halt the severe pain that the baby was enduring. Abiba, who was then residing at Sefwi Juaboso, said the child�s pain finally diminished within one week so she was released from the hospital by medical doctors who treated her. According to her, at the time that the child was discharged from hospital, she was looking tiny and healthy, bemoaning that the baby started putting up excessive weight two months after she was released from the hospital. Abiba opined that her baby girl could not eat well, walk or even breathe well due to the heavy weight she had developed, noting that she was even confused and afraid something nasty might happen to the baby. The mother noted that the child for the past seven months, since she started putting up the weight, had been lying down, fearing the worst to happen, if immediate medical help was not secured for the baby. Abiba, who looked terrified, suspected the scores of drips administered to the baby by medical doctors were causing the strange bloating condition of the child. However, the mother admitted that she could not visit KATH later on for review as suggested by the medical doctor, when the baby was discharged from the hospital, citing lack of money. When contacted to respond to the allegations, Ernest Abban of the KATH Public Relations Office said as a layman he could not conclude that the supposed scores of drips were behind the baby�s bloating. Mr. Abban, however, assured that there was still chance for the baby to get healed, urging Abiba to quickly rush the baby to KATH for the required medication to be administered to her to stop the bloating.