Dr. Sue Kalaher, who specializes in foreign adoption medicine, recommends extra testing for recent adopted babies from China following a tainted baby-formula scandal. (CBC) Parents who recently adopted babies from China should take them to the doctor for a thorough examination of their kidneys, a B.C. Lower Mainland pediatrician who specializes in foreign adoption medicine is advising.

"Please have your baby seen by a pediatrician," Dr. Sue Kalaher told CBC News on Thursday.

Kalaher, who has adopted three babies from China herself, said adoptive parents are concerned about their children after a tainted baby-formula scandal in China left four babies dead and more than 50,000 ill.

"The phones are ringing a lot, both for children who have been previously adopted internationally … and now I'm getting people calling me even for children who have travelled abroad," said Kalaher.

Chinese officials say milk products, including baby formula, were tainted with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, fertilizers and flame-retardants.

While melamine has no nutritional value, it is high in nitrogen, which makes the products appear to have higher protein content than they do. If ingested, it can damage the kidneys or lead to kidney stones.

Extra testing underway

Since news of the scandal broke, Kalaher said she has been conducting extra testing at her clinic in New Westminster.

Doug Chalke of a North Vancouver adoption agency says one of the challenges with Chinese adoption is that only some local orphanages there keep track of the brand of milk formula they use. (CBC)

"I'm checking them to see if they have crystals in their urine and see if they could possibly have had kidney stones, which is quite unusual but directly related to the melamine," she said.

In the short term, adoptive parents should watch for vomiting, dehydration and low energy in their adopted babies, she said, but "we really don't know the long-term consequences of melamine."

Doug Chalke, executive director of Sunrise Family Services Society in North Vancouver, which specializes in foreign adoptions, said he and other adoption agencies in the Lower Mainland have also been fielding calls from worried parents,

And although Chalke says he hasn't heard of any local reported case of melamine poisoning, he still echoes Kalaher's recommendation, saying all babies adopted from China within the last three years should be tested for signs of melamine.

"For sure they should be talking to the doctor immediately and have their kidneys and other functions checked in light of what's happening," Chalke said Wednesday.

New parents concerned

One of the challenges with Chinese adoption is that only some local orphanages there keep track of the brand of milk formula they use, said Chalke. And when they do, the news can be worrying.

Next month, Craig Fraser and his wife will bring back their new daughter, Catherine, from China. But just days ago, the adoption agency sent him an e-mail to say Catherine's orphanage had used the tainted formula for one month, he said.

"They responded to that by immediately ultra-sounding all the babies. And everything was clear there, so that you're starting to feel a little better," Fraser said Wednesday.

Chalke said the orphanages used by his agency are being checked regularly to ensure the tainted formula isn't in circulation.

On Wednesday, an Ottawa-based adoption agency called the Children's Bridge said it was sending warning letters to people who recently adopted babies from China.