Bronchiolitis and baby being hospitalised

[mieowcat]

My 9 wo baby has just been discharged from hospital after 3 days in with bronchiolitis. She was ill with cold symptoms for about 24hrs , and not feeding well and had laboured breathing so went to A&E. she was admitted for oxygen therapy and tube feeding as couldn't bf. it has been such a tiring and emotional week! I wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience? And if babies are likely to get it again? The docs have advised she will have ongoing cough for a week or so and to keep an eye on feeding/breathing etc.
just feeling very emotional after such an experience :(

[FlankShaftMcWap]

Oh no Poor little love. She's had an awful time and she's so weeny! 3 of my DC have been admitted with similar things, all had oxygen therapy and ventolin which was continued after discharge with inhalers. They all recovered with no lasting effects that we know of, terrible experience though.

You must be knackered! I've slept on many an uncomfy chair between my lot and it's not pleasant, particularly when you're so worried. How's she looking now? Do you have help at home?

[Sirzy]

Its a horrible illness, DS had it when he was 8 weeks old and ended up in HDU with it - his was an unusually severe case)

She may get it again, but if she does she will be that bit older, that bit stronger and will hopefully cope with it much better. DS got it a few times but never as bad as the first one.

Try and get lots of rest, it is normal to feel emotional - make sure you talk to people about how you feel

[mieowcat]

Yes, trying to sleep on a camp bed on a busy children's ward is hard! She's settled and bf well but a little raspy! I just keep thinking how hard a week it's been..you don't realise the stress till afterwards. My dh is fab and my other 2 children have been great, they are only 5yo and 4yo!

[TwoTearsInABucket]

Aww, that sounds stressful. I am sure she will go from strength to strength.
I'm stressed out coz my 2 week old has a cold so I can't imagine what I would be like in your shoes.
Take care of yourself as well xx

[emipi]

Imcucurrently in hospital with my 3 week old. This is so exhausting. He normally sleeps in bed with me, but the oxygen tubes won't stretch far enough. Hopefully he will be well enough to go home soon, I can't see how we can manage another night here. Really hoping it doesn't reoccur :(

[Sirzy]

Empi - ask them if the can change the cot for a bed - with the sides up you should be able to both sleep there? If that means you baby gets more sleep then I can't see why they can't.

[clucky80]

I have just spent the past week in intensive care at Great Ormond Street Hospital with my now 3 week old DS (was 2 weeks on admission) so you have my every sympathy. This has been the worst experience of my life :( He has had pneumonia and bronchiolitis and was so poorly we nearly lost him a few times - gp errors meant he wasn't seen when he should have been and after finally seeing him the gp declared him fine, an hour and a half later we were being rushed to hospital. He was on cpap for a while but needed to be put on a ventilator. We were transferred to GOSH after this and came home Thursday evening (had been admitted the previous Thursday). I am so scared of him now being too hot or too cold/catching this again. My DS's was caused initially by RSV which is basically the common cold. We have a 3year old DS at nursery who had a cold and I got a bad chest infection as I'm immunosuppressed (I actually ended up being sent to a and e for antibiotics and an inhaler while we were waiting for the team to come out to take us to GOSH!) and I guess at this time of year bugs are inevitable.
We are so lucky and grateful to have DS with us, he looks 100% better and only has a little cough, also he has been having massive feeds since having tubes removed :)
Any tips/advice would be so much appreciated. We have turned up the heating ( I had been so worried about SIDS it probably was a bit too cold in here and it's a draughty house). Is it worth getting a humidifier?

[ivykaty44]

Oh you poor thing, I had this with my baby when she was 16 weeks old - she was admitted the day after boxing day after we rushed her to emergency gp appointment - he sent her straight to the chidlrens ward and she was in hospital for four days and then came home. Got better fairly quickly thank fully

Now she is 21 and thankfully it never had this again

[DwellsUndertheSink]

Clucky, almost 11 years ago, DS2 was in St Thomas's Evangelina unit on a ventilator, he had RSV and HiB, so was one poorly poorly baby. He was in for 3 days at our local hospital and 4 days in London, then back to local hospital for 24 hours. He was just 3.5 weeks old when he went in.

When he came home, his body was still full of mucous, especially his ears - he failed his first hearing test, and was sent for two sets of specialist tests - the first he failed, the second he passed.

The audiologist said that RSV babies' ears get full of that sticky RSV mucous as well, and that we needed to get him into a position where his tubes could drain - we elevated his mattress slightly using a rolled towel. We also used a humidifier in his room, to keep his tubes moist - again on advice of drs.

He lost a lot of weight - at GP check on his return, he was 1lb lighter than birth weight. He gained that in the first week home (I had been expressing, and had so much milk I felt like a flipping cow!)

It took him quite a while to get his voice back, and he slept a great deal. He did not smile for quite a while...I think he was closer to 9 weeks than 6. Mainly because he had lost a number of weeks.

As for you, you may find you suffer from anxiety and PTSD type symptoms. I find even now that at this time of year, I am extremely anxious, and for years, I would become very morose and teary at this time of year.

Long term effects for baby: Nothing obvious. We have family history of asthma, and one severe asthmatic in the family, but DS2 is unaffected. He hardly ever saw a doctor until he started school, and was the healthiest of all three of mine.

[BlueChampagne]

DS2 spent his first Christmas and new year in PICU, 7 days in intensive, with bronchiolitis, hospitalised at 17 days. It has made me paranoid but he'll be 4 next week and has never looked back. It's jolly hard being imprisoned with them, and can be hard to re-establish BF but we managed. Relax and enjoy being out of hospital!