Meningitis in baby

[bobble53]

Hi my 5 week old baby is in hospital with suspected meningitis. two failed lumbar punctures due to him being too wriggly. Inflammatory bloods have raised since he was admitted which is worrying as he’s been on antibiotics since he was admitted too as a precaution. I’m going out of my mind with worry and cannot stop crying.

Anybody else been through this? He himself looks absolutely fine and is his usual self smiling away but the bloods show infection so I’m working myself up with worry.

My friends little girl was blue lighted into hospital with suspected meningitis when she was 4 weeks old not too long ago. It was scary and I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you . Her baby was fine , it’s amazing how strong little babies are. Same as your baby she was already on antibiotics but got infection anyway. They eventually treated her for the meningitis and I think she was in hospital for about a week. She is fine now ! Sending you lots of love and healing hugs for your little one . He’s in the best place xx

You poor soul what an awful thing to be going through. I don’t know much about these things but surely if he’s smily and happy that’s a good sign??

How did he come to be in hospital for testing if he’s well in himself? What happened?

He was making a groaning noise which sounded like he was in pain and was vomiting his milk back. We rang 111 who sent an ambulance and he was taken to resus immediately.

We are waiting for blood cultures to come back but I’m preparing myself for the worst and don’t understand how my perfect little baby has ended up here.

My ds had viral meningitis at 6 weeks and bacterial meningitis at 8 weeks. Both times he was started on the antibiotics straight away as a precaution. We had a two week hospital stay the second time but luckily as it was caught very early he has had no lasting effects and is a perfectly happy healthy 2 year old.

If you have any questions I’ll try to answer them it’s such a scary time xx

@MamaRaisingBoys Thank you - sorry to hear your little one had it twice. Lovely and reassuring to know he’s happy and healthy now though. How was he when he was poorly? You wouldn’t tell my boy is poorly, he is smiley and taking his bottles ok. We are waiting to speak to a consultant this morning. What were your little ones symptoms? X

My friend and my sister in laws children have both had meningitis. My nephew last year and my friends boy the year before. Both are now recovered and doing well. Please try not to worry too much. Have they said which one it is? X

@bobble53 the first time he his only symptoms were crying/groaning when moved and then later on a slight high temp. Within a couple of days he had a bad stomach and lots of dirty nappies but that was because his infection was caused by enterovirus that time. We stayed in hospital 48 hours until the full blood results came back to say it was definitely viral, but we knew that already really from the preliminary results. They like to keep up the antibiotics to be sure.

The second time he screamed most of the day on the Sunday, very irritable on the Monday and then a fever appeared in the evening. Within a couple of hours he developed the telltale ‘high pitched scream’. He never once was off his food. He still took all his feeds and no vomiting really. A two week hospital stay that time which was tough because he wasn’t allowed out of the room because of infection risk to others, despite him seeming fine after a couple of days. We could have gone home after a week and have a nurse come to our home to administer the antibiotics but they couldn’t get the line in the right place in theatre and it is too risky to go home with one in the groin.

We had lots of follow ups to check head circumference/development/hearing etc and they’re very cautious and thorough in our experience

I hope you get answers soon, I found it’s slightly easier when you know what your dealing with