Neonatal meningitis

[bwandy]

Hi There,

Has anyone gone through something like this?
I have, my son got neonatal meningitis, diagnosed on the second day of his life, was treated for 2 weeks, seems to be fine so far.

He's 7 months old now.

Just want to chat with parents who also experienced this and see how they're doing.

My DD had meningitis when she was three weeks old. She was treated for two weeks and is seven years old now. There have been absolutely no ill effects.

We were told to watch out for her developmental milestones, but she very considerately hit all of them early, so we never had to worry!

It must have been a very frightening time for you as well. I just wanted to tell you that today there are absolutely no indications that she ever had meningitis at all.

Gosh my heart goes out to you, I am so glad your little boy is doing well. How frightening.

At this time of night on AIBU you may not get much replies.

Have a look and maybe post on the Children's Health topic sometime.

I hope you get some good responses here though.

But thankfully people like Lilamani come along! :o

My son is 16 and doing wonderfully. He had it when he was 3 days old.

Oh, and I'm so happy that your son is doing well too!

I had meningitis at 3 weeks old, it was caught early and I've had no lasting effects from it. No developmental delays, perfect sight and hearing etc. It must have been very scary for you, it's only after having my own children that I realised what a big deal it was for my mother.

Enjoy your baby, of course keep an eye on their milestones etc but it sounds like they're doing great

Dd has it at one week old but it was viral.

She had the more detailed hearing test and all was fine.

She tended to get ill a lot for the first two years of her life. Nothing serious but if we had a cold for three days she was knocked out for two weeks and absolutely miserable. This was right from the first month of life and neither of my other children have been like that.

We did some reading and think it was down to her immune system being shredded by all the antibiotics and antivirals she had before they were sure it wasn't bacterial. Could just be coincidence of course.

Ds had meningitis (bacterial but LP sample was too small to diagnose a strain) at 7 weeks. He's 21 months now and has had other problems but the consultant says they aren't linked.
He was supposed to remain under Paeds until 2 but was discharged at 18 months for meeting all milestones he needed. They've said there's still risk of things showing up at school but are confident it was caught early enough to avoid ABI.

We were told it takes 2 years to recover 100% immune system and he is more prone to other illnesses than other children (high temps for everything too).

The worst part now is I get very anxious mainly about him , but also Dds , when they are ill.

Have you spoken to meningitis now? Their support worker visited Ds & I and it was very helpful. I'm still in contact with her and they have family days and things going on for people affected by it.

I just wanted to add, the effect on their immune system probably varies from child to child. DD had a full course of antibiotics, but is an incredibly sturdy child. We were told though, to be very careful with her for the first couple of years, so I did tend to keep her away from other children. In the long run though, it hasn't affected her immune system at all.

I wanted to add that my son (from about 6 posts back) has always been particularly healthy, very few colds, and I don't think he has ever had antibiotics since he was 3 weeks old. His hearing is great too; he is a musician.

Try not to worry too much, and good luck-

It wasn't anything to do with Group B Strep infection was it?