Worried about my friend's baby - advice needed, please.

[MolotovCocktail]

Hello,

My friends nearly 9mo baby has been vomiting and had diahorrea since last Saturday. She's been poorly all last week: off food, won't take much milk and then won't hold it down/keep it in.

I saw my friend this morning, asked how her baby is and she burst into tears: the baby was rains to hospital on Friday (14th) because she'd had a seizure. Baby had another seizure on the way there, too.

Baby is back home now but "isn't right" accordingto my friend. Baby didn't have a temperature, nor was she dehydrated. Hospital want to do a brain scan on the baby in the new year.

I tried to be positive, but my friend was in tears. I can't stop thinking about her or the LO now. I want to be helpful ... I want to tell her that her DD will be fine ... Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? How can I help my friend?

TIA

Not 'rains' but 'was taken to' - I'm using an iPhone and my autocorrect is a bit useless.

Sounds very frightening

It could be a cerebal seizure-this is typically caused by a sharp rise in temperature. It doesn't actually have to be a high temperature, just a quick rise.
Or sometimes babies fit due to lack, or a drop in blood sugar. That sounds from the description a possibility.
Both of these can be "one-offs" due to illness.

Unfortunately you can't tell your friend she will be fine, and your friend will know this, so saying it won't provide any comfort. You can say there's lots of causes of seizures, and they can be one off events.
Offer to support her, sit with the baby while she rests, drive her to hospital etc. but don't try things like "I'm sure she will be fine" because it really doesn't help.

How is the baby not right? Is it just "not 100%", so not quite well? That may well just be the residual of the illness. When ds was about 18 months he was rushed to A&E with D&V. He wasn't right for about a fortnight afterwards.
Or is there something more? Or just mother's instinct? Don't underestimate mother's instinct. Our GP says he always listens to it, and it has been proved to be right time after time.

Hope baby's better soon.

they might want to do a scan to see if here is an obvious cause of the seizure.
tey might also start whole process of more and more tests.
all you can do is encourage her to think of one step at a time.

does she have other children?
offer practical help as was said.

you cant tell her baby will be "fine" because you dont know that - but you can repeat to her that the tests like scans are to find out what is going on and hopfeully then be able to help the baby. to see if is one off or not.

how is the baby otherwise eg development wise?

Thank-you both for your replies. The baby has been re-admitted to hospital as our GP "wasn't happy" with how the baby was doing. I've texted my friend to say that if she needs us to do anything, to not hesitate to ask. I've left it open for her to decide. I only met he in September when our eldest children started nursery together. There's only 3 weeks between her DD and my DD2 ...I really feel for her and her family. I'll reassure her. I didn't want to offer false promises but my instinct is to hug and say 'it will be fine'. Stupid, I know: these things cannot be promised, of course.

Thanks again.

Oh, and the baby is fine development wise. She's actually started to crawl a bit. No issues there as far a I am aware.

Hello again, the baby is still very poorly: they've diagnosed 'severe croup' at the hospital (the baby was readmitted because she was struggling to breathe on Monday afternoon). Baby is up and down, vomiting feeds up ... I'm so worried; I feel so upset for my friend and her family :(

I've offered my help. When I see my friend's parents at school, I remind them that I'm there for them and that the baby is in the safest place. But it's the look in their eyes that's heartbreaking.

I'm probably just looking for a place to get this off my chest; the whole thing is so uncertain. I wonder what on earth is attacking that baby girl's system? Whatever could she have?

croup can be horrible and very frightening for all concerned. My son had it as a young boy. I dont know what to make of the other symptoms. Seems a long time to wait for the scan. Hope things improve soon.

Thanks x

My DD1 had croup when she was almost 2yo: it wasn't nice, much, much worse than an ordinary cough, but I remember she picked up after about 5 days and there was no vomiting/diahorrea accompanying it. I just hate feeling so unconstructive; so helpless and vague.

Your poor friend. Croup can be horrible, my DS was hospitalised with it too. Fortunately the treatment worked (a massive squirt of liquid steroids into his mouth and half an hour later he was breathing almost normally...it was almost eerie) and he was fine afterwards.

Could you maybe make her a couple of meals for the freezer? I bet she's not feeding herself properly right now.

PS Your friend's really lucky to have you - I hope her DD is better soon.

That's a gret idea Outrageous to cook some food. I can do a big batch of spag bol ... everyone likes spag bol ...