Please tell me what you know about pneumonia in babies and small children [sad]

[CoteDAzur]

DS just turned one and has been diagnosed today as having "the beginning of pneumonia" (whatever that means). He seems to have developed this while on antibiotics, which worried his paediatrician such that she doubled his dose. There is a black patch in his lung x-rays and blood test shows bacterial infection.

Can anyone tell me it is going to be alright? Any experiences?

My dh was born apparently with pneumonia, he is now 41, he is in good health although he does have frequent bouts of the cold.

What does "scarring" mean in this context? [scared again]

DS's crying sounded funny, too, a few days ago. I thought it was because he cried to much. He hadn't, actually Was I so sleep deprived that I didn't realize it could be a symptom?

i think they just mean changes to the lung lining, so it's not as efficient?

I'm glad he's doing better. we were told it might cause future chest infections or asthma type stuff with dd. ds1 has never shown any signs of being predisposed to chest infections since but dd does tend to get coughs that then go on to become chest infections so I guess she perhaps has a 'weakness' - all it means is we take her for antibiotics sooner rather than later with her coughs these days.

pneumonia is a frightening word. It is used as a generic term for a more deep seated chest infection....normally in the lower lobes of the lungs rather than in the upper respiratory tract.With earlier treatment there should be a good outcome.

Thank you all for the reassurances. "Scar tissue" does sound scary and "lung collapse" even more so. It sounds hopeful that the scar tissue can decrease over time with proper treatment, though.

DS' paediatrician said we would need to take another x-ray of his lungs in a month. I suppose she will be looking at the size of this scar tissue.

Hi CoteDAzur, DS2 had Pneumonia 12 months ago aged 15 months, he was very very poorly when admitted to A&E and was put on IV antibiotics plus oxygen as his oxygen levels were very low. He responded really well to the ABs and was allowed home after 4 days. We were advised about possible scarring and we had to take him back for a repeat XRay 6 weeks after his hospital stay - which showed healthy lungs with no scarring and he does not seem to be more prone to chest infections which is what I was afraid of. Hope this gives you a little bit of reassurance - Pneumonia is such a scary word isn't it

Ie had pneumonia 4 times in the last 15 years and both DS's have had it when we went skiing. None of us have been left with scarring.HTH

DS also has no scarring despite having pneumonia twice and lots of other chest infections which weren't classified as pneumonia but still made him very ill.

Sorry, posted too quickly. One other thing I would say in terms of reassurance is that although DS has had lots of other chest infections, he has never been as ill as the first couple of times because we know what we are looking out for and are very vigilant, and our GP knows his history and so does prescribe the antibiotics which work best for DS quickly.

CoteDAzur My son had a pneumonia at 15 months, he was so terribly ill for several days, with a high fever and only after 4th visit to GP and me shouting (A LOT) that I needed someone to do something did one of the bright sparks realise what it might be and immediately had me despatched to A&E with a referral to be seen straight away.

Of course, with hindsight, if I had had my "clear" head on, I should have taken him myself much earlier, but worried about being seen as the panicky parent.

Chest xrays etc etc. UPshot, pneumonia. Given mega antibiotics and took him home 24 hours later, he recovered remarkably quickly once we had the right stuff. A few days later he was back to completely normal and NO lasting effects.

Thank you for the reassurances. I suppose our paediatrician will also be more vigilant in the future, especially after having completely missed the mark this time, telling me it was yet another virus and that I should stop the antibiotics the day before the x-ray

how's he doing?

Thanks for asking, sanfairyann. He is good. No cough, no other symptoms. Still on ABs until Saturday night.

I am so glad to hear it.

that's great news