meconium aspiration syndrome

[shockingbadmother]

Hi can anyone tell me anything about this? My friend delivered yesterday. Her little girl is now very ill, on morphine, 100% oxygen and some sort of heart/lung machine. They dont have a huge amount of support so we may be travelling to see them tomorrow once work/childcare sorted. I'm hoping there are some positive stories out there that I can share with them, as right now they are very scared and uncertain about what the coming days will be like. Has anyone been in this situation, or known ayone else that has? thanks.

Sorry to hear this. My ds2 spent months in SCBU & although he was there for different reasons I understand what an awful & frightening time it can be.
While ds2 was in SCBU there were babies there because of muconium aspiration, it is very serious but the babies I saw made a good recovery, I can recall one little boy who spent several weeks on oxygen but as far as I know suffered no long term effects.
Best wishes to your friend & her little girl.

oh how worrying for them. I presume its an ecmo machine she's on, this site is helpful and has loads of info.

It is amazing technology and has saved many babies lives.

Hoping and praying for your friends DD that she pulls through quickly and that they get all the support they need.

Hi
As you can prob tell by my name my little boy was on the same machine as your friends little girl probably is. Be prepared when you visit as there is alot of machinery around them. My ds was only on the machine for 2 days. The machine did the work of his lungs for this time giving his lungs time to heal. If she has just inhaled meconium she wont need to be on the heart bypass bit as well.
It is a scary time but Its a pretty successful procedure. My little boy was in the Glenfield in Leicester is that where you are going?
My ds is absolutely fine now and has had no after effects from the machine. Although we were warned that he may be prone to reflux because of all the tubes.
Hope this helps. Best Wishes to your friend and her family.

thank you both for the encouragement and the information - extremely helpful, many thanks x

hello ecmo - yes they are in leicester, its good to hear a positive story that I can tell them about, I will post to let you know how they get on, thanks you for your good wishes. x

iirc a child with this condition was featured on the recent BBC series 'Fight for Life'. He was on an Ecmo machine, it was an amazing story and the outcome was good.

Wishing your friends and their dd the best of luck.

hello all. just heard from them and the news is encouraging. she is still in ICU but they have slowly reduced her oxygen during the day and its down to 55%. she responded really well to physio and whilst she's still being ventilated a bit is doing nearly all the work herself now. Because of this she didnt need the ECMO today but they have not totally ruled out needing it yet. she is still poorly but all the numbers are all heading in the right direction and she seems to be turning the corner. The staff at the ICU in leicester are amazing and they feel much more positive. Thanks for allyour good wishes, mumsnet never fails! xx

That sounds really positive. Excellent news. The staff at Leicester were fantastic to us too 6 years ago. Hopefully your friends little girl wont need the Ecmo. Sending positive vibes and more good wishes.

Great news there has been improvement.

my dd1 has meconium aspiriation and didn't breathe for a minute at birth, the story so far sounds v similar, straight to SCIBU, ventilated, on morphine etc. It really was pretty shocking at the time.

Obviously all cases are going to be different, but timing-wise dd1 started improving after about a day (sounds similar to your friend), and steadily the level of care she was needing was reduced. It's hard to remember exactly what happened when, but she was out of intesive care within 3 days, and out of hospital after 6 days total, and did make a full recovery.

So i wish you and your friend all the best and hope the improvement keeps happening! Keep us posted.

• HAD meconium aspiration

Glad to hear she's improving!

shockingbadmother, glad to hear yuor friends dd is improving. my dd swallowed and inhaled meconium and didnt breathe for 6 - 8 mins after birth but is totally fine now, although she was in scbu for a week and then had to be treated for reflux. those first couple of days were very frightening but now a year on, yuo'd never know.
best wishes to your friend and her dd.

hello all. Thanks for all your good wishes I have passed them on to a tired but enoumously releived Mum and Dad. She has continued to improve today, oxygen down to 35% and no more nitrous. She should be leaving ICU tomorrow all being well. xx

Hope everything is still going ok?

Hi. Yes she has continued to improve and came off of the ventilator and all the medicine bar a fluid IV today. Dad sounds like a different bloke. They have finally got to hold her and she seems to be nursing ok. Now I just cant wait to meet her and give her a cuddle (welling up here). They have left leicester for thier local hospital and they seem to have settled in there fine. Thank you so much everyone for your good wishes and good vibes, I have have let them know how everyone's been rooting for them. xx

My son was born feb 18th he was 4 days late.
My pregnancy went fine til the end i didnt feel him move a lot and his heartbeat and mine were continually fast. when we went to the hosp they sent us away few times sayin all okay but didnt even do scans.
During labour his was still high and when deliverd he didnt breath at all and was bagged and resusitated but sadly taken straight to intensive care for xrays and tests.
seing him on the incubator was horrific i felt so anxious to hold my son or see wat he looked like it was heart renching knowing i couldnt though all the wires and machines he was connected to!
They werent sure how he would be it was touch and go he is 8 weeks old now and still on the oxygen and has a chest infection.
It was the hardest time in my life havin to go through that and leave him in the hosp whilst maintaining life at home going back and forth between my son and daughter (4years) broke my heart but hes a fighter and better each day im soo lucky he is with me now in life and allowed home as my little girl finally met him and all at home is gettin back to normal! afetr 4 weeks in intensive he is here and i am his mum!
Just keep in mind how much worse it could have been. and now nothing can break our bond but i felt soo alone in there all other babies were prem was a different story altogether and hosp couldnt discharge me as they didnt have a record or the labour etc

My nephew had it, no long-lasting effects (he's now 16), but he was in the incubator for a week or 2. Very strange as he was a strapping almost 12 lb baby along side lots of little premies in the other incubators.

thankyou fo replying, wow he was a good weight jack was 7 12 when born prob woul hav been 8. i remmebr sitting ther nd people were watching me do him nappy etc thinking how long id been there as all were premies atleast i hav few good memories to in a way maybe overrite all the rest

My baby inhaled large amount of meconium due to long labour and stayed in the hospital for one month. They did brain scans and everything and said everything is normal. But everyday I am scared of any long term effects.