GROUP B STREP

[Jessabby89]

Hi guys,

does anyone know what group b strep is and is this dangerous for the baby?

my midwife mentioned something regarding getting a swab for this and if it comes back positive you'll be on antibiotics. She was talking about so much so I've kinda forgot the details about it and when I look online it makes it sound like it's so serious and can harm the baby.

anyone had this before?

thanks x

I was GBS positive. I was told I'd be given antibiotics 4 hourly in labour which would protect baby. unfortunately I was only in about for under an hour so baby was given antibiotics when she was born and we were kept in for 48 hours. The midwives kept a very close eye on her for the first week or so.

Hi! Yes it can be serious for baby but also could not affect baby at all. I think there’s a lot of different factors which can affect if baby will be I’ll or catch strep B.
a lot of hospitals will now swab you when you go into Labour and as said above if you are positive you will need antibiotics every 4 hours in Labour. If you have a short Labour baby will be closely monitored for 48hrs.
I think even with the antibiotics you will stay in for 48hrs.
you can click here to find out more info https://gbss.org.uk/
if you are worried make sure to bring up your worries to your midwife. I had step b but ended up having an emergency c section for other reasons and baby was fine!

There's some information regarding GBS Here and here. It's a bacteria which can live in the vagina, and whilst harmless to us can cause an infection in babies. This can make babies very unwell. Your midwife should have explained the pros/cons of screening and of the IV antibiotics in labour. If you're unsure she should be able to provide some information from your hospital-either leaflets or directions to their website

Yes, my baby was very poorly due to group b strep. She had sepsis and spent the first two weeks of her life in NICU. Luckily she is fine now (2yrs old) but it was a very scary time. But it is easily treated with antibiotics during labour (i didnt have these). The GBSS charity that pp has posted is a really good source of information.

Also, some midwives are very variable in their knowledge of group b strep (my experience was obviously not a good one as many signs were missed in my baby), so if they are suggesting a swab and talking to you about group b strep, that hopefully means they are on it and knowledgeable!

There's a website you can look at to help your understanding. It's "gbss.org.uk"

48 hours?? I was positive for group B strep, couldn't have the antibiotics during labour as my son was born before we could get to the hospital, but we were only kept in for 12 hours with observations every 2 hours (temp, breathing, heart rate - basically watching out for an infection). This was 7 weeks ago.

Like any infection in a newborn it would be serious, but also very treatable. GBS is pretty common - seriously, don't worry yourself over this, swabs are not done as routine so many many women will have it without knowing. If it was that worrysome everyone would be swabbed.

In all other western countries, all women ARE swabbed as standard. There's a huge trial going on in 40 hospitals to see if swabbing everyone here would reduce the rates of seriously ill and poorly babies. It's a disgrace that women are not swabbed as standard. Its another example of where we have been conditioned to think that the UK approach is fine, when it isn't.

I would decline the screening.

Taking the number from the press release if you are positive there is a 0.33% chance of early onset group B strep which would necessitate antibiotics for the newborn.

If they were not necessary I would not want antibiotics messing with the gut biome of me or my newborn. Or making it more likely that we’d get nipple/mouth thrush when trying to establish breastfeeding.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/screening-pregnant-women-for-gbs-not-recommended?fbclid=IwAR1tHZGFZiKDNOXEcrkl3oem_pCoDODy-EjfHU6g4zdrw4O1N1GQ3Qg00aU_aem_AQlftSkWNuGhLKryXIxy7YcLpOzPelOpCPCtfU2zhwihxvR4ZxRJRJoVd0mxCuB2NaA

I don't think it's "disgraceful" that women aren't routinely swabbed. It's transient- therefore even if a woman is positive at the time of the test, by the time they go into labour could be negative. Therefore you could be giving women unnecessary antibiotics. Antibiotics aren't harmless as pp said it interferes with the gut biome. It also reduces womens birthing options as in many areas you can't have iv antibiotics at home/in a pool.

I'll be interested to see what the outcomes of the trial are.

Well when you've watched your own baby fighting for their life in a NICU incubator because you weren't screened, as i have done, come back and tell me if you feel the same. I was failed by useless midwives and my daughter is only here today because of one amazing neonatologist who actually listened to my concerns. Says it all about the state of maternity care in the NHS.

Interesting some here are saying “Nah, don’t bother”. As the mother of a baby who died from a B haemolytic strep infection I’d take anything they offer. If your gut biome gets a bit upset …big deal! A dead baby takes a lot longer to recover from.

I'm very sorry for your loss

I requested gbs screening in my last pregnancy so I could be informed but decided against getting the antibiotics.

They think about 30% of women have gbs during pregnancy and swabbing positive once doesn’t mean you will necessarily be positive at birth as it’s a transient infection.

I did a lot of reading and decided my risk factors were low - the biggest risk with gbs exposure is prematurely or if your waters are broken for an extended period of time.

I opted to watch and check temp/breathing rates for the first 24 hours after birth. In the end he was born at home in his bag of waters so we had the lowest risk birth possible and he was totally fine.

many people have babies who are totally fine and never knew they had gbs. As with everything you need to be comfortable with and informed about what works for you. As the poster above said the risk is around 0.33% or 1 in 300 babies born to gbs positive mothers.

It is a very different thing if that 1 in 300 babies is yours though and some people are much more risk averse than others.

I recommend doing the screening. I’m GBS positive (found out as part of the trial mentioned by pp) but as I was having a c section didn’t need the antibiotics. Baby born last week, developed severe jaundice within 24 hours and was only one level below needing a blood exchange so quite scary. Spent 2 days in nicu and then jaundice got bad again another 2 days later. She was treated as if it was GBS and is fine now but we were in for a week and still need lots of check ups and monitoring. It’s only because they knew I was GBS positive that it was picked up as part of the monitoring.

@PinkPlantCase but hey, at least I didn’t get nipple thrush.

This book is very well worth a read if you are unsure.
i would say get swabbed and then make a decision based on what you know.

Group B Strep Explained https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999806425?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Thank you. 💔
It’s been 36 years and there’s still not a day I don’t think of him.

I had what sounds like a very similar experience. My son developed meningitis as a newborn due to group strep b as I wasn't given antibiotics quickly enough. He is a fine and healthy 10 year old now but it was a scary time and we should have pushed more for the antibiotics to be given straight away but we trusted the midwives knew what they were doing.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I agree that every screening for group strep b should be done as standard. It doesn't matter what low percentage of babies are affected. If any can be saved then it's worth it!!

Can be very dangerous for the baby. I tested positive and managed to get all the antibiotics required before he was delivered. All was fine.

Thank you and I totally agree.

I had this and my labour was too fast for the antibiotics, so the baby was given them at birth. Didn’t notice anyone being particularly concerned. Only trouble was that we got thrush as a result of the antibs, however that’s a small price to pay for an otherwise healthy baby.

I was lucky the GP noticed it from my urine test when pregnant.

I'm very sorry for those who have had poorly or lost babies.

I had lots of swabs done around 20-30 weeks due to recurring thrush and on one of them group B strep was also found. My GP decided it wasn't worth telling me, I only read it at a later date when I happened to log in to the NHS app and see what results were on there. I questioned why the gp didn't inform me and she said many women have it it's not significant, she knew I was pregnant of course. I told the midwives who wrote on the front of my pregnancy notes in capitals and highlighted I was group B strep positive. I don't know if I was by the end of pregnancy but if you test positive at any point you are advised the antibiotics here. I was a bit reluctant about them since I'd had loads of problems with recurrent thrush but in the end my waters broke and contractions didn't start so I had the IV antibiotics straight away on Saturday evening and has the drip induction and she was born early Monday morning so lots of antibiotic doses. Thank fully she was fine.

I'm 35 weeks. At my midwife appointment yesterday, I was told that protein came up in my urine this time and last time. Midwife said it was in my notes but nobody told me. She got me to do a swab

What do they do once your waters break? Would they induce me and put me on an iv of antibiotics?

*It was on my notes that I'm group strep b positive

@Lemonandginger1 My waters broke before any contractions and I called the midwife led unit I was hoping to give birth on (they can do iv antibiotics) but they said I'd need to go to labour ward instead since I'd need induction. I went in so they could confirm it was waters and they put me on iv antibiotics straight away and recommended I also start the drip induction, I declined at first and said I'd like to wait 24 hours to see if things start naturally to avoid the drip but this was against consultant advice. I ended up accepting the drip after about 14 hours when no signs of labour camev