Babies and Bronchiolitis – what you need to know

When Stephanie’s three week old baby wouldn’t wake for her night feed, she instinctively knew something was wrong. Luckily she listened to her instinct and shares her tale to spread the word about bronchiolitis

I never thought I would say this but I’m glad my babies were both terrible sleepers.  It meant that the night my baby girl slept through I knew something was wrong.

She was only three weeks old, it was 4am and she was fast asleep.  Not only that she had been asleep most of the night. If she had been my first baby I might have thanked my lucky stars and drifted back off to sleep myself but I felt uneasy.  My son hadn’t slept through the night until he was two and my daughter was showing no signs of being any different.  Yet here we were at four in the morning and she hadn’t bothered me for hours.  And so I listened to my gut and did what they say you should never do – I woke a sleeping baby.  But she wouldn’t wake up.  At least not properly.  Her eyes would flutter open for a brief moment then close again.  I tried feeding her but she wouldn’t latch on.  The more I tried to feed her, the more she tried to sleep.

I called NHS 24 who advised me to see my GP first thing.

At the Dr’s I was told they could find nothing untoward but I persisted, I felt that something wasn’t right. So it was arranged for us to pop through to the local children’s ward.  On arrival samples were taken and we were told that she had tested positive for Bronchiolitis.  I had never heard of it but was alarmed when she was immediately placed in isolation and given oxygen.  For the next twenty four hours neither my husband or I slept as my daughter continually triggered alarms for low levels of oxygen and a constant stream of nurses and Dr’s traipsed in and out of our room to try and stabilise her.  I was told I should begin to express milk as I wouldn’t be able to feed my baby myself anymore and she was fitted with a feeding tube.  Dr’s and nurses continued to rush in and out, and while they were all incredibly kind at no point did anyone tell me that my daughter would get better and I faced the nightmare fear that she might not make it.

For several days my daughter struggled to breath.   My three year old son couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t come home and told me to just leave the baby at the hospital.  I never left her side though and spent much of my time quizzing the nurses about what was happening to my baby.

They explained to me that bronchiolitis is lower respiratory tract infection that usually affects young babies. It’s symptoms are similar to those of the common cold and while most babies can recover at home some develop more serious symptoms such as difficulty breathing.  I was shocked when they  told me that, while I might have never heard of  bronchiolitis, it is in fact a common illness.

Finally my daughter began to improve and after two weeks in hospital we were given the all clear to go home. I left wondering why no one had told me about bronchiolitis before, why I had received no information on symptoms or advice on prevention and I now advise new mothers to always keep their babies away from people with colds and to  be mindful of any sudden changes to their babies sleeping or feeding patterns.

Most important of all I tell new mothers that when it comes to your babies health, you should always listen to your gut instinct and never be afraid to ask for help, mum usually does know best.

Stephanie blogs at Storybramble where she posts free audio stories and poems for children with follow on creative activities.  She is a trained actor, qualified drama teacher and very unqualified mother of her two children aged five and two. Find her on Twitter, Facebook and Google +

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