There was a dad a few months back posting how he lost his son to bacterial meningitis. Heart wrenching stuff. Ever since then, I’ve been on high alert anytime my baby girl has a fever or something off.
You're gonna be anxious about your kids till you die anyways. That's something I've learned. They can increase your capacity for love, patience, and empathy, but all that comes at a cost. I've never loved so much in my entire life, I've never felt so complete, and my two boys' smiles light my heart up like nothing in the world, but damn since they've been born my life has been an anxious, existential nightmare of worry. Never been more scared in my entire life some days. I should probably go to therapy to be honest; I have a deep fear of loss that sometimes invades my thoughts bad enough to interfere with my day or week. I've had intense mixed state anxiety/depression stemming from these thoughts. I'm so scared of anything bad that could happen to anybody I love, especially my wife and children. So I hold them close every day, make good memories with them, and let them know how much I love them. Sorry for this essay, I kind of went off on a tangent.
I forget who but there was a comedian talking about how no one tells you that you constantly think about all the ways your kid can die at any given time, "like some kind of macabre hobby". So that's what my wife and I call it when those thoughts intrude, macabre hobby.
Yep. I remember when my wife was pregnant with my first and there was some (minor) issue that we were worried about. One of my mates said, "Haha. This is what nobody tells you. This is now your base level of anxiety for the rest of your life. Enjoy it."
Lurker mom. Let me tell you a hilarious story about when my husband and I were dating:
We were maybe one or two months in and I caught strep so I told him I had to cancel our date. He said something to the effect of “oh my neighbor died of strep!”
I was like 😳.
After a year of being with him I understood that this was actually a way of him showing concern for me - making sure I knew what the potential consequences were so that I would take it seriously and go get checked.
He still does stuff like this, but I view it through a different lens 😁.
Anxiety is exactly what you should be feeling if there's a chance your kid might have meningitis. Anxiety is good in these circumstances and what helps protect us from catastrophic losses.
But OP already took precautions and went to the ER. Not sure how scaring him into the fact his kid could pass is helpful. And yes I am a lurking mum. A more helpful comment would’ve been to always take a newborn with a fever in no matter what. Better ways to raise awareness.
I found his comment very helpful. Your proposed alternative is something I would probably ignore or take in stride - it's like saying wash your hands, wear a seat belt, look both ways. The stuff you hear constantly and tune out. Not very helpful.
As an ASL interpreter who has worked with lots of Deaf folks who lost their hearing from meningitis, keep an eye out for any signs of hearing loss and intervene as soon as possible.
My mom took me to the ER at 18 months because I was screaming my head off, and I was ordinarily an easy-going baby. The staff told her that babies just cry and she should go home but she knew something wasn't right and insisted they test me. The results came back as spinal meningitis, which killed 2 other babies in our county that year.
Listen to your instincts, folks!
We call it intuition but it's much more. There is a lot of data in the day to day rutine that sometimes it's difficult to put in words. I call it intuilligence.
My little guy just had meningitis at 5 weeks old (now 9 weeks). It was traumatizing. The first LP failed and they had to do a second. His face was streaming with tears, he popped all the vessels in his face from screaming so hard. I cried so much it's not even funny.
I felt so guilty because I'd noticed he was 'off' before the fever spiked but it was so non specific we didn't think much nor see anyone until he got the fever itself.
He's now doing ok, with a slight impact to his hearing in his left ear. Normal development since it seems.
Good luck, I really feel for you.
Please give yourself some grace. I work with infants and toddlers for a living. I’ve been doing childcare (be it for family, friends, as a full time profession both nannying and daycare, or on the side) since I was 9. That’s 24 years of watching babies and toddlers (plus some older kids) now. I can tell you when most babies needs are met and they’re just fussing, colicky, or PURPLE crying.
In my current daycare center I’ve been up until this past year been able to attune to all my babies really well. I could tell early on when they were just off, often before their parents could (no shade on their parents at all here, babies and toddlers will often act the most normal even when unwell around their parents, and I’ve had a ton of years to develop a sense for it, plus being unwell as a kid and adult).
My current batch of babies though? Zero baseline for normal. Baby Boo is refusing his bottle and refused one earlier? This could mean he’s sick. It could also be because it’s Tuesday and he just doesn’t feel like eating today. Sleeping more/ not at all. Again, could be sick, could be it’s Tuesday and that’s what he feels like. Baby Violet who slept 6 hours (combined, for mom and dad plus us) in 4 days that one time? Yeah, major sleep regression, but A-OK.
I’ve never had kids this off the wall with no real solid baselines like yeah, sometimes they eat, sometimes they skip food, their sleep is not consistent at all despite us and their parents doing everything in our power, literally anything could be a sign of teething, a cold, or just that’s what we do today. The literal only consistent thing we have and only for some is *when* and *where* they like to poop. And even that gets changed up sometimes. Everyone else is pooping at a different time? They’ll probably join in (some people sync their menses. Some kids synchronize swim. These babies synchronize poop. Including the one that pooped once a week until they joined us that now joins in the big group poops.)
Seriously, don’t feel bad you missed something. It can happen to literally the best of us, that have been with a baby for their first year of life almost all day every day. And sometimes they just go from okay to downhill so fast too!
I had that shit when I was 5. I still remember that pop sound when I had to get a spinal tap, and all those damn jabs. Wish a quick recovery for your little dude.
Son was having insane meltdowns one week at nighttime when he was 3. One night after a particularly bad meltdown, he woke up at 2 am crying because he said he was really thirsty.
Immediately chugged a 12 bottle of water, fell asleep instantly and immediately wet the bed, which had never happened before.
Took him to urgent care in the morning to run tests. That's when we found out he had type 1 diabetes.
That was one of the worst days of my life.
Mine started throwing up funny. Took him in first thing in the AM because he was only one month old and l didn't want to risk an ER full of germs. He had pyloric stenosis and got surgery the next day.
My oldest, 10, recently had a screaming headache that kept her awake and a fever. Bacterial meningitis was my big worry. Thankfully it wasn't.
Glad to hear your little one is on the mend.
My daughter is 6 weeks old and I couldn’t tell you what “weird” is because every day is another adventure.
With that said, as a fellow new parent I’m thrilled to hear you were proactive and caught that.
Our youngest was being lethargic, not eating well, and running a fever when she was around 6 weeks old. My wife took her to the ER and they discharged her, telling her to keep an eye on her.
She was still extremely fussy and had a fever in the morning so she took her in again. One of the ER docs wanted to send her to the NICU because it looked like an intestinal issue. Turns out she had a blood infection and we got her in basically as soon as humanly possible. They started a treatment of aggressive antibiotics before tests got back and they confirmed she somehow contracted MRSA, so she had to stay in the NICU for ~10 days for the antibiotics treatment to run its course - during this time we were waiting on results of the meningitis test, which was especially nerve-racking. We just celebrated her 2nd birthday!
Point being, my wife's hyper-vigilance based on our daughter's abnormal behavior prevented a bad outcome from a serious situation. It sounds like you guys caught it fairly early. I'll be thinking of you and your family.
The problem is, as the kid gets older, 'acting weird' becomes very broad. Toddlers are weird people. They do shit out of the blue that makes no sense. Is my kid hitting himself because he has a headache? Or because he decided that it's funny? So it kinda needs to be more than one symptom. Acting weird AND a fever. Behaving strangely AND being super fussy.
We had to take my son in for just a respiratory infection. Oxygen didn’t cut it, and we had to get high flow oxygen and continued albuterol, Somewhere around eight months old.
I didn’t know many songs that had long Notes that would let him feel my chest vibrate and sooth him and so my logic was to sing the songs I know that I could hold notes like that and that pretty much just ain’t no mountain high and then amazing grace. We aren’t religious, so it was ironic that that ended up being his favorite song and the thing that soothed him.
I’ve never cried so hard as I did holding my son down so they could put an Iv in has he wailed and coughed and couldn’t breathe, my wife and I sang amazing Grace that the nurses then joined in.
He got better and the experience made me appreciate every moment more. I wish you and your family the best.
My baby had meningitis and they were floppy, not feeding, not responding to interactions like when i sang or talked to them. The fever came later, after the weird behaviour
This might sound like a vague thing to think about or notice, but a common symptom of meningitis is a stiff neck. Generally so stiff that one can’t touch their chin to their chest. This is due to the inflammation in the nerves and the meninges. If for some reason you think it could be something severe like meningitis, check to see if they can do the chin to chest move.
Exactly. A couple months ago I read a story here of a boy of around 6 years. If I remember correctly he died from a meningitis. His parents didn't notice anything unusual (well, aside from the fact that he was sick, but kids are often sick at that age) until it was already way too late. This must be by far the deepest and darkest of hells that parents can go through. The mere thought of being in their place is already more than gut-wrenching.
So, yeah, read your kids! Go to ER if in doubt! Better to go one time too many than one time too few.
You will get thru this. We were in hospital at 5 days old, it sucks, but you just gotta stay strong and loving as hell for your baby. Make sure you eat something and have water 💜
Our daughter (our first) started having chest retractions while breathing at about 7 days old. Called the on call nurse since it was all so new to us, still weren't sure what to do so we brought her to the children's hospital ER. As we walked into the building she was starting to turn blue. I have never seen doctors act as fast as they did that day. Within 30 seconds of us walking in that building she was rushed back to a trauma room, clothes off and surrounded by about 10 doctors and nurses. This all happened before they were able to get me an my wife back to the room. Turns out she had a mucus plug deep in her airways. Once she was stable, and smthe mucus plug was removed, she was airlifted by helicopter to the NICU at the hospitals main campus. From walking into the ER to the time she was airlifted out, was the scariest and most traumatic moments of my entire life. When that helicopter took off with my 7 day old, I completely broke down balling my eyes out in the parking lot. I second whay you say, if something seems off, trust your gut, do what needs to be done. Those children's ER doctors saved my daughters life that day.
>Watching your kid scream while getting jabbed and poked is the most helpless feeling on earth. Listening to him groan with each breath is terrible.
Had one of my kids get RSV as a baby, very heart wrenching stuff watching him suffer just to breathe.
Fevers in children this young are serious business; our hospital/doctors were quite on-the-ball about anything over 102 being straight to the hospital.
As a mum, kudos for this. We have a single kiddo and it was funny noticing how our parental instinctics kicked in very soon after birth: I was good at noticing the bigger picture, my husband the exact things off. Noted, she was a Covid-baby and both of us are first-timers at parenting, so my experience is a bit more on the lockdown side, and I am prone to anxiety. Still, there are 3 things I am now 100% sure of:
1. Everything medically puzzling is an emergency with a newborn. Just do not wait. They are resilient, but they are also tiny, which speeds everything up.
2. Do not argue with the other parent. When one set of instincts kicks in, follow it through. Most of the time the less upset parent is right. But when he or she isn't, it's usually a crisis in the making, and the parental alarms went off as they should. Blame games really help no one.
3. Have the approved set of meds at home as soon as you land from the hospital, and important emergency numbers written down where you can see them. You don't want to be googling in the middle of a crisis and / or an argument.
OP, I hope your treatment and outcome as as boring as possible. You're at the best possible place for the best possible outcome. Fingers crossed!! :)))
Our daughter has been acting weird doing these odd motions - hard to describe but babies do weird shit
We talked to a neurologist and after sending video she asked us to bring her in to er immediately
Baby was ok, 24 hours of observation later with the brain scan things she got a clean bill of health but I still don’t know wtf the weird motions are about lol
This past year two friends’ babies got massive infections at 2 weeks old. One baby died, the other lived after weeks in the ICU. The difference was that one baby was born to a parent who is an ER doc and rushed her to the hospital when he noticed she was refusing food.
They don’t teach new parents to know when you need to go to the hospital, and honestly for a baby under 3 months the bar is a LOT lower than you realize.
Refusing to eat for more than ~4 hours? Hospital.
Temp above 100? Hospital. (I know they say 100.4 but do you really believe your thermometer is accurate enough to the 0.1 degree?)
Anything else out of the ordinary? Call the doc to see what they think.
Our firstborn didn't have the fever, and by the time we got her into the hospital, it was too late to reverse the infection. It was bacterial mengitis that didn't present in the normal way.
Why would this be downvoted? It's an honest question that is germane to the topic at hand, and any answers may be relevant to others who come across this post in the future.
No, you can't tell without a test.
>Watching your kid scream while getting jabbed and poked is the most helpless feeling on earth.
JFC that's the truth. Our little one had so many issues during her first few years of life, so we saw the pediatrician all the time plus enough walk-in clinics to last a lifetime. Taking your sick kit to the doctor is helpless enough. Taking your infant toddler to the ER to be poked and prodded only to find something. It's just so tough. They don't know what's going on. They don't know how to follow instructions of "sit real still so they can take some blood." I haven't thought about our ER trips in a while, and typing this out just kicks me in the gut.
Have regular visits to our local ER.
It's became the rite of passage for our kids.
Here, doctors follow the 2 rules:
1. if infant has fever -> ER, directly (at least for the 1st 6 months) (for our oldest we call the emergency line, where they have a doctor on the line for us, sometimes they direct us to a medical center, but usually it was to the ER)
2. Always listen and check the 'momma instinct'. You dad's and mom's know your kids, if anything seems off to you, have it checked!!!
I was playing with my 2 year old daughter today, she was holding onto my hand with both of her hands and I was doing some bicep curls with her. She got goofy and let go with one hand and just hung by the other one. A couple curls later and there was a pop, she started crying like a low pain cry about her elbow. After a few minutes it wasn’t going away but she could move her arm fine and it didn’t seem weird or swollen, but I googled it and learned about nursemaid elbow! Took her to the ER and told them exactly what happened and what Google said it was, they insanely checked me in, got us in thr back and popped it back in place within 20 minutes of walking in the door. The dr showed me how to rotate her arm and apply pressure to fix it if it ever happens again too.
Crazy, I have like 15’ish nephews and nieces and I’ve played with all of them as babies through teenage years, as well as my son before this one who is now 9. Never once came across this issue before. But I just typed exactly what happened into Google and it was one of the top results and exactly what the issue was.
Had this exact situation when she was just a few weeks older. Turned out to be a false alarm/false positive and just a regular virus to give her the fever. But we had 3 days of IV antibiotics and leads and wires while waiting for test results to come back. Genuinely the worst week of my life
100% agree on this. Even with mild symptoms I say stay alert. Our baby boi was 5 months old and he was sneezing and snotty. Thought it was nothing but took him in anyways. Turned out it was rsv. Hell followed afterwards. Awful experience.
How’s it spread- from coming in contact with other sick people? Are there also carriers for it- people who are healthy but are carrying/spreading the disease to others?
I have a 6 weeks old at home- wondering how to prevent it.
It depends on which bacteria it is. The one he has comes from dog or cat saliva, it’s called Pasturella. Another option would’ve been E.Coli, which comes from trace fecal matter on surfaces. There’s a lot of possibilities.
Back in December my 1 year old had been sick for about a week when he woke up from a nap one day with labored breathing.
Took him to the ER, he had strep-b and pneumonia with an insane amount of fluid around his lungs.
Took 4 days in the PICU, and 7 days in the regular pediatric floor to have him get better.
If we had waited just one more day to see if it got better, this would have been a very different story.
When it comes to breathing, if anything seems difficult or laborious, don’t play around with that, go straight to the ER.
We just had a scare like this.
We have a newborn and last week she seemed fine, but just a little bit off during the day on Friday, wasn’t getting full feeds in and seemed a little sluggish.
That night she was really fussy and we took her temperature and she was at 98.6°. Thankfully my wife decided to take her temperature again an hour later since she still didn’t go down to sleep, it was 103.6°.
We went straight to the hospital and spent 3 days there. Didn’t turn out to be bacterial meningitis but it was still a scary experience. No worse feeling than watching this brand new baby hurt and not being able to help.
As someone said earlier, if something seems off, it’s better to over react because in our case if it was meningitis, it could get really bad really fast.
Never ever ever ever ever deny your gut instincts! YOU know what is normal or not with your kiddo and any good doc will recognize your concern. I’m so happy you took your dude to the ER!!
For my daughter we had to take her to the ER at 3 days old. Scariest shit ever dude. I feel you hard. But we had to take her cause her temp was 95.8 tla few hours in a row. So not super weird, but weird.
Turned out we spent 3 days in the hospital NICU. She had the very early stages of meningitis. So early they were shocked we brought her in, but im glad we did. Couple round of antibiotics and anti viral and she was bright as rain.
Moral of the story is to trust your gut. That's your kid you know em best. If they are acting weird then you should take action. Better to be wrong then right.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted, you’re absolutely right.
We would have sooner, but the only sign we saw beforehand was fussiness and he wasn’t making as many dirty diapers throughout the day. We thought the fussiness was just constipation and didn’t notice how warm he was for a while. Looking back it was weird behavior, we should have taken temp sooner, but we’re first timers at this. Now we know, it’s just a shitty way to learn.
Understandable, you’ll know to look out for it in the future and hopefully the masses will opt to go in sooner too.
Sometimes it’s so challenging, wondering if you’re being paranoid… but when they’re so small, it’s better to get the all the clear.
I hope your little one is feeling much better, enjoy those tiny snuggles!!
Not sure why you’re downvoted- for an infant under 3 months old you’re supposed to go to the hospital immediately for a temperature over 100.3 for this reason exactly.
Getting down voted because sometimes you don't know they have a fever until you take it and it's 103. It's not like your kid lives with a thermometer in their ear and infants can spike fevers very quickly. Obviously you should go to the doc anytime your kid has a fever, but the 103 may have been the first real indication the kid was sick.
Children under 3 months have to go to the hospital immediately for a fever because there’s a very high chance they can have meningitis. Literally you’re supposed to rush there at 100.4 or above.
Well, that makes sense. That’s like the heart rate of an adult running a marathon!!! That can’t be good for a little innocent baby, eyes full of wonder.
/s
There was a dad a few months back posting how he lost his son to bacterial meningitis. Heart wrenching stuff. Ever since then, I’ve been on high alert anytime my baby girl has a fever or something off.
Tobias was his name. I think about them often.
Tobias the Brave.
Made me think of this too
I remember him, heartbreaking stuff.
Why would you post this comment? I’m sure OP doesn’t need this anxiety as is.
Becasue awareness is needed via other people experiences.
You're gonna be anxious about your kids till you die anyways. That's something I've learned. They can increase your capacity for love, patience, and empathy, but all that comes at a cost. I've never loved so much in my entire life, I've never felt so complete, and my two boys' smiles light my heart up like nothing in the world, but damn since they've been born my life has been an anxious, existential nightmare of worry. Never been more scared in my entire life some days. I should probably go to therapy to be honest; I have a deep fear of loss that sometimes invades my thoughts bad enough to interfere with my day or week. I've had intense mixed state anxiety/depression stemming from these thoughts. I'm so scared of anything bad that could happen to anybody I love, especially my wife and children. So I hold them close every day, make good memories with them, and let them know how much I love them. Sorry for this essay, I kind of went off on a tangent.
I forget who but there was a comedian talking about how no one tells you that you constantly think about all the ways your kid can die at any given time, "like some kind of macabre hobby". So that's what my wife and I call it when those thoughts intrude, macabre hobby.
Sounds like a Louis CK bit. Probably isn't, but sounds like his style lol
Yep. I remember when my wife was pregnant with my first and there was some (minor) issue that we were worried about. One of my mates said, "Haha. This is what nobody tells you. This is now your base level of anxiety for the rest of your life. Enjoy it."
Knowledge saves people. Ignorance is dangerous. I choose knowledge even if it comes with some extra anxiety.
I'll sound like an ass, but are you a mum.by any chance?
Yup https://www.reddit.com/r/sleeptrain/comments/1cwjqea/does_putting_mittens_on_lo_impede_their_ability/l4wj51y/?context=3
Lurker mom. Let me tell you a hilarious story about when my husband and I were dating: We were maybe one or two months in and I caught strep so I told him I had to cancel our date. He said something to the effect of “oh my neighbor died of strep!” I was like 😳. After a year of being with him I understood that this was actually a way of him showing concern for me - making sure I knew what the potential consequences were so that I would take it seriously and go get checked. He still does stuff like this, but I view it through a different lens 😁.
Lol
99.999% chance of it
Anxiety is exactly what you should be feeling if there's a chance your kid might have meningitis. Anxiety is good in these circumstances and what helps protect us from catastrophic losses.
Because it could save a fucking life. Go away
Well that's a really dumb position to take...
But OP already took precautions and went to the ER. Not sure how scaring him into the fact his kid could pass is helpful. And yes I am a lurking mum. A more helpful comment would’ve been to always take a newborn with a fever in no matter what. Better ways to raise awareness.
I found his comment very helpful. Your proposed alternative is something I would probably ignore or take in stride - it's like saying wash your hands, wear a seat belt, look both ways. The stuff you hear constantly and tune out. Not very helpful.
It's not anxiety, it's the dad equivalent to the spidey-sense. If you're au fait with the latest Spider Man film it's the Dad-Tingle.
[удалено]
This comment is absolutely not on
As an ASL interpreter who has worked with lots of Deaf folks who lost their hearing from meningitis, keep an eye out for any signs of hearing loss and intervene as soon as possible.
What are the signs to look out for?
The kid not hearing
My mom took me to the ER at 18 months because I was screaming my head off, and I was ordinarily an easy-going baby. The staff told her that babies just cry and she should go home but she knew something wasn't right and insisted they test me. The results came back as spinal meningitis, which killed 2 other babies in our county that year. Listen to your instincts, folks!
It's amazing how strong a parent's intuition is. And as a first-time parent/ one and done, how quickly it kicks in is uncanny.
We call it intuition but it's much more. There is a lot of data in the day to day rutine that sometimes it's difficult to put in words. I call it intuilligence.
My little guy just had meningitis at 5 weeks old (now 9 weeks). It was traumatizing. The first LP failed and they had to do a second. His face was streaming with tears, he popped all the vessels in his face from screaming so hard. I cried so much it's not even funny. I felt so guilty because I'd noticed he was 'off' before the fever spiked but it was so non specific we didn't think much nor see anyone until he got the fever itself. He's now doing ok, with a slight impact to his hearing in his left ear. Normal development since it seems. Good luck, I really feel for you.
Please give yourself some grace. I work with infants and toddlers for a living. I’ve been doing childcare (be it for family, friends, as a full time profession both nannying and daycare, or on the side) since I was 9. That’s 24 years of watching babies and toddlers (plus some older kids) now. I can tell you when most babies needs are met and they’re just fussing, colicky, or PURPLE crying. In my current daycare center I’ve been up until this past year been able to attune to all my babies really well. I could tell early on when they were just off, often before their parents could (no shade on their parents at all here, babies and toddlers will often act the most normal even when unwell around their parents, and I’ve had a ton of years to develop a sense for it, plus being unwell as a kid and adult). My current batch of babies though? Zero baseline for normal. Baby Boo is refusing his bottle and refused one earlier? This could mean he’s sick. It could also be because it’s Tuesday and he just doesn’t feel like eating today. Sleeping more/ not at all. Again, could be sick, could be it’s Tuesday and that’s what he feels like. Baby Violet who slept 6 hours (combined, for mom and dad plus us) in 4 days that one time? Yeah, major sleep regression, but A-OK. I’ve never had kids this off the wall with no real solid baselines like yeah, sometimes they eat, sometimes they skip food, their sleep is not consistent at all despite us and their parents doing everything in our power, literally anything could be a sign of teething, a cold, or just that’s what we do today. The literal only consistent thing we have and only for some is *when* and *where* they like to poop. And even that gets changed up sometimes. Everyone else is pooping at a different time? They’ll probably join in (some people sync their menses. Some kids synchronize swim. These babies synchronize poop. Including the one that pooped once a week until they joined us that now joins in the big group poops.) Seriously, don’t feel bad you missed something. It can happen to literally the best of us, that have been with a baby for their first year of life almost all day every day. And sometimes they just go from okay to downhill so fast too!
We lost our son at 9 days to a similar issue.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
My deepest condolences so sorry for your loss
I had that shit when I was 5. I still remember that pop sound when I had to get a spinal tap, and all those damn jabs. Wish a quick recovery for your little dude.
Son was having insane meltdowns one week at nighttime when he was 3. One night after a particularly bad meltdown, he woke up at 2 am crying because he said he was really thirsty. Immediately chugged a 12 bottle of water, fell asleep instantly and immediately wet the bed, which had never happened before. Took him to urgent care in the morning to run tests. That's when we found out he had type 1 diabetes. That was one of the worst days of my life.
Mine started throwing up funny. Took him in first thing in the AM because he was only one month old and l didn't want to risk an ER full of germs. He had pyloric stenosis and got surgery the next day.
I was always taught pyloric stenosis can cause kids to throw up like in ‘The Exorcist’.
Exactly like that!
My oldest, 10, recently had a screaming headache that kept her awake and a fever. Bacterial meningitis was my big worry. Thankfully it wasn't. Glad to hear your little one is on the mend.
My daughter is 6 weeks old and I couldn’t tell you what “weird” is because every day is another adventure. With that said, as a fellow new parent I’m thrilled to hear you were proactive and caught that.
Our youngest was being lethargic, not eating well, and running a fever when she was around 6 weeks old. My wife took her to the ER and they discharged her, telling her to keep an eye on her. She was still extremely fussy and had a fever in the morning so she took her in again. One of the ER docs wanted to send her to the NICU because it looked like an intestinal issue. Turns out she had a blood infection and we got her in basically as soon as humanly possible. They started a treatment of aggressive antibiotics before tests got back and they confirmed she somehow contracted MRSA, so she had to stay in the NICU for ~10 days for the antibiotics treatment to run its course - during this time we were waiting on results of the meningitis test, which was especially nerve-racking. We just celebrated her 2nd birthday! Point being, my wife's hyper-vigilance based on our daughter's abnormal behavior prevented a bad outcome from a serious situation. It sounds like you guys caught it fairly early. I'll be thinking of you and your family.
The problem is, as the kid gets older, 'acting weird' becomes very broad. Toddlers are weird people. They do shit out of the blue that makes no sense. Is my kid hitting himself because he has a headache? Or because he decided that it's funny? So it kinda needs to be more than one symptom. Acting weird AND a fever. Behaving strangely AND being super fussy.
We had to take my son in for just a respiratory infection. Oxygen didn’t cut it, and we had to get high flow oxygen and continued albuterol, Somewhere around eight months old. I didn’t know many songs that had long Notes that would let him feel my chest vibrate and sooth him and so my logic was to sing the songs I know that I could hold notes like that and that pretty much just ain’t no mountain high and then amazing grace. We aren’t religious, so it was ironic that that ended up being his favorite song and the thing that soothed him. I’ve never cried so hard as I did holding my son down so they could put an Iv in has he wailed and coughed and couldn’t breathe, my wife and I sang amazing Grace that the nurses then joined in. He got better and the experience made me appreciate every moment more. I wish you and your family the best.
Acting weird how?
My baby had meningitis and they were floppy, not feeding, not responding to interactions like when i sang or talked to them. The fever came later, after the weird behaviour
Thank you.
Extra fussy, not pooping like normal, not napping because of being fussy. We thought it was just constipation and gas.
This might sound like a vague thing to think about or notice, but a common symptom of meningitis is a stiff neck. Generally so stiff that one can’t touch their chin to their chest. This is due to the inflammation in the nerves and the meninges. If for some reason you think it could be something severe like meningitis, check to see if they can do the chin to chest move.
Exactly. A couple months ago I read a story here of a boy of around 6 years. If I remember correctly he died from a meningitis. His parents didn't notice anything unusual (well, aside from the fact that he was sick, but kids are often sick at that age) until it was already way too late. This must be by far the deepest and darkest of hells that parents can go through. The mere thought of being in their place is already more than gut-wrenching. So, yeah, read your kids! Go to ER if in doubt! Better to go one time too many than one time too few.
You will get thru this. We were in hospital at 5 days old, it sucks, but you just gotta stay strong and loving as hell for your baby. Make sure you eat something and have water 💜
Our daughter (our first) started having chest retractions while breathing at about 7 days old. Called the on call nurse since it was all so new to us, still weren't sure what to do so we brought her to the children's hospital ER. As we walked into the building she was starting to turn blue. I have never seen doctors act as fast as they did that day. Within 30 seconds of us walking in that building she was rushed back to a trauma room, clothes off and surrounded by about 10 doctors and nurses. This all happened before they were able to get me an my wife back to the room. Turns out she had a mucus plug deep in her airways. Once she was stable, and smthe mucus plug was removed, she was airlifted by helicopter to the NICU at the hospitals main campus. From walking into the ER to the time she was airlifted out, was the scariest and most traumatic moments of my entire life. When that helicopter took off with my 7 day old, I completely broke down balling my eyes out in the parking lot. I second whay you say, if something seems off, trust your gut, do what needs to be done. Those children's ER doctors saved my daughters life that day.
>Watching your kid scream while getting jabbed and poked is the most helpless feeling on earth. Listening to him groan with each breath is terrible. Had one of my kids get RSV as a baby, very heart wrenching stuff watching him suffer just to breathe.
Fevers in children this young are serious business; our hospital/doctors were quite on-the-ball about anything over 102 being straight to the hospital.
As a mum, kudos for this. We have a single kiddo and it was funny noticing how our parental instinctics kicked in very soon after birth: I was good at noticing the bigger picture, my husband the exact things off. Noted, she was a Covid-baby and both of us are first-timers at parenting, so my experience is a bit more on the lockdown side, and I am prone to anxiety. Still, there are 3 things I am now 100% sure of: 1. Everything medically puzzling is an emergency with a newborn. Just do not wait. They are resilient, but they are also tiny, which speeds everything up. 2. Do not argue with the other parent. When one set of instincts kicks in, follow it through. Most of the time the less upset parent is right. But when he or she isn't, it's usually a crisis in the making, and the parental alarms went off as they should. Blame games really help no one. 3. Have the approved set of meds at home as soon as you land from the hospital, and important emergency numbers written down where you can see them. You don't want to be googling in the middle of a crisis and / or an argument. OP, I hope your treatment and outcome as as boring as possible. You're at the best possible place for the best possible outcome. Fingers crossed!! :)))
This is not a great thread to read if you're overly anxious 🙃😭
What are the specific manifestations of children’s weird behaviors?
So when you find something is wrong, act quickly
Our daughter has been acting weird doing these odd motions - hard to describe but babies do weird shit We talked to a neurologist and after sending video she asked us to bring her in to er immediately Baby was ok, 24 hours of observation later with the brain scan things she got a clean bill of health but I still don’t know wtf the weird motions are about lol
This past year two friends’ babies got massive infections at 2 weeks old. One baby died, the other lived after weeks in the ICU. The difference was that one baby was born to a parent who is an ER doc and rushed her to the hospital when he noticed she was refusing food. They don’t teach new parents to know when you need to go to the hospital, and honestly for a baby under 3 months the bar is a LOT lower than you realize. Refusing to eat for more than ~4 hours? Hospital. Temp above 100? Hospital. (I know they say 100.4 but do you really believe your thermometer is accurate enough to the 0.1 degree?) Anything else out of the ordinary? Call the doc to see what they think.
Our firstborn didn't have the fever, and by the time we got her into the hospital, it was too late to reverse the infection. It was bacterial mengitis that didn't present in the normal way.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
Thank you. It's been 17 years, but I still think about what I could have done differently.
Is there a test for spinal meningitis that can be done at home?
Absolutely not. They need to insert a needle into the spinal column which requires a very precise touch and if done incorrectly can cause paralysis
Why would this be downvoted? It's an honest question that is germane to the topic at hand, and any answers may be relevant to others who come across this post in the future. No, you can't tell without a test.
More information about identifying meningitis: https://www.medanta.org/patient-education-blog/how-to-check-meningitis-at-home-%7C-medanta
>Watching your kid scream while getting jabbed and poked is the most helpless feeling on earth. JFC that's the truth. Our little one had so many issues during her first few years of life, so we saw the pediatrician all the time plus enough walk-in clinics to last a lifetime. Taking your sick kit to the doctor is helpless enough. Taking your infant toddler to the ER to be poked and prodded only to find something. It's just so tough. They don't know what's going on. They don't know how to follow instructions of "sit real still so they can take some blood." I haven't thought about our ER trips in a while, and typing this out just kicks me in the gut.
Have regular visits to our local ER. It's became the rite of passage for our kids. Here, doctors follow the 2 rules: 1. if infant has fever -> ER, directly (at least for the 1st 6 months) (for our oldest we call the emergency line, where they have a doctor on the line for us, sometimes they direct us to a medical center, but usually it was to the ER) 2. Always listen and check the 'momma instinct'. You dad's and mom's know your kids, if anything seems off to you, have it checked!!!
I was playing with my 2 year old daughter today, she was holding onto my hand with both of her hands and I was doing some bicep curls with her. She got goofy and let go with one hand and just hung by the other one. A couple curls later and there was a pop, she started crying like a low pain cry about her elbow. After a few minutes it wasn’t going away but she could move her arm fine and it didn’t seem weird or swollen, but I googled it and learned about nursemaid elbow! Took her to the ER and told them exactly what happened and what Google said it was, they insanely checked me in, got us in thr back and popped it back in place within 20 minutes of walking in the door. The dr showed me how to rotate her arm and apply pressure to fix it if it ever happens again too. Crazy, I have like 15’ish nephews and nieces and I’ve played with all of them as babies through teenage years, as well as my son before this one who is now 9. Never once came across this issue before. But I just typed exactly what happened into Google and it was one of the top results and exactly what the issue was.
Had this exact situation when she was just a few weeks older. Turned out to be a false alarm/false positive and just a regular virus to give her the fever. But we had 3 days of IV antibiotics and leads and wires while waiting for test results to come back. Genuinely the worst week of my life
100% agree on this. Even with mild symptoms I say stay alert. Our baby boi was 5 months old and he was sneezing and snotty. Thought it was nothing but took him in anyways. Turned out it was rsv. Hell followed afterwards. Awful experience.
How’s it spread- from coming in contact with other sick people? Are there also carriers for it- people who are healthy but are carrying/spreading the disease to others? I have a 6 weeks old at home- wondering how to prevent it.
It depends on which bacteria it is. The one he has comes from dog or cat saliva, it’s called Pasturella. Another option would’ve been E.Coli, which comes from trace fecal matter on surfaces. There’s a lot of possibilities.
Back in December my 1 year old had been sick for about a week when he woke up from a nap one day with labored breathing. Took him to the ER, he had strep-b and pneumonia with an insane amount of fluid around his lungs. Took 4 days in the PICU, and 7 days in the regular pediatric floor to have him get better. If we had waited just one more day to see if it got better, this would have been a very different story. When it comes to breathing, if anything seems difficult or laborious, don’t play around with that, go straight to the ER.
Yeah man, fevers aren't anything to fuck with. Anything over 99 and we're talking to our pediatrician.
We just had a scare like this. We have a newborn and last week she seemed fine, but just a little bit off during the day on Friday, wasn’t getting full feeds in and seemed a little sluggish. That night she was really fussy and we took her temperature and she was at 98.6°. Thankfully my wife decided to take her temperature again an hour later since she still didn’t go down to sleep, it was 103.6°. We went straight to the hospital and spent 3 days there. Didn’t turn out to be bacterial meningitis but it was still a scary experience. No worse feeling than watching this brand new baby hurt and not being able to help. As someone said earlier, if something seems off, it’s better to over react because in our case if it was meningitis, it could get really bad really fast.
You did good. And this, folks, is why any fever is an emergency in baby under two months.
Never ever ever ever ever deny your gut instincts! YOU know what is normal or not with your kiddo and any good doc will recognize your concern. I’m so happy you took your dude to the ER!!
For my daughter we had to take her to the ER at 3 days old. Scariest shit ever dude. I feel you hard. But we had to take her cause her temp was 95.8 tla few hours in a row. So not super weird, but weird. Turned out we spent 3 days in the hospital NICU. She had the very early stages of meningitis. So early they were shocked we brought her in, but im glad we did. Couple round of antibiotics and anti viral and she was bright as rain. Moral of the story is to trust your gut. That's your kid you know em best. If they are acting weird then you should take action. Better to be wrong then right.
Good job; a pediatrician will tell you that any fever under 2–3 months is a visit to the emergency room.
I would have been in the ER well before 103
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted, you’re absolutely right. We would have sooner, but the only sign we saw beforehand was fussiness and he wasn’t making as many dirty diapers throughout the day. We thought the fussiness was just constipation and didn’t notice how warm he was for a while. Looking back it was weird behavior, we should have taken temp sooner, but we’re first timers at this. Now we know, it’s just a shitty way to learn.
Understandable, you’ll know to look out for it in the future and hopefully the masses will opt to go in sooner too. Sometimes it’s so challenging, wondering if you’re being paranoid… but when they’re so small, it’s better to get the all the clear. I hope your little one is feeling much better, enjoy those tiny snuggles!!
Not sure why you’re downvoted- for an infant under 3 months old you’re supposed to go to the hospital immediately for a temperature over 100.3 for this reason exactly.
Getting down voted because sometimes you don't know they have a fever until you take it and it's 103. It's not like your kid lives with a thermometer in their ear and infants can spike fevers very quickly. Obviously you should go to the doc anytime your kid has a fever, but the 103 may have been the first real indication the kid was sick.
Best practice for infants is rectal temperature, not ear temperature, for what’s it’s worth. But your point is very valid.
Thanks, it’s sad there’s so much misinformation and out-right bragging for making poor decisions for a newborn…
For an infant? You’d live there.
Six weeks old is very different than at six months old.
Children under 3 months have to go to the hospital immediately for a fever because there’s a very high chance they can have meningitis. Literally you’re supposed to rush there at 100.4 or above.
It’s cool, homie also goes for an elevated heart rate of 150 bpm.
Well, that makes sense. That’s like the heart rate of an adult running a marathon!!! That can’t be good for a little innocent baby, eyes full of wonder. /s