Parents of sick babies: always check the neck!
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Anonymous
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Just read a few posts mentioning the tragedy of losing a baby and a couple posts mentioned meningitis losses. Whenever meningitis comes up I share our experience with a 17 month old who had a fever, clearly felt sick, but had no other symptoms. We took her to her Ped as we had with many other flus and viruses and heard the same things we always did. But then our Ped said something I'd never heard before: "Make sure she can move her head up and down. If she can't move her neck you need to call."
We'd never heard that, so when we got home we tried to get her to look up and down by holding a fave toy above and below. She wouldn't move her neck. Then we tried to just move her head and she got upset. Called Ped again, she said "It's probably nothing but you should take her to the ER because it can be a sign of meningitis." Of course we freaked but off we went. The intake nurses rolled their eyes and said "Oh, you new parents! I'm sure she's fine!" But several blood tests and a spinal tap later and we were told she definitely had meningitis. We were very lucky, it was viral (the less awful type), but the test for viral vs. bacterial takes up to 4 days so we were in a children's hospital for 4 days while they flooded her with antibiotics, in case it was the worse kind. We had never heard of a stiff neck being a symptom of this, and are forever grateful to our fab Ped (we miss her since moving to DC!) for noting how extra miserable our DD seemed and throwing in the detail about her neck. So just passing that on during flu season in case there are parents here who didn't know that. Stay safe everyone! |
Anonymous
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Wow, I thought this was common knowledge. At least in my home country every parent knows to check for that.
I didn't know you guys didn't know about this here... And good for you PP for catching it early on. Moms, always trust your gut! If you think your baby is sick SEEK HELP! |
Anonymous
| Thank you. I have never heard this - and am not a ftm! |
Anonymous
| This is common knowledge, at least in my house. |
Anonymous
| Completely stupid question, but is their a vaccine for that? |
Anonymous
| The fact that a stiff neck is the biggest sign of meningitis is common knowledge to most Americans, but the tip on how to check it with a baby using a toy is helpful, as is a reminder not to overlook doing this easy test. Just because you know something doesn't mean you will think of it at 3:00 am with a crying baby. I'm glad that your DD was okay, OP. |
Anonymous
| Gym of newborn here, did not know this. Thanks for sharing!!!! |
Anonymous
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Sorry ftm not gym!! (Autocorrect)
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Anonymous
| For some reason people know all about not wearing winter coats in car seats here, but I have never heard to check this or how to do it. Great info - thanks! |
Anonymous
| I didn't know about not wearing winter coats in car seats... are they supposed to just go in their onsie? Wont they be cold? |
Anonymous
There is a vaccine for one kind of bacterial meningitis, but it's the kind more prevalent among college students. The vaccine against strep pneumococcal can aso help, but there are still other causes with no vaccine. Signed, dd of mother in coma from meningitis for 11 days, but is doing well now |
Anonymous
Yes, just in a clothing and then with blankets on top. Wearing a coat or bulky outfit under the car seat straps compromises the seat's protective abilities. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, OP! |
Anonymous
| I'm surprised to hear that the OP knows of several cases of meningitis and a PP also said her DC was just in a coma from it. How terrible and scary. Is there some sort of outbreak right now? I had no idea meningitis was so common. I have a newborn and a preschooler. My preschooler just came home yesterday with a fever, no other symptoms. I'm paranoid my newborn is going to get sick. Thanks for the tips, OP. |
Anonymous
| Meningitis is scary. A friends dd was in a come for 16 days! |