This is our story!
As I said at the start both Noah and Rowan have had it! Rowan spent his first Christmas in hospital with it! He started a few days with a cold but it seemed a heavy cold. Of course at a young age you put it down to teething! At first he had cold like symptoms - runny nose, cough, temperature but he didn't really seem to get better but seemed to get worse. He wasn't feeding as well as he normally would. I was warned with Rowan being almost 6 weeks early to keep a extra close eye on him. So I felt it was time to get him checked over so I rang the 111 helpline, who told me to go up-to my nearest A&E. It was xmas eve and not a place I really wanted to visit but he needed to be seen so off we went. They where very good at the hospital. I explained what was wrong and what my concerns where. The did Rowan's pule and oxygen rates which had cause for concern. By this point also his chest was sucked in and he seemed to be head bobbing. So they admitted us to the children's ward. He was struggling to breath and needed to be put on oxygen and kept in. I got to stay with him. We had a room with a cot in and bed and Rowan was kept on oxygen until Christmas day/ night and then discharged on boxing day. The staff where fantastic and explained what bronchiolitis was - It can be different causes most of which viral. Bronchiolitis is a common lung infection. It mainly affects young children and is a common cause of wheezing in children and difficulty in breathing due to the swelling of the airways which lead to the lungs. I had never heard of bronchiolitis before and the children's ward was full of babies as young as 4 weeks old. They kept a close eye on Rowan while in hospital doing checks every few hours. He did improve and was discharged on boxing day along with a inhaler and spacer. I did find that we had to use this for around 2 weeks after being admitted as the cough and wheeze did tend to linger. I must admit it was awful having him in hospital he was only months old and having him hooked upto al-sorts of monitors and tubes etc was horrible! But I was told it was just one of those things! And quite common. Rowan did have a lot of chest problems after this and does seem to get croup a lot too which requires steroids and a visit to hospital. I'm not sure if him being a little early baby is a contribution to the problems he has.
Noah has also had bronchiolitis but not as bad as Rowan had it. Luckily he was not admitted to hospital but I did ring the 111 helpline for advice and was seen by a Dr at our local urgent care centre he gave Noah a inhaler and spacer. Noah didn't have low levels nore was struggling to breath, so there was no need for him to be admitted to the children's ward. To be honest he just seemed to have a bad cold and slight wheeze - which never got any worse but also didn't seem to get any better.I found with Noah I wasn't sure to ring for advice or just to wait a few day's, but knowing my past experience I knew not to just let it ride out and go and get checked or a opinion at least. As you can see off reading both storeys that bronchiolitis can be both mild and serious in babies / young children. I'm a firm believer in "mum knows best" and if you have a gut feeling then always act upon it.
After Noah being poorly with it i decided to look into it a bit more on the net and came accross a web site called more than a cold. Its really informative and well worth a look! Here's the link -
http://www.morethanacold.co.uk/
Thanx for reading
Mummy T
x
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