sick baby: Any experience?

[mimififi]

Hi there, I have a 10.5 month old baby, she is 8.5 months old corrected.

She is my fifth baby, but is sick like I've never seen before. She has had fever, vomiting, been fractious, constant crying, not eating, nappy not wet this am. she also has a bizarre rash. satreted beg of week. looked like slapped cheek virus, or perhaps roseola. Then yesturday chaged to a very fine rash like measles, now it has changed again, and her arms and legs mainly are covered in huge raised blotches, I would say more blotchy than spotty. Although the blotches are round.

She is still crying, though fever is down, but she has had Nurofen and Capol and so that is probably why. Have seen the HV, she doesn't know what it is, amd seeing the doctor at 11.20am.

ANyone seen this before???? I'm a bit stumped. (Don't think it's Meningitus type rash, it doesn't look bruise like, though it's not great under a glass. I am praying that it's not)

[copippin]

I am pleased to see that you are seeing the doctor this morning,I know it is very worrying when babies display such symptoms.As she still has a fever,make sure that she doesn't become dehydrated by offering her drinks,it is important as I'm sure you know if she is your fifth.Good luck with your visit to the doctor,and let us know what happens.

[mimififi]

Phew! Went to doctor, and she thinks Rubella. obvioulsy babe is too little to have had teh MMR, but she is so gonna. She is so poorly, and of course all the bad things that she may now have to be screened for once the virus is gone, just isn't worth it.

I''m glad its rubella tho, and not meningitis. I was very scared this morning!

Thanks for replying. It means alot to me.....

:-)

[Jay70]

Hi mimififi,

My daughter had something called HSP which causes severe abdominal pain and a meningitus type rash. The Local doctor and hospital couldn't diagnose this after many tests so it was off to Gt Ormond St. They only diagnosed it after the rash came out - this was after they did an investigative op and removed her appendix as a precaution. As soon as it was diagnosed she was put on medication which cleared it up but it can cause kidney probs if it hasn't been diagnosed early enough. The reason it took a long time to diagnose was my daughter didn't come out with the rash until very late on where most kids get the rash at an early stage. Your child may well have nothing like this but my point is you must really push your Doctor. We had to go several time during the middle of the night to the emergeny doc. When he rang the local hospital he had to realy fight to get her in as they didn't think it was anything more than a tummy upset. I wish you all the best and hope you dont have to go through what we did. There is nothing worse than when one of your kids is that ill. x

[copippin]

Hi mimififi,glad you have a diagnosis,at least you now know whatyou are dealing with.As jay70 says keep an eye,and if there is no improvement as expected,don't be afraid to march back to the doctor for further investigation.I am sure this won't be necessary and I'm glad it is nothing too serious.Hope all goes well for you .

[MangoPete]

In addition to Rubella she may be intollerant to some of the crap they put in food stuffs
Any history of this in the family?
Even if there is not she may benefit from a removal or reduction of this from her diet and see if there is an inprovement

yes it is a pain in the butt, but just keep any eye on it as it is becoming depressingly more common.
Take care
Peter

[MangoPete]

I find it alarming the HV didn't diagnose it !
I have 5 too and I guess with your five you are as skilled as she is if not more so.

[mimififi]

MangoPete, Hi, thanks for taking the time to reply to this.

Tifaine is much better today. She is grumpy now and whinging so Im guessing she's getting better LOL. She is still not eating, and being a bit sick etc, but is drinking well, thank goodness she is still on her formula.

I have to admit, I thought the HV would be a bit more helpful, but to be fair, it was bizarre, and she was worrying about the dreaded M too.

Good point about food. Fortunately for me (or perhaps unfortunately, depending on how you look at it?) I have two kids who are dairy allergic, and one of those also has coeliac disease, so I only cook from base ingredients and buy organic fruit and veg out of choice. Tifaine is on dairy free formular and we don't really have any prepackaged food at all as it all has wheat in it. The worst she gets is sometimes a bit of bisto if the other one isn't having gravy, or tinned baked beans, Heinz variety, with no additives.

You are right, it is depressingly more common that people and children are not tolerating their foods because of all the chemicals in them. I find this really sad. Even bread; when you think that freshly, homemade bread last 24 hours at best, and can be stretched to a mere 48 hours if toasted, what must the supermarket bread have in it to make it stay 'fresh' for 7 days??? A whole lot of rubbish, I expect.

Anyways, thank you again for your kind response, I am really grateful to you and all who posted. The main thing is she appears to be on the mend, and I am a little bit wiser now. With five children, I do sometimes feel as though I should be an honorary doctor, even though I'm not an actual medical one!!!! The more you have, the more stuff you see!!!!!

Take care, all, and many thnaks.