RSV

cdepperschmidt

We just spent four days in the hospital after my little one tested positive for RSV. As a FTM I had never even heard of it so I thought I would mention it here for all
New Moms like me.

We thought LO had a cold. He had a cough and was congested, but had no fever. We took him to the ER on the 4th day of his cold because he started to wheeze. RSV peeks around day 4-5. Once we got to the ER the nurse showed us how hard he was working to breath. His abdomen was retracting a lot. He was on oxygen for 3 days.

I didn't want to be the over protective mama who called the doctor at the first sniffle. However, now I know to watch to wheezing and retractions and to take my kid to the doctor immediately.

Unfortunately, the Ped said there is little we can do to prevent it. RSV is very common, but in children and adults just looks like a cold. It's more serious for infants because it can cause breathing issues. It can also turn into pneumonia.

kwaldy

Thank goodness for this PSA. Not a lot of people know of it. I hope your little one is doing much better now!

SweetTooth126

Hope LO is home and doing better!!

Ceridwen77

Scary! Glad you LO is doing better.

doodleoodle

I hope he's better now. That sounds awful! Thanks for the PSA I had never even heard of RSV.

Ellsmac

Thanks for the PSA- hope your LO is doing much better! Sorry you had to go through that - how scary!

Lolo427

Wow- thanks so much for this. I never knew this was a thing! I hope LO is on the up and up and I'm so glad the hospital did right by them.

CheeseSticksfor4

My first was hospitalized with RSV at around 5 months. He's 4 now and still gets bronchitis/croup multiple times a year as a result of it. In the beginning anytime he was around anyone with a cold I knew to expect him to wake up with a seal bark cough within the next few days. Thank goodness he's starting to outgrow that. The nebulizer is our best friend now. Now at the first sign of a cold I give him a saline nebulizer treatment and it helps a bunch. Be ready momma! Once they have RSV their poor little lungs are VERY sensitive for the next few years

JamieA322

My LO was tested for RSV and pneumonia last week. Fortunately, she was cleared of both. Good luck to yours!

GoogleMD

RSV is so scary at this age
For most it I'd just an annoying cold. But for babies this young it can be so dangerous. Glad your little one is getting better!

NovemberSno

DD2 got RSV when she was about 1 year and it turned into pneumonia. She was in the hospital for 10 days and now suffered from asthma and has a nebulizer machine she needs to use sometimes. She been doing much better this winter than previous ones so that's great. Little by little her asthma is fading I think. RSV is a terrible thing that can sneak up on you quickly! Watch out for your LOS ladies. It's so sad to see them laid up in a hospital bed for days.

Hope your LO is feeling better!!!

DogLoverX3

Bronchiolitis from RSV here....for those that have delt with it, what, if anything, has worked best? This is so sad 

cdepperschmidt

@DogLoverX3 once LO was home from the hospital we did frequent nose suctions ( which he hated) and had him sleep in the Rock n Play until he was not congested. He also had RSV Bronchiolitis.

DogLoverX3

cdepperschmidt said:

@DogLoverX3 once LO was home from the hospital we did frequent nose suctions ( which he hated) and had him sleep in the Rock n Play until he was not congested. He also had RSV Bronchiolitis.

Thanks

SweetTooth126

My LO is being tested for rsv now

DogLoverX3

SweetTooth126 said:

My LO is being tested for rsv now

I hope your LO is ok. We have just been admitted the hospital after a VERY rough night 

SweetTooth126

Oh no! @DogLoverX3What made you take your baby in? As of now we are home and monitoring his breathing. He is fever free and able to eat so As of now it's mild. The doctor said it would get worse before better if it is Rsv. I'll pray that your LO gets better soon!

DogLoverX3

That hard cough combined with one episode of no breath for about 5 seconds. Also, her breathing is pulling in at her ribs, so she's using her tummy muscles to breathe, so she's not getting air easily. Took her in yesterday, and they dismissed us. Then when we saw pedi this morning, he said to admit her. 

SweetTooth126

I hope she gets some relief soon. It's so hard to see them suffer! They did the swab today to test for it and will find out results. For now I'm obsessively watching/listening to every breath my son takes. Hugs mama.

DogLoverX3

SweetTooth126 said:

I hope she gets some relief soon. It's so hard to see them suffer! They did the swab today to test for it and will find out results. For now I'm obsessively watching/listening to every breath my son takes. Hugs mama.

Thanks! Hugs to you too! Poor lil babies! 

SweetTooth126

Well he tested positive and I am terrified. We are home though, going back tomorrow for them to check him out again.

DogLoverX3

@SweetTooth126 the good news you caught it early and know what to look for. I just took her temp every couple of hours, made sure I woke her to eat-she went 10 hours Sat night into Sun. Now I wake her at 5 hours to eat to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated because she's exhausted and not interested in eating. And I watched her breathing-I had her in a diaper with a blanket so I could watch her stomach and watch for the tugging to get air. Hopefully your LO will be ok. I think a lot of times it doesn't get bad enough for the hospital. 

hlz128

Thanks for the post but I'm officially terrified for rsv 

DogLoverX3

hlaverett88 said:

Thanks for the post but I'm officially terrified for rsv 

It's been scary, but I'm trying to stay calm and watch and ask...

cdepperschmidt

@SweetTooth126 DS never developed a fever when he had RSV. Also, I read only 10% of cases are hospitalized. You probably caught it early enough. 

DogLoverX3

cdepperschmidt said:

@SweetTooth126 DS never developed a fever when he had RSV. Also, I read only 10% of cases are hospitalized. You probably caught it early enough. 

We've taken her temp constantly and now the doctors have been-so far we've been lucky enough not to have a fever too!!! Phew!!! 

nycmommy13

My baby went to the hospital as well! I had never heard of RSV before this.
https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12659832/i-have-never-been-so-scared-before#latest

DogLoverX3

@nycmommy13 me either! Hope your LO is feeling better!

DogLoverX3

Now the fever...spoke too soon

SweetTooth126

Oh no!! My LO has breathing treatments at home for now. Thinking of you guys!

nycmommy13

If anyone's baby's breathing is the problem, both the breathing too fast and the retracting, my husband and I found a good method for getting as much mucus out as possible. We use the nebulizer for 15 minutes, put him on the floor on his tummy for 5 minutes to drain as much fluid as we can naturally, then squirt a drop of saline up each nostril and suction both his nose and mouth. We do this every four hours, although we suction every 2 hours. I use the Nosefrida Snotsucker, which I think is the best thing in the whole world and works really well, but you could use the bulb instead. Note: I got sick from my baby. I'm not sure if it's because of the Snotsucker, but you've gotta acknowledge that you might get sick if you use it since I'm pretty sure germs travel pretty freely through there even if the mucus doesn't. Hope that might help someone!

DogLoverX3

@nycmommy13 thank you so much!

Jeenyus

Thanks for the heads up!  I'm always so nervous bringing my daughter out to public places or to the doctors for fear of her catching something like this!

VexedMommy

My 9yr old just developed a cough without fever and now I'm terrified it's RSV and she will pass it to the LO. 

JStill0603

For those who have LOs with RSV, what were the first signs? SS and I have both been very sick over the last couple days and now I'm terrified LO is going to catch something from us... I'm watching him like a hawk 

DogLoverX3

We just got started on oxygen. This is the saddest day of my life. The 4 year old I nanny was sick with a cough starting a week from last Monday. But Wednesday it was awful, but they wouldn't let me take her in. Thursday she had a fever and they still didn't take her. By Friday, she wasn't eating and hardly drinking and she still had 102 fever, so they stayed home from work and took her to pedi. Saturday morning my little one started with the same deep, wet cough-Couldn't catch her breath. It was sporadic Saturday and my Saturday night it was getting worse. Then I noticed her tummy breathing-pulling in at her ribs to get air.  And the rattle in her breaths. Plus I couldn't get the mucus out of her nose-it was draining too far back.  The rest of my story is posted above I think. Now fast forward to Wednesday, she puked her bottle, couldn't breathe, coughing, got mucus sucked, then she fell asleep. What's scary here is that she was asleep next to me in the hospital bed and looked peaceful. Was tummy breathing, but sounded ok-not so much rattling or wheezing. BUT, even though she didn't seem to be struggling, the oxygen alarms started going off. She was dropping into the 80s and couldn't get out(back to the 90s). Nurse came in and started oxygen right away. This is the hardest day of our lives-watching our LO lay here struggling to breathe on oxygen. 


With all that said, I think a pp mentioned that it's not the norm for babies to be hospitalized over this. I think they get the bad cough and it lasts, but can breathe successfully on their own. Charlotte's biggest problem is the mucus. It's so far back that it has to be suctioned out with a machine. There's so much she can't breathe well.

SweetTooth126

Mine started Saturday with a mild cough. By Sunday the congestion and cough worsened. Monday the wheezing started. Today is day 5 and we are managing at home with nebulizer every 4 hours and suctioning with nose Frida. The doctor said if we can maintain without fevers or worsening wheezing (doesn't improve with treatments) we can stay home. As of now he hasn't had a fever, highest he got was 99.9 rectally.

SweetTooth126

It's also really important to keep them hydrated so we are nursing as frequently as possible (although he has been throwing up today). Doc said as long as he has 4 wet diapers in 24 hours we are okay there. The mucous makes him gag and triggers him to throw up. It really is heartbreaking. At first signs of cough I would give pedi a call, she said its good we caught it early.

Pontot31

DogLoverX3 said:

We just got started on oxygen. This is the saddest day of my life. The 4 year old I nanny was sick with a cough starting a week from last Monday. But Wednesday it was awful, but they wouldn't let me take her in. Thursday she had a fever and they still didn't take her. By Friday, she wasn't eating and hardly drinking and she still had 102 fever, so they stayed home from work and took her to pedi. Saturday morning my little one started with the same deep, wet cough-Couldn't catch her breath. It was sporadic Saturday and my Saturday night it was getting worse. Then I noticed her tummy breathing-pulling in at her ribs to get air.  And the rattle in her breaths. Plus I couldn't get the mucus out of her nose-it was draining too far back.  The rest of my story is posted above I think. Now fast forward to Wednesday, she puked her bottle, couldn't breathe, coughing, got mucus sucked, then she fell asleep. What's scary here is that she was asleep next to me in the hospital bed and looked peaceful. Was tummy breathing, but sounded ok-not so much rattling or wheezing. BUT, even though she didn't seem to be struggling, the oxygen alarms started going off. She was dropping into the 80s and couldn't get out(back to the 90s). Nurse came in and started oxygen right away. This is the hardest day of our lives-watching our LO lay here struggling to breathe on oxygen. 


With all that said, I think a pp mentioned that it's not the norm for babies to be hospitalized over this. I think they get the bad cough and it lasts, but can breathe successfully on their own. Charlotte's biggest problem is the mucus. It's so far back that it has to be suctioned out with a machine. There's so much she can't breathe well.

Oh that's heartbreaking. I'm so sorry! I hope she gets better fast. 

SweetTooth126

@VexedMommy from what I understand it's very common in preschool aged children. I think my LO caught it from his 3 year old cousin. Hopefully your daughter has a run of the mill cold, but doesn't hurt to increase handwashing, throw away tissues asap, cover cough, etc. My niece doesn't quite know how to do all that and despite my best efforts of keeping them apart he caught it.

eta I'm not positive that my niece had it because she only had the sniffles and never got tested, but that's the only logical explanation I can find as I am a SAHM right now and we aren't around other kids or sick adults.

DogLoverX3

@Pontot31 thank you