12 mo old preemie, fever, vomiting, cough, runny nose, not eating

[Callysmommy]

It started yesterday - I noticed that she started wheezing again (she has had respitory issues in the past).  She is 12 months old this weekend (what a way to spend your first birthday!).  She was 2 months premature, c-section baby.  She is eating very poorly.  She has only taken down 12oz total of milk today where she would normally do atleast double that plus baby food and juice.  Won't eat anything else, cries all day long, vomited 4 times so far (vomited up the motrin I just tried giving her).  Medications are very hard to give to her, as she gags and vomits, and refuses to take it.  I took her to doc today and he gave me antibiotics and said she has a lung infection.  The cough is keeping her awake tonight.  They want to see her tomorrow to see if she has lost weight (for dehydration).  I am a first time mom and have delt with many challenges having a preemie.  My heart aches for her suffering.  Any moms out there?

[Fourpaws]

I am sorry. It breaks my heart to hear that she is so sick. I hope it doesn't last long. Have you tried giving her any pedialyte? When my daughter was very sick, she wouldn't breastfeed or take a bottle. He told me to make sure she is peeing at least 3 times a day (if she pees less, she is dehydrated) and give her breastmilk and pedialyte with a dropper or spoon just to get her to drink it. It is time consuming but well worth it. Are you using a cool mist humidifier at night? That will really help and so does sitting in the bathroom with the shower on- it helps their lungs clear a little. I feel your pain, my daughter just got over a nasty cold and then it turned into bronchilitis, She actually had  an inhaler prescribed to her because of the wheezing. Keep us posted and good luck.

[Fourpaws]

How is your little one doing this morning??

[Callysmommy]

Thanks all for your concern.  It's still tough.  She won't eat anything but milk (not even pedialyte or apple juice) but the good thing is she is eating better! That is a good sign.  At midnight she woke me up and drank a whole 7oz cup, then this morning at 6 she drank 3oz, then another three at 10am.  She vomited when I tried giving her the antibiotic, but then drank another 6oz of milk.  I was able to get her first antibiotic dose down in very small amounts, holding her down and prying her mouth open.

My friend suggested I put her in the tub with a wet rag and let her suck the water out of the rag.  What a great idea, she loves doing that! She also pooped in the tub I might add :-p yuck...

She's got her appointment around 2 today...She was told to use her nebulizer (we have been through this route many times before with bronchiolitis) but I don't see that happening with how she fights me, and I'm pretty strong willed myself!

Not using a humidifier, we actually have a dehumidifier in her room because of mold...she has so many allergies.

[Michele, Katy, TX]

It sounds like she is getting somewhat better.  I am so glad to hear that.

I was going to basically repeat what Fourpaws said.  My daughter had a stomach virus about 2 or 3 months ago.  So that put her at about 17 or 18 months old at the time, as she is now 20 months old.  My doc had told me I could give her Gatorade if she wouldn't take the Pedialyte (which she wouldn't).  But she just wanted nothing to do with anything and she couldn't hold Motrin down either.  It was awful.  So, I had to just give her a small syringe full of Gatorade every 15 minutes or so.  Just very, very small amounts at a time, but frequently.

Please keep us update on how she is doing.  I really hope she is feeling better....It is terrible seeing little babies so sick.  It breaks my heart, so I sure know how you feel.

[Fourpaws]

I am glad to hear there is some improvement. Her eating is a good sign. Keep us posted and I hope she feels better soon.

[Callysmommy]

She is eating better, almost normal amounts (I subtracted two meals that she vomited).  I took her back to the dr today her fever was 101 but just before bed I took it again and it's 99.1 THANK GOD! They gave me oral steroids (for lung inflammation) - she vomited them.  She vomits anything I put in her mouth that isn't her sippy cup with goat's milk.  He said she's moderately dehydrated but not bad enough to hospitalize.  I have to give her four medications but none I can get down...it's not easy.  It's so hard to hold my baby over a trash can (and her room smells like puke).  

She basically has asthma, and being premature her lungs never finished developing, being a c-section baby as well didn't help since they can't get the mucus out of the lungs...then having asthma in the family.  They said that's the most likely cause
so any time she gets a little cold it goes right into her chest.  I understand, when I get sick it's so much harder.  I'm sure as she gets older she has more of a chance of growing out of it.  I got asthma as an adult, I'm stuck with it forever.  Some kids grow out of it, hopefully she will.  She's so healthy until she gets a little cold..I was so sad for her today, crying as I pulled out of the drs office.  She doesn't realize that the crying will cause more mucus to form in her lungs and make the coughing worse.

I can sympathize with you parents, I never knew what you went through and now I do.  There have been so many physical trials we have gone through.  Thank you for listening.

[Callysmommy]

wow this prednisone is working.  No coughing but she is crazy wired and won't go to sleep.

[Fourpaws]

Yeah, prednisone is weird stuff. My dog was on it and so was my husband. It made them both hyper and act weird. Luckilly, the dr tapers you off so you don't crash afterwards. At least her cough is okay for now, If its not one thing its another. It will get better soon!

[Callysmommy]

UPDATE:

Sunday night I could not stand to see Cally suffering anymore.  I text messaged my hubby and told him to come home because we needed to bring Cally to the ER.  We did and we were seen in 15 min.  Her pulse ox saturation was at 86%.  They gave her a shot of dex in her thigh, got her hooked up to an iv and gave her breathing treatments in the ER...and chest xrays.  At first they said they traced no pneumonia but as time went on after being admitted they didn't like the sounds coming out of her chest and had somebody more qualified inspecting her xrays and she was diagnosed with lower left lobe bacterial pneumonia.   She was put on iv antibiotics and fluids since she was dehydrated (which is why it was a hard stick).  It was a very stressful two days and we are so glad to be home.  They agreed that she has asthma.  The pneumonia was caused by the RSV virus.  This is the first time she's had that :-( My poor baby is so sleep deprived and she was so happy to be back in bed.

[Michele, Katy, TX]

I am so glad you took her to ER!!!  I am sorry that you and your little one are going through this.  It's just terrible.  A girl I work with was just in the hospital with her little girl Sunday night (the admitted her) with the same thing basically.  Her little girl has to be home bound for the next 3 weeks.

Take it easy and keep us updated!!!  I will pray for all of you.

[Callysmommy]

Hi Michele,

Did she have RSV? They didn't give us any restrictions to keep her home, but I notice cold air is worse on asthma.  

Kara

[Michele, Katy, TX]

I'm not sure about the RSV, but I know she had Pnemonia (pneumonia) (sp??).  She did mention Asthma to the hospital, but someone told her that they could diagnose that better once she turned 2??  IDK, but she will be 2 in May.  I just told her to do exactly what the doctors tell her because that poor baby has been sick every since this girl started working here, which was in November.  I think part of it was that she had never been in daycare before, but I feel so bad for her.

Oh, I do know she has a breathing machine and does the breathing treatments.

How is your little girl now??

[Callysmommy]

They told me at the hospital they went to that they will diagnose asthma in infants based on symptoms, not the tests they do for asthma.  If a child has recurrent wheezing after a bout of sickness or without sickness it's considered asthma.  Now that my thoughts are validated by a dr (not that they have to but sometimes helps) I will be giving her asthma treatments 2x a day just like I would do for myself (but often neglect to do).  Cally at one point was sick every two weeks.  Children with asthma are more susceptible to getting sick because they already have inflammatory problems & that means their immune system is weakened.  We just got Cally on VSL3 (probiotics) to strengthen her immune system and to help her with the side effects of steroids & antibiotics (diarrhea, yeast overgrowth, etc).  Cally has never been in daycare but has been in church nursery.  They pick up alot of junk when they are with other kids.  

She's doing much better but is still pretty fussy during the day, naps often and isn't eating much.  She drank one bottle all day today.  I'm going to try to give her some apple juice when she wakes up from her nap to keep the fluids up.  I guess it will take time for her appetite to come back.

[Michele, Katy, TX]

Well, I sure hope she feels better very soon.  Please keep us updated on her condition and how she's doing.

I will tell my co worker what you said about the asthma.  I don't think she does the wheezing between sicknesses.  But she does get sick very often and it's always in her chest it seems.

[Callysmommy]

Yesterday she got a pretty bad yeast infection...I got her on vsl #3 probiotics and generic monistat from dollar tree...it cleared up overnight.  Though I'm worried to keep giving her the antibiotic because she has diarrhea from it and isn't taking down enough fluids...but today may be different.  She has expressed more interest in eating, seems alot happier, and of course her yeast infection is gone so that helps.  

It sounds like she may have asthma...Cally doesn't show signs until she gets sick, then the effects last awhile.