Our baby boy died on 3 days old of neonatal meningitis

[NicoleneJP]

Is there anyone out there with a similar story than mine? Our baby boy was born 13/03/2018. We were released from hospital On 14/03/2018. The pediatrician cleared him for discharge. On 15/03/2018 we took him back to the hospital because he cried allot and it seemed like he was in pain. We arrived at the hospital 05:45 the Dr on call had a look at him and advised us that he needs to call the pediatrician that discharged him. We waited for the pediatrician for 5 hours she only attended to us 10:45. Our baby cried continuously for those 5 hours and the DR on call made the call not to admit our baby to ICU because according to him he looked healthy. The pediatrician came into the room and without even examining our baby she diagnosed him with colic. She just picked him up and rocked him a few times and then confirmed again it was colic. I advised her that he is not feeding well and he is struggling to sleep because of the pain. She said he is a newborn he will still learn to feed and he is struggling to sleep because of the stomach cramps. He also had 3 dirty nappies at the hospital while we waited she said that's normal as well. I then told her how he screams so much pain he is in she then said again it's because of the stomach cramps it will pass. She gave us a script and send us home. Saturday morning (17/03/2018) we woke up to find our son passed away in his cradle. The autopsy confirmed he died of neonatal meningitis.

[StrawberryCream]

Oh gosh Nicolene how tragic to hear, of the loss of your beautiful new born baby boy, to neonatal Meningitis. That is terrible that the Dr's neither recognised that your baby was seriously ill or listened to your concerns. Your distress will have been horrendous when you found he had passed away in his cradle.

If you are in the U.K. and haven't done so already, please phone the Meningitis helpline 0808 80 10 388. They are extremely understanding and can offer you support at this unimaginable difficult time.

My thoughts are with you.

[Lauraburns000]

I’m so extremely sorry for your loss. I don’t have any experience with neonatal meningitis but my heart goes out to you.

[Vmrozie]

Oh my God this is just horrific I cannot even imagine the pain you are going through. This is a good website for support/information on meningitis, hopefully will give you some answers. Sending light and love xx

[harpersofengland]

I’m so very sorry for your loss, NicoleneJP. Having lost an infant to prematurity myself, it hurts. But I cannot comprehend your loss. You did everything right and were the best advocate possible for your little man. I’m now mum to four, all born in the USA. I do not have experience with neonatal meningitis (I’m recovering from meningitis myself). But in the US I was always routinely checked for strep B infection shortly before delivery. In fact one of my children was induced & I was put on antibiotics to ensure he wasn’t infected with the Strep B bacteria I was carrying. I don’t know what the standard procedure is in the U.K. but strep B can cause meningitis like that. I wish you comfort & healing.

[Runnerma]

I am so sorry for your loss. My prayers are with you. I experienced meningitis myself & know how difficult it was for the doctors to diagnose it. I understand that in children it hits rapidly. Nevertheless, it seems your little one' symptoms were overlooked. I would make sure that the doctors who tended him know what happened. I keep reading that meningitis is considered rare but I am finding out it is not. We need to make everyone aware of this horrific disease & hopefully by doing so will prevent the demise of others and thru this you will find some solace.

[Sab01]

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. I sure do hope that this Dr has been let go or some form of action taken? It caused a loss of a poor baby's life which could have been prevented. It's just awful hearing of this! I can't imagine what you're going through but it seems this dr in charge of your baby was not educated on newborns at all and does not deserve to be dealing with such vulnerable individuals at such a crucial time of their or the parents lives! Justice needs to be done. I'm sorry for the rant I work in law, and story's like this break my heart! Sending love.

[AbbieChandler26]

I'm so sorry for your loss, I can't even imagine what you are going through. My daughter had neonatal meningitis, I know it can be very hard to spot in such tiny babies but the doctors should have picked up on it and run the appropriate tests given your concern and you taking him to the hospital. I must admit, the only reason my daughters was picked up in time was due to her pooing during delivery so they routinely had to test her infection levels, day 1 they were normal, day two had risen to 8, within 2 hoursafter the second set being taken they had gone up to 149. She was given precautionary antibiotics as they thought she had swallowed some meconium during birth, this probably saved her life as the small dose was tripled later that day. She too was screaming in pain and the doctors and midwives told me she was probably just 'traumatised' from birth. I requested they retested her infection levels and fortunately it was picked up on. I remember telling the midwives something wasn't right as she too wasn't feeding correctly and I knew like yourself that the crying wasn't normal for a baby of that age. I know it doesn't bring you any peace but I just wanted to share that the symptoms you had picked up on were the exact ones my daughter had that the doctors also brushed off. I would advise being swabbed for group b strep as apparently this is the most common cause for it.please ensure that you make the doctors responsible have the necessary action taken against them it's unbelievable that they overlook symptoms so easily and don't listen to a parents worries, mum really does know their baby better then anyone. I'm sending lot's of hugs and prayers and I hope your angel baby boy rests peacefully 💙