1 Year Old - Post bacterial meningitis

[RHussain08]

My son contracted bacterial meningitis (pneumococcal) and septicaemia at 10 months old. We were in intensive care / HDU and then a neuro ward for a total of 5 weeks. Before he got ill he was repeating words, blowing kisses, clapping hands and cruising etc. After he woke from his coma, within days he showed signs of understanding and was repeating words such as ‘mamma’ ‘dada’ blowing kisses upon request etc. He had to relearn to sit/crawl again. He can now pull himself up on furniture but is still very wobbly.

He is now 14 months old and is still not walking. Also, he has stopped repeating words and won’t clap his hands etc. I am really worried that he has regressed. Is this normal?

[misswinky34]

Hello

I'm. Sorry no one has replied up to this point, usually there's lots of support on here!

Is your son receiving any follow up? My son was 2 weeks old when he got BM and he's now 15 months and we are still receiving follow up for him.

They did warn my regression was a very real Possibility with BM depending on what damage was done to the brain at the time of the illness. Its hard as its all just a waiting game. Regression wasn't really applicable to us as he was still virtually a newborn and couldnt even support his own head and hadnt hit any milestones. I would have thought your child would still be under the pediatric team until they are satisfied that he's made a full recovery.

My son went back in with benign seizures a month after getting discharged, which thankfully stopped after a few weeks. He's had hearing, vision, and mental response tests in the last year and so far so good. We have no basis for comparison about him because we hadn't hit any milestones.

If your worried about anything, especially these things your noticing, get in touch with the GP and get some support. Your his parent and you know him better than anyone. Trust your instincts. If one thing this dreadful disease taught me, its to trust my Instincts. I hope you get some answers and some help.

Feel free to drop me a private message if you want to talk.

All the best