Below is a message written by Jenny,
who's daughter, Allison, recently contracted
infant botulism at the age of 2 1/2 months.
It is so unlikely that your baby would ever get Infant Botulism, but I feel the need to pass along info on the early signs and symptoms since undiagnosed Infant Botulism has been linked to SIDS.
It's scary to think that up to 15% of SIDS deaths could be undiagnosed Infant Botulism.
Know the signs and symptoms of this scary illness to save a life.
They always say never feed infants honey until they are over
the age of one because of Botulism poisoning.
Botulism is also a spore that lives in the soil, and is very common in California.
When the dirt is disturbed through farming, or construction,
the spores become airborne and are ingested by the infant.
If their intestines have the perfect environment, the spores colonize releasing a toxin.
The toxin paralyzes the infant’s muscles to move,
but most importantly the muscles used to breathe, so without intervention, they just stop breathing.
Acute symptoms can come on very quickly as in a matter of hours or can be as long as days or weeks. We barely had three days from the time I knew something was wrong
until a pediatrician was able to diagnose the illness and rush our daughter to Lucile Packard Hospital.
I hope this doesn’t add to the list of things to worry about,
as this was never on our list, (but SIDS was), and IB is so rare,
but it’s so important to know the early signs to potentially save a life.
The intention is to create awareness and spread the word to any family
that has an infant under the age of one.
This is an illness that I believe goes undiagnosed, until it's too late.
The Infant Botulism and Treatment Program is an amazing organization
that helped save our daughter's life.
I'm so grateful, and now determined to share our story to help other
families recognize the symptoms early.
To me, our daughter never seemed sick, she just started not being able to do
normal 2 1/2 month old baby stuff, like hold up her head, or nurse...
she always seemed to get frustrated and gag while trying to nurse.
She never had a fever, runny nose, congestion, or a cough.
She was constipated, very gassy, had a weak cry, and seemed very sleepy.
A day later she was not able to move her arms or legs, and as the day wore on,
I was increasingly worried about her shallow, quiet breaths.
By the time the ambulance came she could not open her eyes…
she was almost completely paralyzed.
It always felt like a race against time to figure out what was wrong with her.
We spent 7 days in the PICU, 3 days in General Pediatrics, and 9 days with a feeding tube at home.
Thank goodness she was diagnosed early enough to receive the BabyBIG
and, in time, will make a full recovery.
I can say we are happily moving forward.
Thank you to the IBTPP… we will be forever grateful for the good work
you do in saving children's lives and educating the public to keep our babies safe.
Written By Jenny M.
Written By Jenny M.
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