4 days ago
Deanne thought her one-year-old daughter only had a cold. The reality was much much worse - and her little girl is still suffering agonising symptoms months later
A mum has revealed the horrifying moment her six-week-old baby girl went limp and stopped breathing less than two days after catching a cold.
Adelaide nurse and mother-of-two Deanne Tingey thought her little girl, Winter, was suffering from a common cold in May last year.
The 27-year-old told Daily Mail Australia that her daughter's initial symptoms included a runny nose and a slight cough.
But as the day progressed, she started to go downhill.
Ms Tingey said Winter wasn't eating as much as usual and her cough had developed, prompting her to book an appointment with her doctor.
'By the time we got to the GP, which was 2pm the following day, Winter had not fed at all in the morning and only had one wet nappy,' Ms Tingey said.
'My GP told me to take her straight to the emergency department. So from his office we went to the hospital.'
Ms Tingey said by the time they arrived, Winter was struggling to breathe, drowsy, limp and gasping for air.
In less than 24 hours, Winter was fighting for her life and was taken directly to the Resus Bay - a dedicated space in hospital emergency departments designed to provide treatment for patients with critical or life-threatening conditions.
'They put her on high-flow oxygen and put a gastric tube in her straight away,' Ms Tingey said.
'They started giving her Panadol, taking bloods, swabbing her and said she had the classic signs of RSV.'
Doctors discovered Winter was suffering from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) - a common illness that causes respiratory infections, especially in babies and young kids.
The virus can also lead to serious illnesses including bronchiolitis and pneumonia.
While most people experience mild, cold-like symptoms, RSV can be fatal for infants or cause serious complications and long-term respiratory problems into adulthood.
'I kind of felt like a failure, because being a nurse, I should have looked out for those signs,' Ms Tingey said.
'Just watching her struggle so badly, it was absolutely heartbreaking. It's actually one of the worst things that I've ever seen.'
Ms Tingey remembers the doctors explaining that the 'entire ward was full of babies with RSV'.
Doctors discharged Winter 24 hours after she had arrived at hospital - a decision Ms Tingey felt was wrong.
The concerned mother rushed her baby back to the hospital once more, just six hours after being discharged when she started to go blue and was very limp.
'I was hesitant to take her home, but I agreed to take her home because I had doctors telling me she'll be fine at home,' Ms Tingey said.
'As a nurse I felt annoyed at myself but when it's your own child you don't think about it in nursing terms. In that moment I was a mother, not a nurse.
'But there was a part of me that thought this is too early. I'm just glad that I took her back.'
Ms Tingey stayed in the hospital full-time with Winter for another week as she received treatment while her mum looked after her young son.
Winter developed bronchiolitis - a chest infection that affects the small airways in the lungs - as a result of the RSV.
She would also stop breathing during her sleep and had to wear an overnight sock that monitored her oxygen levels.
Now, Winter, aged one, suffers from a chronic cough, still stops breathing during her sleep, has difficulties swallowing and has a rattling sound in her chest.
She also has to drink thickened milk and thickened water to stop her from choking when she drinks as her airway kept collapsing when she had RSV.
Winter is set to have a surgery to secure her airway, known as a tracheoplasty, once she gains another two kilograms and reaches 10kg.
Ms Tingey described her little girl as an 'absolute firecracker' who is 'full of sass'.
The young mum said she wants to raise awareness of RSV and urged parents across the country to learn how to recognise the early signs.
'The amount of people that still don't even know what RSV is, blows my mind,' Ms Tingey said.
'Please know what the signs and symptoms are. Know that there's help available and get your child checked early if they start to sniffle or look like they're sick.'
She also urged parents to 'advocate' for their children and to trust their gut instincts when they feel something my not be right.
Cases of RSV are expected to surge as Australia heads into the cooler months, with RSV awareness week marked on the first week of winter from June 1 to 7.
RSV is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and result in more hospitalisations in infants and young children than influenza 1, 2, 3 and 4.
In Australia, infants under 12 months are more than 12 times as likely to be admitted to hospital with RSV than those aged between one and four years old.
Last year, more than 170,000 RSV cases were reported, with 50 per cent of those in infants and children aged between zero and four years old.
To date, more than 50,000 cases of RSV have been reported since the beginning of the year.
Babies with mild symptoms of RSV need small, regular amounts of fluid including breastmilk or infant formula.
A parent should call Triple Zero or got o a hospital emergency department immediately if their child is showing severe symptoms.
Severe symptoms include difficulty breathing, grunting noises while breathing, dehydration - when a child is not taking in enough fluids - and blue-coloured lips or skin.
