HERO nursery staff have saved a baby boy from a serious allergic reaction after a mystery red blotch appeared on his face. Staff at Astbury Lane Nursery in Congelton, Cheshire, feared young Dominic Whitham was about to go into a full anaphylactic shock. They gave the youngster – affectionately known as Doodles – allergy medicine […]
HERO nursery staff have saved a baby boy from a serious allergic reaction after a mystery red blotch appeared on his face.
Staff at Astbury Lane Nursery in Congelton, Cheshire, feared young Dominic Whitham was about to go into a full anaphylactic shock.
They gave the youngster – affectionately known as Doodles – allergy medicine as his mum Kerri-Louise rushed to her son’s side.
Young Dominic was experiencing a reaction to a new oral drug for his skin condition when nursery workers became concerned on March 23.
Speaking with CheshireLive, mum Kerri-Louise revealed the horrid moments that followed that phone call.
She said: “I could see straight away that his lips had started swelling, his eyes were poofy, lips were a deep red.
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“I am relaying this back to the GP, I said: ‘He’s had his allergy medication but the symptoms do seem to have spread in the 10 to 15 minutes it has taken me to get there.'”
Thankfully, the tough youngster didn’t experience a complete collapse of his wind pipe but was instead beset with shallow, quick breathing.
The GP told Kerri-Louise to take Dominic to hospital where doctors kept an eye on him as the allergy meds wore off.
Kerri-Louise added: “Fortunately, due to the medication being administered so early on in the reaction, Dominic’s symptoms did not progress much further.
“He was discharged from hospital relatively quickly, and the doctor said that they were ‘lucky’ that the reaction had not been worse.
“She was surprised that his throat didn’t close up on him, it could have been a full anaphylactic shock. But it wasn’t, the reaction paused at face swelling.”
Bub Dominic has 15 known allergens, including latex, avocado, milk and beef.
He also suffers from breathing problems and neonatal absence syndrome after developing a morphine addiction due to his mother’s disability.
Kerri-Louise was involved in a car crash at 16 which left her left leg paralysed and resulted in spinal damage.
Neonatal abstinence syndrome is when a body goes into withdrawal symptoms and begins to shake because it’s lacking a certain substance.
Kerri-Louise said her son wouldn’t be here hadn’t it been for the quick-thinking nursery workers at Astbury Lane Nursery.
She said: “When I mentioned his health problems, it was never a problem.
“Nothing is too much for this nursery, they have made something that was so so difficult at home, such a worry, they made it easy.
“When he goes to nursery, I don’t worry, because I know for a fact that they will look after him.”
Nursery manager, Kate Smithers, said she was “proud” of her team.
She said: “After the girls noticed the mark on Dominic’s face, they instantly reacted by giving him the care and treatment needed.
“The team are incredible and the way they took control of the situation and knew that something wasn’t right, is a detriment to how seriously they take their role.
“From the moment they noticed the mark, to the emergency medication being administered was literally a few minutes.
“Throughout, they remained calm, focused and worked together as a team to support one another, Dominic and also his mother, Kerri.
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“As a nursery, we are beyond proud of the team and their commitment to supporting all of our children and building those strong and professional relationships with their families.”
“I am incredibly proud of them for all that they do for our children and their families each day.”
