Mother warns parents about bronchiolitis symptoms after six-week-old daughter hospitalised

Myah remains hooked up to oxygen in the hospital's high dependancy unit

(Facebook: Beth Foster

A mother is warning parents about the symptoms of bronchiolitis after her six-week-old daughter was hospitalised following what she thought was a common cold.

Beth Foster, 21, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, said her daughter, Myah, had the symptoms of a common cold to begin with.

But just days later her condition quickly spiralled out of control with coughing fits so bad “she turned purple."

She was later diagnosed with bronchiolitis – an infection that causes the smallest airways in the lungs to become infected and inflamed.

Keen to warn other parents of the infection’s symptoms, Foster posted a distressing photo of her daughter on Facebook alongside a message which read, “'Parents with babies or small children.

“Please be aware of bronchiolitis this winter, it's so easily missed and so bloody dangerous.

“It starts with just a simple cough and cold and can turn to so much more within hours.”

The mother goes on to detail how her daughter was prescribed eye drops on Tuesday, but that by Saturday her condition had worsened resulting in a coughing fit and her face turning “purple for around 15 seconds.”

After calling 111, the family were sent straight to hospital where nurses provided Myah with oxygen immediately.

Now, the six-week-old girl is looking at anything between three and seven days in the hospital’s high dependency unity until she fully recovers.

She remains hooked up to oxygen and is having to be sedated so she can get some sleep.

“There is nothing more heartbreaking,' Foster wrote.

“Even if your baby has a slight cough or cold, just get checked out.

“Please spread awareness as before all this we didn't even know what bronchiolitis was.”

An infection which most commonly affects babies between three and six months of age, the NHS says around one in three children in the UK will develop bronchiolitis during the first year of their life.

Early symptoms of the condition are similar to a common cold while others include a slight fever, a dry and persistent cough, difficulty feeding and rapid, noisy breathing.