When you go grocery shopping with your baby, do you wipe down the shopping cart? I remember carrying around anti-bacterial wipes and wiping down the cart handles before plopping my toddler into the cart. He’d touch everything, and then put his little fingers into his mouth. At one point, I remember his mouth right on the handle.
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#1
I'd see other moms placing a cute little fabric cover on the seat so that your baby doesn't touch anything. Call us paranoid moms, but those shopping carts carry a ton of germs!
An Australian mother has warned parents about putting their children in shopping seats after her baby go severely ill after a trip to the store.
#2
Mother-of-five Vivienne Wardrop, 35, from Queensland, Australia, said her ten-month-old son Logan became sick after visiting a shop.
Almost 24 hours later, Logan started getting severe diarrhea, vomiting and was running a high temperature. The diarrhea became so severe that he started passing blood.
"On Wednesday morning I got him out of bed and he had really bad diarrhoea. It had gone through his clothes and bedding," Wardrop told Daily Mail Australia.
"I gave him a bottle and he vomited it back up and this kept happening throughout the day."
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#3
The mom took her baby boy to the doctor who told her it was just a virus. But by the next morning, Logan became so dehydrated, she rushed him to the hospital.
His heart rate was up around 200 and 220 beats per minute with a normal heart rate being around 80 140.
"[The medical staff] were really good with him and started doing tests, ultrasounds, nasal swabs and urine testing if it existed he had it," she said.
What was wrong with Logan?
#4
After running several tests, doctors diagnosed Logan with several viruses adenovirus, rotavirus, salmonella and meningitis.
Adenovirus is an infection that affects the respiratory tract, eyes, intestines, urinary tract and the nervous system. Rotavirus causes severe gastroenteritis and can be caused by close person-to-person contact and touching contaminated surfaces.
Wardrop said she realized her son must have contracted the illnesses from the shopping cart because they hadn't been out of the house a week prior. Logan hadn't eaten any other food than formula.
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#5
Logan, who was born 11 weeks premature, spent 10 days in hospital eight of those days in the intensive care unit.
"We were scared we were going to lose. It didn't seem like [the doctors] were able to get him under control because they didn't know what was wrong with him," Wardrop told Daily Mail Australia.
"I'd never seen a child this sick, I have five children. He lost 10 per cent of body weight in three days 800 grams and went to being bloated because the water wouldn't go into the cells it was terrifying."
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#6
"Even talking about it now makes me want to cry. They said it was very unusual to be hit with all those viruses in one go. The poor thing ended up with 10 heel prick tests and bruises on his arms from tests," Wardrop said.
"He was quite lethargic and his eyes were rolling in the back of his head and he was moaning."
Luckily, Logan is recovering at home but will still need more time before he makes a full recovery.
While Wardrop said she did not blame the supermarket for her son's illness, she wants to raise awareness about the hygiene of shopping carts.
Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination.
Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria. They also found E. coli, on 50 percent of them along with a host of other types of bacteria.
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#7 Mom makes a plea
Wardrop wrote about the ordeal on her Facebook page in hopes that it would raise awareness.
"Just wanted to warn parents against using baby seats in trolley without wiping down or using a blanket.
"Didn't even think about it just popped him in and did a quick shop. I hadn't been anywhere with him in a week so doctors advised only place he could of gotten it.
"My 10 month old woke up the next morning so sick. Took him to hospital and he ended up in intensive care for 8 days. He ended up catching adenovirus, rotavirus, salmonella poisoning and got meningitis because of the strain on his body. Ended up with a central line as his veins were collapsing due to severe dehydration. He was in hospital for a total of 10 days and will still take another week or 2 to fully recover.
"So please be careful I never thought something like this could happen."
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