“If your mother’s instinct is telling you something’s not right with your baby, you’re probably right so don’t give in.”

Those are the words of a mum whose newborn struggled to breathe due to a condition which had been undetected for a couple of months.

First-time mum Jodie Wilson, from Borden, near Sittingbourne, gave birth to son Riley at Medway Maritime Hospital on October 27, 2020.

He was the beautiful baby boy she and her partner Lee Shrubsall had been excitedly waiting nine months to meet.

But, soon after his birth, the 20-year-old noticed something wasn’t right.

She said: “He was making strange noises when he was breathing, but as he was my first baby I didn’t know they were strange at first. It was like sleeping next to a bicycle pump, 24/7.

“He then started to pull his ribs in when he was breathing.”

The couple sought medical advice “several times” but was told it was either “nothing to worry about” or that Riley was “just a noisy baby”.

Still concerned, they took him to the doctors again and were told he had bronchiolitis - a common lung infection in young children and infants - and that it would clear in a couple of weeks.

“Then we were told it was an infection,” Jodie said. “Then, about two months after he was born, they said it was stridor.”

Stridor is a high-pitched squeaking or whistling sound when breathing, usually due to an obstruction in an airway.

Riley was subsequently referred to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

“I never understood it before I had Riley, but when people say ‘you’ll just know when it’s your baby’, it’s true..."

Jodie said: “When we went to London, the consultants were very concerned with how Riley was feeding so they kept him in.

“He wasn’t able to feed very well because the stridor was causing reflux, so he kept being sick.”

Riley was put on oxygen and feeding tubes, but was still having problems, so he underwent an operation on February 7. He was three-and-a-half months old.

The procedure involved making an incision in the tissue below his voice box to open his airways.

“As soon as they did the operation, the stridor had gone immediately,” Jodie said. “I had to keep checking on him while he was sleeping to make sure he was still breathing as I couldn’t hear him.”

Now, Riley is back home and making progress.

Jodie said: “Even though I had all the health visitors, pediatricians and midwives saying the same thing, I just knew something wasn’t right.

“If he hadn’t had the operation, it would have got worse.

“I never understood it before I had Riley, but when people say ‘you’ll just know when it’s your baby’, it’s true.

“If your mother’s instinct is telling you something’s not right with your baby, you’re probably right so don’t give in.”

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