Sutton mum urges parents to 'trust their instincts' after baby developed rare stomach condition

Francis William James was born at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, on March 28.

At first, he showed every sign of being a happy and healthy newborn, gaining weight over the first two weeks of his life.

However, things rapidly changed as parents Megan and Richard James, who live on Short Street in Sutton, noticed their son was crying and vomiting a lot.

Megan, aged 26, said: “He started projectile vomiting after every feed and was unable to be laid down without being sick or crying out in pain, even the five minutes while he was being changed was a challenge.

“After a few days, we rang 111 and got an emergency appointment in the middle of the night as he was just so unsettled.

“They checked him over and advised we waited two weeks for the formula to work and, other than checking for dehydration, nothing else was done.”

However, on their next routine health check, the worried parents were informed Francis had lost a considerable amount of weight and made another emergency appointment with their GP.

They were prescribed heartburn and indigestion medicine and told to wait two weeks.

But the next day, the couple were so worried they rushed Francis straight to A&E at King’s Mill.

Megan, who is a cleaner, said: “He had started to get sunken eyes and was showing signs of exhaustion with no improvement with his feeding.

“The nurses made the decision to make him nil by mouth and placed him on a drip.

“The following day, we were sent to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where they confirmed King’s Mill’s suspicions that Francis had a condition called pyloric stenosis.”

Pyloric stenosis occurs when the passage between the stomach and small bowel becomes over-developed and blocks food going through.

It is a rare condition, affecting about one in 500 babies.

Francis had to undergo immediate surgery to remove the blockage.

To his parents’ great relief, the surgery was a success and Francis is recovering well.

Megan said: “He has made excellent recovery and is turning into a happy, healthy boy.

“We were fortunate enough to have a family member in the medical industry to advise us it could potentially be this condition and we are eternally grateful for all the staff who had involvement with us and our family.

“If we had waited a few more days, the situation and outcome could have been a whole lot different.”

Megan and technical support engineer Richard, aged 37, wanted to offer their advice to help others with newborn babies spot the signs, and urged them to always trust their gut.

“Our advice to people after going through this situation is trust your instincts,” Megan said.

“If you feel like something is still not right, get it checked out wherever possible.”

Phil Bolton, chief nurse at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said he is pleased Francis is recovering well.

He said: “We are committed to providing patients with the same great care that we would want our own family and friends to receive.

“We really appreciate all feedback as it enables us to constantly learn and improve and we look forward to sharing these comments with the teams involved in Francis’ birth and care.

“We’re pleased to hear that Francis is doing so well and we send the whole family our thanks and very best wishes for the future.”