Former Sugababe Heidi Range was overjoyed in January 2018 when she and her husband Alex welcomed their first daughter Aurelia into the world. The delivery went smoothly. Despite the fact that she had also been previously very fit and healthy, some three weeks after the delivery Heidi became ill with mastitis – an infection of the breast tissue not uncommon in breastfeeding women.
Heidi takes up her story here:
I was really keen to breastfeed my baby daughter, but in all honesty I had been struggling to make it work. When she was about three weeks old I began to feel really unwell and developed a rash. I called my GP and got an appointment and was prescribed antibiotics for mastitis.
Really luckily, about an hour after I got home from the GP surgery, I had a routine visit for my baby from the health visitor. By the time the health visitor arrived I was shaking uncontrollably and I was freezing cold. I was in so much pain and I was shivering and delirious. I thought it was just because I was so exhausted as a new mum. The health visitor immediately recognised the signs of sepsis though and told me that I needed to go straight to hospital. She even rang ahead to arrange space in the ward for me. My husband Alex took me straight in to the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital. As soon as I got there – even without tests having been carried out – the doctors were able to diagnose that I had sepsis. Alex and I were both completely shocked. We had no idea about sepsis or the potential links with mastitis and it was the last thing we were expecting.
I was immediately treated with broad spectrum antibiotics via a drip and needed to be admitted to hospital for several days. I was still confused and hallucinating but I was so determined to carry on breastfeeding. I was putting pressure on myself but I also felt pressure from the medical staff and even my friends, who I know meant well and were only trying to support me.
After a few days Alex told me that he felt I needed to stop. He could see how painful and difficult it was and how much I was struggling. He said, ‘You are sacrificing every aspect of what should be a lovely time for breastfeeding’. He was right. There’s all this pressure on breastfeeding but sometimes it doesn’t work out. I was so upset. I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t feed my baby and had to give her a bottle. I was just so focused on her and not on my own well-being. I do remember looking at Aurelia and saying to Alex that I was so glad this was happening to me, not her.
So really reluctantly, I agreed to give Aurelia a bottle of formula and it was gradually from that point that my body was able to recover and I was then discharged a few days later. Even when I gave birth to my second daughter, three years later in 2021, I put pressure on myself to breastfeed again. I was so determined that it was the right thing to do that during my pregnancy I went to see a breastfeeding counsellor to try and plan ahead. I did try to breastfeed her once she was born but without success and I had to stop.
Seven years on I am enjoying life with my family. When I have free time I like to exercise – my favourite classes are Pilates and Barre. My youngest daughter is just 3 years old and only attends nursery in the mornings so most of my time is taken up caring for her, with play dates and family time. She starts school this autumn, so I am trying to make the most of every minute with her.
I am still so grateful though to the wonderful consultants, doctors and nurses at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and for the support of my husband Alex who all helped me so much during my treatment and recovery from sepsis. I feel very lucky that the health visitor who came to see my baby that day noticed and recognised my symptoms straight away. It is terrifying to think what could have happened if she hadn’t acted as quickly as she did.
I want to share my story with Sepsis Research FEAT now to help raise awareness. I had never heard of maternal sepsis until it happened to me and I don’t think is spoken about enough – people aren’t as aware of the dangers as they need to be. I would just encourage any pregnant or new mum to please be mindful of her own health and needs and to listen to her body. If in doubt, it is always safer to get checked out.
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Charity Comment:
Mastitis is not uncommon as an infection, affecting 13% of breastfeeding mothers in western Europe every year1. Only around 1% of those infections will deteriorate – as Heidi’s did – to become sepsis.
For Sepsis Research FEAT there are many important and pertinent messages in Heidi’s account.
The first of these is the importance of immediate medical attention when symptoms of sepsis start to present. The fact that Heidi‘s health visitor was able to identify some of the symptoms of sepsis and ensured that she got treated in hospital as quickly as possible – and that antibiotics were then delivered immediately – will no doubt have played a key role in ensuring a positive outcome for Heidi as a sepsis patient.
A second key point is that Heidi as a new mum didn’t know what to expect nor how she should be feeling and was determined to put her own needs below those of her daughter, quite naturally. It is so important that new mothers aren’t afraid to raise queries and health concerns that they may have and to ask more than once for guidance and treatment if they continue to feel extremely unwell.
Finally, it was the intervention of Heidi‘s husband Alex that is likely to have made a huge difference to the outcome of her story. It was Alex‘s ability to see objectively what his wife was going through, at a point when she herself was extremely unwell and suffering from typical sepsis symptom such as confusion and delirium, that ensured that the appropriate action was taken, enabling Heidi to start to get well again.
We are so pleased that Heidi made the recovery that she did. And we are so grateful to Heidi and Alex for sharing their family’s story with this charity to raise awareness of maternal sepsis. We wish them all the very best.