A mother has issued an urgent warning after her healthy three-month-old baby died - just hours after a happy family photo was taken.
Fleur Edwards went to sleep in her cot completely normally one evening in August 2018 - but never woke up.
A postmortem revealed she had contracted group B streptococcus, or GBS, which lives harmlessly in many adults but can be fatal when passed onto babies.
The day before Fleur died the family had attended a fundraising event for a relative where her mother, Emily Vandenbrouck, said Fleur had been held by many people.
It is very rare for the infection to occur in babies older than one month, instead it is usually detected within the first few days of life.
GBS most commonly occurs when the newborn picks up the bacteria from their mother through the placenta or childbirth.
But in rare cases, babies, which have weaker immune systems, can be vulnerable to picking up the bacteria from adult's unwashed hands.
Emily Vandenbrouck has issued an urgent warning after her healthy three-month old baby, Fleur Edwards, died - just hours after this happy family photo, with father Ashley Edwards, sister Layloa, eight, and Rhys, five, was taken
Fleur Edwards went to sleep in her cot at her home in Devon completely normal one evening in August 2018 - but never woke up
Now, Fleur's grieving family, from Paignton, Devon, are desperate to make aware the importance of being clean around babies.
Ms Vandenbrouck said: 'Fleur had been held and kissed by lots of people that day - probably somebody held her who hadn't washed their hands after using the toilet.
'I just want to raise awareness so that other families don't have to go through the heartache that we go through every single day.'
Fleur had been featured in a happy family photo with father Ashley Edwards, sister Layloa, eight, and Rhys, five, and been feeding normally and laughing just hours earlier.
Ms Vandenbrouck said: 'She went to sleep completely happy and normal. No temperature. There was not a single thing wrong. She never woke up.
'She loved her sleep and slept through the night. She was the model baby.
A postmortem after the death of Fleur in August 2018 revealed Fleur had contracted group B streptococcus, or GBS, which lives harmlessly in many adults but can be fatal when passed onto babies
Early onset GBS infection usually presents as sepsis with pneumonia.
Typical signs are:
Grunting, noisy breathing, not breathing at all, moaning, or seems to be working hard to breathe when you look at the chest or tummy. Being very sleepy and/or unresponsive Inconsolable crying Being unusually floppy Not feeding well or not keeping milk down Having a high or low temperature (if parents have a thermometer), and/or be hot or cold to the touch Having changes in their skin colour (including blotchy skin) Having an abnormally fast or slow heart rate or breathing rate Having low blood pressure (identified by tests done in hospital) Having low blood sugar (identified by tests done in hospital)Most early-onset GBS infections show symptoms within the first 12 hours after birth so will often be identified at the maternity unit.
Typical signs of late-onset group B Strep infection are similar to those associated with early onset infection and may include signs associated with meningitis such as:
Being irritable with high pitched or whimpering cry, or moaning; Blank, staring or trance-like expression Floppy, may dislike being handled, be fretful Tense or bulging fontanelle (soft spot on babies’ heads) Turns away from bright light Involuntary stiff body or jerking movements Pale, blotchy skin.Source: Group B Strep Support
'She was in our room. It was her dad who found her first. I grabbed her and did CPR but I knew as soon as I looked at her she was gone.
'We
