learning a whole new skillset<\/a> (diaper changes, putting clothes on a helpless blob, etc), and physically\/mentally recovering from the craziness that is childbirth (for mom especially, of course, but dad too), you also have to simply worry about the health of your little one. While babies are resilient creatures, parents often have very few clues as to what\u2019s actually going on. In older, verbal children, crying is an obvious indicator, and they can often just tell you when something really hurts or doesn\u2019t feel right. The non-verbal, constantly crying baby, however, is not nearly as helpful. <\/span><\/p>\nIn the absence of clear feedback, it can be hard to know if your baby is suffering an ailment, and whether or not it\u2019s severe enough to warrant a trip to the doctor. You wonder if it\u2019s worth perhaps interfering with your baby\u2019s sleep, and possibly exposing them to more germs at the doctor\u2019s office, while also weighing, let\u2019s admit it, the hassle such a visit will incur to you as well. Do their symptoms need to be looked at by a professional, or is it fine to hold off and just keep an eye on things?<\/span><\/p>\nTo help assuage some of your worries, and aid you in deciding what to do, let\u2019s take a look at a few handy tips and guidelines for how to know when your baby should be brought in to see the doctor versus waiting things out at home.<\/span><\/p>\nPreliminary Note #1: Utilize New Email\/Phone Services<\/h3>\n
As a preliminary note, be sure to do some homework right away and ask your doctor if you can email them, video chat, or call with questions. Nowadays, many providers would much rather you call or even email them first (through a specialized patient portal \u2014 not their personal gmail address) and potentially save the time and hassle, on both sides, of a 45-minute appointment that inevitably runs late and includes commutes to and from. Some offices and doctors are even providing the ability to video chat after-hours if you have urgent questions. So rather than taking your kid into an ER or scheduling an urgent appointment, first check with the pediatrician\u2019s office about how to ask questions without\/before coming in. <\/span><\/p>\nPreliminary Note #2: The Value of Peace of Mind<\/h3>\n
It can sometimes be hard to gauge whether or not your child is manifesting the symptoms listed below. Is your baby having a hard time breathing, or just doing the kind of snoring and wheezing that isn\u2019t uncommon in infants? Even if you know you\u2019re being slightly irrational in your worry, it\u2019s certainly sometimes worth it to give the doctor a call simply for the sake of your own peace of mind. Parenting is hard, especially when it\u2019s your first; don\u2019t have any qualms about doing that. You may intuitively know your kid is okay, but it\u2019s helpful for a medical professional to confirm your hunch. You\u2019ll learn to better trust your judgement over time, and doctors are fine with offering positive affirmation in the meantime. <\/span><\/p>\nWhich is to say, when stressed and in doubt, call or visit your doctor!<\/b><\/p>\n
Below is what you\u2019ll see doctors advise for various symptoms; I put in my own parental experiences in a few places. Those opinions are, of course, anecdotal and completely non-medically informed. <\/span><\/p>\nCold\/Cough<\/h3>\n\n- If baby has refused multiple feedings in a row, and\/or isn\u2019t wetting a diaper at least every 6 hours or so, call the doc. <\/span><\/li>\n
- If baby has a bad, consistent cough that doesn\u2019t go away for 72 hours, call the doc. Also do so if the coughing is so bad it makes your child throw up. (Personal experience here: if the baby coughs and makes himself throw up as a singular incident, and if there aren\u2019t any other symptoms \u2014 they\u2019re sleeping, breathing, and eating okay \u2014 it\u2019s probably fine and doesn\u2019t warrant a trip to the doc.) <\/span><\/li>\n
- A cough that sounds more like a bark might be croup. You might be tempted to call the doc, and that\u2019s okay, but it can generally be helped with some home remedies: turn on a hot shower and sit together in the steamy bathroom; take him outside if it\u2019s chilly out to clear things up; stand in front of your fridge\/freezer for a few minutes. (Use common sense with these, of course.) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Fevers<\/h3>\n\n- If baby is under 3 months, call the doc once the fever hits 100.4 or higher. If it\u2019s less than that, but still elevated and accompanied by other symptoms like vomiting and extreme sleepiness, call the doc.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Between 3-6 months, call at 102 or higher, or if the fever is prolonged, lasting more than 3 days (72 hours). (Personal experience: Try children\u2019s Tylenol first (only if baby is 2+ months old), and if the fever goes down from that you\u2019re probably okay and just have to wait it out. Fevers spike and dip throughout the course of an illness; it\u2019s when it goes way up, and stays up, that you need to be concerned.) <\/span><\/li>\n
- Between 6-24 months, call if a high fever has lasted longer than 24 hours with no other symptoms (there\u2019s no real set number here, but that usually means 102-104). If a lower fever is accompanied by other symptoms, call when needed based on the severity of those symptoms. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The exception for all of these is if your baby recently got shots or is teething. It\u2019s common for them to run a little bit of a fever in the 36 hours following vaccinations, and also while getting new teeth. This type of fever, though, shouldn\u2019t exceed about 101 degrees. <\/span><\/p>\nVomiting<\/h3>\n\n- If vomiting is a singular incident, or even just a few times, there\u2019s no need to worry or call the doc right away. It could be a quick bug. If it\u2019s repeated, though, your baby appears dehydrated (cries with fewer tears, sluggish, appears to have dry mouth, and\/or the soft spot appears sunken), and can\u2019t keep anything down for more than 8 hours, then it\u2019s time to call. <\/span><\/li>\n
- If your baby vomits blood, or a green\/yellow projectile, call the doc. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Rashes<\/h3>\n\n- Rashes generally aren\u2019t something to be concerned with, unless they aren\u2019t going away after 1-2 days, appear to be painful, and\/or are accompanied by a fever. If those other factors aren\u2019t present, try an over-the-counter topical after a day or so, and then feel free to call the doc. (Personal experience: Our son had rashes on and off as a baby, but we only brought him to the doc once, when it didn\u2019t go away and in fact only got bigger after about a day and a half. Other rashes, stemming from something we never figured out, sort of shrank and grew over the course of a couple days, clearly weren\u2019t painful, and ultimately went away on their own.) <\/span><\/li>\n
- You can also press on the rash a little bit, and if the color goes away and quickly comes back, you\u2019re most likely in the clear. If the rash is small, flat red dots in which the color does not go away, call the doctor, as it could be a dangerous meningitis infection. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Other Problems<\/h3>\n\n- Ear pain.<\/b> Hard to gauge, of course, but if consistent crying is paired with a baby tugging at their ear and not feeding, they might have an ear infection. Call the doc. <\/span><\/li>\n
- Trouble breathing.<\/b> If your baby appears to be wheezing, or generally having trouble breathing, call the doc right away. <\/span><\/li>\n
- Looks blue.<\/b> If baby looks blue, especially around extremities and lips, call the doc. (Personal experience: This one is really hard to gauge; lips can turn a little blue when baby is cold, or just feeling a little off. Try a warm bath first, and a feeding, and if that doesn\u2019t work, call the doc.) <\/span><\/li>\n
- Bump on the head. <\/b>These are always scary, but generally appear worse than they really are. If baby vomits after bumping their head, or appears disoriented at all (I know, that\u2019s a hard thing to tell in a baby!), call the doc. <\/span><\/li>\n
- Pink eye.<\/b> With goopy or crusty eyes, there\u2019s no need to make a call to the doc for at least 1-2 days. (Personal experience: Our son one time had pink eye for about 4 days. We never took him to the doc and it went away on its own. There are two kinds of pink eye \u2014 viral and bacterial \u2014 and there\u2019s no way to know which your child has, even for a doctor. So if you go in, and are given an antibacterial, it may not do anything and you\u2019ll just worry more. My own, real parent recommendation is to give it almost a week before calling.) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
When Calling or Going to the Doc, Be Prepared<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s really easy to be frazzled when you have a fussy baby who clearly isn\u2019t feeling well. Know, though, that the doctor or nurse is going to ask a bunch of questions at the outset to try to get a feel for what\u2019s going on. You want to be able to give clear answers, so expect some form of the following questions: <\/span><\/p>\n\n- Symptoms. <\/b>Why did you call\/come in? What, specifically, is worrying you?<\/span><\/li>\n
- Medical history.<\/b> Known allergies? Current medications? Home remedies? Is your baby current on his\/her shots? Especially if baby is under 3 months, be able to detail the health of the pregnancy and birth as well. <\/span><\/li>\n
- Feeding and diapers. <\/b>Any changes to baby’s feeding patterns? Are wet\/poopy diapers consistent? <\/span><\/li>\n
- Temp.<\/b> If you go to the doc\u2019s office, they\u2019ll take baby\u2019s temp (often rectally at 3 months or less), but will ask about what the temp has been like in the last 24 hours or so. If you\u2019re just on the phone, they\u2019ll ask about baby\u2019s current temp, as well as history. <\/span><\/li>\n
- Exposures.<\/b> Has baby been exposed to illness? At home, daycare, airplane, etc.? If it\u2019s a rash, they\u2019ll ask about new foods or cleaning agents they may have been exposed to. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being a new parent is one of the most stressful roles one experiences in their lifetime. In the midst of not sleeping, learning a whole new skillset (diaper changes, putting clothes on a helpless blob, etc), and physically\/mentally recovering from the craziness that is childbirth (for mom especially, of course, but dad too), you also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":82415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[253,42285],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-82414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fatherhood","category-relationships"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-538x280.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-320x213.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-640x427.jpg","aesop-tiny-cover":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-400x267.jpg","aesop-character":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-200x200.jpg","aesop-collection":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-300x300.jpg","aesop-grid-image":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby-400x267.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82414"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124205,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82414\/revisions\/124205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82414"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=82414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Sick](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/sick-baby.jpg\")
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