Medicine for Mommies: Infants 0-3 Months

Flickr photo by Victoria Johnson 

Let me just start off by giving a disclaimer. If you feel like your child needs to go to the ER, then do it! Mother's intuition is more valuable than anything! Also, this is intended as advice, each child is different and each body reacts differently to different methods of treatment. I will not be responsible for anything that happens due to lack of proper treatment.

That being said, I am an ER nurse and I see a lot of parents that bring their children in when they don't need to. The awesome thing about children is that they are resilient. Infants under 3 months old are especially resilient in that it is very difficult for them to get serious infections or illnesses. This is especially true for breastfed infants. I'm a huge fan of breastfeeding especially during the first couple of weeks because that is when all of the mother's antibodies are given to the baby. This helps them to be immune to most infections. For first time parents, keeping your child safe is generally no problem. During those first few months you are especially protective of your child and barely take them out in public. The last place you should want to take them to is an Emergency Room, which is why you should avoid it at all costs. If you are concerned about your baby, call your pediatrician! They can usually work you into their schedule. If it's because you don't have insurance, you probably qualify for medicaid and there are always pediatricians accepting medicaid. ER's are loaded with germs. We do the best that we can to not spread infection, but when you have to sit in a waiting room with 30 other sick people, the chances are pretty good that you will be exposed to something you don't want.

So, what are some reasons why you would think your baby needs to go to the ER. The most common is for throwing up and diarrhea. For you first time parents, vomiting and diarrhea are a fact of life for infants. You try drinking nothing but milk and see what ends up coming out of you! But seriously, babies spit up all the time and their poop is runny. What you would want to worry about is if the child is projectile vomiting and unable to keep anything down. And when I say projectile, I mean explosive, we are talking that stuff is flying through the air, not just bubbling up out of their mouth. The main reason we worry about vomiting and diarrhea is because that causes dehydration. Some signs to look for in your infant of dehydration are no wet diapers and sunken fontanels (that soft spot on their head). I had a second time mom bring in her baby because the child had only had 4 wet diapers that day with no vomiting or diarrhea and she thought her baby was dehydrated. THIS IS NOT DEHYDRATION! Infants also fluctuate in how much they eat so just because they ate less for a day does not mean that they aren't eating. Be patient and see what happens the next day.

The next most common reason is for fevers. A fever is considered 100.4 F or greater. 97-100.3 can all be normal variants. Some important things to consider are the weather. If you have your infant in 2 layers and a blanket and it's summer, of coarse their temperature will be elevated. Dress them appropriately! Also the most accurate on an infant is a rectal temperature because their body hasn't quite got the temperature regulation thing down yet. So don't go off of feel, check a temp! Be prepared though, because if you bring your infant into the ER and they have a temperature greater than 100.3 they are probably going to get a septic work up done meaning blood work and even a spinal tap because they could have meningitis.

Flickr photo by Naval Surface Warriors

Lastly, coughs and runny noses tend to freak parents out. Occasional coughs and runny noses are normal. What you want to look out for is constant coughs or croup like coughs. You can probably find examples of croup on you tube. Most likely, your infant doesn't have it. If you notice that their nostrils are flaring and they are using accessory muscles like their ribs to breath, then you need to be doing something about it.

Also, if you want to avoid chances of infections, keep other people out of the babies face. People you especially need to watch out for are those random people at Walmart who think because you have a baby they have the right to tickle it and get in it's face and make goo goo faces to it, and you need to watch out for children. They don't tend to wash their hands and are exposed to lots of other stuff through normal interaction at school which is why they spread infection easier.