Baby’s First Cold: When To Call The Doctor?
A sick baby makes double stress: once for the baby and once for the care-giver. When should you just wait out a cold and when should you call the baby’s doctor? Often a doctors office will have a nurse who can answer questions for you, but make sure you pay special attention to the following:
- Fever: Any time your newborn (a baby under three months old) has a fever, call your doctor. An older baby can usually deal with a temperature up to 100° F., but be careful because fevers in young children can spike quickly and become dangerous. To reduce a fever, your doctor may recommend a luke-warm bath or infant Tylenol.
- Cough: Any time you can hear the air moving around phlegm in the lungs, call your doctor. Coughs are dangerous because they can be a sign of a more serious infection, and because they can start out harmless and become worse as a disease progresses.
- Diet: Any time your baby’s appetite changes significantly without apparent reason, call your doctor.
- Diapers: Any time your baby makes significantly fewer wet or dirty diapers, call your doctor. Fewer wet diapers during a cold are a special problem because they are often a sign of dehydration.
- Attitude: If your normally happy baby becomes grumpy without any reason (for example, no extra gas), call your doctor.
- Sleep: If your baby’s sleep pattern changes abruptly without any apparent reason, call your doctor.
It is important to get medical help when you need it. That said, most of the time, your doctor will probably send you home and tell you to watch your baby’s cold until it gets better. A humidifier may help with congestion, and extra holding may help with sleep. With a little extra love, your baby will soon be back to normal.
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