Sick Baby? 7 Things You Need To Know

By Dr. Ari Brown

With all of the recent worry about RSV (for good reason!) how do you know when to ask the doctor about your baby’s fever or cough? Are you afraid your pediatrician will expel you for calling too much? Although doctors entertain this thought occasionally, we never act on it!

But seriously, there is nothing that turns a confident adult into an anxiety-ridden mess quicker than a sick baby. Maybe it’s because babies cannot tell us what exactly is wrong, so anytime they are ill, we have to play a “guess the sickness” charade. Or maybe, we’re just hard-wired to imagine the worst case scenario behind every cough and whimper.

Unfortunately, babies do get sick. On average, a child gets 8 viral infections a year, each lasting 7–10 days. That’s 80 days of illness total! And 80+ days and nights of worrying for the poor parents.

Parents need help troubleshooting the most common problems they encounter on the front line of their baby’s medical care. They need help determining when to call the doctor, to make an appointment, or head to the ER. And, it’s useful to be prepared for what the doctor will ask when a parent calls the after hours line or brings the baby in for an office visit.

Your doctor will rely on parents to provide the clues (signs and symptoms) to figure out what is going on with their baby. This requires some detective work! Doctors need to know about various symptoms to put the puzzle together. It’s much more than “my baby has a fever”. When a parent calls or visits the office, they will be interrogated.

Here are the top 7 things the pediatrician will want to know:

1. MOOD: Is the baby a little fussy or really irritable and unconsolable. Is he tired or lethargic and looks like a wet noodle?
2. FEVER: Does the baby have a fever (100.4 F or greater)? How long has it been going on? Did it just start two hours ago or has it been going on daily for the past four days?
3. INS: Is the baby eating normally or nursing less often or taking less formula or solid food?
4. OUTS: Tracking the number of wet diapers per day checks for dehydration. All diarrhea is not the same! Is the diarrhea watery, bloody, mucous-y, or look like grape jelly?
5. SLEEP: Is the baby waking up frequently and fussing or is he sleeping comfortably?
6. BREATHING: Does the baby have labored breathing (breathing rapidly, shallowly, sucking in his rib cage or flaring his nostrils)?
7. KEY SYMPTOMS: Does your baby have a runny nose, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, etc.? How long have those symptoms been going on?

Keeping tabs on all these variables can help the doctor assess how severe the illness may be: whether the baby needs to be seen right away in an emergency setting, or waiting another day or two before an office visit makes more sense.

Easier said than done? Many mobile apps do baby tracking. The Glow Baby app has special features for helping parents get to the bottom of their baby’s illness, in addition to offering regular feeding, sleeping, and diaper tracking. But apps cannot replace checking in with the baby’s doctor. Pick up the phone if you are worried; being informed can help parents worry less and trust their instincts more.

Dr. Ari Brown is a leading pediatrician and the medical advisor to the Glow Baby app. She is also the spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and author of the best-selling Baby 411 book series.