The most troubled people in the world are undoubtedly newly made parents. Hundreds of questions, the answers to which you need to know here and now, torment them 24 hours a day: why cry, and if it eats properly, why does not like to swim, etc. We asked neonatologist Lyudmila Brodskaya to answer them and we got a kind of cheat sheet for restless parents.
- One of the most common problems that love to “scare” young mothers is colic in babies. Are they really scary? What are the reasons for their occurrence and what actions should parents take?
- It is impossible to say unequivocally what exactly causes colic. Often, parents call colic any attack of inconsolable sudden crying in a healthy baby. Colic is rarely seen in children older than three months.
Flatulence can be caused, for example, by an accumulation of gases, and this reason is twofold: the baby begins to scream in pain, sometimes holds his breath during a scream, and then swallows air frantically. Excess of the latter enters the stomach - the pain intensifies.
What to do: in this case, help massage the tummy, the inclinations of the child (the same "column", which is recommended to do after each feeding), glycerin suppositories (only after consulting a doctor). If a mother is breastfeeding, then some foods she uses (for example, nuts, dairy products) can also lead to the formation of gases, so be careful about your diet (read in detail about colic).
“Another nightmare of young parents is cutting teeth.” What stories you can’t hear enough: there is an increase in temperature, and crying all day long, and lack of appetite ... How to alleviate the suffering of the baby?
- First of all, don’t panic in advance: all children have their teeth cut differently, and I can say that in most cases the horror of the “teething” period is exaggerated - in my practice, there are almost more children who didn’t have any problems with the appearance of teeth or they were minimal. Among the symptoms that often accompany teething, there is an increase in temperature, irritability of the child, crying, problems with stools, nasal congestion, increased salivation.
What to do: most of these symptoms go away on their own in a few days without treatment. If the baby doesn’t get better, urgently show it to the pediatrician: perhaps the teeth are not a reason for coughing / a runny nose, and the child should be treated for another disease (the child’s teeth are cut).
- How dangerous is a baby falling from a changing table or sofa?
- Do not engage in self-flagellation: you are not the first parents with whom this happened At least once, but children fall in almost all mothers and fathers. Children, fortunately, are strong enough and, most likely, nothing serious will happen to them because of the fall.Of course, this does not mean that you can safely leave the child alone in the room: no one has canceled parental responsibility.
What to do: after the fall, calm the baby, carefully examine him and watch carefully for another day. Unambiguously seeking medical help is recommended if you notice one or more of the following symptoms: inappropriate behavior, vomiting, cramps, pupils of different sizes, bleeding from the nose and ears, etc.
- And if mom saw, but didn’t have time to stop, how did the child swallow a piece of paper, washing powder or some medicine, for example, nose drops ...
- The key words here are “if mom saw” - that means she won't have time to eat a lot. There will be no harm from a piece of paper (he did not manage to eat a notebook while his mother ran up), as well as from everything else - it is unlikely that the baby will have time to fill in a package of washing powder, and, most likely, he will spit it out - children do not eat what it’s tasteless, and washing powder is not among the favorite children's treats.
What to do: If the baby does not have time to swallow the paper, carefully remove it from his mouth. Managed? Not scary; nothing will happen from a tiny piece. Give a drink and switch attention: for example, show that tearing paper into long strips is much more fun than chewing.
However, there are serious situations. In my practice, there was a case when my mother just did not see, and my daughter decided not to report that she had swallowed several coins. Mom suspected the evil, when the child began to vomit, the girl began to wheeze, complaining of chest pain. The ambulance doctor immediately asked if she was swallowing something. The girl talked about coins. Foreign bodies were taken out under anesthesia in a hospital.
We also read: what to do when the child choked - first aid
- And if the child suddenly appeared spots of unknown origin?
- In such cases, you do not need to engage in amateur performances and treat them with "the best means according to the prescription of a neighbor" and smear the child with miraculous ointments. If the cause of the spots is a viral disease, then at best it will be useless, at worst you will lose time healing the spots themselves instead of treating the cause of their occurrence.
What to do: Of course, you need to see a doctor.
- Pets in the same house with the baby: is it dangerous or not, for example, if the dog licks in the baby's face? How important is the fact - is the animal vaccinated or not?
- I’ll start from the end, namely with vaccinations: here it is categorical - the pet should be vaccinated, there are no other options. Cases of rabies in pets are infrequent, but they do happen. Do you want to “give” yourself and your child a miserable, but a chance to be bitten sick animal? The question is rhetorical. Therefore - vaccinate every year. Further, another important point is an allergy to an animal. It can occur in a baby, or maybe not, not to predict. What to do with an animal in case of allergies - you decide. But be sure to take an analysis to identify the allergen, maybe your Murzik has nothing to do with it, and the source of the disease is different.
What to do: if a healthy vaccinated animal showed its sympathy for a child, licking it, nothing will happen, then the question is purely personal - how do you feel about this.
We also read: The child fell: how to regret and reassure him?
