Baby gets sick- tips?

I need mom tips in regards to infants and sickness. My nephew just turned 2,
which is not an infant, but this is what happened. He's in daycare and it is
common, well it seems to me that he sure does get sick a lot but I think all
kids do when it passes around...so he gets fevers and stomach upsets and
colds....he had the flu this winter and I remember the inlaws being upset
because kids were dying and getting pneumonia in their area and SIL waited
and waited and waited for days to take him to the doctor and then ended up
taking him to the emergency room.

Well, last week he was out sick all week with vomiting and diarhhea and
fever and again, they didn't take him to the doctor all week! (I wouldn't
want to run to the doctor at the first sniffle but I think it bears saying
that if he was sick from both ends I take him to get it stopped before he
ended up dehyrdated especially since he had a fever!)...well, I don't know
how long they let him go with a fever and the vomiting and loose BMs, but
they didn't take him to the doctor and then one night he started having
seizures!!! He wouldn't respond to anything after he had the seizure (he
does NOT get seizures, this was the first time)....he just laid there with
his eyes rolling and struggling to breathe. They called 911 and the
ambulance took him to the ER.

The ER said his fever was 103 at the time he got there and that evidently,
they let him go too long with the fever, it needed to be treated earlier. He
is FINE, they gave him an IV and the next day he was back to normal and
seemed ok. The ER said they need to watch him carefully and when he gets
sick especially, treat a fever immediately and get him to a doctor because
until he's about 5 years old he will be prone to this happening to him again
(evidently, it just can happen in some kids).

Eeek! You can second guess people. And I do think that from past situations
that SIL and BIL are TOO reluctant to take their kids to the doctor. I
wouldn't want to be like MIL and take them to the dr at one sniffle either
(she made my Dh go to the doctor when he was an early teen because his voice
started changing and she felt like he was getting a sore throat!! It was
puberty setting in. Lol!)

So........how do you make the call? Better safe than sorry is my rule, but
how do you know when to worry and just when to treat at home? (I think, but
I don't know if experienced moms will agree with this, that if there is a
fever AND sickness from both ends, I'd always go in!) I also think if a
fever is around for a couple days I'd go in. But how high of a fever is
dangerous for a kid? etc................... I thought I'd start educating
myself now!

So........how do you make the call? Better safe than sorry is my rule, but
how do you know when to worry and just when to treat at home? (I think,
but
I don't know if experienced moms will agree with this, that if there is a
fever AND sickness from both ends, I'd always go in!) I also think if a
fever is around for a couple days I'd go in. But how high of a fever is
dangerous for a kid? etc................... I thought I'd start
educating
myself now!


I guess it took going to the ER and seeing what they did to realize when it
was necessary to go and when it wasn't. We just recently had that major
stomach bug. Charlotte had it the worst, both ends, and she had a fever but
no one else did. If she could keep liquids down, there really wasn't
anything else our ER would do. We alternated Tylenol and Motrin, gave her a
cold wash cloth, and gave her water. We knew the ER wouldn't do anything we
weren't already doing, so we didn't go.

I also know with Charlotte if she gets an ear infection in the night, she
can wait till the next day to go to the Dr. I know Patrick can't. He
rarely gets them but when he does, he needs the Dr ASAP for some reason.

Also Charlotte is our mystery fever kid. She has had them as high as 105
and the Drs don't know why. Has happened twice. We don't freak out over
fevers as long as they come down in a reasonable amount of time.

There's no hard and fast rule, and it even varies (obviously) from child to
child in the same family. I think you'll just know in your gut when it's
more serious and you need to go.

DS had a febrile seizure a few weeks ago. It was definitely
scary! Apparently some kids are prone to them (fevers during
seizures) but part of the trigger is rapid change in temp.
I'd just given him a bath to make him more comfortable, and it
was after that. We'd already scheduled an appointment later
that day (he was shivering really bad in the night, I think that's
why -- or maybe just becuase of the illness) and decided we probably
wouldn't be seen much sooner in the ER. It's true they're kinda
wet noodles for a while after the seizure, but he came around.

The doctor told us that there's nothing we need to do about it,
other than to try to avoid rapid temp changes when he has
a fever: i.e., no baths, and keep him warm enough that he doesn't
start shivering (that can raise his temp too quickly), treat
fevers with Tylenol, etc. If he has another one, then we'll look
into some kind of treatment. Apparently I had one when I was a
kid, and had to be put on some sedative every time I had a fever
until I was 5 or so, which paradoxically made my hyper. Big drag
for mom to have a hyper sick kid around!

I think as a parent, the best thing is to trust your own instincts
(which will change as you get more used to having kids around,
and what's "normal", and that's fine), and to develop a good
relationship with the pediatrician. Ours here (and in the last
place we lived) had phone numbers to call, for advice. Sometimes
the advice was bring him in, sometimes not. No harm in calling.

--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

Emily wrote:
I think as a parent, the best thing is to trust your own instincts
(which will change as you get more used to having kids around,
and what's "normal", and that's fine), and to develop a good
relationship with the pediatrician. Ours here (and in the last
place we lived) had phone numbers to call, for advice. Sometimes
the advice was bring him in, sometimes not. No harm in calling.

Usually, I'll look things up in Dr. Sear's baby book, and do what
he says. If I can't find it in the book or I'm a little concerned
I call the pediatrician and speak to the nurse. They'll usually
give advice or tell you to come in. DD has rarely been sick,
although her one vomiting incident occurred on thanksgiving when
she was ~ 6 months old. Ended up in the ER, with an IV because
she'd gotten dehydrated and the doctor's office was closed.

Mary

Jill wrote:


So........how do you make the call? Better safe than sorry is my rule, but
how do you know when to worry and just when to treat at home? (I think, but
I don't know if experienced moms will agree with this, that if there is a
fever AND sickness from both ends, I'd always go in!) I also think if a
fever is around for a couple days I'd go in. But how high of a fever is
dangerous for a kid? etc................... I thought I'd start educating
myself now!


I'm probably less likely to run to the doctor than
many. For instance, norovirus ran through our house recently,
with vomiting and diarrhea and fever and I didn't bother to
take anyone in. I knew it was going around, no one's fever
was dangerously high, no one seemed any worse than I expected
them to be, and they were getting better within a day or so.
I'm generally not wigged out at fevers up to 103 or more,
as long as the kid doesn't seem too lethargic or otherwise
weird for a while. In actuality, I often don't even take
temperatures because I go more by behavior than the number
anyway, unless I suspect it's *really* high. For earaches
I'll usually give analgesic drops and only take them in if
it persists. Our previous pediatrician kept me stocked with
meds for coughs and runny noses and such, so I'd generally
only bring the kids in if those things didn't work. Adrian
has mild asthma and allergies and I suspect Colin has some
allergies as well, so we have our routine for how to deal with
those things based on past experience. When the cough lingers
despite treatment or if it gets to a certain level of badness
(hard to describe, but I know it when I hear it ;-) then I take
them in and they almost always have bronchitis at that point.
I'm a little more proactive with babies, both in terms of
fevers and coughs.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Jill wrote:

So........how do you make the call? Better safe than sorry is my rule, but
how do you know when to worry and just when to treat at home? (I think, but

A fever over 100 or 101 is the general rule to call the doctor. Things
to do at home to reduce fevers:

* tylenol
* lukewarm bath (room temperature water)

I used to spike high temps as a child, it was always at night though.

If your kid is throwing up and has diarrhea a temperature should not
exceed 99 or 100 if it's basic flu, or not exceed that for long. If the
temperature does not respond to tylenol then that's definitely a
problem. Symptoms should start subsiding in a day or two if it's
something you can handle at home.

Kids get dehydrated very fast. Sometimes they need to be hospitalized
because they just can't hold anything down and will dehydrate and lose
their electrolyte balance. It happened to a neighbor of mine, she was so
scared and all that her little boy needed was to be hooked up to a fancy
IV drip for a few hours. But he *needed* it.

With basic colds and respiratory infections, some kids just get the
sniffles (and have them forever) and some kids get chills, fever,
bronchitis etc. With that type of sickness (no vomiting, but stuffed,
coughing etc) you should be able to tell how bad it is by how sick your
kid is feeling and what the cough sounds like. Again, temps above 100 or
101 need investigating. A cold that lasts more than a couple of weeks
even if mild needs investigating as well.

"Jill" wrote in message
news
I need mom tips in regards to infants and sickness. My nephew just turned
2,
which is not an infant, but this is what happened. He's in daycare and it
is
common, well it seems to me that he sure does get sick a lot but I think
all
kids do when it passes around...so he gets fevers and stomach upsets and
colds....he had the flu this winter and I remember the inlaws being upset
because kids were dying and getting pneumonia in their area and SIL waited
and waited and waited for days to take him to the doctor and then ended up
taking him to the emergency room.

Well, last week he was out sick all week with vomiting and diarhhea and
fever and again, they didn't take him to the doctor all week! (I wouldn't
want to run to the doctor at the first sniffle but I think it bears saying
that if he was sick from both ends I take him to get it stopped before he
ended up dehyrdated especially since he had a fever!)...well, I don't know
how long they let him go with a fever and the vomiting and loose BMs, but
they didn't take him to the doctor and then one night he started having
seizures!!! He wouldn't respond to anything after he had the seizure (he
does NOT get seizures, this was the first time)....he just laid there with
his eyes rolling and struggling to breathe. They called 911 and the
ambulance took him to the ER.

The ER said his fever was 103 at the time he got there and that evidently,
they let him go too long with the fever, it needed to be treated earlier.
He
is FINE, they gave him an IV and the next day he was back to normal and
seemed ok. The ER said they need to watch him carefully and when he gets
sick especially, treat a fever immediately and get him to a doctor because
until he's about 5 years old he will be prone to this happening to him
again
(evidently, it just can happen in some kids).

Eeek! You can second guess people. And I do think that from past
situations
that SIL and BIL are TOO reluctant to take their kids to the doctor. I
wouldn't want to be like MIL and take them to the dr at one sniffle either
(she made my Dh go to the doctor when he was an early teen because his
voice
started changing and she felt like he was getting a sore throat!! It was
puberty setting in. Lol!)

So........how do you make the call? Better safe than sorry is my rule, but
how do you know when to worry and just when to treat at home? (I think,
but
I don't know if experienced moms will agree with this, that if there is a
fever AND sickness from both ends, I'd always go in!) I also think if a
fever is around for a couple days I'd go in. But how high of a fever is
dangerous for a kid? etc................... I thought I'd start
educating
myself now!



I'd take any child under three months with a fever however high.

Over three months I'd go quite quickly if there was a rash that wasn't
expected. For example chicken pox is going around here and if my 5 month old
or two year old get it I won't take them to the doc, I know how to treat it.

I'd also go if there was a sudden spike in temperature, photosensitivity,
prolonged fever (moe than a few days), baby wasn't drinking or prolonged
vomiting and diareah or convulsions.

It's a good idea to get a good book which covers basic illness and expalins
when to go to the Dr there are a few out there. Each time I go to the Dr I
ask for the dose of Tylenol that I should be giving based on weight. The age
related doses are just a guess and I have big boys who need more for it to
be effective.

Judy

I'm reading this thread with interest, as Taylor has been sick for the past
few days with a cold or something. She has a very low grade fever (99.6),
intermittent diarrhea, isn't able to keep much down, and is throwing up when
trying to eat or drink most items. Her nose is running constantly, and
she's drooling more than normal. I wonder if she has some molars trying to
come in at the same time, making everything worse.

Unfortunately for me, Taylor has a very sensitive palate and gag reflex.
Just the barest taste of infant Motrin or Tylenol sends her heaving and
gagging. So does Pedialyte. So, we're working on water, diluted orange
juice, and milk (she's on regular milk now, but I'm putting in a scoop or
two of formula, so she'll get some nutrients). She's sort of okay
emotionally and personality wise, but has bouts of the whines and crankies.
Today has been the worst, but yesterday was sort of whiney and very runny
nosed, and the day before was just the runny nose and drool. I'm hoping
tomorrow is better than today, not worse.

At this point she'd have to have a higher fever and be not drinking water
for me to take her to the ER.

But like I said, I'm reading these posts with interest.
--

Jamie & Taylor
Earth Angel, 1/3/03

Check out Taylor Marlys -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clark_guest,
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Unfortunately for me, Taylor has a very sensitive palate and gag reflex.
Just the barest taste of infant Motrin or Tylenol sends her heaving and
gagging. So does Pedialyte. So, we're working on water, diluted orange
juice, and milk (she's on regular milk now, but I'm putting in a scoop or
two of formula, so she'll get some nutrients).

Personally I would just do water and something like Gatorade. Milk and OJ
sound terrible for a kid not keeping anything down. JMO of course.

"Jill" wrote in message
news
So........how do you make the call? Better safe than sorry is my rule, but
how do you know when to worry and just when to treat at home? (I think,
but
I don't know if experienced moms will agree with this, that if there is a
fever AND sickness from both ends, I'd always go in!) I also think if a
fever is around for a couple days I'd go in. But how high of a fever is
dangerous for a kid? etc................... I thought I'd start
educating
myself now!

I take DS too often. Sometimes, it's just because I want to be able to tell
daycare I took him and doc said he was okay. That way, they can't refuse
him at the last minute. Sometimes, it's just because I'm working the next
day and can't take him in that day and I don't want to wait three days with
a crying, screaming kid. The doc must think I'm crazy, but I'm not really.

My mom is extremely paranoid. Her first child died at one month of age from
some sort of infection, we suspect it was pneumonia. She wants DS to be
seen for sniffles and she won't bathe him when he's sneezing from allergies.
I swear, we'd have a very dirty kid on our hands, if I followed that advice.
I sometimes just want to tell her I already took him to the doc.

As far as your nephew, I don't think the seizures are your SIL and brother's
fault. It happens. As for when to bring him in, it depends on how he
looks. If he looks okay and is improving, I'd leave it alone. If he looks
progressively worse, I'd bring him in. If he looks just awful and isn't
improving, I'd bring him in. Hard to judge over the ng.