New Parents Survival Guide: Things that make you go YUCK!
This chapter is dedicated to the four things making up at least 70 percent of the phone calls coming into a pediatrician’s office.
Who knows, this book may be responsible for reducing a pediatrician staff’s workload. These four things generate the most questions and most will be answered and explained here. Trust me when I say this is the one chapter you read that will save you some serious worrying and money.
We will start off with number one, which is fitting isn’t it? Trust me when I say you will be around urine, the golden stuff of dreams, so much that you will probably have some dreams about it too. Urine is the waste- water of the body. Your kidneys filter your blood and remove any excess fluid, salts and toxins and it exits the body as urine. The amount of urine you produce will be determined by the amount of fluid you take in. The color of urine is determined by what is being removed from the body and the smell is determined by what is coming out as well.
There are some important points to make about urine. A baby should have at least four wet diapers per day. If they do not have four wet diapers, we start to worry they may not be getting enough fluids and may become dehydrated. We get a bunch of questions concerning the amount of wet dia- pers and the possibility of diabetes. Diabetes is very rare in babies and will not just present with lots of diapers (they will also be losing weight and getting very sick). Many people worry about different types of smells or color in the urine and think the baby has a urinary tract infection. Most babies with urinary tract infections have normal looking and smelling urine. A baby with a urinary tract infection may present with a fever, vomiting or is just very fussy. You will need to call your pediatrician if their urine is extremely foul smelling, red in color or they cry when voiding. If a baby boy has a urine stream that is just a dribble or shoots off to the side, you should ask your pediatrician about this on your next well visit. It is very normal for a little boy to get an erection when they need to urinate so do not worry about this.
Moving on to number two, or poop, we come to the number one rea- son a pediatrician gets called. People are very concerned about their baby’s poop. Hopefully this discussion will be helpful to you and not make you feel ill. Poop or stool is formed by what your body did not want to absorb from what you ate and drank. The smell, color, and texture of stool are deter- mined by what your body needs and what you eat.
Stool color may vary depending on what your baby is eating and what they need to absorb. As pediatricians, we really only care about three colors of stool: red, black and white. Red and black are indicative of blood and white means fat is not being absorbed properly. All the other colors are acceptable. If red, black and white present they should always be discussed with your pediatrician.
Speaking of green and nasty, we might as well talk about snot. Bet you never dreamed of becoming an adult so you could chase a little toddler around trying to pick a nasty booger out of their nose…welcome to your new life. Your baby will not only have stuff come out of its nose but chances are a few things will go up its nose as well. Mucous is produced to moisten the inside of the nose and as a way to humidify the air before it goes into the lungs. An adult produces about one liter of mucous a day, a baby a little less. Depending on the thickness of the mucous it will have different colors. When it runs fast it is clear, as it gets thicker it will be yellow and when it is very thick it will be kind of green. You should not see thick white mucous (this could be pus, but is most likely milk coming out their nose). You should not have foul smelling mucous (this is infection and is usually indicative something has gotten stuck up in the nose (things like tissue, beads, food and the like). Blood tinged mucous will be common if your baby has had its nose wiped or sucked out frequently.
There are several things that may cause more snot to come out of your baby’s nose. After six months of age a baby can start to develop allergies to things they are around constantly like dust mites, cats, and mold. Babies will tend to get between seven and 10 colds per year, more if they go to daycare or have older siblings in school. Babies’ noses can run when they are teething, which can happen anytime between two and 18 months. Anything making a baby’s eyes water will make their nose run, because tear ducts drain tears into their noses.
There are not many things you can do for a baby’s snotty nose. If their nose is plugged up you can suction it out with a bulb suction syringe. Suck- ing out a baby’s nose is made easer if you put a few drops of normal saline into the nostril before sucking it out. Normal saline nose drops can be found under many different brands at your local pharmacy and are a good thing to have around if you have a baby. Babies do not like when their nose is plugged up, so they actually do better if their nose is running. A vaporizer or humidifier to increase the humidity in the air will help a baby by making its mucous thinner. If your baby suffers from allergies your pediatrician may right out the mouth. Wet burps are a mild form of reflux and therefore all babies will have some reflux. In some babies this is much worse than just a little spit up now and then. If your baby is spitting up copious amounts of milk with every feeding, you should discuss this with your pediatrician. Depending upon the extent of the reflux or if any problems are arising such as poor weight gain or apnea, your doctor may recommend medicines, further work-up by a GI specialist (stomach doctor), or some simple things to minimize spit-ups. Do not take matters into your own hands and start following advice from friends or family or switching formulas.
Vomiting with illness is something every baby will probably face at some time or another. Vomiting in a baby is probably a good reason to give your doctor a call if it happens more than twice. If your baby has thrown up more than twice in a short time then you know you have vomiting and not just spit up. There are many reasons a baby might vomit and some of these can be very serious. The list includes, but is not limited to, a virus, strep throat, urinary tract infections, serious bacterial illnesses, and meningitis. It is not your job to figure out why they are vomiting – this is why you have pediatricians so use them.
Treating vomiting will of course vary depending on the cause of the vomiting, but I can give you some clues of things to look for which can make your pediatrician’s job easier. You need to pay attention to how often you are changing your baby’s wet diapers. Also keep track of dirty diapers and how watery they are. Take your baby’s temperature. If your baby throws up, wait awhile before giving them something to drink again. Usually waiting at least an hour before giving them something to drink is a good idea, since it will give their stomach a chance to settle. Find out if your little one has been exposed to any illnesses or had any new foods. These little pieces of information will make it a lot easier for your baby’s doctor to figure out what is going on with your baby.
