When to go to the pediatrician

Main reasons for consultation

• Crying: crying is the natural way for babies to communicate when they have a vital need or discomfort: hunger, cold, heat, thirst, dirty diaper ... Normally, once the problem is solved, the baby is calm. The cry that worries pediatricians and that should be a reason to go to the consultation is the cry that is not calmed by anything: not with the breast, holding it in the arms, pacifier, swinging ... Or a cry that parents perceive as unusual, and he cannot be comforted as usual. On the other hand, if your cry is muffled or weak or unusually high-pitched, you may be very ill. The opposite can also happen: if he seems to be upset and, although he is not crying, he seems more inactive than usual and it is difficult to wake him up, he needs to be evaluated by a pediatrician.
• Mood swings: A happy, calm baby is unlikely to be sick or, if he is, it is not serious. If the child is very dull, sad, or excessively sleepy, he should be visited.
• Appetite - A baby who tires easily from breastfeeding or loses interest in breastfeeding or feeding is likely to be ill. Other warning signs are vomiting and increased spitting up.
• Bowel movements: a healthy baby should wet about six diapers a day and should have a regular bowel habit (every baby is different: some poop when they eat and others every four days). If the baby's tummy is not hard, he feels good and eats properly, there is no cause for concern. However, if the baby stops urinating in more than 12 hours or has white, black or bloody stools, they should be taken to the pediatrician.
• Difficulty breathing: If the baby's breathing is labored or has difficulty breathing, seek help immediately.
• Fever: Fever in a baby is a sign that they are sick, but fever alone is not usually a cause for concern. A baby may have a low fever and be very sick or a high fever and have a mild illness. However, if the baby is less than three months old, if the fever is difficult to lower with antipyretics or if the child looks bad, you should go to the pediatrician immediately. If he is a child older than three months and has a fever but looks good, is happy and his fever is going down with the usual medicines, observe him for a day to see if he shows any other symptoms and consult your pediatrician.

Anyway, if we still have doubts, we must call the pediatrician. It is important that parents are calm and it never hurts to consult a specialist. After all, you're doing it for the baby's sake.

Tips when going to the pediatrician

Going to the pediatrician can be chaos, it is very common to forget the doubts that had been raised at home, not bring the vaccination card ... We present some tips when going to the pediatrician:

• Always carry the health record and the health book.
• Write down on a piece of paper all the consultations that you want to carry out: between the chaos of the waiting room, being aware of a moved child within the consultation or the concern about whether what is serious or not, the distractions are frequent
• Dressing the child clothes that are easy to remove and put on: facilitates the work of the parents, the nurse (in the case of administering vaccines) and the pediatrician's examination.
• Bring a spare diaper: it is very common for children to get their diapers dirty at the most inopportune moments or for the visit to drag on…. You have to be prepared.
• Bring your favorite doll: it will give security to the baby or child and can distract them both while waiting for the visit and within the consultation.
• Bring something to eat or drink in case the wait is longer than expected.
• If the baby is breastfeeding, the mother should wear comfortable clothes to feed him without problems before, during or after the visit (there is nothing more comforting for the baby than to breastfeed after the bad time of the vaccines)
• A small “reward” if the child is older and has been very good or very brave.

When to go to the hospital

Parents need to know when to go to a hospital emergency room to have their child evaluated. Here we explain the most common causes of pediatric emergencies:

• respiratory problems: if the child cannot breathe, makes inspiratory or expiratory noises, or has bruised lips or very pale skin, go to a hospital immediately to rule out the most frequent diagnoses: bronchitis, or pneumonia.
• Fever: of more than a week of evolution or when this is accompanied by red spots (petechiae) or with a poor general condition of the child.
• Vomiting and diarrhea that do not subside in more than 24 hours, especially when accompanied by signs of dehydration: absence of drool, dry skin, sunken eyes, drowsiness or irritability and not urinating.
• Trauma: especially head trauma in children under 5 years of age, possible limb fractures or severe abdominal or thoracic trauma. Although it seems that the blow may have been small, if the child complains, he has to be visited urgently.
• Cuts or wounds in the skin that need stitches (stitches).
• Incessant crying in the baby that does not calm.
• Suspicion of by medicines or cleaning products, of ingestion of a foreign body (for example, swallowing a battery, a pin, a coin ...) or eye injury.