My baby has pneumonia, beginning stages-blood work was fine but xray showed some. The baby is on a antibiotic and all but I'm a nervous wreck and have no experiance with pneumonia at all. Can she still get worse or take a turn for the worse? Dr. told me to watch out for a few things like lathargic but hey she's a newborn and sleeps allday anyways how can I tell the difference? She's been running a fever too. I'm just nervous at what point do I bring her back in? So far she's had a fever 101 and less, doesn't want to eat much plays with the nipple on her bottle but is eating, is breathing just fine, and is sleeping BIG TIME more than usual. I just don't like itty bitty babies having fevers. Both doctors we saw (ER last night and Urgent Care today) were in a hurry and not peditricians so I didn't quite get when to bring her back like what symptoms do I need to rush her back? How bad does it have to be to be hospitalized? How quick can they recover from this typically? She is going back on Monday for a recheck. My baby was a preemie too so there is alot of concern. She was 6 weeks premature.
Watch the fever--can you give her Infant Tylenol for it? Unless you were instructed otherwise, if it goes above 100 and it does not go down after taking Tylenol, I would call in to the doctor.
I would be most concerned about dehydration. Watch her wet diapers. If she starts peeing less frequently, that is also worth a call in to the doctor.
Keep a humidifier running.
Since your baby was a preemie, I would get her to Children's Hospital right away for a check. Her lungs are no where near fully developed yet. Think of her lungs like a tree with branches and leaves, your daughters would have very few branches and leaves and could have difficulty breathing. You will feel better if you bring her to someone who knows what to look for.
Everything Aubrey said is right on. Dehydration and her breathing are both things to watch for. I see you live in MN. If you have a children's hospital take her there if she has any problems. You do need to use your gut on whether you need to take her. Keep in contact with her doctor. Do you have a pediatrician? I would find one if you don't. It just seems that the doctors you saw didn't really make you feel at all better. I think pediatricians are not only specialized in little ones, but have really good bed side with the parents too. Find one you like. You will be seeing them a lot with the well checks for the next few months. I hope your little girl gets better soon and you stay calm and use your gut feeling.
S.
Make sure you call your pediatrician and let the doctor know what is going on, ask for suggestions from the doctor since this is the provider taking care of your little one. Watch dehydration, make sure that your baby is having enough wet diapers, and getting enough hydration either breast milk or formula. Attempt feedings often especially when baby is awake. Signs of dehydration is the lethargic infant (i.e. limp like a rag doll), sunken eyes, sunken soften spot, not producing tears when baby cries and no wet diapers. Watch your baby for problems with breathing, if she makes weird noises like she is wheezing, or trying to get air in it will sound like she has a barking breath or even if she having retractions (where you can see her rib cage) if those happen take her to the emergency room, Children's Hospital (*they specialize in little people and are excellent). If this makes you feel any better, little ones get sick fast, but they get better faster. If she has any secretions or congestion sometimes if you warm her formula (luke warm and always test it before giving) that helps with thinning the mucous, even a cool mist humidifer will help. Always, always, trust your motherly gut if you feel like something is wrong get it checked out you know your child the best. Good luck to you! *** Babies always get sick in the winter***
B.,
You poor thing!! I hope you and your daughters get well soon so you can enjoy your holiday. I personally don't have much advice to give you except to direct all of these questions to your doctor. Most doctors' offices have answering services during evenings and weekends, so they can have the doctor call you back or direct you to someone that can answer these questions. You could even call Urgent Care back or the hospital itself (they have hotlines too) and just clarify your concerns and questions. That is what they are there for!! Don't for one second wonder if you are being a nuisance or not, your child's health is job one. I would be asking the exact same questions if for nothing else the peace of mind that everything I was doing was ok.
God Bless and Happy Holidays!
A.
You'll need to follow up with your ped on Monday am for sure and if anything seems at all odd with the baby get to the ER. When my son had RSV as a 2 month old the ped had said to go to ER if he was taking more than 50 breathes a minute. You can see when they are struggling. Try to find a hospital with a ped on staff in the ER.
With the ER we were at the doctors office everyday for about 3 days then the ped cut it down to every other day. That went on for the first week then we could taper off to once a week. Hope you are all doing better soon.
Please get your 2 mo. old preemie to the Emergency room ASAP. This could be life threatening.
B.,
If your baby has a fever and you are worried still go back to the hospital...but try Childrens this time. They spend the time and hopefully would put your mind at ease. I know they always did for me when my older daughter was very sick. Remember thats why we have insurance. Use it!
Good luck!
C.
I went through this with my daughter who was also six weeks premature. We caught it early as it sounds that you have done. We went through the antibiotic treatment and followed up with her pediatrician. Our only difference is I went right to childrens ER, so I had a better peace of mind then you have right now. You know your baby better then anyone and you know as you did when something is off, so trust your instinct, and dont be concerned about calling your pediatrician, regardless of the time of day it might be or taking her back to the ER, but this time I would go to Childrens if you can. I wish your little one a speedy recovery. Be blessed
If you are in doubt, bring her back in.
If it makes you feel any better, my mother-in-law had pneumonia as a six-week-old infant in Great Britain during World War II (was not expected to survive, this was before antibiotics), and she is a healthy 68-year-old who hasn't had pneumonia since then.
Call your daughters peditrican and let him/her know what is going on and ask them these questions. They may tell you the same thing as the doctors in the ER but it will keep the peditrican in the loop. So give the peditrican a call, since it is the weekend you may talk to the peditrican on duty but they will be just as helpful!
Hi B.,
Sounds like she is doing fine considering she has pneumonia. Unless her temperature goes up, she quits eating, or she doesn't have a wet diaper for awhile I would just let her rest. That is what she needs to get better, and hopefully when you take her back on Monday, she will be a lot better.
C.
You keep on bringing your baby back until you feel good about her health. Don't worry about offending any Dr's., moms have an intuition that is right on the money. My now 11 yr old was ill with pneumonia when he was a premie baby, and I took him back 4 x. He had "walking pneumonia: that turned into RSV, at that time. After 4 wks, he was better. BUt I went in 1x a wk for 4 wks straight, till the X ray showed it was resolved. He had a low grade fever the entire time. Don't mean to scare you, but do mean to make you realize the importance of making sure you feel good about how your child is doing. Dr's get paid for that care. GOOd luck.
