Urgent advice needed- 4 week old seems to be ill.

[Bekki]

For the last two days my once perfectly quiet newborn has become a nightmare. He won't settle, he seems constantly hungry but when he starts drinking (hes fully breastfed) he pulls a face and pulls away screaming. For the last two days he has had tiny red spots over his face and chest which come and go. Last night he was very hot even though he was just wearing a nappy. I have just felt his fonatelle (sp?) and has dipped quite low so I assume that he is dehydrated. Can I offer him water? Could he be ill or is it something that is disagreeing with him in my milk? I intend to get him checked by my gp in the morning but any advice now would be alot of help, thanks.

Shouldn't need water but keep offering extra b/feeds. I'd be concerned too as you can't just dose them up on Calpol so young.

Hope all turns out well

Breastmilk is sufficient to hydrate him (it's 80% water)... are you sure he hasn't got thrush (pulling away from breast- maybe his mouth is sore)... Have you taken his temp ?
Red spots are normally quite common.
The "only" thing that makes me wonder is the "hot"...

Not settling and always looking hungry are signs of groeth spurts so on their own are not an issue.

I don't want to be alarmist, but I would call the GP now and get a home visit, I wouldn't wait until morning with a baby so young. Good luck!

agree

there is a nasty virus going round at the moment. high temp, headache and sometimes d+v to go with it. my dd has just got over it, its the 1st time she has ever complained of a headache. she was off food and fluids, but as your wee one is soo young i would get him checked either tonight at a+e if u get really worried or at the gp's in the morning. keep him in minimum clothes, offer fluids regularly, small amounts and often. hope he gets better soon.

Thanks everyone. I offered him some water but he woyuldn't take it out of the bottle (he has always refused the bottle). I thought that if he was really dehydrated then he would drink it so I'm not too concerned. He has had a good feed and seems a little less fractious now so I will leave it until the morning. Its so easy to get worked up when they are so little. His fontanelle is still quite sunken though so I'll keep an eye on how much hes drinking and how much hes keeping down. Thankyou.

His poo is dark green! What does that mean?

Bekki, to check for dehydration, you can also look at his nappies -- are they drier than normal? Is the colour more yellowish? Both can indicate dehydration in such a young baby.

Hope it goes well tomorrow.

no idea about green poo, but we had more success giving water on a spoon when DD was so little. Good luck tonight

Oops, cross posted. I don't really know, but I do know that dark green poo is not abnormal at times. He's probably just got a lot going on in that little body of his. (There will be a more intelligent answer soon, I'm sure...)

Take him in tonight if you're worried.

Green poo....don't know about the temperature, but green poo with the pulling away when feeding, could be very bad colic.

Hes having 5 min feeds every 30 mins so somethings not right. He can't stay asleep bless him..and hes just done another poo! This is becoming as continuous as his feeds, they must be going straight through him. This one is bright yellow. This is a job for my gp. I really didn't want to have to give my baby any antibiotics or anything unless it was really needed, can babies get rid of colds and infections by themselves? I'm asking this because he has had sticky eye since birth and it has become alot worse which is probably causing his symptoms (coming to think of it).

Becky - sorry its not getting easier. Poor DS. .Point out your concerns about AB when you talk to your GP, but don't let it put you off talking to him. He/She may even be really clued up about complementary solutions, but there is a time and a place when the conventional AB are the best. Good luck, give them a call. They can tell you over the phone if you should be looking out for anything else overnight.

Just pulled out my old (6 year old) copy of the American Academy of Pediatrics Birth to Age 5 book...

Here are the signs for mild to moderate dehydration:
--urinates less frequently (fewer than 6 nappies / day)
--dry parched mouth
--fewer tears when crying
--sunken soft spot of the head in an infant

Severe dehydration:
--very fussy
--excessively sleepy
--sunken eyes
--cool, discoloured hands and feet
--wrinkled skin
--goes several hours without urinating

It recommends that you see a doctor immediately if you suspect your child is dehydrated.

For the eyes, it basically says that tear ducts are often blocked and can become infected. These infections produce a white discharge in the corner of the eye. The eyelashes become sticky and may dry together. And what treats that is either antibiotic eye drops or sometimes just cleaning with sterile water.

So, I guess, it's probably just a virus and not his eye, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go see the doctor -- dehydration can be quite serious and they can treat it quickly and effectively.

Hope it works out. I'd really go see (or ring) the doctor now if I were you.

Bekki, I'd really get him seen by a doctor tonight and not wait till morning. Very little babies get dehydrated really quickly and if he's doing lots of poos that will dehydrate him more. I hope the wee one's feeling a lot better very soon.

A Maori cure for sticky eye is just to squirt some breast milk into it. I tried it and it works, certainly worth a try before using antibiotics. Hope your ds is feeling much better now.

BTW, my ds often did a poo every feed. His poos were also green until I just gave one breast for 3 hours (not continuously, just as often as he wanted it) and then switched to the other for 3 hours. Too much foremilk can account for fussy behaviour and green poo. Doesn't explain the hot though, sorry.

Hope he is much better.

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bekki how is he this morning.I hope he is ok.

hi bekki
i remember my son having green poos when i was breast feeding - my HV said that this may be because he was not feeding for long enough on the breast and was only getting fore milk and not enough hind milk which tends to be thicker and more satisfying - this may explain why he is being fretful. Dehydration can be seriuos in such a young baby so i would get it checked ASAP.

me again - i agree with bobthebaby - use breast milk to clear the sticky eyes- it worked with my DS

Bekki

how is he now ?

Bekki, besides the "too much foremilk causes green poos", my ds reverted from yellow to green during the heatwave in July/Aug. My HV also said that green poos can occur when the baby is utilising everything possible from the breastmilk and therefore not much to come out. He was eating well and for a good period of time so this explanation seemed to fit better. As it was so hot his body needed as much fluid etc as possible from the milk. Even though his fontanelle wasn't sucken it might have indicated his was on the border of being dehydrated as he was utilising so much.. a possibility for your ds.

I hope no news is good news..!

Bekki, try not to worry! If you are breast feeding the green poo's are normally the colouring in the foods that we eat, I found that depending on what I ate my babies nappies had different colours, from light yellow to dark green. on the down side it can also mean a belly cold, but this normally contains some mucus. The tiny red spots sound like heat rash, babies can't ventilate like we can, they don't sweat as much,(normally anyway).And you must take care with what you eat, I was told to keep off watermelon, grapes, pickles, baked beans and some pulses, apparently these can cause stomache upsets in newborn babies. Water will not harm your baby, and believe it or not it can also be teething pains, although my HV doesn't think babies have teething pains, I beg to defer. I found giving them a bath settles them, and they are more likely to feed aswell. Sorry for going on, you don't have to take my advice but I hope it helps. Mum of 3 boys, the youngest is a heart baby.

Bekki - my ds (now 5 weeks) seems to be going through a similar thing - a lot of crying, drowning in snot so can't feed and the odd green poo. He is also often very fretful on the breast, coming off and on and gulping lots of air. Check this website imaternity.com/advice/postpartum/breastfeeding/topic.asp
since following its advice, things have improved a bit

Everything has sorted itself out. The only thing that concerned my gp was his eye infection which hes had since birth. She thought that he may have an immature tear duct which wouldn't sort itself out until he is 18 months! She did point out to me that I looked ill ands he was right as I woke up this morning in agony with mastitis. I don't know if this may have been a contributary factor in his discomfort when feeding but everythings settled down for the most part so I'll leave it at that. We are just getting into a routine - eye drop for Alex and antibiotic for me. Mastitis was the one thing that I dreaded from my first attempt at breast feeding. It wiped me out completely last time but this tme it is bearable I think my gp caught it in time. Thanks for your help.