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Original poster

Antibiotics prescribed for 3 week old DD...should I give them to her?

81 replies

hjscho · 04/05/2007 14:16

I took DD to see doctor on Monday, as she had a really bad cough. I wanted to check that it was just a cough. The doctor prescribed antibiotics and I said that I didn't want to give them to her. The doctor said to use my common sense and if it hadn't cleared in a couple of days to give it to her. The cough has now changed and I can feel the 'bubbling' as she breaths when I hold her. I am not sure if it has now become a chest infection rather than just a cough. I am SO reluctant to give antibiotics to a 3 week old, but I feel that I may have to give in now, as she has been ill for over a week. I'd appreciate any opinions on this one...

OP posts:

TooTicky · 04/05/2007 19:04

FWIW, homoeopathy (when practised properly) is extremely effective in cases like this and many others.
Doctors spend a few years studying one approach to medicine. And even if you view symptom suppression as a cure, allopathic medicine still has many failings.
Doctors are also worryingly swayed by pharmaceutical companies.
The OP asked for opinions - am I to take it that because mine is unconventional I am not entitled to it?
hjscho - really hope your dd feels better soon. I'm not really the evil, ignorant shit the others make me out to be.

hayes · 04/05/2007 19:07

if it was my child I would have given her the anti biotics but understand we are all different amd have to make our own decisions. I just wouldn't want them to be ill any longer than they need to be.

Hope she gets better soon

goingfor3 · 04/05/2007 19:07

She's probably feeling really rotten, if you have ever had an infection think back to how awful you felt at the time and how quickly you felt better once starting antibiotics.

colditz · 04/05/2007 19:08

Yes, you don't mess about when it's your baby's health - they go downhill so fast it's untrue. Give her the antibiotics.

PS Your milk doesn't lose quality just because you have a cold, it's still the liquid gold it always has been.

lucyellensmum · 04/05/2007 21:47

tooticky - i think homeopathy is a good thing, but this is a three week old baby we are talking about here. You clearly are not ignorant but surely you would agree with everyone that at three weeks old, then one must accept the advice of the doctor. Who's training may not encompass the benefits of homeopathy but who would hopefully be up to speed with the latest medicinal advancements. Louis pasteur did not receive the nobel prize (im sure he did) for discovering penicilin for nothing. The media have painted anti biotics as a huge evil, but it is their MISUSE that is the problem. I am sorry if my opinions were blunt but i felt that this was a dangerous situation. I definately think that homeopathy has a great value however we do have to accept the years of research that has gone into developing modern medicine, which in my opinion is a marvelous thing. A good doctor should also recognise the benifits too.

Cazee · 04/05/2007 22:09

How likely is it that the cough/chest infection is bacterial rather than viral? If it is viral then antibiotics will do nothing. Is your daughter due vaccinations next week (4 weeks?). If so I would make it clear to the doctor that she has been taking antibiotics, as some people feel that it is not a good idea to vaccinate just after a course of antibiotics, best to wait until her digestive state has returned to normal. Mum2FunkyDude, you can find doctors who say anything. I would never put blind trust in a GP.

MrsJamesMartin · 04/05/2007 22:21

More often than not especially in kids, chest infections are bacterial infections secondary to a viral illness, she has very little immunity to fight this off easily, antibiotics are needed now.

Cazee if shes in UK the 1st jabs aren't until 8 weeks.

LadyOfTheFlowers · 04/05/2007 22:25

reading the op, i had this with ds2 when he was 2 months old. older then your lo i know but he had begun bubbling and wheezing and it was an infection, something called brochilitis or something which fizzled out into croup.
anyway, the wheezing went on so i took him to a&e where the peadatrician (sp?) said with chest infections there is a slim chance young babies may just stop breathing. this obviously put the wind up me and i got them down him quick.
im not trying to scare anyone, just telling you what i was told. i thought it was better to give him the nasty stuff than risk it.

TooTicky · 04/05/2007 22:28

It's a shame so little is known, generally, about homoeopathy.

Cazee · 04/05/2007 22:35

When I was at university my GP gave me argent nit. (homeopathic remedy) on perscription, without me even suggesting it! Those sort of GPs are hard to find. hjscho, if your DD is still ill it might be worth another trip to the GP, especially as you said it has got worse (bubbling sound)? Though I am sure you know that

JodieG1 · 04/05/2007 22:50

Sorry but although I read about homeopathy I certainly wouldn't trust it to treat a newborn baby with a possible chest infection. Homeopathy hasn't even been proven as a medicine and there haven't been studies proving it works. Just not worth the risk no matter what personal opinions are.

TooTicky · 04/05/2007 23:24

JodieG1, your faith in allopathy is also a personal opinion. Of course, allopathy is always right and effective...
Snort.

TooTicky · 04/05/2007 23:25

And there is plenty of documented evidence of the efficacy of homoeopathy in individual cases and epidemics.

KerryMum · 04/05/2007 23:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kelly1978 · 04/05/2007 23:31

???
IMHO bubbling is noramlly in the throat rather than the chest (speaking from experience of pnuemonia) and so doesn't need ABs. I think it was very irresponsible of your GP to give you them without being certain whether your child needed them or not.
I'm not sure about age at all, but none of my children have ever needed ABs and they are 6,4 then dts aged 2. I would go back to your GP or seek a second opinion, not be fobbed off by a GP telling me to use my common sense. WTF do they go through medical school for????

KerryMum · 04/05/2007 23:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kelly1978 · 04/05/2007 23:33

just to clarify, I had pnumonia and needed ABs, my kids haven't had it. Go to a decent GP please.

JodieG1 · 04/05/2007 23:38

Tooticky - no evidence that I've ever seen proves the efficacy of homeopathy links please to some scientific studies that do

kelly1998 - if a newborn has been ill for so long and is becoming sleepy then that is serious and shouldn't be left to see the go for another 3 days after the bank holiday weekend.

I think some people are forgetting how precious a newborn is and how easily they become seriously ill. Don't take those chances no matter what your personal beliefs are, noone can dispute the effectiveness of antibiotics and I can't see why people are so opposed to them under these circumstances.

JodieG1 · 04/05/2007 23:39

Oh and as the bubbling was felt when being held rather than heard I would think that was indicative of the chest rather than the throat.

LaDiDaDi · 04/05/2007 23:41

I'm going to go to bed now as full of cold myself and dd's bday party tomorrow but some thoughts

Is she feeding well?
Is she pooing and peeing well?
How fast is she breathing?
Is she sucking in around her ribs/chest/throat at all?
Is her head bobbing with her breathing?
Has she has a temperature?
Did you have group B strep in preg?

If yes to the first two and no to the others then I probably wouldn't give her antibiotics as very likely to be a virus although that is not to say that virus's can't cause nasty chest infections in young babies as they can.

If no to the first two and yes to any of the others then I would seek urgent medical advice.

Hope that helps

emkana · 04/05/2007 23:41

Agree with everybody here who has said please do give the AB's.

My ds had exactly the same symptoms at a few weeks old and needed the AB's. Unfortunately it has since turned out that he has a very weak chest generally and he's had AB's basically all the time since then, with just a few days here and there without.

This is a tiny baby we're talking about here, you don't want to take any chances, and I am convinced that there is more risk involved in relying on the unproven benefits of homeopathy.

My dd's never needed AB's either and I was convinced I wouldn't give them, but sometimes AB's are desperately needed. Only the other day a doctor said to me how quickly young babies can develop pneumonia which is potentially life-threatening.

Kelly1978 · 04/05/2007 23:42

jodie, I think i have made it quite clean that myt feelings are that the op should seek more medical advice which is why I stated please see a decent gp. I agree with you entirely. Although I am proud none of mien have had ABs I put that down to luck as much as anything!

misdee · 04/05/2007 23:42

if baby was sleeping more (as OP dd was) chest was bubbling (do you mean crackly?) then i would give AB's.

not a baby but dh recently had a cold that would not shift. was checked early one week and chest was clear, by the end of the week had chest x ray done and lower left lung infection diagniosed and put on AB's.

LaDiDaDi · 04/05/2007 23:42

Fast breathing for a little baby is more than 40 breaths per minute when otherwise settled and sleeping.

Kelly1978 · 04/05/2007 23:43

I think my worry is more that the GP was leaving it up the the mother to decide whehter or not to give them rather than straightforward presribing - what a responsibility to aly apon a mother without medical trainng?!

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