Children's Health
Circulation and Lymph Glands
When you finish with your bath or shower, you can actually help your body’s circulation and improvement in which lymph glands drain, all by the way that you towel off your body. Very simply, when drying your arms and legs as well as torso, always towel away toward the groin for your legs and toward your armpits for the arms and torso. This might sound funny, but studies have shown this works.
Fragrance and Aging
If you want to do everything you can to age gracefully, you should avoid anything that has the perfumes or lotions of coconut oil and orange. The reason is that these fragrances contain a substance called psoralen, which is known to speed up the aging process.
Asthmatics and Sports
If you suffer from asthma, you already know that some sports should be avoided, depending on the severity. If you have trouble on a daily basis and love sports, be encouraged to know that some sports are asthma-friendly and in fact, can be helpful in that they help make the lungs stronger. These sports include swimming, cycling, and fishing, walking, and canoeing. Again, check with your physician before getting involved with any sport if you have a health condition.
Washing Your Hands
This is something you have probably heard your whole life. Disease is easily spread from touch, whether from person to person or object to person. Giardia is the number one germ that is transferred from touching something infected. Once you have Giardia, you can get very ill. In addition, germs can be passed from your pet that has been rolling on the grass, something dropped on a dirty floor, just allow your imagine to roam if you dare. Washing your hands is a quick, easy way to reduce the spread of germs.
Blotches, Spots, and All: Caring for Your Baby’s Brand New Skin
Your baby’s skin is his largest organ, a thin but tough barrier that protects him from the environment, helps regulate his temperature, and is full of nerve endings to make him responsive to touch. His skin is a living, breathing organ that has to acclimatise to life outside the womb. Acclimatisation takes some doing, so expect blotches and bumps, not peaches and cream, in the early weeks.
Seeing spots
New babies often develop little yellow spots known as milia. They may look nasty, but panic not: They’re usually harmless and clear up without treatment.
One of the most common forms of milia are yellow pinprick spots over the nose and forehead. Rather charmingly (not!) they’re also known as neonatal acne. They are caused by an excess production of oil (sebum) stimulated by your hormones during pregnancy. As the effects of these hormones fade, so will the spots.
A light sprinkling of creamy-white spots on your baby’s face or body may be tiny cysts containing a protein called keratin. As long as you leave them alone, the cysts will pop open and disappear within six weeks.
Apart from keeping your baby’s skin clean with warm water and cotton wool, you don’t need to do anything to treat these little blemishes. Never try to burst, pick, or pop spots, because this can cause nasty infections. The spots will fade gradually as your baby’s skin settles down in its new environment.
Regarding rashes
Babies in baby magazines seem to have perfect skin but this has more to do with photographic techniques than nature – most babies have at least a few imperfections on their skins, and rashes of all sorts are very common. Fortunately, most rashes are nothing to worry about, and disappear on their own over time. As long as your baby is well in all other respects, doesn’t have a fever, and is feeding normally, you don’t need to rush for help. Get advice from your doctor or health visitor if the rash doesn’t settle after a few days, or if your baby is unwell.
It’s absolutely vital that you know how to recognise the rash caused by the meningococcus bacteria, which causes meningitis (thankfully, meningitis is very rare, despite all the media coverage). The rash of meningococcal infection usually causes a deep red, blotchy rash, associated with a very poorly baby. As a rule, any rash that fades when you press a glass against it is not the meningitis rash. If it doesn’t fade, or if your baby is drowsy or generally unwell, get medical help immediately – a delay could be fatal.
Erythema toxicum
Around half of all newborn babies develop erythema toxicum, a rash that appears in uneven red patches over the skin, especially on the back, chest, and stomach, in the first two or three days after birth. At the centre of each patch, you may notice a little blister, which may look sore or infected. The cause of this rash is not known – it’s probably just your baby’s skin adapting to its new environment – but it’s harmless and will disappear on its own within a few days.
The best thing you can do is leave the rash alone. Creams and ointments may irritate your baby’s skin, so steer clear unless your doctor advises you otherwise.
Cooling down heat rash
A bright red bumpy rash in the folds of your baby’s skin or where his clothes fit tightly is probably a heat rash. This develops when your baby becomes so hot that his pores clog up, causing irritation. Although heat rash isn’t serious, it’s very itchy and a sign that your baby’s too warm. Try the following to soothe your baby’s heat rash:
- Give your baby a cool bath, place damp flannels over the irritated areas, and leave him naked for a while.
- Use calamine lotion to soothe your baby’s itching skin, but avoid other lotions and ointments, as they can clog the pores even more.
- Don’t let your baby get too hot. Stay in the shade on hot days and dress him in loose, light clothing. If he develops a high temperature (37.5°C/ 99.5°F), you can give him infant paracetamol, but always follow the instructions. If his temperature stays high, contact your GP.
- If your baby’s skin flares up, remove a layer of his clothes to help him cool down.
Focusing on birthmarks
Birthmarks are incredibly common: About one in three babies is born with a birthmark, but no one quite knows why. Birthmarks come in a huge assortment of sizes and colours, ranging from pale yellow to deep blue, but they rarely need medical attention: Only around one in 100 birthmarks needs treatment. Here are some of the most common birthmarks:
- Stork bites. About one in 40 babies is born with these small, pinkish marks, often on the back of the neck. The marks (also called salmon patches or angel kisses) usually disappear by the age of two years.
- Strawberry naevi marks. These bright red raised marks can change shape and size and can feel quite lumpy. They tend to appear around two to three weeks of age and grow rapidly up to the age of six to nine months. Strawberry naevi often appear on the face and neck, but they may also appear on the trunk and groin. Strawberry marks fade away untreated by the age of six or seven years. Rarely, if the mark is in a dangerous place, such as the throat or the eye, your doctor will want to treat it, perhaps with steroid treatments or surgery.
- Port-wine stains. These flat marks are purple-red in colour and often appear on the face. They are usually present at birth and can cover a large area of skin. Port-wine stains may grow with the child, but they don’t alter radically in shape or size. The only treatment for port-wine stains is removal by laser. This usually starts before the age of two years. Up to six treatments, spread over three years, may be needed to remove the port-wine stain completely.
- Mongolian spots. These bluish-grey patches of skin, found on the lower back and buttocks, are particularly common in Afro-Caribbean, Asian, and Southern European babies. They are completely harmless and usually disappear in early childhood.
If you’re worried about a birthmark, get medical advice. Your GP can tell you whether you need to worry, or whether you can let the mark disappear in its own good time.
Dealing with dry areas
Some babies, particularly those who are born late, have an outer layer of skin that looks shrivelled like a raisin and peels off unaided shortly after birth. Many parents worry that this dried skin is a sign of eczema, but this is rarely the case.
On the whole, it’s better not to use anything on this sort of dry skin unless your baby is irritated or troubled by it – dry areas usually settle down on their own. If you must use a moisturizer, make sure it’s unperfumed.
Tackling cradle cap head-on
Cradle cap is characterized by thick scales of skin on the head. The scales may be yellowy-brown in colour or may just look like dead skin. Sometimes the whole head is covered, but cradle cap often affects only a small patch of the scalp. Many parents worry unnecessarily about cradle cap. Cradle cap may be unsightly, but it’s not serious: It doesn’t harm your baby and, contrary to popular opinion, isn’t a sign that your baby has eczema. Cradle cap usually clears up on its own within a few days or weeks, although it may recur. When your baby’s hair has grown and thickened, you’ll probably no longer notice any of those scales.
Cradle cap is though to be caused by overproduction of sebum, an oily substance secreted by the sebaceous glands in the scalp that keeps the skin oiled and healthy. If cradle cap spreads beyond the scalp, it is known as seborrhoeic dermatitis.
You don’t need to treat cradle cap, but if you want to try to remove it, the following can help:
- Soften the skin on your baby’s head by gently rubbing olive oil or petroleum jelly into his scalp after his evening bath. Leave overnight to allow the dry skin to soften. In the morning, wash his hair with a gentle baby shampoo and rinse thoroughly: Shampoo will dry the skin if you leave any behind. Towel-dry your baby’s hair and then brush or comb it with a soft brush or round-toothed comb, gently removing the scales of cradle cap. Repeat this treatment every day until all the scales have gone.
- A number of shampoos available from high-street pharmacies have been specially formulated for treating cradle cap. If you do try one of them, stop using it immediately if you notice your baby’s skin becoming red or irritated.
Always leave the cradle-cap scales alone if they are stuck firmly to the scalp. Pulling them off may cause bleeding and infection.
See your GP if your baby’s cradle cap is very stubborn and causing irritation, looks red, or appears to be infected. Best to seek medical attention as well if cradle cap spreads beyond your baby’s scalp, for example to the face, cheeks, or skin folds under the arms or in the nappy area.
Baby Basics: Holding, Bathing, and Keeping Warm
No matter how well prepared you think you are for your baby’s arrival, the reality always seems to be different from the theory! If you’re terrified you’re going to drop, break, or otherwise harm your precious newborn, you’re in good company – in fact, parents who don’t worry are the exception! This section will boost your confidence.
This way up: Picking up your baby
The first few attempts at picking up a new baby can be nerve-wracking, but you’ll soon be able to do it with your eyes shut (although we wouldn’t recommend this!). You don’t so much pick up as scoop a baby. Arrange your hands and arms around him while he’s still supported by his mattress, and put one hand under his head. Once you’ve got him in your arms, the easiest way to carry a new baby is either against your chest in an upright position, or with his head in the crook of one of your arms and the rest of his body lying in the lower part of your arm.
Your baby won’t break, honest! Vulnerable and fragile though he may look, he’s actually a good deal more robust than you may think. Just remember the one golden rule: Never let his head flop. Your baby has no neck control at all at birth, and doesn’t develop any for at least six weeks. Don’t let his limbs dangle, either: Just like any of us, he’ll feel insecure left hanging in limbo.
Making sure he’s not too hot or cold
Your baby’s body is not mature enough to regulate its own temperature very well. He can’t sweat properly if he gets too hot, so you’ll need to be extra sensitive to his body temperature. Being too hot can increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS, or cot death). These days, babies are much more likely to be too hot than too cold, but being very cold can cause problems with your baby’s heart and circulation.
The best way of telling whether he’s too hot or cold is to do it the way your granny used to: Feel the back of his neck or tummy. Don’t feel his hands or feet: They won’t give an accurate indication of his temperature, as they’re usually cooler than the rest of his body.
As a rule, your baby will feel warm. If he’s hot, damp, or sweaty, then he has too many clothes on – remove a layer of his blankets or clothing to help him too cool – so add a layer.
Always strip off your baby’s outdoor clothes and hat when you come in to a warm atmosphere from a cold one, even if you have to wake him up to do so: Overheating can be very dangerous to young babies.
Buy a room thermometer for your baby’s bedroom. The ideal room temperature for a baby is around 18°C (65°F). This may feel a bit chilly to you, but if your baby’s wearing a vest and body suit and has a sheet and a couple of blankets, then he’ll be plenty warm enough. A room temperature between 16 and 20°C (60 to 68°F) is acceptable.
Keeping your baby clean
New babies don’t get very dirty, so they don’t need a lot of washing. Make the most of this stage! A daily bath for your newborn is unnecessary, because too much water can dry out your baby’s skin. You’ll be fine simply washing his face and bottom and any other bits, such as his hands and under his arms, that need sprucing up a little. For ‘topping and tailing’ all you need is a clean towel, a bowl of warm (never hot) water, and some cotton wool. Lay him on a changing table, a mat or a towel, or sit him on your lap. Keep your baby’s head and body supported at all times unless he’s lying on a mat or towel on the floor (your baby can’t hold his head up yet).
Use a fresh piece of cotton wool for each body part, to avoid spreading any germs on the skin. Wash the genitals from front to back, to avoid spreading germs from the skin around the bottom.
If you’re bathing your baby, wash his face before you put him in the baby bath by dipping a clean piece of cotton wool in warm water and wiping gently round his eyes, moving out from the nose. Never use soap on your baby’s face. Also wash his bottom before you put him in the bath if he’s produced anything more than wee!
Never use a cotton bud in your baby’s ears – or yours for that matter! The lining of the ears is very sensitive, and putting anything into them can damage the lining and cause inflammation and ear infection.
The whole tooth (baby)
Click image to enlarge
The first white tip usually pops through at about age six months. Each baby is different, though: Some have teeth at three months old, others don’t get any until they’re almost 12 months old, and some are even born with a tooth or two. If your baby doesn’t have a tooth by her first birthday, have a chat with your health visitor.
Babies’ teeth don’t necessarily appear in the same order. But the typical pattern is: lower central incisors at six months; upper central incisors at seven months; upper lateral incisors at eight months; lower lateral incisors at nine months; first molars at 12 months; canines at 18 months, and second molars at 24 months.
Teething Times: Nothing but the Tooth
Your baby was born with a set of 20 teeth hidden in her jaw, and at around six months of age she’ll start to be painfully aware of them.
Looking after a baby who is cutting teeth can be a real nightmare. It’s amazing how one little white thing poking through a gum can throw everything into chaos: Suddenly you’ve got a grizzly, dribbly little person who needs round-the clock attention. Of course, teething isn’t always troublesome – everyone knows someone whose baby cut her first teeth without so much as a whimper – but most babies go through a period of being uncomfortable and grumpy when they’re cutting their pearly whites. The good news is that teething is usually relatively short-lived and you can do plenty to soothe the pain.
Spotting the signs of teething
Common signs of teething include irritability, drooling, chewing, crying, swollen red and bumpy gums, and seeing the whiteness of a tooth through the gum.
Talk to a group of parents, however, and the list of symptoms associated with teething is likely also to include red cheeks, fever, ear-pulling, going off food, diarrhoea, and nappy rash.
The experts aren’t so sure. Although irritability, drooling, and chewing are certainly associated with teething, teething is unlikely to cause fever, earpulling, and diarrhoea.
Parents often blame teething for all sorts of symptoms that are actually more likely to be signs that your baby is ill. At six months of age, when the first tooth often comes through, your baby also starts to lose the immunity you passed on when you were pregnant and may come down with colds and tummy bugs more easily.
Beware of mistaking something more serious for teething. If your baby has a fever or diarrhoea and screams constantly, see the doctor.
Nipping teething pain in the bud
Finding the best way of soothing your baby’s teething pain normally involves a bit of trial and error. Here are a few things to try:
- Give your baby something cool and hard to chew. Most babies love to chomp when they’re teething, and something cold to chew on is especially good. A teething ring that you can put in the fridge is ideal – but don’t put the ring in the freezer, as this can damage the gums. Or try giving your baby cold carrot sticks or apple rings to chew on – never leave your baby alone with these, however, as they pose a choking risk.
- If your baby’s dribbling a lot, use a bib to soak up the drool and put petroleum jelly on her chin to stop it becoming sore.
- Distraction can take your baby’s mind off teething. Take her for a walk, read her a story, and give her plenty of cuddles to reassure her.
- Your local pharmacist can help. Look for sugar-free teething biscuits and teething gels that numb the gum. You can also try homeopathic teething granules.
As soon as the first tooth appears, you’ll need to start regular brushing every morning and bedtime with a baby toothbrush.
Weighing Things Up: Failure to Thrive
During the first year or so of life, most babies gain weight and grow rapidly. The pattern of this development can vary considerably, but the average term baby doubles her weight by four months and triples it at one year. However, some babies with underlying health problems don’t meet these milestones and need extra help and possibly some closer attention to find out what’s causing the problem.
If your baby is classified as ‘failing to thrive’, basically she isn’t putting on weight or growing in the expected way. ‘Failure to thrive’ is a general term rather than a specific condition, but doctors take it seriously because failing to thrive is a sign that your baby’s not getting the nourishment she needs. A baby who’s failing to thrive may:
- Become disinterested in her surroundings and feeding
- Avoid eye contact
- Become irritable or withdrawn and whiny
- Not reach developmental milestones such as sitting up, walking, and talking at the ‘usual’ age
- Have faltering weight, which drops from an established growth curve for at least three months
- Have a skinny appearance, with thin arms and legs, but with a large stomach
- Have wispy hair and dark circles around the eyes.
Finding out what causes failure to thrive
Failure to thrive can result from a wide variety of underlying causes, such as the following:
- Gastrointestinal problems: Tummy troubles such as reflux or chronic diarrhoea can interfere with your baby’s ability to hold on to the nutrients and calories from her milk or food.
- Underlying illness: Milk-protein intolerance and coeliac disease, a sensitivity to a protein found in wheat and certain other grains, can limit your baby’s ability to absorb nutrients. Your baby may eat a lot, but her body can’t absorb and retain enough food. Unless diagnosed, problems like these can cause failure to thrive.
- Underlying infection: A urinary tract infection, for example, can place great energy demands on your baby and force her body to use nutrients rapidly, sometimes causing short- or long-term failure to thrive. Underlying infection can also impair your baby’s appetite. Other conditions that can lead to failure to thrive include heart, liver, and respiratory disorders.
- Metabolic problem: Metabolic disorders, such as gluten or lactose intolerance, limit your baby’s ability to make the most of the calories consumed or make it difficult for your baby to break down, process, or derive energy from food. Other metabolic disorders can cause a build-up of toxins during the breakdown process, which can make your baby feed poorly or vomit.
- Poor nutrition: Some parents just don’t feed their baby enough or lack the knowledge of how to feed their baby healthily. For example, they may restrict the calories they give their baby because they don’t want a fat child. Other parents feed their baby according to their own limited diet. Make sure your baby is getting the nutrition she needs by giving her a varied diet.
- Unknown cause: In a few cases, doctors cannot pinpoint a specific cause.
Your baby may be slow to gain weight for a number of reasons. Genetics plays a big role in weight gain, so if you and your partner are slim your baby may not put on pounds quickly. Monitoring your baby’s weight gain from home can be difficult, so attend regular weight and development checks with the health visitor.
Diagnosing and treating failure to thrive
Your baby’s weight gain is likely to level out or even drop occasionally, but if she doesn’t gain weight for three consecutive months during the first year of life for no obvious reason, your doctor will probably become concerned.
Failure to thrive is usually diagnosed by using standard growth charts, called centile charts, where your baby’s weight, length, and head circumference are measured at each development check. Centile charts show the size of the whole ‘normal’ range of children at a given age. As a rule, your doctor will want to investigate your baby for possible failure to thrive if her weight gain slows down enough to drop down two ‘centile lines’.
If your doctor finds that your baby is failing to thrive, she will take a thorough medical and feeding history and perform a detailed physical examination of your baby. Your doctor may carry out blood and urine tests on your baby if she suspects a particular disease to be the cause.
A baby with extreme failure to thrive may need to go to hospital so that she can be fed via a tube and monitored continuously. During this time, any possible underlying causes can be evaluated and treated appropriately. The length of treatment varies. Weight gain takes time, so several months may pass before your baby is back in the normal range for her age, although after she starts to gain weight satisfactorily, she will normally be allowed home.
If your baby’s weight drops or she doesn’t seem to have a normal appetite, get in touch with your health visitor, who can tell you if you need to see the doctor. Any major change in eating patterns warrants medical advice.
What’s That in Her Nappy?
When you’re learning to look after your brand-new baby, one of the first obstacles you’ll encounter is a nappy full of sticky, tarry, dark-green poo – swiftly followed by bowel movements of a startling variety. Babies’ stools vary enormously: The colour can range from lemon-yellow to green and the consistency from liquid to firm. Therefore, it can be hard to tell the good from the bad.
With wee, the story’s a bit different. Instead of being fascinated by colour or consistency, most parents obsess about quantity: How much and how often?
Getting all blocked up about constipation
Constipation is relatively common in bottle-fed babies and babies who have been weaned on to solids. Although constipation is seldom a cause for concern, you must deal with it quickly, because waste matter that builds up in the rectum dries out quickly, making it more and more difficult – and painful – to pass.
Signs of constipation
The main concern is not the frequency but the consistency of your baby’s poo. If she appears to be in distress during a bowel movement, and if her poo is hard and dry, then she’s likely to be constipated. You may also notice that her tummy feels hard and she may have tummy ache – she may be difficult to comfort, pull up her legs to her chest in pain, and seem lethargic.
How often a baby should poo can be a worry for new parents. The answer is that there’s no magic number. Some new babies can produce ten dirty nappies a day, while others, especially breastfed babies, can go for days without doing a poo. Breast milk is so well suited to your baby that there isn’t much waste for her to get rid of. Try not to worry about quantity: If your baby seems well and comfortable and has plenty of wet nappies, then she’s probably fine. If she’s unhappy and seems to be in discomfort or pain, seek medical advice.
Don’t delay in asking for help: The sooner constipation is dealt with, the easier it is to rectify. If your baby has any of the following, take her to a doctor:
- Cream- or white-coloured stools, which can sometimes indicate liver problems.
- Blood in the poo, which may be due to a slight tear (fissure) in the anus or the result of an inflamed bowel.
- Frequent watery poo, accompanied by lethargy, fever, or any other symptoms of illness.
- Hard, infrequent stools that cause discomfort and distress.
Treating constipation
A shortage of fluids in your baby’s diet is one of the most common causes of constipation, although bugs and other illnesses can also trigger the problem. Once she’s onto solids, a shortage of fiber can also be a cause. Your GP or health visitor is likely to suggest increasing your baby’s fluid intake with cooled, boiled water. For babies on solid food, diluted juice or puréed fruit can help get things moving. If your bottle-fed baby has hard painful poos, check that you’re adding the correct amount of formula to her bottles: Make sure you fill the scoops loosely and level them, as over-thick feeds are a common cause of constipation.
When you wash your baby’s bottom, apply cream or petroleum jelly around the outside of the anus to help ease any soreness caused by constipation.
A warm bath can make your baby relax and help to open her bowels. Tummy massage is also a good way to get things going. With oil or moisturizing cream on your fingers, start at the belly button and then massage outwards in circles in a clockwise direction. If your baby enjoys the massage and is comfortable and relaxed, continue. While she’s lying on her back, hold her legs and turn them gently in a quick cycling motion. This makes the stomach muscles move and puts gentle pressure on the intestines, making them move.
Never put a thermometer or anything else inside your baby’s anus to stimulate the bowel movement, because doing so may cause damage.
After you begin to offer your baby foods other than milk, you will notice changes in her poo. Until now, her digestive system has been used to only one type of food – milk. Your baby will react to new foods by producing more solid, smellier poos. You may find that pieces of food pass straight through, entirely undigested – a normal event that will happen less as your child’s digestion matures.
When you’ve weaned your baby, give her lots of fresh fruit and vegetables to make sure her diet contains enough fiber. Dried fruits such as raisins, apricots, and figs help, as do peas, beans, sweetcorn, baked beans, and jacket potatoes.
Although you don’t want your baby to be constipated, her digestive system isn’t made to cope with a very high fiber diet. So while a good selection of puréed fruit and vegetable is invaluable, too much high-bran bread may do more harm than good.
Having a wee look at your baby’s waterworks
A young baby can wee up to 30 times in 24 hours. Copious weeing is nothing to be concerned about. In fact, a dry nappy is more worrying. If your newborn’s nappy stays dry for four to six hours, speak to your midwife, health visitor, or GP, because your baby may be unwell or dehydrated. If your baby’s urine is yellow and concentrated , she needs more fluids. Offering plenty of drinks (cooled, boiled water for young babies) should solve the problem.
If you think your baby’s urine contains blood, contact your doctor immediately. But bear in mind that certain foods and drinks, such as blackcurrant juice, can turn wee red. Also seek medical help if your baby’s urine is very concentrated and smelly, because this may be a sign of a urine infection.
