I am a first time mom. My daughter is 7.5 months old. She was born with a birth defect which has since been surgically repaired. She had a Congentital Diaphragmatic Hernia which was repaired when she was 1 day old and she was released from NICU at 17 days old. She has not had any other issues since then other than being diagnosed with reflux and being sick all the time from daycare germs. Day care sent her home Friday due to a fever and being fussy. She had also only been taking half her bottles (1.5-2.5oz) every 3 hours. Took her to the doctor and she said nothing is wrong with her - she as a cold because she was stuffy and coughing, but in addition to that her gums were swollen and appears to be teething.
Since then, she is refusing to eat any bottles for the last 5 feeds (15 hours) and has excessive gas, very fussy and is whining N screaming. We are going on day 3 of fevers which I’m giving her Tylenol for. Thoughts? Should I take her into Urgent care or is not eating part of her cold / teething? She is not letting me put the bottles nipple in her mouth and have tried to give her pedialite. She did take some pear juice yesterday because she was backed up - very hard, large poops which gave her little fissures of her butthole. TMI, I know.
Any guidance is appreciated!
Call your pediatrian's emergency number and talk to them right away. Babies can become dehydrated very quickly if not taking any bottles. Many urgent care facilities will not see babies so your best bets are your ped's emergency line and the ER if you can't get through to your doctor.
Call pediatrician’s emergency line or take her to the ER if no response from them in an hour. Not eating or drinking is serious in a baby and she will need an IV to hydrate. I wonder about her ears, drinking a bottle does hurt if she has developed an ear infection.
I would call your pediatrician right now and tell the nurse what you said here. You may need to take her to urgent care or the er because of the possibility of dehydration.
The fever itself may or may not be concerning. Babies get fevers, babies get colds. The doctor or nurse should be able to ask you questions and determine whether or not the fever is something to be concerned about, but many times a fever is just the body fighting infection, and it goes away as the cold or bug runs it's course.
Dehydration, on the other hand, is not something you want to mess around with.
Constipation and anal fissures would put anyone off their food.
Talk to the pediatrician again and if they say to go to an urgent care then do it.
Dehydration can get to be life threatening fairly quickly with babies.
I'd worry about an intestinal blockage too if she can't poop.
The constipation needs to be handled long term - you don't want it happening all the time or become chronic - and if the doctor says so maybe some preparation H for the fissures to dull the pain till they heal up.
You’ve gotta give more details on the birth defect/surgery... if she had a cleft repair a week ago and has fever, I’d have already been in the ER. If she had an extra finger removed 6 months ago, that’s not really relevant.
Birth defect/surger aside, it’s time to call pediatrician after hours line now. Will she take water? Babies dehydrate easily, she’s going to need IV fluids if she won’t start feeding by mouth soon. They may have you try pedialyte to get some fluids in her, but I wouldn’t try anything without calling pediatrician first. If no after hours number, it’s time to hit urgent care/ER soon simply from a dehydration standpoint, that can get dangerous fast.
Hope she’s better soon!
Maybe "nothing was wrong" the other day, but with an infant, I wouldn't fool around - I'd call the doctor back. Dehydration is a huge problem with little ones, which is probably the cause of the constipation (at least a major factor). She needs fluids and I know that it's awfully hard to force it. You could try an eye dropper to bypass her gums/teeth, but that's tedious. And at the 15 hour mark, I'd suggest you get on the phone. Going to urgent care might be the right move, but I think your pediatrician should be advised that you're doing that if you don't get some serious guidance otherwise.
I'm thinking she may have sore throat (not wanting to drink) that can sometimes go along with fevers and start with colds. Those can be very painful .. I'm thinking of when I've had them. It might be something she needs to be swabbed for, and could be put on meds for. I wonder if you could shine a light down her throat? If inflamed or see dots, kind of thing. Regardless, I would be calling the doc and going from there. I think I'd start there, before taking to urgent care.
The gas/bloating is likely from the constipation (just not pooping), and the pain from the gas. Try massaging her, and if she has an exersaucer or any of those little contraptions (like a jolly jumper or something like that) get her moving. That might help the BM. She may not want to if her bum hurts. Poor thing :( Would she take some pureed prunes?
But call her pediatrician and just say what you've told us here. My kiddos sometimes had fevers for a while (days) especially when they first woke up. It's the dedydration that's the concern - if she can get some in from some pureed something that will help. I think you want to avoid some foods that can bung up more, but prunes are supposed to be helpful.
good luck.
Call your doctor now!
I HOPE that by now you are already at an emergency room--one that will see you (almost) immediately. Please let us know, as we are worried for you and your baby!
