"Red Flag" Symptoms
Babies who continue crying may simply be hungry, uncomfortable or ill. Parents who are unable to soothe their baby's crying must call their healthcare provider to make sure the baby is not sick. Fortunately, only 5% of colic cases are caused by illness (most commonly by intestinal allergy, described above).
Parents should be especially suspicious of illness or pain as the cause of their baby's fussing if the cry is accompanied by at least one of the following ten "red flag" symptoms:
- Vomiting (vomit that is green or yellow, bloody or occurring more than 5/day)
- Change in stool (constipation or diarrhea, especially with blood or mucous)
- Abnormal temperature (a rectal temperature less than 97.0 °F (36.1 °C) or over 100.2 °F (37.9 °C)
- Irritability (crying all day with few calm periods in between)
- Lethargy (excess sleepiness, lack of smiles or interested gaze, weak sucking lasting over 6 hours)
- Poor weight gain (gaining less than 15 gram a day)
Babies with persistent crying or any "red flag" symptoms should be checked by a healthcare professional to rule out illness. The top ten medical problems to consider in irritable babies with "red flag" symptoms are:
- Infections (e.g. ear infection, urine infection, meningitis, appendicitis)
- Intestinal pain (e.g. food allergy, acid reflux, constipation, intestinal blockage)
- Trouble breathing (e.g. from a cold, excessive dust, congenital nasal blockage, oversized tongue)
- Increased brain pressure (e.g., hematoma, hydrocephalus)
- Skin pain (e.g. a loose diaper pin, irritated rash, a hair wrapped around a toe)
- Mouth pain (e.g. yeast infection)
- Kidney pain (e.g. blockage of the urinary system)
- Eye pain (e.g. scratched cornea, glaucoma)
- Overdose (e.g. excessive Vitamin D, excessive sodium)
- Others (e.g. migraine headache, heart failure, hyperthyroidism)
Read more about this topic: Baby Colic
Famous quotes containing the words red, flag and/or symptoms:
“Thou art not fair, for all thy red and white,
For all those rosy ornaments in thee.
Thou art not sweet, though made of mere delight”
—Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)