Paediatric Advice

Navel Care - Bath

Four to six times a day you will have to apply clean (white) methylated spirit or another antiseptic liquid on the neonate’s navel until it drops and heals.

For your baby's bath, you can use the special bath tub or after the first 10 days of his life, but has since closed the navel and has dry the wound. Until then you can wash every day your baby by holding it under running water, making sure to immediately dry the area very well the navel and then put methylated spirit on him.

If ten days from the day the navel drops pass and the navel is not dry yet a doctor should examine it.

If the navel happens to bleed, clean it first with peroxide of hydrogen to remove the clotted blood and then treat it with methylated spirit or betadine.

If you observe signs of inflammation around the navel (redness of the skin, swelling and scleriasis), consult a doctor immediately. The navel may be infected.

Diet

Always feed your baby by holding it in your lap. The baby feels much more pleasant and is less likely to choke.

If the child chokes during feeding due to vomit, do not lift the baby up, but keep it with his/her head down. Tap on the baby’s back lightly and try to clear his/her nose from the food.

Weight

You should monitor your baby’s weight at least once a week.

The average weight gain during the first three months of the baby’s life is 150 - 200 grams per week.

Bowel movements

The child's bowel movements can range from one to ten in 24 hours.

Usually babies pass faeces at the time of breastfeeding.

After three-four days, normal stools look like ointment (such as mustard).

Temperature

The baby’s temperature normally ranges from 36 to 37 degrees celcius.

If you have a temperature measurement of the intestine you should removed 3 to 4 lines from the measurement. So, if the thermometer shows 37 degrees celcius, we calculate the temperature at 36,6°C.

The room temperature should be about 22 degrees for the full term newborns, and for the early-born it should be higher.

Jaundice

During the first days of their lives many neonates develop slight jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin) that gradually disappears.

If after having left the hospital jaundice reoccurs, you should immediately consult your paediatrician.

If you also observe that the slight jaundice your child had when you left the hospital becomes more intense (ie the child becomes yellower) you should then consult your paediatrician.

As long as you are breastfeeding you should not eat beans and split peas nor should the room and the baby’s clothes have the smell of mothballs. Naphthalene, beans and split peas can sometimes cause sudden serious and dangerous jaundice in children.

Physiological manifestations

During the first months of their lives children exhibit certain physiological incidences that are normal.

Such are the hiccups, sneezing and belching.

By belching the child spits out small sips of milk. This is not vomiting. When we say vomiting, we mean the abrupt expulsion of a large quantity of milk (rocket-like). If the baby vomits you should consult your doctor.

General Information

• Do not swaddle your babies. Let their legs and arms free. They should be able to shake their extremities. Observe how pleasant they feel when they are free.
• Ventilate the baby’s room frequently and never smoke while in it.
• Keep your baby away from people who have an infection (eg, whooping cough, the flu, diarrhea, etc)
• Do not "spit" on them as not to give them the ‘evil eye’ and do not kiss them on the face. You can contaminate them with bacteria.
• In some infants the chest expands during the first days after birth. This is normal and resolves itself. Never press "to remove the milk" as they say. There is the danger by squeezing to cause inflammation of the chest. In this case, the chest area will be red and painful when touched.
• Ensure that the chronic cough that someone else in the household has is not tuberculosis of the lungs (TB). If TB is present in your baby’s environment, the paediatrician will tell you what to do to protect it.

Your baby should be seen by a paediatrician immediately, if one of the following occurs:

• If the navel has not healed, about 10 days after the day it has dropped.
• If there are spots on his/her body.
• If there is blood in the baby’s faeces.
• If there is eye gum forming and the baby’s eyelids are swollen.
• If the baby is drowsy or in contrast restless for a long time or does not want to eat.
• If the baby coughs or breathes fast.
• If the baby turns blue or pale.
• When he/she was a little yellow coming home from the clinic and has not discoloured completely in 10 to 12 days after birth.
• If the yellowing becomes more intense show the doctor immediately. Not after hours have gone by.