Newborn refers to a baby who is under 28 days of age. According to the World Health Organization, your baby is at the highest risk of dying during the first 28 days of life.
Therefore, you need to understand the common health issues that may affect your newborn and ensure that your baby receives early essential care to enhance its chances of survival.
These are the most common health issue that may happen to your newborn.
Yellowness
The yellowness of the eyes, body, and sometimes up to your baby’s sole is among the most common newborn problems. This condition is called jaundice. It may happen to your newborn because their liver is immature, thus unable to break down bilirubin into components that can be excreted from the body.
Jaundice may occur during the first 3 to 4 days of life and may persist for about ten days before it goes away. However, you must consult your pediatrician if you notice jaundice in your newborn within 24 hours of life or when jaundice in your baby persists beyond three weeks.
Your doctor or newborn pediatrician will request some tests to help identify the cause of jaundice in your newborn.
Noisy Breathing
Generally, newborns’ air passage is narrower and they tend to breathe through their noses. Therefore, little secretion in their air passage can make the newborn have noisy breathing. While noisy breathing in your baby may be normal, you should consult a pediatrician, particularly when it persists.
Abdominal discomfort
Your baby may develop colic due to the trapping of gas in its stomach or intestines. This may cause your baby to develop distress or cry incessantly. When this happens, you must consult your doctor to help your newborn.
Cough
Your baby may develop a cough, especially when they breastfeed too fast. However, the cough may eventually disappear as your baby adapts to breastfeeding. A persistent cough may suggest an infection such as pneumonia; therefore, you should take your newborn to health facilities for treatment.
Diaper Rash
A regularly fed newborn tends to wet the nappies frequently. This may result in redness or inflammation in the area covered by the diaper, thus called diaper rash. Be sure to change your newborn’s nappies frequently and clean and dry the area to prevent diaper rash.
Bloated Belly
Your newborn may have a bloated belly hard to touch which may be due to gas or constipation. However, there are other causes of bloating in newborn thus you should consult your doctor, especially when bloating in your baby become persistent.
Bottomline
If you need the right newborn pediatrician, Dr. Olfa, is among the best pediatrician in Dubai, UAE. She will take care of your baby’s health problems.
She has an MD in Pediatrics and a subspecialty in Neonatology. She has proven competency in pediatric patient care, medical knowledge, and practice-based learning and improvement. Make an appointment today.
