Latest / Baby's First 100 Days with Dr. Roma Franzia / Pediatrician Reveals: 5 Newborn Symptoms to NEVER Ignore!!

Transcript

Pediatrician Reveals: 5 Newborn Symptoms to NEVER Ignore!! · Baby's First 100 Days with Dr. Roma Franzia

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The hardest newborn warning signs are not always the obvious ones.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are ones that can look almost normal.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Newborns breathe strangely.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: They can have blue hands and feet.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: They fall asleep while they're eating.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: They cry for long stretches.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: They make noises that would scare anybody who hasn't lived with a newborn before.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And most of the time those things are just part of being a baby.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: But each one has a version that makes me stop and say, okay, now I want you to call.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Roma Francia.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've cared for tens of thousands of newborns over more than 30 years, and I want to show you five of those differences because once you know what I'm actually looking for, you can stop panicking over every little newborn thing without missing the ones that really deserve your attention.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And stay with me because number four is the one parents tend to second guess the most.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, noisy breathing versus breathing that looks like work.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Newborns are noisy.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: They snort, they squeak, they rattle, they can sound congested when there is very little actual blocking the nose.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes their breathing is irregular too.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: They take a few little breaths, pause, take a deeper breath, and then start over.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if this is your first baby, you hear of that at two o'clock in the morning and think, this cannot possibly be normal.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: But when I look at a baby's breathing, the sound is not the first thing that worries me.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I watch how hard the baby is working to get the breath.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very different thing.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: If your baby sounds noisy, but they are pink, comfortable, feeding normal, and their chest and belly are moving easily, that picture can be very reassuring.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if I see the baby pulling deeply around the neck or abdomen with every breath, or I see the nostrils really flaring in and out because that baby is working hard to pull the air in.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm looking at something different.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the first distinction I want you to remember.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Noise can sound scary.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Effort is what gets my attention.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the next clue does not show up while you're staring at the baby's breathing.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It shows up when you try to feed them.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: A sleepy feeder versus a baby who cannot handle the feed.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Newborns fall asleep while they eat all the time.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: You start breastfeeding, everything is going beautifully.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And three minutes later, that baby has decided this is a perfect place to take a nap.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That alone does not worry me.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: You wake your baby up a little, rub the feet, move your baby around, and often your baby will go right back to eating.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: But there is a very different kind of baby I pay attention to.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: This baby is not simply sleeping.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: They start suckling and become exhausted.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: They may breathe hard while they are eating, they may sweat, they keep stopping because they cannot comfortably continue.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Or you have a baby who had been feeding normally and suddenly refuses to eat.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: If a baby refuses two feedings in a row, I want to hear about it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason is simple.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Eating is one of the main jobs a newborn has.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: They do it over and over all day and all night.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: So when a baby cannot suddenly eat comfortably, do something they have to do 12 times a day, I want to understand why.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is also why I tell parents over and over, learn your own baby because you know what their normal feeding looks like.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know the baby who usually attacks the bottle and finishes happily.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know the baby who normally nurses for 15 minutes and then passes out comfortably satisfied.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So when you look at the same child and think, this feeding is different, tell me.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: That observation matters.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the third sign is another one where two things can look almost identical at first glance.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Blue hands and feet versus blue lips or tongue.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: New parents see blue and immediately think something is terribly wrong.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: But where you see the blue matters.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: A newborn's hands and feet can look bluish and feel cold, especially in those early days.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So blue little toes, blue little fingers, okay.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And now look at the rest of the baby.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you see blue around the lips and blue tongue, that is a completely different picture, especially if you notice it while the baby is crying.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is not something I want you sitting there googling for 45 minutes trying to decide whether the shade looks more purple than blue.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Call.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a perfect example of why newborns are confusing.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: The symptom sounds the same.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: My baby looks blue.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But one can be part of a normal newborn circulation and the other gets my attention immediately.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Same color, different locations, completely different meaning to me.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And crying has almost the same problem because crying is probably the most normal thing a newborn does until it isn't.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a new parent and this is helping you understand the difference between something that looks scary and something I actually want you to act on, subscribe.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want to do with these videos.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Give you the same practical things I teach families in my office so you can enjoy your baby a little bit more and spend a little less time wondering whether every strange thing they do means something is wrong.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, normal crying versus crying that will not settle.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Babies cry.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Some babies cry a lot.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And somewhere around those first few weeks, many parents hit that evening where the baby has eaten, the diaper is clean, and you are rocking, bouncing, walking around the house, and nothing seems to be working.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: That can be exhausting.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: It can also make you think the baby must be in pain.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: But crying does not automatically mean pain.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I have a whole checklist I go through when a baby will not settle.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: When did they last eat?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Have they pooped?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is the diaper okay?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is something tight or uncomfortable?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are they too hot?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a hair wrapped around a little toe?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want to get the obvious things out of the way first.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I start thinking about sensory comfort.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes that little newborn's nervous system has simply had enough for the day.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: But there is a point where I stop saying, okay, this may be a fussy baby.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you have checked those basic needs and you still have a baby who remains inconsolable for more than three hours, that is when I want you to call.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not because every three-hour crying episode means there is something terribly wrong.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It means we have crossed the point where I do not want you trying to figure it out by yourself at home.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And there is a big difference between those two ideas.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Parents sometimes think they need to know what is wrong before they call the pediatrician.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: You don't.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: You call because you don't know what is wrong and the baby is telling you something unusual is happening.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: That is enough.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the last symptom is the one parents can actually put a number on.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: But with a newborn, I still do not want you treating it the way you would treat an older child.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, feeding in a newborn.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: With a newborn, I am very specific about temperature.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: If the rectal temperature is 100.5 or higher, I want you to call.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure the thermometer is for rectal use, not oral.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is not the five-year-old who has a fever, eats a popsicle, watches cartoons, and see how things go.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: A fever in a newborn is something I want to know about.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of those things where I'd rather have you call and talk through the fever than spend the night second guessing yourself.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because now we have moved out of the category of this baby is making a strange newborn noise.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: This baby's feet look funny.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Newborns are supposed to be a little quirky.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to end on this because I do not want this video to make you more afraid of your newborn.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Newborns are quirky little people.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: They have just spent nine months in a completely different environment.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And now every system in their body is adjusting.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: They sneeze, they hiccup, they breathe irregularly, they sound congested, their hands and feet can turn blue, they spit up, they startle, their lower lip can quiver.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Most of these little quirks are simply part of being brand new.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have never lived with a newborn before, every one of those things can look like a sign that something is wrong.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the time it isn't.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is why one of the biggest things I can teach parents is to slow down, look at the baby, not just the symptom.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: How are they breathing?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: How are they feeding?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: What does their color look like?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can comfort them.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, does this look like the baby you know?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because your baby gives you an enormous amount of information when you stop looking at one little sign in isolation.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want the short version, these are the five warning signs I want you to remember.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you see one, call your pediatrician.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: If your baby is working hard to breathe, call.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: If your baby is struggling to feed or refuses two feedings in a row, call.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you see blue lips and tongue, call.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: If your baby remains inconsolable after you have checked the basics, call.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: If your newborn has a fever, call.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: You do not need to figure out the diagnosis first.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: You do not need to prove that something is wrong.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you are not bothering a pediatrician by asking.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of taking care of a newborn.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is not to become the parent who never worries.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that exists.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to get better at knowing what deserves the worry.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because once you know that noisy breathing is different from breathing that looks like work and blue feet are different from blue lips and tongue, you can let go of a lot of the things that only look frightening.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And when something does cross that line, you know what to do.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if your baby does not have one of these warning signs, but they simply will not stop crying and you cannot figure out what they need.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Watch my video next on the five point checklist I use to figure out why a newborn is crying and what to try first.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because most crying babies are trying to tell you something much less frightening than what you are imagining.