Common Health Problems Babies Have - Personal Experience

Every baby that I gave birth to had their share of common baby health problems.  If anyone says, "My baby never had any problems." Simply put, they either forgot or are in denial so as to appear like they had the perfect baby.  The word "problems" sounds negative and no parent wants anyone to think that their baby had any health problems.  Whether minor issues or major problems, babies aren't like those ones who appear on television always smiling while lying peacefully on their backs moving their legs around and wiggling their toes.  Crying is inevitable and when babies cry they are telling anyone around, "I have a problem and I need you to solve it."

I had four sons and each one had one problem that stood out and needed to be addressed.  Their baby health problems were temporal and didn't last long.  However, I noticed that there were more health woes the first two had who were born on the east coast as compared to my other two who were born on the west coast.  The climate did play a part in their bodily changes.  For instance, with the first two I was concerned about bringing them out in cold weather and the other two I was cautious about taking them out in the year round sun for long.  Each one had their share of colds, coughs, fever, and vomiting depending on what the cause might have been. 

1) Colds

I found that they had less colds as babies, but all had more colds once they got outdoors more often and were around other children particularly in daycare and school.  Us parents also got more colds too when they were old enough to attend school.  We treated their colds with baby over-the-counter medicines.  However, when symptoms lingered such as a bad cough or a fever that didn't seem to go away, off to the doctor's we went to get a prescription.  Humidifiers were common in our household.  They helped with stuffy noses and the dry air in the winter time produced from the furnace.

2) Coughs

These showed up due to seasonal changes and sometimes lingered during and after a cold.  I also noticed that if they were around smokers, they would cough more.  This is why their father and I didn't let them visit relatives who smoked frequently.  Even though they would go in another room or outside to smoke, the children were still negatively impacted by the smoke traveling throughout the vents and window screens of their homes.  We rubbed babies' chests with vapor rub made for babies.  We used humidifiers and air purifiers just in case the coughs were also occurring due to any environmental allergies.

3) Fever

Sometimes vaccinations caused a mild fever, other times they might have been dressed too warmly or out in the hot sun too long.  A cold, pneumonia, sore throat or ear infection would also bring on a fever.  Out of all of my sons, one had a serious health problem related to fevers when he was a toddler.  His fevers would cause seizures.  I talked about fibral seizures on this blog.  This would happen unexpectedly at least a few times a year until he was five.  He had been seen by doctors and his father and I were instructed on what to do when this would happen.  We would remove his clothes down to his undergarments, place a cold ice pack on his forehead, and give him infant Tylenol to bring down his fever.  The other boys rarely had fevers as babies, but when they did, children's infant and children's Tylenol were always in the medicine cabinet along with a thermometer that would be placed under their arms to get their temperatures.  Sometimes there were warning signs with all the boys that something was different about them prior to us discovering they had fevers such as: not being as active, sleeping more, frequent whining, bodies were warmer than usual, and their foreheads would perspire.  

4) Vomiting

When the babies vomited it usually involved something they ate.  Starting a new food, new formula or when they started table food was typically the culprit.  I also was very guarded about people holding my baby, because I saw how other parents handled their babies such as bouncing them or tossing them up into the air.  I also saw when those babies would end up throwing up later too. When one of my sons were a toddler, he suffered due to pizza he ate earlier while healing from a cold.  His stomach wasn't quite ready for the red sauce.  Another boy experienced the same thing as a toddler.  We learned as they are healing from colds better to serve light meals rather than the typical favorite foods.  After the babies vomited we kept them upright, because just in case they vomited again we didn't want them to choke on it while lying down.  We gave them water or Pedialyte once they settled down.  

There were more things we did when they experienced the above.  The medical websites were our go to and we spent time putting in key phrases in the search engine like, "what to do when a baby..."  We now have a tween, a teen, a high school graduate, and a twenty-something young man now.  All of the boys are doing well.  I strongly believe how you care for the babies early on in life has a lot to do with how healthy they will be as they get older.  Healthy meals, exercise, vitamins, and being cautious who the babies are around will make a difference and will lessen some of these common baby problems.