Red Flags And Red Alerts: When you should call the doctor

The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer
by Harvey Karp, M.D.

(Page 3 of 3)

Fortunately, most colicky babies aren't physically sick; rather they're sot of "homesick" - struggling to cope with life outside of Mama's womb. But, how can you know when your infant's cries are a sign of sickness?

Here's a primer of the ten red flag's that doctors look for to decide when a baby's cry signals illness, plus a review of the ten red alert medical conditions they may indicate.

The 10 "Red Flags" Your Doctor Will Ask You About

Whenever you're worried about your baby you should, of course, contact your doctor for guidance. And, when you do, it's likely he'll likely ask you these two questions to help him decide if your baby has colic or something more serious:

1. Is your baby growing well and acting normal in all other ways?

2. Is your baby calm for long periods of the day?

If the answer to either of these questions is "No", then your doctor will ask you how your baby acts when she isn't crying. He's looking for these ten red flags:

1. Persistent moaning (groans and weak cries that continue for hours)

2. Super shrill cry (unlike any your baby has made before)

3. Repeated vomiting or any green or yellow vomit (more than one ounce and more than five episodes a day)

4. Change in stool (constipation or diarrhea, especially with blood)

5. Fussing during eating (twisting, arching, crying that begins during or shortly after a feed)

6. Abnormal temperature (a rectal temperature of more than 100.2°F or less than 97.0°F)

7. Irritability (crying all the time with almost no calm periods in between)

8. Lethargy (a baby who's sleeping twice as long as usual, "out of it", or not sucking well over an eight- to twelve-hour period hours)

9. Bulging soft spot on the head (even when your baby is sitting up)

10. Poor weight gain (gaining less than a half ounce a day)

from Appendix B

The New Parent's Survival Guide:
The top ten survival tips for parents of new babies

Now that we've talked all about the baby's crying... let's talk about yours! All new parents know if you ask five people for their advice (not that people even wait for you to ask) you get ten different opinions. So, even though you didn't ask me for my opinion, here is my list of ten sanity-saving, survival tips to help you endure the challenges of your baby's first months a little more gracefully.

1. Trust Yourself: You are latest in the unbroken chain of the world's top parents

Leslie, still in bed with four-day old Gabriel, told me, "I'm usually such an optimist, yet I've had weird dreams of dropping him and leaving him places. My husband jokes that some special 'inexperienced-parent' alarm will go off when we take Gabee home from the hospital."

"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do."

— Dr. Benjamin Spock

If you're like most new parents, you probably alternate between feeling like a major league pro and an amateur. It's enough to give a person "parental whiplash". And, the conflicting advice given by many baby experts can deepen the confusion.

But, before you lose confidence, please remember this: You are part of an unbroken chain of successful parents that stretches all the way back to the beginning of time! You and your baby have survived because you are descended from the best mothers, most protective fathers and strongest children in the world! That's why Dr. Spock's advice to parents is so correct.

Trust your feeling. Relax and remember that all your baby really needs from you is milk and your nourishing love. And all you really need is patience, support, a little information, and perhaps a massage every once in a while.

Excerpted from The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D. Copyright © 2002 by Harvey Karp. M.D.. Excerpted by permission of Bantam, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Harvey Karp, M.D., has perfected his approach to crying babies during his twenty-five years of experience as a pediatrician and child development specialist. Trained by some of America's top pediatricians, including Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, in 1981 Dr. Karp received the prestigious Ehrmann Fellowship to study crying and colic. Dr. Karp is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine, with a private practice in Santa Monica. He is also a nationally renowned expert on children's health and the environment and an authority on breastfeeding. He lives with his wife and daughter in California.