Mother and Baby: When Do You Need to Take Your Child to the Doctor?
1. Parents have a tendency to take their baby to the doctor
any time that they have a fever, in most cases this is not
necessary. Fevers are actually fairly common in babies so it
is not something that you need to worry about too much
unless there are other symptoms to go with it. The
exceptions to this would be if the fever is over a hundred
degrees or if the baby is less than three months old. In
those cases it is usually best to take them to the doctor.
While a fever is not normally a reason to see the doctor
there are other signs that you should watch for that may
be indicators that you need to take your child to see their
doctor.
2. The most obvious sign that you may need to take your
baby to see their doctor is if there is a change in the way
that they cry. If the sound of their cry changes and
becomes either weaker than normal or more high pitched
it is a sign that there may be something wrong and you
will want to take your baby to see their doctor. If he starts
to cry more than normal and you find that he can't be
comforted in the ways that usually work it is also a good
sign that he may be sick and needs to be taken to see his
doctor.
3. Another good sign that it may be necessary to take your
child to see his doctor is if there has been a change in his
temperament. You should be able to tell if your baby is not
acting like his normal self, if this is the case then it may be
because he is sick. Babies are just like anybody else they
tend to not be their normal selves when they are sick. If
you spot a change in their temperament it is your babies
way of telling you that something is wrong.
4. One other indicator that you are going to want to watch
for to determine if you will need to take your baby to the
doctor is his appetite. You do have to be careful with this
one however. Most babies will have changes in their
appetites from day to day, there will be times when they
are hungry and times when they aren't. It is really only a
concern if there has been a dramatic change, particularly if
they are not eating at all. In this case you will need to take
him to the doctor, otherwise it is probably not necessary.
