Infant Quick List
Call your midwife, pediatrician, or family physician immediately if your baby has any of the following:
-
A fever is an infant under three months old is always a concern. Call your midwife or baby's provider immediately if you find that your baby has a temperature - do not wait until the morning. When reporting your baby’s temperature, be sure to tell the practitioner what method you used – axillary, temporal, or rectal.
- Axillary (armpit) temperature of 99.0 F (37.2 C) or higher
- Temporal artery temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher
- Rectal temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher
- If your baby’s chest pulls in sharply when she/he breaths, you hear grunting with each breath, or you see flaring nostrils: these are signs that the baby is having to work hard to breathe and should be reported to your midwife or baby's care provider immediately.
- If your baby becomes lethargic or difficult to arouse, becomes extremely irritable, or has an excessive, high pitched crying.
- If your baby does not have a wet diaper or a stool by 24 hours, call your midwife or baby's provider.
- If your baby develops redness around the cord area (some redness is normal due to irritation from diapers, etc.), or excessive bleeding when the cord falls off (enough that it stains the blanket the baby is lying on), call your midwife or baby's provider.
- If your baby turns blue in the face or the trunk any time, call your midwife or baby's provider immediately.
- Yellow skin during the first 24 hours is not normal. If your baby has yellow skin within the first 24 hours, call your midwife or baby's provider immediately.
- If circumcised: if there is discharge or the penis becomes increasingly red or swollen
