Baby health is sensitive, and it requires special care from the time they are born. As your baby’s immune system is not fully mature like an adult's, your baby may get infected easily. There is a wide range of infections that babies suffer from, including common flu, eye conjunctivitis, diaper rashes, and various fungal infections. You can consider consulting a baby doctor in Siliguri to address these infections in your baby.
However, with some important habits, you can defend your baby’s health from a lot of infections. Your baby tends to catch viral or bacterial infections easily, and it can affect their overall well-being. If not treated on time, certain infections can be life-threatening, such as a brain infection. Take care of your baby’s tender health by incorporating valuable habits in daily life.
Also read: How to Transition from Bottle to Cup?
Look At Some of the Common Infections Among Babies
As a parent, protecting your child’s health probably tops the priority list. As babies grow, their immune system is yet to develop, being able to protect from various infections. Your baby can suffer a diverse range of infections, which can affect their overall well-being. However, newborns are more susceptible to various illnesses, making it essential for parents to stay well-informed about the infections.
Below are some common infections in babies:
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Common Flu:One of the most prevalent infections among babies is the common cold or flu. It affects the nose and throat, leading to a runny or stuffy nose. Your baby can get a common cold by coming in contact with other persons infected with the same issue, as their immune system is still not ready to fight off common infections. You can experience your baby sneezing, coughing with mucus, fussiness, not willing to eat and having trouble sleeping due to a common cold.
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RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus: This is one of the major causes of viral infections among children. RSV generally causes the common cold, but it can also infect the lungs and breathing passages, creating breathing issues in babies and young children. You may notice some symptoms in your baby, such as a stuffy and runny nose, sore throat, mild headache, cough, fever, not willing to drink or eat and a feeling of illness.
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Gastroenteritis or Stomach Flu: This infection affects the stomach of your baby. Stomach flu is different from common flu or influenza. Though some of the symptoms can be common, such as cough, sore throat, runny nose, other symptoms include constipation, belly cramps, diarrhoea, muscle aches, chills and fever. This infection can lead to loss of fluids from the body. Most of the kids recover with proper rest and fluids, but in severe cases, hospital care becomes essential.
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Fungal Infections: One of the most common infections among babies is fungal infections resulting from yeast or tinea (ringworm). Your baby can develop diaper rashes caused by yeast called candida. This fungus grows in warm and moist places, and wearing a wet diaper for a long time makes babies susceptible to diaper rashes. Ringworms are also common fungal infections among babies that appear as itchy, red, scaly patches, often ring-shaped, in various places in the body.
- Pneumonia: Pneumonia is a common and serious infection in babies affecting their lungs, causing inflammation of the air passages. Viruses like RSV can cause most of the Pneumonias in kids, involving symptoms like fever, cough, chills, fast breathing, difficulty in breathing, chest pain, vomiting, etc. Treatments of pneumonia depend on the cause, such as bacterial or viral causes. Newborns and premature babies are more likely to be infected with pneumonia, requiring prompt medical attention.
- Hepatitis B: This infection is primarily transferred from mother to baby during delivery. If newborns are infected with Hepatitis B, they can develop jaundice, lethargy, disruptions with growth and weight, swollen abdomen. It is known that choric infection in early life can increase the risk of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer in later life.
Learn How You can Safeguard Your Baby from Common Infections
As your baby’s immunity is underdeveloped compared to an adult, you need to follow some valuable habits to protect their health from common infections, such as:
- Get Regular Vaccinations: Vaccination is crucial to prevent severe illnesses in babies and young children. Make sure you get your child immunised with routine vaccinations. For babies, hepatitis B, rotavirus, tetanus and pertussis are some early vaccinations that your paediatrician schedules.
- Keep Them Away from Infected People:To completely prevent your baby from infections may sound impossible. However, keeping them away from people who are ill and have cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose, sneezing and generally unwell, you can protect your baby.
- Give Them a Clean Environment: Maintaining cleanliness in their surroundings is one of the best ways you can protect your baby from infections. Keep their toys, highchairs, and eating places clean and germ-free with anti-bacterial cleaners that are safe around children. You can get expert help to learn newborn infection prevention tips.
- Maintain Hand Hygiene: To reduce infection chances in your baby, you must follow regular hand hygiene. Wash your hands regularly, and use sanitisers when touching or feeding your baby. Parental hygiene plays a crucial role in protecting babies from various infections.
- Keep Their Environment Smoke Free: Smoking not only harms the smokers but also those around them. Babies and younger children are more susceptible to the effects of smoking. It can seriously affect their fragile lungs with tobacco smoke, also it can worsen their illness in young babies. Even if you never smoked, secondhand smoke can also cause harm to a baby’s health. Keep your baby away from the environment with smoking to safeguard their gentle health.
Final Remarks,
By incorporating the above-mentioned habits in life, you can reduce the risk of common infections in your babies. However, preventing all kinds of infections may not be possible with these, but you can significantly diminish the risks of infections in babies. Keeping in mind that your baby’s immune system is still developing and is vulnerable to many infectious diseases, you can watch out for the risk factors.
Although mild infections in babies are cured with general care but severe infections like bronchiolitis, meningitis (inflammation of brain tissues), and pneumonia can be dangerous if not treated on time. You can consult a Baby Doctor Siliguri to manage common infections in your baby.
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