Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: Assess the Severity of Your Symptoms
• Part 2 of 3: Assess the severity of the injury
• Part 3 of 3: Prepare Yourself and Others

If a child is injured or sick, it is difficult for parents to cope with their emotions and objectively assess the situation. It is not easy to decide whether to immediately call a doctor, urgently take the child to the emergency room, or you can observe the child's condition for some time. In order to make an informed and reasonable decision in such a situation, it is worth knowing in advance what symptoms of illness or injury require an urgent visit to a doctor. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to distinguish between signs of serious illness and symptoms that do not threaten your baby's health and well-being. However, remember that it is always necessary to listen to your intuition: if you doubt the seriousness of the situation, it is better to play it safe and call a doctor than to be careless and overlook the real danger.

Attention:this article is for informational purposes only.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Assess the Severity of Your Symptoms

1. 1 If you are in doubt about how serious the situation is, it is best to see a doctor. Are you afraid to look stupid calling the doctor when your child has a light runny nose or a slight fever? Would you be embarrassed if your doctor told you that there is no cause for concern with such minor symptoms? When your baby's health is on one side of the scale and your fear of being ridiculous is on the other, the choice is obvious.
   • Most pediatricians and nurses understand that parents (especially the parents of the first-born) often call a doctor or consult by phone on any, even the most insignificant, occasion. If a person is worried about the health of his child, he has the right to count on support and understanding from the district pediatrician and nurse. It is unlikely that you want to go to the doctor again, who expressed dissatisfaction that you bother him for nothing.
   • It is useful to arm yourself with the knowledge of which signs and symptoms indicate a serious illness or dangerous injury, and which indicate a little malaise of the baby. Ask your doctor for a good book or website recommendation.
2. 2 Pay attention to the rise in body temperature. Most pediatricians agree that fever - by itself, without additional symptoms - is not yet a reason for panic. After all, it is the body's natural response that helps the immune system fight infection. However, be careful not to miss other symptoms of the disease that require urgent medical attention.In addition, it is best to seek immediate medical attention for children under one year of age or for babies who have febrile seizures when their temperature rises.
   • Newborns (up to three months) are a special case. If a newborn has a temperature of 38 ° C or higher, call a doctor or medical attention immediately.
   • If your child is three months to three years old, call your doctor right away if the temperature rises above 39 ° C and only drops briefly when you gave your child an antipyretic. You should also consult a doctor if the temperature is above 38 ° C for more than three days.
   • If the child is over three years old, you should immediately seek help if the temperature rises above 39.5-40 ° C. If the fever does not subside within three days, it is worth calling the clinic and calling the pediatrician.
3. 3 Check for general symptoms of the disease. Parents of young children quickly learn that diarrhea, vomiting, wet sneezing, coughing and many other physiological signs are not always associated with the disease. Of course, any of them can be a symptom of a rather serious illness that requires urgent medical attention, but sometimes you just need to wait and observe these symptoms in dynamics. Consider the following list of signs to watch out for:
   • Dehydration. Frequency of urination is one of the best ways to determine if you may be dehydrated. Infants and young children should urinate at least every six hours; older children should urinate at least three times in 24 hours. Call your doctor if your urinary frequency is lower than normal and you notice signs such as dry lips, skin, or mouth; dark yellow urine; weight loss; disruption of the lacrimal glands; sunken skin on the face and fontanelle.
   • Vomit. By itself, vomiting several times in a day or two shouldn't bother you too much. However, you should see your doctor if vomiting worsens or is accompanied by abdominal pain, diarrhea, if the vomiting is green or bloody, or if you have symptoms of dehydration.
   • Diarrhea. Don't worry if your child has loose stools once or twice a day, especially if the child has eaten foods that have a laxative effect. Be sure to call your doctor if diarrhea is accompanied by vomiting, fever, blood in your stools or if you have more than six loose stools a day. See your doctor if symptoms worsen, signs of dehydration appear, or diarrhea persists for five to seven days. Especially carefully you need to monitor the condition of babies up to a year, so as not to miss signs of dehydration.
   • Cold, or ARVI. An acute respiratory viral infection, commonly referred to as the common cold, lasts an average of 10 to 14 days. The fever usually occurs within the first 3-5 days, and the cough and runny nose may continue for another 7-10 days. If the disease has not passed during this time or is accompanied by pain in one or both ears, shortness of breath, lack of appetite and general weakness, it is worth calling a pediatrician. Also call a doctor or go to the clinic if, after a few days of illness, the baby began to feel better, the temperature dropped to subfebrile (37.0-37.5 ° C), and then began to rise again, and the symptoms of the common cold returned.
   • Congestion in the lungs. Call your doctor if the baby has difficulty breathing, for example, you see the skin between the ribs being pulled in, or if the baby is unable to suckle or eat from a bottle due to breathing problems. Medical assistance is necessary if it is not just a frequent, but almost non-stop cough that suffocates.
   • Otitis media (ear inflammation). Ear pain is often a sign of inflammation (otitis media). Children get otitis media quite often, and if the pain is not very severe, the doctor may recommend topical treatment and pain relievers.If the pain gets worse, the temperature rises, and pus or other fluid comes out of the ear, see a doctor as soon as possible. Sometimes the child is still too young to say what exactly hurts him. If your baby has a fever, is restless and cries, check for otitis media. Press down gently on the ear trag and watch the child's reaction. If your baby cries or you notice fluid is coming out of the ear, call your doctor right away.
4. 4 Use the Anxiety Scale to assess your symptoms. This scale was developed at Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana, USA. With its help, you can assess whether it is worth worrying when a child shows one or another symptom of the disease. Traits can be classified into one of three categories. For "Hopeful" symptoms, wait, for "Alarming" symptoms, call a pediatrician, and "Serious" symptoms require immediate medical attention.
   • Outward signs: a clear and attentive look (hopeful sign); sleepy, dull, indifferent look (Warning sign); empty glass look (Serious symptom).
   • Crying: sounds normal (O); whining, whining (T); weak, moaning (C).
   • Activity level: normal (O); restless or sleepy (T); wakes up with difficulty, no interest in the game (C).
   • Appetite: normal (O); takes food, but eats / drinks little (T); refuses to eat / drink (C).
   • Urination: normal (O); rare and / or with dark yellow urine (T); scanty, child's face and eyes look sunken (C).

Part 2 of 3: Assess the severity of the injury

1. 1 Vigilance is never superfluous. As mentioned above, if you are not sure how serious the injury is, it is better to play it safe and seek medical help. If you use information from this article and other sources, you can more confidently assess your child's condition. However, rely on your own common sense and intuition first.
   • For some wounds and injuries, the need for medical attention is obvious. In other cases, such as some head injuries, symptoms may not appear immediately. Monitor your child closely after the injury. If after some time symptoms of malaise appear or the child becomes worse, you need to call an ambulance or take the child to the emergency room yourself.
2. 2 Cuts and bleeding. Every child can get scratched or cut, and in most cases such small wounds can be treated at home with soap, water, and clean bandages. In the case of serious wounds accompanied by profuse bleeding, the health and sometimes life of the child depends on how quickly he will be provided with medical assistance. If the wound does not look very dangerous, but still differs from the usual abrasion or cut, parents need to decide whether to seek medical attention and how urgently it is necessary to do it.
   • Cuts and wounds. Call an ambulance or take the child to the nearest emergency room yourself if the wound is too deep, its surface is too large for bandaging, and if the bleeding does not stop after fifteen minutes, even with pressure on the wound. Medical attention is needed if the edges of the wound are torn or diverging, or if dirt gets into the wound. Always seek help if your child has a large or deep wound on the face.
   • If you notice that symptoms of infection, such as swelling, discharge of pus or a specific odor, appear at the site of skin damage, contact a specialist immediately.
   • Bleeding from the nose. See your doctor if bleeding recurs several times during the day. If bleeding is profuse, try to stop the bleeding yourself. To do this, sit the child, ask him to tilt his head forward a little, insert a cotton or gauze swab into the nostril and press on the nostril from the outside to clamp the bleeding vessel.If it is not possible to stop the blood within fifteen minutes, you should immediately seek medical help.
3. 3 Burns and rashes. Although the causes of burns and skin rashes differ, doctors recommend using the same approach to assess the severity of a child's condition.
   • See your doctor if burns or rashes cover more than a small area of ​​skin, fluid-filled blisters form on the affected area that burst and "get wet." Medical attention is also required if the skin of the face or genitals is affected.
   • In both cases, symptoms may not fully appear immediately. Check your skin condition as often as possible in order to notice changes in time, including signs of an associated infection.
4. 4 Fall injuries. In most cases, the severity of the injury can be assessed immediately after a fall, including the intensity and duration of the pain. The exception is head injuries, in which dangerous symptoms may appear some time after a fall or injury.
   • Call an ambulance or take the child to the emergency room yourself if the child is experiencing severe pain in an injured limb (leg, arm, hand, foot) or her mobility is impaired. A doctor's help is necessary if there is a large bruise or bump at the site of the injury, as well as in the case of swelling of the injured area.
   • If an infant falls, go to the emergency room, even if there are no visible signs of injury.
   • It is also recommended to see a doctor if the child has fallen and there are signs of injury, or if you are aware of the fall but cannot determine from what height the child fell or what part of the body it hit.
   • If the child falls or bumps his head on something, watch for any of the following symptoms: headache, disorientation, unreasonable fatigue, nausea or vomiting, blurred vision, and other signs of concussion. If in doubt, it's always best to play it safe and take your child to the emergency room.
   • If your child has passed out after a head injury, you need to call an ambulance immediately. If the child has vomited more than twice or the headache gets worse, you should also see a doctor.

Part 3 of 3: Prepare Yourself and Others

1. 1 Keep important phone numbers close at hand. Write down all important phone numbers in advance and place a sheet with these records near the telephone set. It will be helpful to save these numbers on your mobile phone. By preparing important contacts well in advance, you won't have to rush to find them if your child gets sick or injured. If your child is being looked after by a nanny or grandmother, make sure they have all of these important phones at hand, as well as your phone number.
   • Write down important phone numbers: ambulance, emergency room, clinic registry, pediatrician and insurance company number (if you have a VHI policy). Make sure these numbers are saved on your mobile phone, as well as on your nanny's or grandmother's.
   • Ideal if your child is looked after by someone familiar with the basics of first aid. In any case, you should have a quick directions brochure handy.
2. 2 Make a list of alarming symptoms for which you need to urgently call a doctor. Print the list and place it in a prominent place. Call your doctor right away if your child has any of the listed symptoms. List of alarming symptoms:
   • Discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes (severe pallor, bluish complexion, areas around the lips or nails; yellowish skin or whites of the eyes)
   • The body has become unusually flexible or, conversely, constrained
   • One or both eyes are red, swollen, or oozing pus
   • The navel skin turns red and painful (in newborns)
   • High fever with a rash
   • The child has a bleeding bite from a dog, cat, or other animal
   • Difficulty breathing, swallowing, sucking, eating, or speaking
   • Blood in stool or vomit
   • The child does not stop crying for a long time, he cannot be reassured
   • Child refuses to eat
   • Extreme weakness and fatigue in a child
   • Any type of seizure that causes seizures
   • Prolonged loss of consciousness (the child fainted, has an epileptic seizure, etc.)
   • Strong headache
   • Discharge from the nose with an unusual color, foul odor, or blood
   • Earache
   • Loss of hearing
   • Blood or other uncharacteristic fluid leaks from the mouth or ears
   • Vision changes, eyes ache from light
   • Loss of mobility or pain in the neck
   • Severe sore throat, uncontrolled salivation
   • Rapid breathing or wheezing that does not get better with asthma medication
   • Severe cough, coughing up blood, cough that does not stop for a long time
   • Very severe stomach pain
   • Bloating
   • Pain in the lower back or when urinating, frequent urination
   • Unusual color, odorless, or very dark urine
   • Joint pain or swelling, redness not caused by injury
   • A cut or scrape that shows signs of infection (redness, pus discharge, tenderness, swelling, or hot skin in the affected area)