- From the time day of birth till the 28th day we can term the kid to be a “newborn” baby. Newborn babies’ body temperature in mother’s womb tends to be a little more than the mothers body temperature. As soon as the baby is born, their body temperature starts dropping from 1 centigrade to 1.5 centigrade. The newborn is tightly wrapped and covered and is made to sleep with the mother, they are given kangaroo care or kept in the incubator so that the newborns temperature can be kept under control.
- If elder kids are suffering from fever, as the temperature increase they start sweating and the body starts turning cold. When they start shivering and feel cold you will see as soon as the temperature increase with the shivering they start feeling less cold. This process does not happen in the case of Newborns.
The babies who are born at preterm or are underweight at the time of birth, the brain which controls the body temperature is also underdeveloped. The proportion of fat in the newborn babies is also minimal. Hence the main area of concern in the newborn babies is not high fever but is that their body shouldn’t turn cold.
- When the newborn baby is in the learning process of breastfeeding, generally on the 2nd or the 3rd day you will notice a drop in the body weight by 5% and their body temperature is much warmer than it was at the time of birth. This fever is called the “Dehydration Fever”. This fever stays till the 5th or 6th As soon as the frequency of breastfeeding increases, the baby starts urinating frequently and this type of fever subsides as well.
- In addition to this, in summer season or whenever the baby comes in contact with hot things they might catch fever. You might come across cases where the baby’s skin has got burnt due hot water bath, or is caused due to the electric heater or lamp in the maternity hospitals. When the baby is kept in the warmer or is given the phototherapy, we need to make sure that the proper body temperature is maintained.
- The viral and bacterial infections like navel infections, formation of abscess in any part of the body, small boil oozing out puss or urinary tract infection all these can also be the cause of fever in the newborn.
- Fever is not a type of a disease but it’s a sign or you can say it is a symptom. However you will notice that till the newborn turns 1 year old, their forehead, palms, feet are a little warmer than the rest of the body parts and that generallydoes not imply that the baby has fever. You should use the thermometer to check if there is fever and along with that you also need to identify if there are any symptoms of infections accompanied with fever. Few major symptoms of infection which can be considered are:-
- Deep and fast breathing
- Puffed up nostrils
- Deep gap in between the chest while breathing
- Stops taking feeds
- Continuous crying
- Dullness
- Body look frail or purplish in color
- Elated bulge on the head
- The body temperature increase at first and then suddenly becomes cold.
- The unfailing and the best procedure to measure the correct temperature of the newborn baby is through their anus i.e. the core temperature. If the temperature is take from the anus till 100 degree Fahrenheit the body temperature is considered to be normal. While taking the temperature you need to make sure that the thermometer should not be pushed more than 2 cm inside and it should be kept for 10 minutes.
But as this method is not very convenient to be followed at home, generally the second method i.e. to keep the thermometer under the armpit of the patient is followed. In this case if the body temperature is above 99 degree Fahrenheit than it is considered that the patient has fever.
The electronic thermometer is considered safer in today’s times than the old glass thermometer. People use the thermometer which records the temperature by inserting in the ear or they put cloth strips on the newborns head to measure the temperature, please note that the temperature recorded by both these methods are of total uncertainly and not at all precise.
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