Problems most commonly encountered in childhood

The baby cries constantly. During the first month of life, the baby usually cries without tears. The baby's mother seems to learn to recognize the different meanings of this crying: irritability, hunger, pain (in the latter case, the crying is usually higher-pitched). But in practice, this is quite difficult to do. There is hardly a difference between crying from hunger and from thirst, so you can only find out why the baby is crying by trial and error. Feeding the baby at strictly set time intervals is most likely the main reason for the crying of a newborn - the baby is simply hungry and "asks" to be fed. If this requirement of the baby is not met, he falls into a crying fit with bursts of piercing screams.

Three-month colic. Almost every evening the baby screams shrilly and kicks its legs upwards, although otherwise healthy. The cause is often unclear, and usually nothing helps, although you can try giving dill water, dimethicone (not to be given if the baby is less than a month old) or pipenzolate; sometimes this brings relief. The only thing that should reassure parents is the certainty that all this will soon pass by itself and without any consequences.

The baby does not fall asleep. The baby may not fall asleep because of hunger, pain, discomfort, intestinal colic and, rarely, night terrors. If no cause can be established, but some treatment seems necessary, try to give alimemazine syrup sometimes (up to 3 mg/kg of body weight orally, if the child is over 2 years old). Night terrors are not nightmares, since they do not occur in connection with the phase of sleep accompanied by rapid eye movements, i.e., with the "REM" phase. In this case, the child wakes up frightened, as if with hallucinations, and it is simply impossible to approach him. If these night terrors (in sleep) have acquired some kind of stereotype, try to wake the child before such a night terror occurs.

Vomiting. Regurgitation without any effort on the part of the baby during feeding is quite common. Vomiting between feedings is also not uncommon, but if it is repeated frequently, the cause must be established. The causes may be: gastroenteritis, pyloric stenosis, congenital hernia of the diaphragmatic opening of the esophagus (in this case, mucus with possible admixture of blood is found in the vomit) and, rarely, a pharyngeal "pocket" or duodenal obstruction (in this case, there is a lot of bile in the vomit). To establish the cause of vomiting, it is important to observe the process of feeding the child; if vomiting is gushing (through the foot end of the crib), then pyloric stenosis should be assumed.

Diaper rash, or "nappy rash." There are four possible causes of this condition.

1. Ammonia dermatitis: very common, characterized by erythema, flaky rash that does not affect skin folds. The term is rather incorrect, since it is caused by the fact that the baby's skin in these areas remains moist for a long time, and not by ammonia (this is due to the activity of microorganisms that break down urea). The only thing that needs to be done in such a situation is to change diapers more often (which must be rinsed well), gently dry the skin and apply a softening cream. Tight rubber pants should not be used. Disposable diapers can be very useful at night.
2. Candidal dermatitis (thrush): yeast-like fungi can be isolated in almost half of all cases of "nappy rash". A characteristic feature of such a rash are "satellite" spots along the edge of the rash. The exact diagnosis is mycological. Treatment: cream with nystatin or clotrimazole [±1% hydrocortisone ointment (e.g. Nysta-formHO)].
3. Collection eczematous dermatitis is characterized by the appearance of a diffuse red shiny rash that extends to skin folds. It is often accompanied by other manifestations of collection skin changes, for example, the rash also appears on the back of the head ("cradle cap").
4. Psoriasis-like rash: These are isolated red plaques covered with silvery scales. Treatment is difficult. Things to avoid: boric acid, topical fluoride steroids (they are absorbed and have a systemic effect); oral antifungals (hepatotoxic); and gentian violet (it stains diapers, so mothers avoid using it).

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