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Sexual crisis in newborns
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The sexual crisis in newborns is a symptom of changes in the skin, skin glands, genitalia and some other systems that are caused by the action of maternal sex hormones. Such changes are characteristic for children in the first twenty-eight days of life and are transient conditions of newborns. Mums first need to know about the main signs in order to prevent complications in time.
Causes of the sexual crisis in newborns
The term "crisis" means any sharp change in the body, the cause of which is not so important, but the manifestations can be very diverse. So in the body of a newborn child, in connection with his birth, many changes take place to adapt to the external environment. An important role in this is played by hormonal changes that directly depend on the mother's body.
During pregnancy, for a normal fetal development, it is necessary that there is a sufficient amount of estrogens and progesterone, regardless of the sex of the child. This is necessary for the development of the genitals, but also for the bookmarking of many glands and their normal function. Therefore, during pregnancy, the level of maternal hormones increases to provide both the mother and the fetus. The action and amount of these hormones may be inadequate, then there may be threats from the fetus. Excess sex hormones can also give clinical manifestations in the form of a sexual crisis.
Therefore, the main reason for any manifestations of sexual crisis in a child can be considered exactly the influence of the sex hormones of mother during pregnancy. They are synthesized by both the adrenal glands, and the ovaries, and the placenta and affect many organs of the child. Therefore, after birth, the baby can have some manifestations from the genitals, skin, mammary glands. This is considered quite normal and does not require any medical measures.
But the sexual crisis does not manifest in all children, and only 76% of all newborns have similar changes. Therefore it is necessary to allocate groups of risk concerning this pathology in order to know about the possibility of such manifestations and to calm my mother in time.
If the pregnancy was pre-planned, then hormonal screening is carried out and if the problems are detected, hormone levels are corrected. In such cases, with a planned pregnancy, no problems usually arise. The risk group includes women who have miscarriage or a threat of miscarriage, which requires external intervention. The reason for this condition in most cases is the lack of sex hormones of the mother for implantation of the embryo and normal blood circulation. Therefore, when a threat is carried out additional hormone replacement therapy. If the amount of such therapy exceeds the norm, the hormones act on the baby and cause the appearance of symptoms. Women with concomitant pathology also belong to the risk group. If there is a late gestosis, it can also cause the appearance of symptoms of a sexual crisis.
In any case, this physiological phenomenon and complications can only occur with concomitant secondary infections. Therefore, you need to know the manifestations of not only normal symptoms, but also possible complications.
Symptoms of the sexual crisis in newborns
Symptoms of sexual crisis can manifest immediately after birth or some time after birth. If the amount of hormones is high, then the manifestations can still be in utero and they manifest immediately after birth. The first signs can be already in the first week of the child's life, and should decrease by the end of the first month.
Symptoms can be very different and depend on organs that are affected.
One of the manifestations of the sexual crisis is an increase or engorgement of the mammary glands. Features of the effect of estrogen in utero on the fetus is that the milk ducts and the number of muscle fibers increases under their action. This is accompanied by an increase in the gland in size, its engorgement. Such a process is considered a physiological engorgement of the mammary glands and does not require any action. At the same time, the child's appetite is preserved, the sleep is not disturbed, it adds weight, the stool is normal, and there are no signs of intoxication. The increase in mammary glands in newborns and their engorgement occurs gradually, usually from two sides. This increases the breast evenly to three centimeters. This swelling of the breast is not accompanied by redness of the skin and it does not bother the child. If you try it with your mom's hands, then such a tightening of the baby's breast is not dense, even and the child does not scream and react when palpating. Allocations from the mammary glands in newborns can be in this case in the form of a serous clear or slightly whitish liquid. Such symptoms are not characteristic for the disease, but for the normal process of sexual crisis in a child, which can develop in all children. This process does not last more than two weeks, and by the end of the first month of life all these symptoms are gradually passing.
Milia is one of the symptoms of a sexual crisis that occurs when an increased effect on the fetus of sexual hormones. This is accompanied by a blockage of the glands of the sebaceous duct and a violation of the secretion outflow. This phenomenon begins in the first week of the child's life and during the second and third week everything must pass. This is manifested by the appearance on the face of points of white-yellow color, they are localized more often on the cheeks and forehead. Such points do not itch, do not hurt or break the general condition of the child. There is also no rise in temperature, which indicates a physiological flow of the process.
Increased genitalia and spotting from the vagina - this is also a manifestation of the sexual crisis in girls. Often mothers complain of vaginal discharge from the girl, which may be on the third day after birth. They can be white or yellow, or bloody. Sexual organs can also increase in such a way that the small labia extends beyond the large ones, and the impression is edema. But this is not so, if such changes do not disturb the state of the girl. In any case, it's better if the doctor consults you. But if it appeared in the first week of life of a newborn child, then, if all the rules of child care are followed, infection can be ruled out. Therefore, the main cause of such symptoms is the physiological effect of sex hormones.
If the discharge is white, then it is desquamative vulvovaginitis. This condition occurs when, under the action of hormones, the upper layer of the epithelium of the girl's vagina slides and this is accompanied by similar secretions. They are usually a small amount and this may have the appearance of white discharge on the labia itself. They are odorless and light in color. This indicates a normal reaction to hormonal imbalance in the mother during pregnancy.
Complications and consequences
The consequences of a sexual crisis go away without a trace, unless of course there are secondary complications. Among such complications, infection can be most often accompanied by improper care or excessive intervention. Then can develop furunculosis of the skin or phlegmon, which for such a small child is already threatened with serious consequences. Complications of engorgement of the mammary glands can be caused by infection and the formation of purulent foci in the form of purulent mastitis.
The very process of sexual crisis is not so serious as its complications. Therefore, it is important to prevent such complications in the first place. And prevention is very simple - it is important not to interfere in the normal process of change and simply take care of yourself, like a healthy child. In this case, the prognosis for the complete disappearance of the symptoms is very favorable and by the end of the first month everything should disappear.
Diagnostics of the sexual crisis in newborns
Diagnosis of sexual crisis in newborns should be carried out in the first place in order to exclude pathological conditions. Therefore, in any state of health disorders of a newborn child that bothers your mother, you should always consult a doctor. If the condition is physiological, then no additional studies are needed. After all, any invasive intervention at this age is undesirable.
Differential diagnosis
Differential diagnosis of sexual crisis should be conducted primarily with those conditions that can cause similar, but pathological symptoms. The first differential sign is a violation of the general condition of the child. If a child has a fever, or if he refuses his chest, cries or fits, then when symptoms appear on the part of the genitals or mammary glands, one should think about possible complications. If the child had breast engorgement and everything was fine, but suddenly he began to lose weight or to give up his breast with a shrill cry, you need to think about the disease. Often the disease develops at the end of the first month of the child's life, when the physiological swelling should pass, then the infection can join and mastitis develop. Mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland in a baby, which equally happens in girls and boys. Therefore, physiological engorgement, as a manifestation of the sexual crisis, must first of all be differentiated with mastitis. Mastitis externally has distinctive features: reddening of the skin, increased local and systemic temperature, acute disruption of the child's condition.
Speaking about bloody discharge from the vagina, differential diagnostics should be carried out between the sexual crisis and the hemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Here the main role is played by the number of secretions, which is minimal when the crisis is critical, and when hemorrhagic disease manifests itself, massive bleeding, including from other organs.
To differentiate milia is necessary with infectious lesions of a skin of a different etiology. But with infectious diseases, rashes are accompanied by persistent skin changes, there may be a formation of bullae or pustules, which is visually clearly visible.
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Treatment of the sexual crisis in newborns
Treatment of a sexual crisis under normal physiological conditions is not required, because after two weeks the amount of hormones in the child's body decreases and the symptoms themselves disappear without a trace. But you need proper care for the skin and the sexual organs at this time. It is necessary to perform all hygiene measures the same as before. The skin of the child should always be clean, dry, without tight clothing or rubbing. At the appearance of milia - you just need to bathe your child daily in boiled water without additional special procedures and medicines. Such points can not be squeezed out or something to do with them, then there will be no complications. If the girl has vaginal discharge, then it is simply necessary to wash the genitals more often with boiled water without additional means.
Proper care of the baby's skin and prevention of complications is the best treatment that can be of this kind.
Speaking of medicines, their use can be only if there are strict indications, for example, when purulent complications appear. When mastitis is also used surgery.
The sexual crisis in newborns is very often detected, especially in healthy babies born in their own time. And this is not a pathology, does not require treatment, if it is physiological manifestations. But the first symptoms of a violation of the general condition of the child are an indication of a doctor's consultation, and only he can calm his mother and give advice on caring for the child.