One of the greatest concerns for any new parent has to do with the baby waking during the night. Obviously, any new parent wants to ensure their child is safe, comfortable, not hungry, calm, and so on but what if the baby is not waking simply for the normal reasons. If you have a new baby at home, you need to remind yourself that your child will need to eat every two to four hours. Therefore, if the feeding schedule is such, chances are things are fine. However, some things you should pay attention to as well.
For instance, if you notice your baby crying as if in pain or drawing the knees up to the chest, it could be a sign of colic or constipation. Additionally, if your baby begins to show signs of restlessness, cries and no matter what you do he/she will not stop, or if the baby has never slept well from day one, we highly recommend you contact the pediatrician to make certain everything is okay. It could be something minor but it would be better to check than to just let it go.
Usually, when a baby starts waking up in the middle of the night, it would be connected with something such as ear infection, urinary tract infection, or perhaps teething. For an ear infection, you would generally see yellow or green mucus from the eyes and or nose, as well as the baby tugging on the ear. In addition, sometimes the outer ear will be red. In this case, the baby should be seen by the doctor but in addition, make sure you dry the baby’s ears well after a bath, which could help.
For a urinary tract infection, this could be caused from a number of things although allowing the baby to stay in a wet or dirty diaper, along with improper cleaning could be the problem. Another possibility for your baby waking in the night is GER, which is reflux typically caused by an allergy to the milk or formula. Many times with a milk/formula allergy, the baby will have projectile vomiting and gas. In most cases, working with your doctor on a different type of food will generally solve the problem.
If you have an older baby and you notice red or scratch marks around the anus, it could be pinworms. While this might sound disgusting, parasites do occur. In this case, you would likely see very small, thin white works in the stool. You would need to contact the doctor to get your baby on the proper medication to kill the worms. For colic, experts believe the baby is overly gassy and therefore in pain. Again, if you notice your baby passing gas, pulling his or her knees to the check, or crying without stop or for extended periods, talk to the pediatrician.