Four Hard-To-Spot Conditions Your Baby Can’t Tell You About May 15, 2010

We worry when our babies are sick and for good reason.

They can’t tell us what’s wrong so our fears are left unchecked. To make matters worse, symptoms that we would easily recognize in older children and adults are often different in babies.

Here’s your chance to learn about the most common medical conditions that are difficult to spot in children younger than 2, and help your pediatrician make the right diagnosis.

Type I Diabetes

The early signs of type I diabetes often mimic symptoms of common illnesses like the flu or can even be mistaken for healthy, thriving behavior. Parents are likely to consider increased thirst and appetite a great sign that healthy growth is proceeding as it should. More frequent urination can also be chalked up to a side effect of that “growth spurt.”

Children with type I diabetes are often tired, but then again, most babies are. And what about the fruity-smelling breath that’s another sign? Parents are likely to delight in that. Lastly, your child will not be able to alert you to the blurring of her eyesight.

The best way to diagnose type I diabetes may be the proactive step of requesting a blood sugar or urine sugar test before your suspicions are aroused. Even if your baby begins showing more serious signs of type I diabetes, they can often be misdiagnosed with pneumonia or gastroenteritis leaving the diabetes untreated which can cascade out of control leaving your baby in the intensive care unit.

Keep an eye out for the early warning signs and note any changes in your baby’s behavior. Type I diabetes does not run in families so you can not use that as a predictor. Most of the time, no known relative has the disease.

Head Injuries

If you see your baby fall and then later develop vomiting, that’s an undeniable sign of a brain trauma which needs medical attention. New research reveals most children with head trauma should not receive an immediate CAT scan but should be watched closely. However, head injuries accompanied by vomiting should at least be looked at by a doctor.

But what if you don’t see your baby hit her head? What if it happened while a caregiver was watching her while you were at work and you were not notified? Vomiting can be quite normal for young children. What you want to look for are changes in your baby’s pupils, lethargy, sensitivity to light, increased emotional displays, confusion and whether or not your baby continues to move normally.

No one knows your baby better than you, if you suspect she’s just not herself and displaying a combination of the above symptoms, tip your doctor off that a head injury should be considered.

Epilepsy

Think epilepsy is a no-brainer diagnosis? Think again. In babies, symptoms are different. A common type of seizure in young children involves nothing more than staring.

It can appear as if your baby is just zoning out. The key factor is whether or not you are able to snap your baby out of it. If you can snap your fingers and she responds, then that is normal.

However, if nothing distracts her from the staring behavior, a neurological examination is likely a good idea. If you can, video tape the staring behavior so your doctor can have as much information as possible with which to make the diagnosis. Use a phone video camera if necessary, even a short video can help immensely.

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Kids with pertussis cough so hard they can vomit. However, the characteristic whooping sound is rare in babies younger than 6-months-old which makes their symptoms look very much like those of pneumonia, asthma, croup or a viral upper-respiratory infection.

To make matters worse, babies with pertussis may not even cough at all and babies younger than 6 months are the most at risk of serious complications from pertussis.

Signs of serious pertussis are enough to send any parent to the emergency room, but it does not have to get that far. The best way to protect your baby from pertussis is for you and all other caregivers to get a booster vaccination.