Symptoms
The symptoms of a baby cold are similar to those of an adult and so the diagnosis can usually be easily made based on the symptoms. Babies are also plagued by coughs, rhinitis, fever and sore throat. The lymph nodes under the armpits, on the neck or in the back of the neck can also swell.
This swelling is usually harmless and usually goes down on its own after the disease has subsided. For babies, the swelling of the mucous membranes caused by a cold is enormously stressful, since even a slight swelling in the small nose causes an enormous narrowing of the airways. Breathing or even drinking at the breast is enormously stressful for the baby and not infrequently it even overstrains the baby and they cannot drink enough and remain hungry.
In the case of fever, temperatures above 38°C should be taken as a sure warning sign of illness, whereby the normal range of body temperature is between 36.5°C and 37.2°C, depending on the time of day. Temperatures up to 38.5°C are called elevated temperatures, and fever is considered to be present at all temperatures above that. In babies under three months of age, the reaction should start at 37.8°C.
Temperatures above 39°C are rare in the case of a cold and should rather make you think of a real flu, an inflammation of the middle ear or another disease requiring treatment. Fever is a normal and physiological reaction of the body to an infection. To fight viruses or bacteria, the immune system releases so-called interleukins.
These are messenger substances that attract defence cells to the site of the infection. However, a certain messenger substance in the brain also causes the body’s target temperature to rise. Normally this is around 36.5 degrees Celsius.
However, the messenger substance can now raise it to 38 degrees or even higher, for example. Typically, a chill then develops as a result. By raising the target temperature, the body is suggested to be hypothermic.
To counteract this state, the muscles begin to tremble, which leads to heat build-up in the body. Vomiting is a symptom that can be caused by a cold, for example by a coughing attack. However, parents should be vigilant.
Does vomiting occur especially after meals? What is the color of the vomit? As long as the baby’s general condition does not deteriorate noticeably, vomiting need not be a cause for concern.
Only if drinking behaviour also deteriorates or the baby is no longer able to absorb more fluid than is vomited should a doctor or hospital be consulted to prevent the baby from “drying out” by administering fluid intravenously. It can be difficult to distinguish diarrhea from normal bowel movements, especially in babies whose main food is breast milk, as normal bowel movements can be very soft and fluid anyway. Changes can be more easily recognized by the color and smell of the stool.
As a rule, diarrhea is caused by a lack of water reabsorption in the intestine. The causes can be manifold. During a cold, however, the baby is most likely to drink more.
The pathogens that cause the common cold can also spread in the intestine and hinder the intestinal mucosal cells in the absorption of water, so that more fluid remains in the intestine and thus also in the stool. In principle, there are two main explanations for this described symptom of a cold, but they have different consequences. The more harmless explanation is the narrowing of the tear duct.
Normally the tears are drained into the nose through a small channel in the inner corner of the eye. In the presence of a rhinitis, the swelling of the mucous membrane in the nose can lead to a thickening of the mucous membrane within the lacrimal duct, preventing the tear fluid from draining away. In this case, children’s nose drops can cause the swelling to subside, clearing the canal again.
The adhesions can be washed out with a compress or cotton swab and warm water. The more critical possibility is the presence of conjunctivitis.The baby may have rubbed viral mucus into its eyes, which leads to an infection, and in the case of conjunctivitis, bacteria may also be involved. As a rule, however, the eye is then also severely reddened. In the latter case, the pediatrician should be consulted in any case, who can prescribe appropriate eye drops or eye ointments.
