Smiley Baby

Parents need to know the difference between sinus infection and upper respiratory infection

Filed under: Baby health — Alan @ 4:53 pm

When a young child is ill it can be hard to tell if they are suffering from a sinus infection or from an upper respiratory infection, but it is important to know the signs of both so that you can make sure that they get the appropriate aid.  Signs of a sinus infection in a young child usually include a stuffy nose, coughing, a runny nose, crying in infants for no apparent reason, and a fever.

What is tricky is that upper respiratory infections often have the same symptoms although the mucus in the nose will slowly turn green or yellow and the rest of the symptoms will be accompanies by fatigue and headache. Most of the time an upper respiratory infection will run much longer and affect the child much worse, lasting anywhere from five to seven days and getting much worse before it starts to show signs of getting better.

It is important, however, for parents to know that green or yellow mucus does not always mean that the infection is bacteria based which is a common misconception because not every condition should be treated with antibiotics, otherwise a child can develop a resistance to this type of medication..

If a child is found to have a bacterial sinus infection than most of the time he or she will be given antibiotics that have been found useful for treating sinus infections, with the treatment course dependent on the age, size, and period of the sinus congestion.

It is important to realise that not all sinus infections need treatment with antibiotics and sometimes it is up to the parent to question if a child really needs a course of treatment, or if it would be better simply to let their own immune system battle the infection.

Male preemies in more danger than females

Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 9:18 am

In the case of premature births in which children are born before the mother reaches the 37^th week, newborn girls have a better chance of survival and less defects than newborn boys.

In a dissertation at Sweden’s Lund University, Emma Elsmen Steen explored why male babies have a higher risk factor for death than their female counterparts.

There are many complications present in preterm birth including brain haemorrhaging, low blood pressure, cognitive handicaps, and lung immaturity.  The more premature a child is born, the higher the risks, especially before the 28^th week of pregnancy.

Steen stated in her dissertation that it is a well known fact that boys are a higher risk than girls which is something she wanted to explore to see the development process in the womb.

To complete her study Steen researched over 200 premature births finding that boys were in fact often prone to more complications during the initial period following birth.  She found that often boys had lower blood pressure and were more likely to have chronic lung disease.

In another study males were found to have a greater risk of pregnancy toxaemia, infection, loss of amniotic fluid or excessive amniotic fluid.

Steen proposed that in the same way that preeclampsia affects mothers with girl foetuses early in pregnancy, there may be another disease that is not yet identified that primarily affects mothers with boy foetuses causing the premature birthing problems.

Ultimately, Steen drew the conclusion that premature boys face a higher morbidity rate because they mature later in the foetus lifespan than females.

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