Neonatal Sepsis

A baby is the jewel of a family, and every parent is heartbroken when their baby falls ill. There is a disease that often occurs in premature babies or newborns. That's sepsis. The main reason why newborns are susceptible to sepsis is that their immune function is not fully developed, which leads to the invasion of various pathogens. Of course, many newborns can also develop sepsis when bacteria enter through the mother's navel, skin or mouth before they are born.

What should be noted about neonatal sepsis is that newborns infected in the womb or during delivery usually develop symptoms within three days after birth, while newborns infected after delivery develop sepsis symptoms three days later.

The main manifestations of sepsis are fever, refusal to eat, lethargy and irritability in the newborn. The symptoms of premature and low birth weight infants are atypical, including refusal to feed, milk spilling, not crying, not moving, pale complexion, unstable body temperature fluctuations, and sometimes no temperature rise. Jaundice may worsen or subside and then reappear, the liver and spleen may be enlarged, and pneumonia and disseminated intravascular coagulation may often occur. Even septic shock may occur. In traditional Chinese medicine, it manifests as "evil poison invading the body" or "the poison in the sores turns yellow". The internal organs of a newborn are delicate, the body is not yet fully developed, the skin is thin and the flesh is brittle, and the defensive surface is not strong, so they are easily invaded by evil toxins. Evil toxins enter the blood and penetrate into the pericardium, and in severe cases, they may become internally blocked and externally collapsed, leading to death.

Parents should take care to maintain a stable body temperature when caring for a newborn with sepsis. If the body temperature is too low, take timely warming measures, place the baby in an incubator or take other effective warming measures. When the body temperature is too high, provide physical cooling and feed more water. In addition, nutritional supply must be ensured. In addition to oral feeding, intravenous nutritional supplementation should be considered based on the patient's condition to maintain fluid balance and promptly correct water, electrolyte, and acid-base metabolism disorders.

Parents should not be sad or angry at this time. Choosing the right care method can relieve the pain of the sick child, and actively cooperating with the doctor's treatment will also help the baby recover soon. Therefore, parents who accompany their children should know more about the symptoms of sepsis, observe the newborn's spirit, appetite, breathing, body temperature, etc., and notify the doctor in time if any abnormalities are found.