Health Information
Abdominal Pain
- Pain below the rib cage
- Call immediately if pain severe, patient is unable to walk, pain is in lower right abdomen, fever is greater than 103, vomiting is severe or yellow, blood is in the stool. If on a weekend, please go to the ER for work up. Dr Nassar will be called if admission required.
Asthma
- May present as wheezing (whistling sound with breathing), labored breathing, fast breathing, severe coughing.
- Follow the action plan discussed with your physician. If there is no improvement after breathing treatments or if you are out of medication, call to be seen immediately. If on a weekend, please go to the ER for treatment. If your child requires admission, Dr. Nassar will be called.
Bottle Feeding/Breast Feeding
- Newborns and infants should be feed infant formula or breast milk till age 12mos. Feeds generally will be every 1-2hrs at birth and then will space to 2-3hrs within the first few weeks and space to 3-4hrs in the later months. Please discuss with Dr Nassar the appropriate amount of feeds specific to your baby by age and weight.
- Breast feeding will generally be 10-15min on each breast per meal. Please see appropriate sections for feeding problems such as vomiting, diarrhea.
Chest pain
- Chest pain can be caused by coughing, reflux, vomiting, asthma, and rarely by cardiac (heart) problem.
- Call immediately if your child appears ill, has a change in color, has difficulty breathing, or if chest pain is recurring. Go to ER if on a weekend and symptoms are severe.
Colds
- Colds are caused by a variety of viruses. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, cough, congestion, runny nose, fever, chills. Colds can last up to 7days. Most colds can be managed symptomatically. Antibiotics do not help colds. Do not use over the counter cold medications if your child is under 4yo. If symptoms do not resolve within a few days, or if fevers are greater than 103, please call us to make an appointment. We recommend your child be seen if colds last longer than 1 week due to complications which could include ear infection, sinusitis, pneumonia, ect.
Constipation
- Constipation is a decrease in frequency of bowel movement from the normal in your child. It is also usually accompanied by an increase in consistency (“hard stools”).
- Constipation in infants can usually be treated with 2-3oz of juice (apple, prune, or apple prune) once a day until stooling.
- Please call us if there are no BMs within 5 days, or if your child is complaining of abdominal pain, has pain with defecation.
Diarrhea
- Diarrhea is an increase in bowel movements and fluidity of stools from normal.
- It is important to note that breastfed babies and infants will have frequent loose stools that appear “yellow and seedy”. This is normal.
- Diarrhea is most commonly caused by viruses such as the rotavirus. These viral diarrheas will resolve on their own and usually don’t require any treatment. Please watch for signs of dehydration such as dry, sunken eyes, dry lips, decreased urine output. Supportive care includes bland diet (no sweets or sugars), increase in starchy foods (baked potatoes, mashed potatoes). Bland foods such as rice, soups will help. Try to increase fluid intake with hydrating agents such as pedialyte, infalyte, and in children older than 3 you may use Gatorade/ PowerAde.
- Please call to make an appointment if diarrhea lasts more than 1wk, if there are any signs of dehydration, if there is blood in the stool, or if fevers are greater than 103.
- On rare occasion, diarrhea may be caused by bacteria or parasites such as Giardia. Please see us if diarrhea lasts more than one week so that we may test for these causes.
Earache
- Earache is pain or discomfort in or around the ear. Earache may be caused by Otitis Media (inner ear infection), Otitis externa (outer ear infection, or swimmer’s ear), or may be caused by a foreign body placed in the ear. Many older patients with sinusitis may also complain of ear discomfort, pain, or loss of hearing.
- All patients presenting with earache should be seen as soon as possible as many of the causes of earache may require antibiotic treatment.
Eye Redness
- Eye redness usually is caused by bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye), viral conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis, or foreign body.
- All eye redness cases should be seen as soon as possible to rule out any of the above diagnoses, to begin treatment as soon as possible and to discuss school clearances. If it is found that there is a more severe problem, you will need to be seen for referrals to eye specialists.
- If symptoms occur on a weekend and are severe, or if there is any loss of visual acuity or visual fields, please go to the ER immediately.
Fever
- Fever is a temperature greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius.
- Fever can be caused by viruses (colds, bronchiolitis), bacteria (ear infection, sinusitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infection), or inflammatory changes such as autoimmune diseases (Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, ect.)
- Fever is the body’s normal response to different types of infection. If the fever causes discomfort or is too high (>102), you may use Tylenol (acetaminophen), Motrin (Ibuprofen), or Aleve (Naproxen) to help lower the temperature.
- If your child is under 2mos with a fever, please go immediately to the ER for admission. All children under 2mos of age with fever will be admitted to the hospital for workup and IV antibiotics.
- Please do not give home antibiotics to your child with fever without being seen by a doctor. Use of home antibiotics can increase resistance of bacteria, and can make many situations worse. Antibiotics will not help cold symptoms and will not bring down fevers.
Genital pain
- Genital pain can be caused to injury, infection, abnormal growths, hernias, abuse, or testicular torsion (twisted teste).
- We recommend for all cases of genital pain to be seen immediately. Waiting on a case of testicular torsion, for example can be devastating.
- If you suspect any sexual abuse to your child, please proceed to the El Paso Children’s Hospital Emergency Room immediately. El Paso Children’s Hospital is the designated hospital with appropriate nursing to handle a suspected abuse case. Please go as soon as abuse is suspected as the farther out in time you are, the less likely anything will be caught on exam.
Head injuries
- Head injuries can be caused by blows to the head, falls, ect.
- If your child is under 6mos and falls greater than 3 feet, please come in immediately. If on a weekend please proceed to the ER.
- If you have an older child with a sports injury, call us immediately if there was any loss of consciousness, vomiting, unresolving headache, loss of visual fields, confusion, slurred speech, change in mental status “acting weird”.
Teething
- Most infants will have first teeth by 9mos. Some may begin with tooth eruption as early as 4mos and as late as 14mos.
- Infants can become irritable with teething.
- Use towel with warm water to rub and massage the gums up to three times a day to help soothe teething pain. Cold teething rings are also helpful.
- If pain is severe, some Tylenol can be helpful. Do not use in children under 2mos without discussing with Doctor.
- We do not recommend use of oragel or teething gels as those meds have many side effects.
Urinary Pain
- Pain with urination can be burning, itching, ect. Many instances are caused by urinary tract infections (UTI). These can be accompanied by fever, abdominal pain, vomiting.
- Please do not treat with home antibiotics. If you suspect your child may have a UTI, please come in or go to the ER so that a urine sample may be obtained to test for a UTI. If you start treatment with home antibiotics, this will mess up a urinalysis test.
Vomiting
- Vomiting can be caused by reflux in babies, gastroenteritis (stomach virus), colds, flu, ear infection, throat infection, appendicitis, pyloric stenosis.
- All children with vomiting more than 2 days should be seen in the clinic or ER.
- Look for signs of dehydration: dry and sunken eyes, dry lips, decreased urine output. If any signs of dehydration, please contact us immediately or proceed to the ER.
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USEFUL LINKS
We thought we would put together a short list of Websites that we felt were of value to you and your children. We hope you enjoy them and look for more to come.
HEALTHCARE SITES:
American Academy of Pediatrics: You and Your Family
Centers for Disease Control: Traveler’s Health
Children’s Nutrition Research Center
General Education and Growth Information
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
ASTHMA SITES:
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
National Asthma Education & Prevention Program
CAR SAFETY: