Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sick Basti

Is this the picture of a boy who is sick of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection?

Last Saturday, we noticed that Basti was wheezing either while feeding or just breathing. Not the asthma-type wheeze but cold-type wheeze.We used the aspirator to suck out some phlegm from his nose and thought that the wheezing sound and phelgm was due to his sinuses being irritated when milk dripped from his nose.

Putting him to sleep at night was also becoming difficult. Everytime we would put him down on his crib, he would instantly wake up and start crying again. Sunday night, I was up until 2AM because Basti did not want to settle down. I ended up tucking him between Leo and me on our bed which made me not sleep well as I was half-conscious all the time (I was scared that I might roll over him).

Monday morning, we noticed that his left eye was "nagmumuta". He couldn't open his left eye because of the dried mucus.We thought that he must've hit his eye with his mitten which somehow irritated it. He would also be coughing once inawhile which added to my worry. Leo and I decided to bring him to his pedia today to find out what was wrong with him.

Dr. Clemente said that Basti doesn't look sick as his appetite hasn't suffered and he even gained weight (he's now 4.5 kilos from 3.5 kilos at birth 3 weeks ago! He also grew 2cm and is now 54cm in length). When he heard Basti's breathing, he immediately pulled out an asipirator and sucked out the mucus from Basti's nose. I cringed while he was working on Basti, moreover when I heard my son's cries. But hearing how his breathing improved afterwards made it worthwhile.

He diagnosed Sebastian with Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. We don't know where or how he got it as no one has a cold at home. In fact, my throat and Leo's only started hurting after Basti got sick. The doctor said we really can't tell where he got it as it's in the air (it's viral after all).

As for his left eye, it was mucus seeping out from his sinuses. Since he doesn't know how to blow his nose, the mucus is finding its way out of his body. Dr. Clemente did not want to give antibiotics yet (Thank God!) and just prescribed saline drops to decongest Basti's nose. In case his temperature rises, he also prescribed Paracetamol and an ointment for his eye in case it gets irritated. He asked me to text him the next two days to update him of Basti's condition. In case it gets worse, we'll bring him in again or he'll prescribe antibiotics.

At least we now know what's wrong with him and have the right tools to put help him cope. It's just sad that he got the infection quite early (he's only 3 weeks old!) but the doctor said that it does happen. I'll continue to breastfeed him and hope that my antibodies will be sufficient to help him through this.

6 comments:

Norrie Blackeby said...

Great--no antibiotics yet. The more he relies on his immune system the better. As you said it hasn't affected his appetite which is excellent. He's a bonny lad (as they say in Scotland). I hope he gets ovet this soon--you also take it easy and take care of your health.

A. S. Chua said...

kawawa naman... few weeks old lang, aspirator na...
Jen and I have been using the aspirator on Aaron whenever he catches colds. So far twice pa lang sya nagka-sipon. And we literally had to pin him down to suck out the mucus... parang torture session nga... nakaka-awa... but his breathing always clears up afterwards.

JC Sobejana said...

ganyan din si maddie noon. nagmumuta ang eyes sabi ng doc hindi daw kase nadevelop ang tearduct nya sa eye na yun but it will be normal daw basta imassage ko lang ang tearduct nya. dun sa affected eye sa may side ng ilong istroke ko daw ng lengthwise. i did that several times a day and it worked. later i found out na hindi na sya nagmumuta. normal daw yun sa mga NB kase.

Rene David said...

I remember when you were Bast's age you turned blue and you couldn't breath. Your nanny. Aling Lety, has to suck mucous out of your nose using her mouth. Walang aspirator sa bahay nun kasi.

mommy cess said...

i hope basti is better today. glad to know he's gaining.
raymond used his mouth too, just like your yaya. yung aspirator namin di masyado effective, i don't know, baka di kami marunong gumamit. pero raymond prefers to do it "the old way" kasi mas mabilis ang resulta =)

Aileen Apolo said...

Iba na talaga ang panahon ngayon kaya andali magkasakit ng mga bata. I hope he's fine now =)