Hello,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
You seem to be going through a lot of stress with your child. Please calm down. All these phenomena are completely normal till the age of 6 months in every child. I believe this must be your first child and that is why all the confusion.
Normal things that every first parent worries about are as follows:
1. The child may have occasional coughing and sneezing, which does not affect feeding at all. This is normal for first 6 months and so, no treatment required.
2. The child may pass stools 10 to 15 times per day or once in two to three days. This is normal for first 6 months.
3. The child may cry just before passing stools or just before passing urine, but not during the act.
4. Color of stool is not important per say. Only warning color signs in the stool are the red and lemon white.
5. The child may have occasional eye discharge without any red eyes. You just need to give nasolacrimal massage occasionally as the nasolacrimal duct is small in neonates. No other treatment required.
Warning signs in a child are,
- Lethargy all the time.
- Complete refusal to feed.
- Convulsion.
- Abdominal distention with recurrent vomiting and no passage of stools at all.
- Yellowish discoloration of skin.
Important things to take care in every child are as follows:
1. Exclusive breastfeeding every 2 hourly. Even if the child is sleeping, wake up the child and feed at night. Empty one breast completely before shifting to the other breast as both foremilk and hindmilk are important for the baby.
2. Avoid top feed with formula as much as possible. However, if you feel it is absolutely necessary if breast milk is insufficient, then you can give.
3. Avoid bottle feeding at all times as the nipple is responsible for causing infections how much ever you boil it. Use a small spoon instead of feeding after you make the formula feed in the bottle.
4. Till 6 months only mother's breast milk is sufficient. Weaning with mashed foods can be started after 6 months.
5. Avoid giving crushed hard substances like almonds till the age of 2 years as they may get lodged in the trachea and cause complications.
6. Weight is an excellent measure whether the child is getting good nutrition. At age of 6 months weight of child is double the birth weight, at 1 year it is triple birth weight and in 2 years it is 4 times.
So, your child is apparently normal as per your history and the torture you have gone through. Please take care of yourself as your stress will lead to lesser production of milk, which will eventually affect the child.