Question
A newborn baby over ten days old is showing signs of fever, and the parents are worried it might be pneumonia. What are the symptoms of neonatal pneumonia?
Answer
The symptoms of neonatal pneumonia are quite different from those of pneumonia in older infants, especially in newborns within the first two weeks of life. Neonatal pneumonia usually does not present with typical symptoms such as fever, coughing, and sputum production. Therefore, parents need to carefully observe the baby’s condition. If the baby exhibits the following symptoms, they should be alert and consider the possibility of neonatal pneumonia: refusal to breastfeed or easy choking while feeding, poor mental state, drowsiness, vomiting white foam, abnormally low body temperature or no increase, generally between 35-36℃, and even stronger babies may develop a fever.