Question
The newborn was born 12 days ago. Just now, I counted the breathing rate during the afternoon nap, which was about 50 times. The usual feeding quantity is about 60 milliliters, but today, several times when feeding, the baby fell asleep while eating and could only consume about 30 milliliters each time. There is almost no coughing, burping occurs during diaper changes, and today, the baby sleeps longer than usual. I am worried whether the newborn might have pneumonia.
Answer
Symptoms of newborn pneumonia include fever or body temperature not rising, refusal to breastfeed, rapid breathing, flaring nostrils, cyanosis, spitting up, and tracheal retraction. Normally, the breathing rate of newborns is 40-44 times per minute. If the breathing rate reaches 50 times as described, it is slightly faster. Moreover, due to the reduced feeding quantity and the tendency to fall asleep while feeding, accompanied by poor mental state and mouth secretions, it cannot be ruled out that there may be aspiration pneumonia.