What is a gray baby syndrome, its causes and symptoms?

Every pregnant woman needs their child to be completely healthy. Therefore, you should get the perfect prenatal care from doctors without fail. Ensure that you have a healthy diet, regular exercises and avoid any alcohol or drugs. Sometimes, certain exposure to medicines can put the baby’s health at big risk. Always speak to your doctor before you consume any medicines. There are serious birth defects like gray baby syndrome that can be caused when you are taking the wrong medications.

Gray Baby Syndrome is a rare but extremely serious condition that can develop in children for up to age 2. It is caused by the side effects of chloramphenicol, which is a medication used for numerous infections like meningitis.The toxic level of these medicines is too high for an infant to handle which is why they are mostly banned from the medical world. Although, babies do not have any liver enzymes, which means their body cannot break down the toxins in a medicine properly. This can develop when you give your child too many antibiotics.

Symptoms:

The symptoms can go from vomiting, fever, headache, and body rash to severe ones like weakness, blurry vision, bleeding, anemia, infections and much more. There will be irregular heartbeats and green stool too which will turn the baby into a gray tone. They will seem weak and almost too dull to move at all. This is an alarming situation, and you should take quick actions when you see your child suffering. When you leave it untreated, the gray syndrome can also cause death in just a few hours.

Treatment:

The good news here is that you can treat it if you see the first sign quickly. It starts with medicines and avoiding breastfeeding to the baby. The doctor might keep your child under observation in some cases to give them doses accordingly. You need to keep your child hospitalized until and unless the doctor doesn’t give you a heads up.

Gray Baby Syndrome is a serious problem and if you see any kind of symptoms, head to your doctor immediately for help.