Early symptoms of neonatal pneumonia

  Neonatal pneumonia is a common disease of the neonatal period and can occur before, during, or after delivery, and can be caused by pathogenic infections or foreign body inhalation, such as amniotic fluid, meconium, and milk. Early respiratory signs and symptoms of neonatal pneumonia are not obvious, especially in premature infants, making early diagnosis difficult and an important cause of neonatal death.  Early neonatal pneumonia usually does not have specific manifestations such as fever, cough, sputum, shortness of breath, etc. It may only manifest as poor response, not eating milk, or poor milk eating, choking and foaming at the mouth during milk eating, or in severe cases, cyanosis of the lips. Other manifestations are shortness of breath, accelerated breathing, nasal agitation, and in severe cases, the triple concave sign (marked depressions in the suprasternal fossa, supraclavicular fossa, and intercostal space), labored breathing, dyspnea, or respiratory depression. The doctor may not always hear rales in both lungs during the examination.  Parents should note that if the newborn appears to be breathing faster than normal newborns, is weaker, eats less milk, chokes, spits, has a stuffy nose, runny nose, coughs one after another, has an unstable body temperature, has obvious labored breathing, shortness of breath, wheezing, has an abnormal complexion, and is unresponsive, they must seek medical attention promptly.