Baby Ears Need Extra TLC
Jessica Gately's pregnancy was normal, but the delivery was complicated, resulting in an emergency caesarean section. During 16 hours of labor, Jessica developed a fever of 101F. The doctors worried that it was a sign of infection, and informed Jessica that her baby, once born, would be whisked to the neonatal intensive care unit for immediate intravenous antibiotics in case the baby had developed an infection. Jessica would also need antibiotics. A neonatologist told Jessica that when newborns are at risk for an infection, possibly meningitis, the treatment is an antibiotic they can be confident will work fast and well gentamicin, a known ototoxin.
Baby Max showed no indication of any problems upon arrival and after 24 hours, all tests confirmed that there was no infection. Max was discharged to the well-baby nursery when he was two days old. During Max's newborn hearing screening, the technician explained to Jessica that since Max had been given the genatmicin, he would need a follow-up screening at three months. And, while the risk of hearing loss is rare for a newborn like Max, who was only on gentamicin for a couple of days, babies who are on gentamicin for a few weeks or months especially those who receive increasingly larger doses are at higher risk of developing a hearing loss from the medication. They should be sure to go for follow-up hearing screenings at three-month intervals through their first year of life, then annually until they reach school age and have access to school hearing screenings. Early detection makes a world of difference in language acquisition and overall learning.
While Jessica knew that the risk for Max was slim, she made sure that he had his hearing tested at the recommended interval. It was normal a happy beginning for Max and family.
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