Many things can affect how your body responds to a symptom and what kind of care you may need. These include:

• Your age. Babies and older adults tend to get sicker quicker.
• Your overall health. If you have a condition such as diabetes, HIV, cancer, or heart disease, you may need to pay closer attention to certain symptoms and seek care sooner.
• Medicines you take. Certain medicines, herbal remedies, and supplements can cause symptoms or make them worse.
• Recent health events, such as surgery or injury. These kinds of events can cause symptoms afterwards or make them more serious.
• Your health habits and lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits, smoking, alcohol or drug use, sexual history, and travel.

Certain health conditions and medicines weaken the immune system’s ability to fight off infection and illness. Some examples in children are:

• Diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and congenital heart disease.
• Steroid medicines, which are used to treat a variety of conditions.
• Medicines taken after organ transplant.
• Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer.
• Not having a spleen.

What you are looking for is a change in your child’s usual bowel habits.

• Diarrhea means that the child is having more stools and looser ones than usual.
• Constipation means that the child is having fewer stools than usual.

Every baby and child has different bowel habits. What is “normal” for one child may not be normal for another. In general:

• Many newborns have at least 1 or 2 bowel movements a day. By the end of their first week, they may have as many as 5 to 10 bowel movements a day. They may pass a stool after each feeding.
• By 6 weeks of age, your baby may not have a bowel movement every day. This usually isn’t a problem as long as the baby seems comfortable and is growing as expected, and as long as the stools aren’t hard.
• By about 4 years of age, it’s normal for a child to have as many as 3 bowel movements a day or as few as 3 a week.

Anywhere in these ranges can be considered normal if the habit is normal or usual for your child.

Babies can quickly get dehydrated when they lose fluids because of problems like vomiting or fever.

Symptoms of dehydration can range from mild to severe. For example:

• The baby may be fussy or cranky (mild dehydration), or the baby may be very sleepy and hard to wake up (severe dehydration).
• The baby may have a little less urine than usual (mild dehydration), or the baby may not be urinating at all (severe dehydration).

You can get dehydrated when you lose a lot of fluids because of problems like vomiting or fever.

Symptoms of dehydration can range from mild to severe. For example:

• You may feel tired and edgy (mild dehydration), or you may feel weak, not alert, and not able to think clearly (severe dehydration).
• You may pass less urine than usual (mild dehydration), or you may not be passing urine at all (severe dehydration).

Severe dehydration means:

• The baby may be very sleepy and hard to wake up.
• The baby may have a very dry mouth and very dry eyes (no tears).
• The baby may have no wet diapers in 12 or more hours.

Moderate dehydration means:

• The baby may have no wet diapers in 6 hours.
• The baby may have a dry mouth and dry eyes (fewer tears than usual).

Mild dehydration means:

• The baby may pass a little less urine than usual.

Severe dehydration means:

• The child’s mouth and eyes may be extremely dry.
• The child may pass little or no urine for 12 or more hours.
• The child may not seem alert or able to think clearly.
• The child may be too weak or dizzy to stand.
• The child may pass out.

Moderate dehydration means:

• The child may be a lot more thirsty than usual.
• The child’s mouth and eyes may be drier than usual.
• The child may pass little or no urine for 8 or more hours.
• The child may feel dizzy when he or she stands or sits up.

Mild dehydration means:

• The child may be more thirsty than usual.
• The child may pass less urine than usual.

Symptoms of serious illness in a baby may include the following:

• The baby is limp and floppy like a rag doll.
• The baby doesn’t respond at all to being held, touched, or talked to.
• The baby is hard to wake up.

Symptoms of serious illness may include:

• A severe headache.
• A stiff neck.
• Mental changes, such as feeling confused or much less alert.
• Extreme fatigue (to the point where it’s hard for you to function).
• Shaking chills.

If you’re not sure if a child’s fever is high, moderate, or mild, think about these issues:

With a high fever:

• The child feels very hot.
• It is likely one of the highest fevers the child has ever had.

With a moderate fever:

• The child feels warm or hot.
• You are sure the child has a fever.

With a mild fever:

• The child may feel a little warm.
• You think the child might have a fever, but you’re not sure.

A baby that is extremely sick:

• May be limp and floppy like a rag doll.
• May not respond at all to being held, touched, or talked to.
• May be hard to wake up.

A baby that is sick (but not extremely sick):

• May be sleepier than usual.
• May not eat or drink as much as usual.

Temperature varies a little depending on how you measure it. For children up to 11 years old, here are the ranges for high, moderate, and mild according to how you took the temperature.

Oral (by mouth), ear, or rectal temperature

• High: 104° F (40° C) and higher
• Moderate: 100.4° F (38° C) to 103.9° F (39.9° C)
• Mild: 100.3° F (37.9° C) and lower

A forehead (temporal) scanner is usually 0.5° F (0.3° C) to 1° F (0.6° C) lower than an oral temperature.

Armpit (axillary) temperature

• High: 103° F (39.5° C) and higher
• Moderate: 99.4° F (37.4° C) to 102.9° F (39.4° C)
• Mild: 99.3° F (37.3° C) and lower

Note: For children under 5 years old, rectal temperatures are the most accurate.

An illness plan for people with diabetes usually covers things like:

• How often to test blood sugar and what the target range is.
• Whether and how to adjust the dose and timing of insulin or other diabetes medicines.
• What to do if you have trouble keeping food or fluids down.
• When to call your doctor.

The plan is designed to help keep your diabetes in control even though you are sick. When you have diabetes, even a minor illness can cause problems.

It is easy for your diabetes to become out of control when you are sick. Because of an illness:

• Your blood sugar may be too high or too low.
• You may not be able take your diabetes medicine (if you are vomiting or having trouble keeping food or fluids down).
• You may not know how to adjust the timing or dose of your diabetes medicine.
• You may not be eating enough or drinking enough fluids.

Blood in the stool can come from anywhere in the digestive tract, such as the stomach or intestines. Depending on where the blood is coming from and how fast it is moving, it may be bright red, reddish brown, or black like tar.

A little bit of bright red blood on the stool or on the toilet paper is often caused by mild irritation of the rectum. For example, this can happen if you have to strain hard to pass a stool or if you have a hemorrhoid.

Certain medicines and foods can affect the color of stool. Diarrhea medicines (such as Pepto-Bismol) and iron tablets can make the stool black. Eating lots of beets may turn the stool red. Eating foods with black or dark blue food coloring can turn the stool black.

If you take aspirin or some other medicine (called a blood thinner) that prevents blood clots, it can cause some blood in your stools. If you take a blood thinner and have ongoing blood in your stools, call your doctor to discuss your symptoms.

Many prescription and nonprescription medicines can cause diarrhea. A few examples are:

• Antibiotics.
• Antidepressants.
• Antacids.
• Proton pump inhibitors, such as omeprazole (Prilosec) and lansoprazole (Prevacid).
• Medicines used to treat cancer (chemotherapy).