No matter how hard parents try to protect their children by providing regular well children’s care and teaching good hygiene, they can’t control when their child gets sick. Parents can manage a teenager who wakes up with a runny nose and a cough, but with very young children or very serious symptoms, what should you do? Here are some suggestions.

A child who is unresponsive, turning blue in the lips or fingernails, or having trouble breathing is obviously a true emergency. Call 911. Do not drive to the hospital yourself. You can’t support your child and drive, and you don’t have the equipment necessary to maintain breathing. In fact, if your child is unstable, an ambulance is your only good choice almost every time.

Of course, there are situations that are not so obvious. Your child is in pain, has a high fever, has an injury, or has an unusual rash. Where should you go? During office hours, you can call for an immediate appointment with your pediatrician, or your doctor’s office may be able to arrange a visit with a specialist. But what about after hours? Should you head for the nearest urgent care or the hospital’s emergency department? This is a trick question. The answer is always to call your pediatrician’s office first. You will get advice on dealing with your child’s problem that may not require leaving the house at all. Or you will be sent to the emergency department, and the hospital will get a call letting them know you’re coming. Or you will be told to call 911.

I could make a long list of emergencies and possible solutions, but the solutions that work best for you must be individualized. That’s why calling for advice is appropriate. I remember often hearing parents try to apologize for calling after hours, but I always tried to reassure them that we schedule physician availability by phone after hours with the expectation of being called. I used to say that if I didn’t want to be called so often, I could have become a dermatologist!

Robert B. Golenbock, MD, is currently retired. He has cared for children in the Danbury area for 43 years, including at the Center for Pediatric Medicine. The CPM is located at 107 Newtown Rd, #1D, Danbury, CT, 06810. For more information, please call (203) 790-0822 or visit their website at https://centerforpediatricmedct.com.