15 lessons on prevention and care of common childhood diseases

Covering the 15 most common types of childhood discomfort, 90% of common cases can be dealt with scientifically at home by parents. There is no need to rush to fever clinics for several hours at the slightest sign of trouble, nor do they need to stock up on a cabinet of Internet-famous children's medicines. As long as the nursing principles and the red lines of medical treatment are accurate, there is no need to be overly anxious.

I have been working in pediatric clinical nursing for 8 years. Last year, I held a public welfare science class in the community for half a year. I contacted nearly 2,000 families and saw too many unnecessary panics. Last week, a mother rushed to the emergency room at 3 a.m. with her 3-year-old baby in her arms. She even lost one of her shoes. When the temperature was measured, it was only 38.2°C. The baby was still snoring in her arms. In fact, this is the core of fever care: there is no need to stick to the dead line of 38.5℃ to give antipyretics. If the baby can eat, play and is in good spirits, physical cooling can be observed at 39℃. If the baby is so weak that he is not even interested in his favorite cartoons, he can also give some medicine to relieve discomfort at 38℃. Oh, by the way, there are indeed different opinions in the industry about the choice of antipyretics: one group believes that using ibuprofen or acetaminophen alone is enough, but using them alternately can easily lead to miscalculation of the dosage and problems. ； The other group believes that if a single medication has poor fever-reducing effect, it is completely feasible to use it alternately under the guidance of a doctor. There is no absolute right or wrong, just choose according to the baby's situation.

After talking about fever, I casually mention the common cold and the flu. Many parents can’t tell the difference and give their children antibiotics. This is really the most common nursing misunderstanding I have seen. A common cold consists of a runny nose and a slight cough, which usually resolves on its own within a week or so. At most, you can use saline water to flush your nose to relieve nasal congestion. There is no need to take messy compound cold medicines at all. Flu is different. It usually involves a sudden high fever and body aches, and the baby won't even be allowed to be held. If it's confirmed to be flu, taking oseltamivir within 48 hours is the most effective. However, there are also many babies with good health who can survive it. The premise is that you can keep an eye on your condition and don't develop pneumonia. It’s actually not difficult to diagnose pneumonia. You don’t need to take a chest X-ray every now and then. Just count the number of breaths your baby takes at rest: more than 50 times under 1 year old, more than 40 times between 1-5 years old, and if the chest is sunken or the lips are purple, don’t hesitate to go to the hospital directly. This is a hard red line. As for many children who cough for a long time after catching a cold, they go to the hospital to take a X-ray and they say it is acute bronchitis. In fact, most of them are caused by viruses and do not require antibiotics. A while ago, a parent came to me with a chest X-ray from the community and said that the doctor ordered an infusion. I saw that the baby was in good spirits and running around the clinic, but there was a little phlegm. The blood test showed no bacterial infection, so I asked him to go home and give the baby more warm apple juice to drink and atomize it as needed. He was fine in a week and there was no need to suffer the infusion.

Compared with fevers and colds, what parents ask about most is actually digestive problems. Diarrhea, constipation, and food accumulation account for half of the questions asked in my popular science class. Let's talk about diarrhea. The first reaction of many parents is to give antidiarrheal medicine. Don't give it, especially for infectious diarrhea. Antidiarrhea will trap toxins in the body. The key is to replenish oral rehydration salts. Don't give pure water. The more you drink, the more likely it is that electrolyte imbalance will occur. Last year, I met a grandma who fed her baby millet porridge and clear soup for two days after having diarrhea. As a result, the baby passed out due to dehydration. It was really dangerous. If you still have constipation, don't just use Kaiselu. Long-term use does lead to dependence. Adjust your diet first, eat more high-fiber foods such as prunes and dragon fruits, and rub your belly more often. If you can't have bowel movements, it's okay to use it once in a while. Chinese chiropractic is also useful for many babies. I tried it when my own child was a child, and it really worked. Of course, if you have long-term constipation, you still need to check whether there are any organic problems. Accumulation of food is even more interesting. There is actually no concept of "accumulation of food" in the Western medicine system, but do you think there is such a thing? It's true. If a baby eats too much, he will easily have bad breath, have hot palms, and have trouble sleeping due to tossing and turning. In this case, you can just eat light food for two days, or even starve for two days. You don't need to take those messy spleen-strengthening medicines, which are three-part poison, right?

There are so many children with allergies nowadays, including allergic rhinitis, eczema, and urticaria. Almost every kindergarten class has several. Let’s talk about eczema care. I have talked with doctors from dermatology and traditional Chinese medicine departments, and there is really no unified standard answer: Western medicine doctors in dermatology departments generally recommend thick application of moisturizer for dry eczema. Applying it five or six times a day is not much. In the cases I have come into contact with, most children insist on thick application of Vaseline, which really relieves them a lot. ； However, there are also a small number of children with wet eczema and yellow water, which are aggravated by applying greasy moisturizer. At this time, the comfrey oil and astringent herbal lotions recommended by Chinese medicine doctors are more effective. There is really no universal formula, and it depends on the type of eczema your child has. And let’s not talk about the discoloration of hormones. Weak hormone ointments have no side effects at all when used according to doctor’s instructions. They are much safer than the eczema ointments you buy from internet celebrities that claim to be “hormone-free”. I have seen too many parents buy eczema ointments from internet celebrities that secretly add powerful hormones. After using them for a long time, the baby’s skin becomes thinner. Allergic rhinitis can easily be treated as a cold, and it often turns into sinusitis. If your child has a runny nose for more than 10 days, sneezes continuously in the morning, and rubs his nose and eyes all the time, it is most likely rhinitis. Don’t take cold medicine blindly, insist on flushing the nose with physiological sea salt water, and if it is serious, use a hormonal nasal spray specially designed for children. It is very safe. Not to mention urticaria, most of which are caused by allergies. If the baby doesn't wheeze or complain about stomachache, just take some children's antihistamines and it will disappear in a few days. If you have difficulty breathing, go to the hospital quickly without delay.

There are also a few minor problems that parents can easily panic about, such as thrush, which is a white film that grows in the mouth of a baby. Don’t panic. Grind up the nystatin tablets and apply some water on them. It will be fine in a few days. Just pay attention to sterilizing the milking utensils at ordinary times. Don’t rub it hard with gauze, which can easily lead to infection. Hand, foot and mouth disease and herpetic angina are also very common now. In fact, they are both caused by enteroviruses. There is no specific medicine, which is symptomatic care. Give the baby cold liquid food and don't give hot and spicy food to irritate the mouth. Generally, it will be cured in a week. If you have high fever, convulsions, or low energy, go to the hospital quickly to be alert for serious illness. Oh yes, there are also febrile convulsions. In the past, the old saying was to stuff things in the mouth and pinch the person's philtrum, but it is no longer recommended now. You should turn the baby over and untie the collar to prevent the vomit from choking into the trachea. Most of them will recover on their own within 3 minutes. Pinch the philtrum can easily cause strangulation injuries. Stuffing things can easily knock out the teeth or choke the trachea. Don't mess around. Finally, there is an allergy to mosquito bites that people tend to ignore. Last month, a baby's eyelids were bitten by mosquitoes. His eyes were swollen and he couldn't open his eyes. Grandma applied Fengyoujing. The baby cried all afternoon. In fact, he applied a cold towel and applied weak hormone ointment twice. It disappeared in two days, so the suffering was in vain.

To be honest, when I compiled these 15 lessons, what I wanted to convey most to everyone was never "how to treat diseases at home", but "how to be less panicful and avoid pitfalls". There is no standard answer when it comes to raising a baby. No matter how good other people’s experience is, it must fit your baby’s physique. When you are really unsure, just keep an eye on the child's mental state. If he can eat, play, and make trouble, it's usually nothing serious. If he is wilting and doesn't say anything, don't hesitate and go to the hospital quickly. That's better than anything else.