Tips on preventing and treating common childhood diseases

Don't go to extremes, don't be anxious. Prevention depends on your daily routine, not sky-high-priced supplements. Treatment depends on your mental state, not rigid indicators.

Last week, my downstairs neighbor knocked on my door with her 3-year-old baby in her arms. The baby's face was red with heat. She had ibuprofen, cephalosporin, and "physical cooling essential oil" purchased from Moments in her arms. As soon as she walked in, she asked anxiously if she wanted to use them all. In fact, I encounter this kind of entanglement dozens of times a day in the outpatient clinic. There are indeed two factions quarreling about the treatment of children's fever: one is the "people who have to take medicine when they have a fever". They are afraid that if the fever lasts for a long time, they will burn their brains and they will rush to insert antipyretic suppositories when the temperature reaches 77.8℃. ； The other faction is the "Immunity Party", which claims that antipyretics can damage the liver and kidneys, and even insists on giving antipyretic patches to the baby to physically cool her when her fever reaches 39°C. In fact, there is no need to insist on either. There are already differences in the thresholds for the use of antipyretics in domestic and foreign pediatric guidelines. Some say they should be used above 38.5℃, while others say they should only be used above 39℃. My own experience is that you can be more flexible: If your child has a fever of 38.8℃ and is still running around building blocks and clamoring for ice cream, then first take off his clothes and observe him while he drinks warm water. ； If the temperature just reaches 38°C and you feel so weak that you are lying in your arms without wanting to move, and you still complain that you have a headache and leg pain, you can just feed acetaminophen or ibuprofen directly, and there is no need to freeze the indicator. By the way, don’t believe in the old methods of rubbing yourself with alcohol or covering your body with sweat to reduce fever. The former may lead to alcohol poisoning, and the latter may cause febrile convulsions. I see several children with febrile convulsions every year. It’s really unnecessary.

Speaking of which, I would like to mention antibiotics by the way. Last month, I persuaded a mother to feed her child with a cold cephalosporins for three days. Nowadays, everyone's attitude towards antibiotics is quite polarized: either they are like a scourge, or the doctor prescribes it but secretly hides it and does not give it to the baby. ； Or use it as a panacea, just take it out when you have a runny nose and cough. Objectively speaking, 90% of children's colds are viral. Antibiotics are useless and may disrupt the intestinal flora. However, if the blood test shows that it is a bacterial infection and the C-reactive protein is higher than indicated, you must take it according to the treatment course. Don't stop taking it after two days, which may lead to drug resistance. My eldest son contracted bacterial pharyngitis in kindergarten last year. I didn’t want to give him antibiotics at first. Later, when the C-reactive protein was tested and it spiked to 42, the doctor said he must take it. I took it regularly for 5 days without any side effects. It was much better than just trying to take it.

Many parents ask me for "secret recipes to improve immunity" and ask if lactoferrin, imported vitamin C, and children's sheep placenta are useful. To be honest, different doctors have quite different opinions on this issue: some think it is all an IQ tax, and eating it is equivalent to eating in vain.； Some people feel that there is no harm in making up for it appropriately. My own experience is that if you buy health care products that cost hundreds of dollars per jar, they are not as reliable as taking your baby downstairs to run for an hour every day and giving them enough eggs, milk, and green leafy vegetables for three meals. There are also parents who spray disinfectant at home eight times a day and disinfect their children's hands every time they touch the table. Don't raise your baby in a sterile tank. The immune system is like a boxer. If you don't let it see its opponent every day, it won't be able to fight the virus if it encounters it. I always wash my hands carefully before eating and after using the toilet with my two children. After playing in the mud and petting the puppy downstairs, I can grab an apple and eat it by clapping my paws twice. Now the eldest is in the second grade of elementary school and has no more than two colds and fevers throughout the year. He is much stronger than the children around him who are disinfected every day. Oh, by the way, there are also hand, foot and mouth disease and herpetic angina. In addition to getting the EV71 vaccine on time, you really shouldn’t go to a closed indoor naughty castle during the peak season. My second child just had fun and had fun with it once last year. He came back with fever and blisters all over his mouth for three days, and suffered from the same old sin.

A while ago, a mother came to me and said that her baby had diarrhea twice, so she gave her antidiarrheal medicine, but the baby was so bloated that she cried all afternoon. The principles for dealing with children's diarrhea have actually changed a lot over the years. In the past, we were told to eat a few hungry meals to cleanse the stomach. Now the guideline is to feed the baby normally as long as he wants to eat. Just keep it light and don't feed heavy oils and sugars. The core is to prevent dehydration. Oral rehydration salt III is more effective than any anti-diarrheal medicine. As for the probiotics that have been popular for several years, don’t treat them as a panacea. Currently, the only ones recognized by the academic community as useful are Saccharomyces boulardii or Lactobacillus rhamnosus in the early stages of viral diarrhea. Other effects of regulating the gastrointestinal tract and improving immunity are basically marketed. There is no need to spend a lot of money to buy imported probiotic powder and pay IQ tax.

In fact, there is no 100% correct standard answer for raising a baby. It’s all about trying to cross the river by feeling the stones. Don’t just take it if you find an expert today who says you can’t take medicine, or stock up a cupboard tomorrow if you find a mother-and-baby blogger saying supplements are useful. Paying more attention to your baby’s mental state is better than anything else. Of course, don’t hold on for dear life. If your child has persistent high fever, listlessness, frequent vomiting, convulsions, or rapid and heavy breathing, don’t hesitate to go to the hospital directly. It’s more reliable than searching Baidu and asking friends at home.