Tips on preventing and treating common childhood diseases

90% of common respiratory and digestive tract diseases in children can be avoided in advance through daily basic care. Even if they do occur, as long as they provide symptomatic care and follow the doctor's instructions, most of them can heal themselves within 1-2 weeks. There is no need to be overly anxious, give random medicines, or even rush to the emergency room.

My child is now 4 years old, and he has been through a lot of pitfalls in the past two years. When he had a fever for the first time, the whole family was so panicked that he went to the emergency room overnight and queued for 3 hours. The doctor looked at him for two minutes and said it was a common cold. Just go home and drink more water and observe. It was a waste of time for both adults and children. When it comes to reducing fever, the elders in the family always say, "Just cover up and sweat." In the early years, many community hospitals would recommend giving children antipyretic injections. However, the current mainstream evidence-based medical view is that if the child's body temperature does not exceed 38.5°C and the child is in good mental state, there is no need to take medicine at all, let alone a thick quilt to cover sweat. Instead, he should wear less clothing to help dissipate heat. Antipyretic injections with serious side effects have long been no longer recommended for children. I also tried the difference between the two methods: last time the baby had a fever of 38.8°C and was still shivering, so I covered him with a thin quilt to keep warm as the old man said. When the shivering stopped and the body temperature rose to 39.5°C, I immediately took off my coat to cool down, wiped my neck and armpits with a warm towel, and gave him ibuprofen. After half an hour, I was energetic enough to get up and build blocks. It doesn’t say which method is right. It has to be combined with the child’s condition. Adhering to any one standard is likely to cause problems.

Oh, by the way, there is also probiotics, which are very controversial. Some parents say they are omnipotent and can be used to treat any problem, while others say they are completely useless and are just an IQ tax. My own experience after trying it is that if the child has diarrhea caused by taking antibiotics, feeding some Saccharomyces boulardii will indeed make the child better quickly. If the child has ordinary cold and diarrhea, it will not make much difference whether to feed it or not. It is better to add more oral rehydration salts to prevent dehydration. There was a rotavirus epidemic in kindergarten in the fall, and half of the children in the class were unable to stand. My child was actually not infected. Later, I recalled that during that period, I kept a close eye on him. I followed the seven-step hand washing method for 20 seconds before entering the door every day. His coat was hung directly at the door and was not thrown on the sofa. He was not allowed to chew his hands after touching the public slide. Speaking of this, there is another saying that has been quarreling for many years: "If you are too clean, your immunity will be weak." I believed this before and deliberately let my child play in the mud and touch stray cats in the community. As a result, he was infected with scabies mites and it took him half a month to recover. Later, I asked an old classmate in pediatrics, and she said, "Cleanliness depends on the situation. You still need to prevent pathogenic germs in public places. You don't need to spray disinfectant every day at home. It's okay to play in the mud and touch a puppy occasionally." I later judged it this way. In the past six months, my child has neither had diarrhea nor hives like before.

Many people rush to give cough medicine to their baby as soon as they hear it coughing, for fear that the cough will lead to pneumonia. I have done this before. I gave my baby dextromethorphan after two days of coughing. As a result, the baby had phlegm stuck in his throat and snored for three days, wheezing like a bellows. Later, when I went to the hospital, the doctor said that coughing is the body's self-protection and it is expelling phlegm. Blindly suppressing the cough will block the phlegm, which is more likely to cause lung infection. Later, when I got home, I gave the baby a hollow palm pat on the back every day and fed her some warm pear water, and she was fine within two days. I also have friends who believe in Chinese medicine. They will cook tangerine peel water and roasted oranges for their children. I have also tried it. If the baby is willing to drink it, it will indeed make him feel better. If the baby is not willing to drink it, there is no need to force it. Drinking warm boiled water will have the same effect. There is no need to force the child to drink strange things.

There are also infectious diseases that are highly prevalent in spring and summer, such as hand, foot and mouth, and herpetic angina. I was scared to death before. Whenever I heard that a baby in the community was sick, I would not even let the baby out. Later, after asking the doctor, I learned that as long as you don’t have symptoms such as high fever, low energy, vomiting, and convulsions, you don’t need to be hospitalized at all. You can isolate yourself at home for a week and eat some cold liquid food (such as popsicles, cold porridge) to relieve your sore throat, and you will be fine. The last time my neighbor's baby got herpetic angina, he had to be hospitalized for drainage, which cost him several thousand. The recovery time was exactly the same as that of the baby downstairs who was being cared for at home, and the baby had to receive injections for several days in vain.

To be honest, the biggest feeling I have had in the past few years of raising babies is that there is no 100% correct nursing formula. Some babies have weak spleens and stomachs and will have diarrhea after eating a little cold food. Some babies have strong firepower and will be fine even if they eat popsicles in winter. Pay more attention to your own baby's physique, which is more effective than any parenting prescription. If you are really unsure, just go to a regular hospital to see a pediatrician. Don't scare yourself by searching online for a long time, and don't delay things by insisting on it. That's enough.