Treatment of babies
Babies, like adults, need help when they have pain. But unlike adults, they often can not tell you where they have pain or what they need. A bruised hand will be enough of such treatment as "I'll kiss and everything will pass," but if a child has a painful look, he needs more. Sick children naturally begin to cling to adults, turning to a person they trust to help. They also expect from you that you know what is wrong, and fix everything. Be prepared for the sick child to behave worse. Do not take to heart if a child beats the hand that holds it. Sick babies require a lot of patience.
Symptoms of a disease that you need to know
Although children who are not yet able to speak can not tell you where they are hurting, their organisms are
honest mirrors reflecting their condition. When a child is sick, he behaves like a sick child.
High temperature. Primary but not infallible landmark: if the child does not have a temperature, he is in a not very serious condition( ear inflammations, or otitis, are an exception).However, the degree of temperature rise in most cases does not reflect the severity of the disease. Some viral infections can cause an increase in temperature to 40.6 ° C( the rectal temperature is indicated), but a serious bacterial infection can cause a temperature of only 38.9 ° C.
Emaciated look. This term means that the child has a very painful appearance: closed, swollen eyes;sad expression of a face;pale skin;and his face has lost that fervent spark that you like to see so much.
Apathy. During illness, small children move little. Sick children behave sluggishly, as if redirecting their energy from movement to recovery. If the child is quiet and depressed, periodically falls asleep, and then wakes up, and it seems that it has become easier, it is usually for the most mild diseases. But all the growing apathy - "It seems to me that my child is missing" - deserves to be reported to her doctor.
Changes in behavior. Although some children during the illness behave sluggishly and apathetically, others become capricious and irritable and notify the whole world that they are ill. Reduce your standards of conduct for the time of illness. A child who does not feel well can not behave well. Find out how the pain carries your child. Some children loudly protest at the slightest pain;others silently suffer even the most violent tortures.
Acceleration of the body. When a child is sick, especially if he has a fever, he often breathes, and you can hear rapid, loudly heard heartbeats( too fast for them to be easily counted).These are the natural mechanisms of the body, aimed at fighting infection and giving off excess heat. But normally these signs of acceleration disappear when the temperature drops. Rapid heart rate and frequent breathing, which are observed even after the temperature has fallen, indicate a more serious disease.
Intestinal protest. Many viral infections accompany diarrhea. Many inflammatory processes in the throat, breast, kidney and ear are accompanied by vomiting. And with intestinal infections, the reaction can be from both ends: diarrhea and vomiting. Except that during illness children are usually more often applied to the chest, most sick children do not eat much. Although periodic vomiting during the illness is normal, indomitable vomiting( especially amid growing lethargy and apathy) is an alarming sign and deserves to call a doctor.
Gentle loving care:
how to help your child
recover
Below we provide proven home remedies. Most of them are discussed in more detail in the next article.
Peace. A wise organism says: "Rest when you're sick", as if to direct all energy to fight the disease. Social and economic pressure often does not allow adults to listen to their bodies, but children are freer and smarter;they rest when they are ill, without any opposition from you. The sick head, upset stomach and squeezed chest do not like shaking. Organize quiet communication in bed, massage, rub the back, read a calm tale, sing or watch a video tape together, comfortably having arranged the child on his knees.
Nature's help. During illness of small children it is not necessary to keep locked up. Fresh air
is useful to the child, and also helps not to go insane sitting in four walls of the nurse. Dry, stale air aggravates the condition of edematous airways, so thoroughly ventilate the room. Drafts do not cause a cold. Fresh air and sunlight are useful to the patient - and the nurse. Take the child out into the street in a bag or take out in a stroller and enjoy the mental and physical lifting that nature gives.
Drink, drink and drink again! The child's body has enough water when he is healthy. He needs more water when he is sick. High fever, sweating, frequent breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, sneezing, coughing, lacrimation and a decrease in the desire to eat or drink all lead to dehydration( excessive loss of body fluids).This condition in itself makes the already bad state of health of the child even worse. Use these tips to saturate the body with liquid:
• Method "by a sip, in a piece": it is better to give liquid in small frequent sips. If a child drinks too much liquid too quickly, she will most likely come back. Fruit ice( pieces of frozen house juice or fruit) and pieces of ice - the pledge of victory.
• Transparent soups: medical research confirmed grandmother's wisdom - chicken bullet Feeding the baby before anesthesia
Until recently, it was the rule not to feed the babies eight hours before anesthesia due to fear that they could inhale the contents of the stomach into the lungs. New research, however, has shown that there is no need to anesthetize starving children and that it can even weaken the body. Children's anesthetists are now advised to give the baby juice, milk formula or breast milk four hours before anesthesia. Because breast milk quickly leaves the stomach, if you feed your baby in four hours( some anesthetists are allowed even to do it in two hours) before anesthesia, this will not create any danger, but will only calm the child and provide him with a comfortable state of health.
it is really useful for colds( the researchers believe that the active ingredients of this magical remedy are steam that clears the nose and a liquid that prevents dehydration).However, very salty or soup cooked on broth cubes can aggravate dehydration. Slightly salted canned broths are quite suitable;home cooking is best.
Feed the patient. Children may refuse to eat when they are sick, but they need extra fluid to prevent dehydration and additional calories to cover increased energy consumption. The answer lies in liquid food. Try to resort to these tips for feeding a sick child:
• Offer him smaller meals more often: is half as many as twice as often.
• You can prepare cocktails from fruit juice, a small amount of sorbet, protein powder, yogurt, puree of fresh or frozen fruit and a spoon of honey( for a child over the year).Suggest to slowly pull the drink through a straw. This cool fruit drink is the best friend of the sore throat.
• Vegetable soup with chicken and freshly-brewed soft vegetables can easily slip through the sore throat.
Healthy Sugar. What you now really do not need, so it jumps the sugar content in the blood of an already irritable and unhappy child. Give the child fruit sugars and pasta, which are good sources of slow release Saccharides. And there's nothing to worry about if you temporarily relax your "No Sugar" rule, if all that the child agrees to eat or drink is a sweet nonsense, which is usually forbidden to you.
Each profession has its own unpleasant side, and although in all other aspects, caring for a child is full of joys, such work as giving medicines to a child is, perhaps, at the very bottom of the list of parental pleasures. Of course, the medicine will not be useful if you give it wrong, and it does not have any effect if you pour it on the floor or on your robe.
Meet your medication
Here's what every home pharmacist needs to find out or know about children's medicines:
• Ask your doctor to explain to you what is prescription or recommended over-the-counter medication. What is the basis of its action? Is it an antibiotic, a decongestant or a cough syrup? You need to understand why you are giving this remedy to your child.
• Find out which medications can have side effects. Ask the doctor what symptoms to look for. For example, a rash that resembles hives means that the child is allergic to the drug. Vomiting and diarrhea or abdominal pain do not indicate an allergy, but you may need to change the dosage or form of the drug or even switch to another
medication. Other reactions include edema of the eyelids or joints or increased excitability. Report all the reactions to the doctor.
• For the future, record all of your child's reactions to this medication and keep a list of medications that your child does not tolerate or does not accept. Tell them about the doctor who prescribes the medicine to the child, because he may not have your child's card.
• If your child has a chronic illness and regularly takes medications, remind the doctor what medications the child is taking at the time. Ask if it is safe to take these medications along with the one prescribed by your doctor. With the exception of some asthma medications, most commonly used medications for children can be taken at the same time.
• Find out how to store the medicine - in the refrigerator or not. Also find out what medicine you can store and be sure to look at the expiration date on the package. Medicines with expired shelf life should be discarded.