Experience on prevention and care of common childhood diseases

Prevention is always better than cure. The core principles of nursing are "symptomatic relief, priority observation of mental status, no need for medication if possible, and no infusion if possible." There is no "universal nursing formula" that applies to all babies, and there is no need to rush to the hospital at the slightest sign of trouble. In many cases, the harm caused by over-intervention is greater than the disease itself.

Last winter, my second child just turned 1 year old and suddenly had a fever of 39.2°C in the middle of the night. My mother panicked, put on her clothes and ran to the emergency room. She also said she would give the baby some antibiotics to "press it down" for fear of burning him up. I first touched the back of the baby's neck and played with toys. He could still stretch out his little hands to grab blocks and stuff them into his mouth. He was in good spirits, so I gave him 1ml of acetaminophen, wiped his neck and groin with a warm towel, gave him some warm water and let him go back to sleep. The fever subsided the next afternoon, and a red rash appeared on my back. It was just a common childhood rash, nothing serious. There has always been a lot of controversy about how to deal with fever. The older generation always thinks that a fever will burn out the brain and must be cooled down immediately and sent to the hospital. ； The mainstream guideline of Western medicine is that children under 3 months old should see a doctor immediately no matter how high the fever is. Children over 3 months old should first look at their mental state. As long as they can play and eat, there is no need to rush to the hospital. ； There are also many traditional Chinese medicine doctors who believe that fever is an "upgrading of immunity". There is no need to forcefully use antipyretics. Physical cooling is enough. However, you should also avoid erroneous practices such as rubbing the body with alcohol and covering yourself with a thick quilt to sweat. Of course, if your baby has a history of hyperthermic convulsions, or has had a fever for more than 3 days and has been depressed, don't force yourself to go to the hospital. This is the consensus of both Chinese and Western medicine.

To be honest, I wasn't this calm before. When I first became a mother, I would have to read parenting posts for half an hour every time my baby sneezed. The medicine box at home was packed full of children's cold medicines, cough syrups, and immunity-boosting health products. I believed an online claim about "supplementing vitamin C to prevent colds" and bought hundreds of yuan of imported vitamin C effervescent tablets. I made a cup for my boss every day. As a result, after half a month of drinking, my baby developed a patch of thrush in his mouth. When he went to the doctor, he was scolded: If your baby can eat enough fruits and vegetables every day, there is no need to supplement vitamin C. The added sugar and citric acid in the effervescent tablets will destroy the oral mucosal flora, which is not worth the loss. There is still no consensus on whether to give babies health care products to improve immunity: many children's nutrition bloggers will recommend supplements such as lactoferrin and probiotics for allergic and frail babies, saying that they can reduce the frequency of illness. ； However, most doctors in public pediatrics think it is unnecessary. Some doctors even told me that many health products contain very low amounts of active ingredients and contain a lot of additives. They are useless if taken. Taking too much may increase the burden on the liver and kidneys. My own experience is that if your child is usually fussy about eating and catches a cold when the seasons change, you can first check for trace elements and allergens. Make up for whatever is missing. Don't buy health care products blindly.

There is another topic that has been quarreling for several years: How clean should it be to raise a baby? I used to be eager to wipe everything in the house with disinfectant three times. I would spray hand sanitizer immediately when my child touched a public toy. I wouldn’t even let him touch the slide when he went out. As a result, when my eldest son first entered kindergarten, he got sick once every half month, either a cold or diarrhea. He was more delicate than anyone else. Later, I read popular science and said that there is a "hygiene hypothesis". Proper exposure of children to common flora in nature can actually help build immunity. I tried to let him go and let him play in the sand, step in mud puddles, and crawl around with the children in the community. All he had to do when he got home was wash his hands with soap carefully. Don't tell me, he didn't get sick very much in the past six months, and even the rhinitis that was a common problem during the change of seasons was much lighter. Of course, many parents do not agree with this view, and think it is better to be cleaner to avoid contracting infectious diseases such as hand, foot, and mouth, and Norovirus. I think it is up to you to control this yourself and don't go to extremes. Don't use disinfectant every day to turn your home into a sterile room, and don't let your children touch the trash can and eat without washing their hands.

After raising children for so many years, my best friend has seen all kinds of pitfalls in pediatrics: some parents feed their children adult cough syrup, and the phlegm is trapped in the lungs and develops into pneumonia.； When the baby had diarrhea, he was given antidiarrheal medicine, but he became so dehydrated that he needed an infusion. ； There are also cases where antibiotics are given to children when they catch a cold, which eventually leads to bacterial imbalance. Regarding the care of common diseases, in fact, a lot of common sense has been updated: in the past, you had to eat several times with an empty stomach if you had diarrhea. Now the guideline is that as long as you don’t vomit, you can eat light porridge and steamed apples normally. Don’t fast for too long to affect nutrition. ； In the past, when a child coughed, he had to stop the cough as soon as possible. Now the mainstream view of Western medicine is that children under 6 years old are not recommended to use over-the-counter cough medicine. Coughing itself is a self-protection for phlegm production, and forcing a cough is bad. Of course, many Chinese medicine doctors believe that the symptomatic salt-steamed oranges and pediatric massage can indeed relieve the symptoms. I have tried giving roasted oranges to my baby when he has a cold cough.

In fact, in the end, you will find that there is really no standard answer to raising a baby. Every baby's body is different. What other people use good methods may not work for your baby. Keep an ear thermometer, acetaminophen (for more than 3 months), ibuprofen (for more than 6 months), oral rehydration salt III, and physiological seawater nasal spray at home, which can basically deal with 80% of common ailments. When you are really in doubt, go to the hospital. Don't force yourself to take medicine and don't give medicine blindly. It's better than anything else.