Experience on the prevention and treatment of common childhood diseases

Prevention is always better than cure for common children's diseases. There is no "magic prescription" that is universally applicable. The priority of care is always higher than blind medication. Whether to choose Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine or combined intervention, you must follow your child's constitution. Don't follow the trend or force yourself to do it.

Not long ago, my second child got influenza A, and the group of mothers in the community immediately quarreled into two groups. One side said that if you have a fever, you should take oseltamivir as soon as possible, otherwise it will lead to pneumonia. The other side said that Western medicine has serious side effects, and drinking green onion and ginger water to physically cool down will be enough for a few days. I was not in a hurry to take sides at the time. I touched the baby's spirit first. He could jump and jump but still wanted to eat ice cream. I gave him half a tube of ibuprofen to reduce the high fever and sprayed normal saline into the nose to clear the congestion. After observing for 24 hours, the fever repeatedly reached above 39 degrees, so I went to the hospital and prescribed oseltamivir. After taking it for 3 days, the fever was completely gone, and there was no cough afterwards. In the same unit where my child was recruited on the same day, the child was given oseltamivir as soon as the test was 37.8. As a result, the child's gastrointestinal irritation caused him to vomit for two days, and he did not like to eat for half a month after he recovered. The parents were very regretful.

When it comes to prevention, I’ve taken detours before. When the eldest child first entered kindergarten, I was a typical "sterile person". I had disinfectant spray stuffed in my schoolbag, and I had to spray my hands immediately after touching the slide. The first thing I did when the toys came home was to soak them with disinfectant effervescent tablets. As a result, the eldest child caught colds three times in the first month, and each time he had a fever for three or four days. Later, I went to the community for a physical examination. The health doctor told me that the child's respiratory mucosa itself needs a small amount of exposure to common flora to stimulate immune development. Daily disinfection will destroy the normal flora environment and make it easier for children to get sick. I dubiously changed my habit. As long as I didn't go to high-risk places like hospitals or wet markets, I was only required to wash my hands with running water and soap for 20 seconds when I got home, and he was allowed to touch the recreational facilities in the community. Instead, I only caught a cold once in the next six months, and he recovered very quickly. Of course, this does not mean that we should completely free range. During the peak period of the flu last year, whenever anyone in my family came back from outside, they would change their clothes and wash their hands before holding the baby. They would also wear masks when going to crowded places. Neither baby was infected. There is really no standard answer to how to grasp this degree. You have to figure it out yourself.

When it comes to medication, the most common pitfall is antibiotics. There are two extreme parents around me. One is that "antibiotics are a scourge". Even if the doctor clearly says there is a bacterial infection, they will not give it to their children for fear of affecting immunity and damaging the liver and kidneys. The other is "taking cephalosporins for colds and fevers will heal quickly." Whether it is a viral or bacterial infection, take cephalosporins for two days before talking. My eldest son suffered from bacterial sinusitis last year. He had a yellow and thick nasal discharge for 10 days. He drank a lot of cold medicines prescribed by traditional Chinese medicine clinics, but it didn't work. He went to the pediatrician and the doctor said he should take amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium for 10 days. I thought Shi Yecuo was worried that taking antibiotics for too long would be bad, so he turned around and asked a pediatrician who was familiar with traditional Chinese medicine. He said that he could take it for 3 days first, and wash his nose with normal saline twice a day. If the yellow nasal mucus is significantly reduced, the treatment course can be reduced to 7 days. Later, we followed this plan and the yellow nasal discharge was basically gone on the 5th day after taking it. After 7 days of taking it, it was completely healed and there were no side effects such as diarrhea. Later, I also checked the professional guidelines, and this is indeed the case: antibiotics for viral infections are of no use at all, but will disrupt the intestinal flora. However, if it is clearly a bacterial infection, you must use it, and you must use it in sufficient dosage and for a full course of treatment. Don't stop casually, which may easily lead to drug resistance.

In fact, after so many years, there are really not many "medicines" that I always keep at home. The most commonly used ones are forehead thermometers, saline nasal rinsers, oral rehydration salts, ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Most of the piles of children's cold medicines and cough syrups I stocked up on have been expired and are not used. Last time, my grandma wrapped the baby with three layers of blankets to cover his fever. She almost gave the baby a febrile convulsion. After being scolded by the doctor, the whole family has now reached a consensus: don't cover the baby when he has a fever. Wear less and cover less to dissipate the temperature. If the baby is in good spirits, observe him at home first. If the baby is in low spirits, has frequent vomiting, convulsions, or shortness of breath, don't even think about going to the hospital directly. Don't waste time by asking questions in the group.

My best friend's child has allergies. She gets hives when the slightest breeze blows and wheezes when the season changes. Her prevention focus is completely different from mine: allergens are checked in advance every year, mites are removed from the house every day, and when the season changes, she washes her nose with saline every day and prepares aerosol medicine, but she rarely gets sick. Both of my children have weak spleens and stomachs. If they eat too much cold or sweet food, they will easily accumulate food and develop a fever. I usually control the amount of ice cream they eat and boil hawthorn malt water twice a week to help with digestion. They rarely get sick due to food accumulation. You see, there really is no universal "template for raising a baby". No matter how good someone's experience is, it's useless if it doesn't suit your baby's physique.

To be honest, my biggest feeling in the past few years of raising children is that there is no need to pursue "the baby never gets sick". The occasional fever or cold is actually the child's immunity that is upgrading. There is no need to panic when the body temperature count is high. Observing your child's condition more, dealing with reliable doctors more, and slowly figuring out your child's "sickness patterns" are more effective than saving a hundred popular science articles or listening to the experiences of a hundred mothers. After all, raising a baby is always a matter of making adjustments as you go. There is no perfect answer.