|
Q. How can accidents to children be
avoided?
Accidents are very
likely to occur in young children as they
attain mobility, learn to reach out for
objects and climb, due to a natural desire to
learn and explore and an inability to know
from experience the consequences of what they
are doing.
The common
household accidents involving young children
include falls, cuts, burns/scalds, electric
shocks, near drowning and poisoning due to
ingestion of chemicals/drugs.
It is vital to
safe-guard your child against these accidents.
Some of the important precautions includes:
-
Keep the doors leading outside the home and
the stairway firmly latched.
-
Ensure that the open areas like the balcony
and the lawn have a railing through which
child cannot get out, at the same time
there is no danger of his hand/ limbs
getting stuck.
-
The windows should be safe so that a child
cannot jump out of them.
-
The infant’s cot should have bars all
around, and when the child is old enough to
climb over them, he should be using a bed.
-
Keep all sharp instruments like knives,
scissors, needles etc out of children’s
reach
-
Match-boxes, gas stoves, heaters, electric
iron etc should be kept out of children’s
reach to avoid fire accidents.
-
All unused electricity/power points should
be covered. Children have a strong tendency
to poke in a finger in the sockets!
-
To avoid accidental poisonings, keep bottles
of all medicines, insecticides, domestic
toilet cleaning solutions, kerosene oil,
mosquito repellants etc firmly closed and
out of children’s reach.
-
Children’s toys or clothes should not have
loose small parts that can come off easily.
The children tend to put these in their
mouth and swallow. Likewise, keep small
objects like coins, beads etc out of their
reach. Children are known to suffocate even
while playing with polythene bags!
-
Never leave a child alone in the bathroom or
leave a bucket of water lying on the floor
when the baby is around.
-
A young child never be left
unattended when outside the home. Due to
their natural curiosity and inexperience
they are at a high risk of accidents in
water-pools, staircases, falling from
terraces, shocks from electric appliances
etc.
Q. What should be the home management of a
child with diarrhoea?
A child has
diarrhea when there is a change from normal
bowel habits to more frequent and looser or
watery stools. The stools are often foul
smelling. During the diarrhoeal episodes the
baby becomes sick, irritable and/or
lethargic. Most diarrhoeas are self limiting
and last for 2-3 days.
The key point in
home management of a child with diarrhoea is
replacing the fluid losses with oral liquids.
This should be started as soon as the child
develops diarrhea. He should be given
increased amount of fluids normally given at
home like lemon water, coconut water, soup,
daal water, butter milk etc. Breast-fed
infants should be offered breast milk more
frequently. He can also be given Oral
Rehydration Solution. Oral Rehydration
Solution or ORS is a life saving medicine to
cure and prevent dehydration. It is readily
available at all health facilities. One packet
of WHO ORS is dissolved in 1 liter of clean
potable water. ORS can be given as small
frequent sips. A child who is losing fluids
due to diarrhoea will accept ORS readily.
Most children
with diarrhoea do not require any other
medication. Consult a doctor if a child
develops any of the danger signs listed below.
Q. What are the danger signs of diarrhea?
The major concern in
diarrhoea is rapid fluid loss resulting in
dehydration. To prevent this serious side
effect it is important to replace lost water
and electrolytes at the earliest. Any
significant dehydration constitutes an
emergency, so be aware of the following signs:
-
Excessive
thirst/ irritability
-
Dry lips, tongue
and skin
-
Decreased amount
of urine
-
Very frequent
passage of watery stools
-
Lethargy or poor
oral acceptance of fluids
A child with any of
the above signs should be shown to a doctor
without delay.
Consult the doctor
also if the child has blood in his stools.
This is dysentery and child requires to be
given medicines for this.
Q. How can
diarrhoea be prevented?
Diarrhoea is an
important cause of sickness in children. It
can be prevented by simple measures like:
-
Drinking clean
drinking water
-
Exclusive breast
feedingfor first 6 months
-
Avoiding using
bottle for feeding the infant
-
Frequently
washing your own and the child’s hands,
specially on cleaning the child after he has
passed stools
-
Keeping food
articles covered.
-
Giving only
freshly prepared food to the child. Any food
that is left over from a previous meal
should not be given to the child again at
the next meal
-
Avoiding
consuming food prepared and served in
unhygienic conditions
Q. Is it a right practice to stop breast
feed if a baby has diarrhea?
No, breast feed
should not be stopped during the diarrhoeal
episode. Breast milk prevents dehydration and
maintains nutrition when the child suffers
from diarrhoea. In fact, during diarrhoea the
baby should be fed more often than usual.
The older infants
and children who eat solid foods, should also
continue to be fed as usual. Banana, curd,
khichri etc. are good foodsto be given during
the diarrhoeal episodes.
Q. Which
children with cough and cold should be shown
to a doctor?
Cough and Cold are among
the most common problems of childhood. Often,
these are accompanied by fever. Most common
cause of cough and cold in children is viral
infection. These are mild, self-limiting
illnesses that improve over a few days. The
child remains alert, active and continues to
accept food, though sometimes the appetite may
be reduced. These mild episodes respond well
to paracetamol (if there is fever), and home
remedies like ginger with honey.
If the child remains sick
beyond 2-3 days, “looks sick” and is not
feeding well, a he should be shown to a
doctor. If a child younger than 2 months of
age has cough, he should be shown to a doctor
without delay since these children can become
sicker rapidly.
Sometimes, the child develops
more severe form of illness that is called
pneumonia. In pneumonia a child breathes
faster than normal and parents may notice that
the child is having difficulty in breathing.
Some times an audible sound may be heard when
the child breathes. A child with severe
pneumonia may also become lethargic and
develop difficulty in feeding. A child with
any of the above signs must be promptly shown
to a doctor.
Q. What are the
signs of serious illness in an infant/young
child?
A very sick child may have one
or more of the following features:
A child with any of these
symptoms should be shown to a doctor without
delay.
|
