Hygiene of body, bed and food items should be proper and if it is a case of a child, this should be best. A little exposure of harmful bacteria may lead to several disorders and complications.
Diarrhoea in Children
Diarrhoea in children can be fatal due to loss of water and salts (electrolytes) from the body via stools. The risk is more in young children as their body is small, thus the loss is very fast and becomes life threatening.
Diarrhoea as such leaves the child not merely dehydrated but also malnourished. It makes her/him more prone to other diseases.
Thus, it is important that every child gets very good care during episodes of diarrhoea.
The focus of care is essentially on two things:
1. Prevent dehydration and replace lost fluids and salts at the earliest.
2. Maintain good nutrition for the child.
As soon as the child starts having loose motions, don’t wait for anything. Immediately start giving some home available fluids, e.g., daal water, lassi, rice water, coconut water, weak tea, lemon-sugar shikanji or simply plain water. You can also fetch a packet of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) from the nearest health facility (or even from Chemist’s shop). Follow the instruction given on the packet to make it. Generally, one packet is to be dissolved in one litre of safe drinking water.
For each stool passed, give 200 ml of ORS to the child or as much as the child can drink comfortably. Give small, frequent sips in between also. Contact a health worker for further advise.
This advise must be sought as soon as possible if the child has any one of the following:
1. Blood/mucus in stool
2. Fever with diarrhoea
3. Child is having excessive vomiting
4. Child is not getting better with ORS
5 Child is not passing urine
Normal feeding must be continued during diarrhoea. It simply means a breast-fed child must be continued on breast feeds. A child who has been on semi solid/solid diet also must be given this food during diarrhoeal episode. The only change you can make is to keep the spices and chillies low in the food.
Once a child recovers from diarrhoea give her/him extra food for atleast one week.
Do remember that most of the diarrhoeal episodes are self limiting and get well on their own, without any medicines. Infact, don’t give any anti-diarrhoeal medicines to the child on your own. Seek the help of a health worker because self medication can be dangerous in general and in diarrhoea in particular.
Acute Respiratory Infections in Children (Common Cold; Pneumonia)
Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs) claim lives of about 1 million (10 lack) children of less than 5 year of age every year, in India.
It is important to take some precautions if your child gets an attack of ARI.
A child with common cold often becomes irritated and refuses the feeds. She/he often has fever, running nose, blocked nose. If these symptoms are noticed, it is advised to seek help of a health worker. Meanwhile, you can start giving steam inhalation to the child and apply some soothing balm on the forehead, chest and the nose to alleviate headache and to clear the blocked nose.
For steam inhalation boil 3-4 mugs of water in a bowl (bhagona). Sit on a chair with the child on your lap. Put the bhagona with steaming water on the floor and cover yourself (with the child) and bhagona in a ‘tent’ of a bedsheet. Sit there for about 10-15 minutes even if the child cries. Alternatively you can close all door and windows and then boil water in bhagona on an electric heater in the room itself. Allow the steam to spread in the room for about 30 minutes.
For blocked nose, you can also use home made saline drops. For this, boil water in a katori and add about one teaspoonful of common salt. Cool it and saline drops are ready for use. Use one drop in each nostril 4-5 times a day.
Antibiotics and cough syrups are not useful in most of the ARIs and hence should not be used. Infact, these can cause problems.
Keep a watch on child’s breathing rate. If the breathing becomes difficult, rapid and there is retraction of the ribs while breathing, it is a warning that you must see a paediatrician at the earliest. It can be pneumonia which will surely require antibiotics for its treatment. Pneumonia can be life threatening.
As in diarrhoea, continue normal feeding of the child during an attack of ARI. Never reduce or stop feeding the child.
Fever
If the child has fever, you should make sure that fever does not go above 102 F. If the fever is high, remove unnecessary clothes from the child’s body. You should immediately start therapy with water (called Hydrotherapy). Sponge the child’s entire body with wet cloth or leave a wet cloth on the body for 5-10 minutes and reapply by wetting and wringing it again. Keep doing it till fever comes down. Seek help of a health worker.
Other common guidelines for better care of the child (of any age) :
- Keep the nails of the child short and clean.
- Wash the head nicely with soap and water to prevent lice or other infestations of the scalp.
- Don’t allow the child to become undisciplined. Don’t succumb to unreasonable demands of the child. However, do show your affection in abundance through your TLC (Tender Loving Care!).
- If the child is otherwise normal but refuses to eat, don’t be too anxious. Never force feed the child. If possible give different food preparations to the child everyday. After all, who does not want variety?
- Contrary to what you might believe, Kajal is of no use to the child’s eyes. Avoid it. It will be better if you wash the child’s eyes with clean water a few times. every day.
