The child’s body is prone to frequent colds, the reason for this is a weak and not yet formed immunity. There are four factors that cause a runny nose and cough: allergies, viruses, bacteria, and colds. The cause of acute respiratory disease in 99% of cases is infection. Viruses spread well in a dry and warm room. And moist and moving air (for example, when a window is open in the room), on the contrary, is an obstacle for them.
The situation is most difficult with babies of the first year of life, since many medications are contraindicated for them, and buying them, based on the recommendations of friends, should not be. Any parent is interested in improving the condition of the crumbs as early as possible, without using antibiotics. What should mom do if a child begins to get sick, what to do and what preventive measures to take? Read about it in the article below.
If the baby is sick
Young children are very susceptible to various viruses. Where the adult body can cope without medication, the child will need serious treatment. Often the parents or relatives of the baby themselves are a source of infection. Perhaps the child was blown out during a walk or he breathed in cold air. Many young parents are trying to figure out what to do? The child began to get sick and still cannot tell himself what is bothering him. If he is not yet a year old, then first of all it is necessary to see a doctor or, if there is a fever, call him at home.
Before the arrival of the pediatrician, you should determine the symptoms. Nasal congestion, red throat, fever indicate signs of a cold. During the examination, the doctor can listen to how the baby’s lungs work. In the absence of extraneous noise, you can calm down a bit, which means that the organs are clean and the disease will not go into a severe form. If there are signs of acute respiratory viral infections, it is important to prevent the development of the disease. The baby may be capricious or cry when pressed on the ear. This symptom indicates the likelihood of developing otitis media. In the case when the child begins to get sick, what to do and how to treat a sore ear, only an ENT doctor can tell. Timely contacting a pediatrician will significantly reduce the period of malaise in the baby.
What to do for adults with a child’s disease
Among the questions that most parents care about: when a child begins to get sick, what should I do? Sometimes, before the arrival of a doctor, it is urgent to take some measures that will alleviate the suffering of the baby. Firstly, it is important to ventilate the room where the baby is located. At this moment, it is advisable to stay with him in another room. If possible, it is recommended to install a humidifier. It is optimal that the humidity in the room is at least 40%.
Secondly, the baby should regularly drink water, special children's herbal tea. In the absence of appetite, you can replace solid foods with liquid foods, broths (vegetable or chicken). Making the baby eat is not recommended, especially when reddening of the throat is observed. Contrary to all popular methods, in the presence of diseases of the oral cavity it is not recommended to give children honey. It will further increase redness and worsen the condition.
Thirdly, it is worth regularly cleaning the sinuses. Toddlers can’t blow their nose, so the doctor may recommend using a special small pear to suck out the mucus. However, it should be understood that its frequent use can injure thin blood vessels. Therefore, resorting to this method is advised only when there is a great need.
In the case when the child begins to get sick, what to do will be prompted by parental intuition. Mom, like no other, feels the baby, changes in his behavior. Since body temperature often rises in the evening and at night, experienced parents advise taking the crumbs to their homes or sleeping with them. This will allow you to react in time to the fever at night and give the appropriate medicine (for example, “Ibuprofen”, “Paracetomol Baby”, “Cycone”).
Treatment of children from two years
For babies older than one year, the number of approved medications increases significantly. However, knowledgeable parents try to enable children's immunity to cope with a viral infection on their own. When a child begins to get sick, what to do will tell you either maternal experience or a doctor’s consultation. Most children experience colds at least once a year. Therefore, mothers have an idea of the symptoms and treatment methods. In medical practice, it is considered quite normal to 6 episodes of colds in a child per year.
If the child sneezes and begins to get sick, then the very first thing is to reduce the swelling of the sinuses. When the first signs of a cold appear, it is recommended that you refrain from taking antibiotics and interferons that are not agreed with your doctor.
An important point in self-treatment is a plentiful drink. It avoids overheating of the body, and in the presence of high temperature (above 38.5 degrees) will help to avoid dehydration. In the case when a child begins to get sick (2 years or older), parents should support the child's body and introduce vitamins or herbal teas into the diet, which will help strengthen immunity.
The main mistake of many parents is an attempt to cure their baby without consulting a doctor. The quick effect of taking antibiotics and interferons can damage fragile immunity. And still the question remains: if a child at the age of 2 begins to get sick, what can be done and what cannot be done then? It is necessary to stop all the symptoms, as a rule, it is a high fever, runny nose, redness of the throat.
Runny nose and fever
Nasal congestion always causes a lot of inconvenience. When the child begins to get sick and his well-being has not yet worsened, you can use folk recipes. The use of special medicines is possible after consultation with a doctor. You must understand that some components can be addictive, which is undesirable for the child's body.
While there is no severe swelling, it is recommended to rinse the nose several times a day with sea water. It is sold in the form of a spray, soft shower (such as "Aqualor baby") or drops. As approved drugs that are dispensed without a doctor’s prescription, antipyretic drugs for children, sugar-free syrups and flavorings are used. At high temperatures, you can not rub the baby with alcohol solutions, put mustard plasters, wrap them in a blanket or put them in warm clothes. It is necessary to enable the body to cope with the current situation. Therefore, it is not customary to bring down temperatures below 38.5. If it becomes more than 39, candles and syrups may be ineffective. If it is not possible to contact the pediatrician, it is advisable to call an emergency doctor.
Colds
It is important to take action as soon as the child begins to get a cold. What to do in the very first days is mandatory - so drink it with water or dried fruit compote. Do not allow the deterioration of the health of the crumbs. Drinking is the main rule during the detection of signs of a cold in a baby. It is important to know that milk does not apply to drinks, this is food. Therefore, it cannot be considered that when a mother gives it to a child, he thereby receives the necessary fluid for the body. There is no clear criterion how much water should be given to a child per day. You can determine the norm by the number of urinations during the day. Usually this is at least 1 time per hour. The ideal temperature of the fluid used should be the same as in the body, then it is absorbed immediately.
Are antibiotics needed?
Many doctors rush to prescribe antibiotics when a child begins to get a cold. What to do in this case? Should I listen to a doctor and immediately start radical methods? The answer here disagrees with the opinion of those specialists who give the children's body time to cope on their own. As a rule, during the first three days, either an increase in the disease is observed, or it passes without complications. If the treatment is selected correctly, the child is in the room where there is a humidifier, it is sufficiently ventilated, the baby receives the amount of fluid necessary for the child's body, then the disease will most likely recede.
But it happens that a viral infection is complicated, the cause of this is harmful bacteria. It is from them that they are treated with the help of antibiotics. If we talk about the complication, then it can be pneumonia and bronchitis. To overcome the lesion, the child’s immunity produces sputum, mucus. The substances that it contains kill pathogenic cells. Therefore, it is important to understand that the presence of liquid mucus in the nasal cavities is good. This means that immunity works correctly, especially if the child begins to become ill. What to do? Komarovsky in one of his speeches focuses on the fact that in no case is it recommended to close the windows in the room and create a dry and warm environment.
Does the child need immunomodulators
Since the children's body is only being formed during the first years of life, it is undesirable to include preparations containing interferons in the treatment regimen. Many doctors and experienced mothers believe that in this way the immune system will cease to cope with the virus itself and in the future will be vulnerable to infection.
To date, pediatricians who want to quickly recover are prescribed immunomodulators. Parents themselves are to blame. They do not want to wait until the child’s body itself cope with the disease. And very often, during a pediatrician’s visit to the house, they begin, for example, saying: “The child is a year old, begins to get sick, what should be done in such a situation?” So they motivate the fact that they may have given the baby some drug on their own. Age is taken as an example, but the bottom line is that parents do not know what to do right. Therefore, drugs such as Viferon, Genferon and others have become popular on sale. You can resort to their use, but only in the most extreme case.
Are folk remedies appropriate
In childhood, when the child is not three years old, many drugs are banned. Among grandmother’s recipes, onion turns out to be very effective. It should be cut into slices, divided into feathers and placed on a plate. It should be located next to the child. Despite the unpleasant odor, onion juice during evaporation allows you to clean the sinuses. It is noted that after a short time, breathing becomes clean. It is advisable to leave the plate overnight.
A similar recipe is the use of garlic cloves. This is especially true when the child begins to get sick, and mother does not know what to treat. Garlic is also used as a preventive measure for the development of acute respiratory viral infections in a kindergarten. To do this, an egg is taken from under the kinder surprise, holes are pierced in it with a needle, several cloves of garlic are placed inside. Thus, the aroma from it is not very pronounced, but it is possible to achieve an antimicrobial effect.
Do not forget about herbal teas, for example, chamomile has anti-inflammatory properties, it tastes good. Compotes and fruit drinks will easily replace sweet packaged juices. No need to force the baby to eat complex, heavy food (meat, fatty cottage cheese). The easier the food is absorbed, the better for the body. Therefore, many mothers try to use the well-known old recipe - during the illness they prepare chicken or vegetable broth. It is light and quite nutritious, just what is needed for a weakened body.
The use of inhalers
Sometimes the baby’s condition makes parents confused, and they really don’t understand what to do - the baby sneezes, starts to get sick and seems to have completely stopped breathing. First of all, it is worth paying attention to the nature of the discharge from the nose. If they are viscous, liquid, then this is a normal reaction of the immune system. If there are crusts, dry particles in the nose, it can be said that the nasal mucosa has ceased to fulfill its protective functions and nothing is opposed to the penetration of the virus into the body. The inhaler turns the liquid medicine into an aerosol, which allows its particles to penetrate deep into the respiratory tract and get to the infected area. The effect is achieved almost instantly.
To moisturize the mucous membrane and facilitate sputum discharge, it is good to have an assistant in the form of a special children's inhaler in the house. He quickly copes where viscous mucus is deeply "stuck" in the airways, alveoli and bronchioles. There are many different recipes that are easy to make at home. A popular method is the inhalation using mineral water, for example, Borjomi, Narzan.
For kids who are not yet five years old, manufacturers offer parents to purchase a special nebulizer. Treatment with such a device avoids exposure to the liver and kidneys of the child. The drug that was received during inhalation does not penetrate the blood. It is allowed to carry out up to eight procedures during the day.
If there is no inhaler, and the child’s well-being begins to deteriorate to help him, doctors recommend filling the bathroom with boiling water until persistent steam forms in the room. A well-moistened room allows you to achieve the desired effect. The baby can breathe through his mouth or, if possible, his nose, it is enough for 5-10 minutes to stand among such warm and humid steam to get the effect as from using a special nebulizer.
Preventive measures
To stop the disease at the initial stage, it is recommended to prepare the child’s body in advance for the upcoming period of colds. Everyone knows that their number is especially high in the autumn-spring period. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid keeping the child in greenhouse conditions. You need to teach him to sleep in a cool room. If heating radiators work hard, it is necessary to reduce up to 18-20 degrees of heat. This temperature is sufficient to prevent the risk of infection.
Timely vaccination allows you to avoid the development of the disease during the epidemic. It is useful to recall the need to include vitamins and dietary supplements in a child’s diet. They contribute to the growth and development of the baby, strengthening his immunity. So, echinacea is best given at the earliest signs of a disease. Moreover, it is worth noting that it can not be used as a medicine for more than a week. You can achieve the opposite effect. Remember that when a baby is ill, you should always show it to a doctor.