Experience on the prevention and management of common childhood diseases

The core of the prevention and management of common childhood diseases has never been the pursuit of children "not getting sick all year round", and there is no standard answer that can be applied to all children. The most effective logic is always to "grasp core indications, reduce excessive intervention, be compatible with multiple plans, and adapt to one's own situation" - this is the most practical conclusion that my child has visited the pediatrician 12 times from 6 months to 3 years in elementary school, had in-depth conversations with 3 pediatricians with different ideas, and stepped through no less than 20 maintenance pits.

Speaking of which, I was really panicked when I first sent my baby to kindergarten. I had 4 fevers in the first semester. One time I took my baby to the emergency room at 3 o'clock in the middle of the night. I queued for 3 hours and 2 minutes to see a doctor and was diagnosed with a common viral cold. When I got home, I was cross-infected with whorls and had diarrhea for a whole week. During that time, my mother and I argued no less than three times about dressing. She always said, "Children don't have six months." She would wrap her up in three layers in the spring. When she ran, her back would be covered with sweat. She would sneeze as soon as she took off her coat. I argued with her about the popular science of evidence-based medicine and said that when judging whether it's hot or cold, touch the back of your neck but not your hands and feet. Warm is just right. She also scolded me for "having read two books." "I don't know how high the sky is." Later, we each took out half of the clothes to do experiments, and wore them according to her method for two weeks. The baby caught two colds, and adjusted according to my method, only adding a small vest in the morning and evening. In fact, looking back now, the elders' "spring cover and autumn freeze" were not entirely wrong. When the temperature difference is large, leaving a coat for the baby that is easy to put on and take off is much more flexible than sticking to the "warm back of the neck" standard. Using the two ideas together is more reliable than being paranoid about one.

I have made many detours in the field of supplements before. Among the child care doctors I have seen, some Western doctors said that as long as the diet is balanced, there is no need to take any extra supplements. Some doctors said that children in my country generally have insufficient intake of vitamins A and D, and recommended supplementation until adolescence. Friends who are familiar with traditional Chinese medicine always say that my child has a weak spleen and stomach. Taking random supplements will increase the metabolic burden, so it is better to eat well first. Two years ago, I followed the trend and bought a lot of calcium, iron, zinc, DHA, and lactoferrin. After taking it for half a month, my son became constipated, and his face turned red due to the stinky diarrhea. Later, I simply stopped taking all the supplements and only took one vitamin pill a day. Vitamin D3, ensure 400ml of milk, one fist of vegetables and one fist of meat, and cook some yam and millet porridge every now and then to nourish the spleen and stomach. After half a year, my height and weight have been stuck at the 70th percentile of the growth curve, and I have never had constipation again. To be honest, it doesn’t mean that supplements are useless. If your child is really picky about food and lacks nutrients, just follow the doctor’s advice to supplement. There is no need to follow the trend and stock up, and there is no need to think that it is an IQ tax when you hear the word “supplements”. Just consider the situation.

Compared with the entanglement during prevention, when the child gets sick, it is the real test of the parent's mentality. I used to be particularly afraid of my baby having a fever. I always felt that a high fever would burn out the brain, so I would quickly feed him Motrin as soon as the temperature reached 38 degrees Celsius. Later, a pediatrician friend told me that unless the baby has a history of febrile convulsions, if the temperature is above 38.5 degrees Celsius, as long as the baby can play, eat, and has no problem with his mental state, he can just feed him more warm water and physically cool him down without rushing to give him medicine. Last month, my baby had a fever of 38.7°C and was still squatting on the ground playing Lego. I didn’t give any medicine. I only applied an antipyretic patch and fed her warm orange water every half an hour. The temperature dropped to 37°C by itself in the middle of the night. But it doesn’t mean that you should just carry it on. Last week, the baby had a fever of 39.2°C, was so weak that he couldn’t open his eyes, and even vomited once. I fed him Perlin and sent him to the hospital immediately. The blood test showed that the white blood cells were as high as 18, which confirmed the diagnosis of bacterial tonsillitis. He took cephalosporins for 5 days as prescribed by the doctor and was completely cured. It is not like what others said, "the immunity is weakened after taking antibiotics." I have been through the pit of nebulization before. I heard people said that nebulization contains hormones. I endured my baby's cough for a week, and it eventually developed into bronchitis. It was better to do nebulization for 3 days. Later I learned that the glucocorticoid used for nebulization is administered locally, and the dose is only a few tenths of that of oral administration. Oh, by the way, there is also the issue of cough relieving. Honey should never be fed to a child under 1 year old who has a cough. If a child over 1 year old only coughs in the morning and does not have shortness of breath, feeding a spoonful of warm honey is more effective than drinking cough syrup. This is my experience after three attempts, and it is better than any popular science.

To be honest, my biggest feeling in the past few years of raising a baby is not to be too anxious or take it too seriously. Whether it is the conditioning ideas of traditional Chinese medicine or the evidence-based standards of Western medicine, they are just references. Only when you stay with your baby every day can you know his condition best. For example, if my baby rubs his eyes or touches his nose, it is definitely a sign of catching a cold. If he feeds him more warm water in advance and fastens the collar button, he will most likely be able to press it down. This is a small signal that only I know and is better than any general guide.

What we raise is a living child, not a standardized product. It is normal to have some headaches and fever. You don’t need to feel like you are facing a big enemy at the slightest problem, and you don’t have to be so big-hearted that you can deal with every situation. You should observe more, mess around less, listen to the opinions of professionals, and slowly figure out the rules that suit your own baby. There is no perfect maintenance plan, it is all figured out slowly by stepping on the pitfalls.