Diet taboos for children with acute rash

You must not feed foods that you are known to be allergic to, don't force so-called "nutritional foods" that are high in sugar and oil, and avoid hard and large pieces of food that are easy to choke during the fever period. In addition, there is basically no need to deliberately avoid food that you usually eat without adverse reactions.

Speaking of which, I met an acquaintance of my mother who complained about her baby who had just turned 1 year old and suffered from rash. The grandma banned eggs, milk, strawberries, fish and shrimp, saying that they were all "hair products" that would clog the rash and leave marks easily. As a result, the baby had a fever for 3 days and had no appetite. She couldn't even eat her favorite steamed eggs. She stayed up all night during the two days when the rash occurred. She lost almost two kilograms in one weigh, which made the mother cry.

In fact, the question of whether children with acute rashes should avoid eating foods is a collision of two mainstream views: traditional parenting concepts believe that raw, cold, fishy, ​​and pungent foods should be avoided in rash diseases to avoid poor penetration of the rash.； The view of modern evidence-based medicine is that the rash in young children is a skin manifestation caused by viral infection and has nothing to do with food. As long as you are not allergic, you can eat it. In fact, there is no need to argue whether these two views are right or wrong. The core criterion is always whether the baby feels comfortable after eating them.

When I was an intern in a pediatric clinic, I met dozens of parents who asked about dietary restrictions. Every time, I would first ask, "Has this food been given to your child before?" Have you experienced any rash, diarrhea, or red mouth after eating it? ”If you have eaten it before, there is no problem, even if it is fish, shrimp, beef and mutton, steam it until it is soft and tender, and give it to your child if he is willing to eat it. It is more nutritious than drinking plain porridge every day, and the recovery will be faster.

Oh, by the way, here is a pitfall that many people are likely to fall into: some parents think that when their children are sick, they need to take vitamin supplements and give them glass after glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. However, oranges have high acidity and the throat is generally congested when the child has a fever. Drinking it will sting your throat and make you less willing to eat. If you really want to supplement vitamins, it is better to dilute it with warm water, or use steamed pear puree with high sweetness and low acidity.

There is another controversial point: can it be eaten cold? For example, yogurt at room temperature and fruit puree that has been freshly taken out of the refrigerator for 10 minutes. According to the traditional saying, it should be avoided for fear of cooling the stomach and intestines. However, in clinical practice, as long as the child eats cold food without diarrhea and is willing to eat two mouthfuls of cold apple puree and drink two mouthfuls of room-temperature yogurt when he has a fever, it can relieve the pain in the throat. It can also supplement probiotics and relieve the constipation problem that easily occurs during fever. There is no need to completely ban it. If you really mind the traditional saying, there is nothing to lose if you don't eat it, and there is no need to quarrel with the elderly at home over this matter.

The only hard red line is actually the food that is known to be allergic. During an acute rash, the immunity is in a state of fluctuation. If you eat something that you are allergic to, there is a high probability that the allergic reaction will be more serious. If you put rash, itching, and diarrhea together, the baby will suffer more than just a little bit. As for the old hen soup with thick oil and red sauce, sweet drinks with half a can of sugar, hard baked biscuits and whole nuts, it is not recommended to give more to the baby even if he is not sick, let alone when he is sick and has a weak stomach. If he eats it, he will either have diarrhea or choke, and it is nothing to worry about.

To put it bluntly, rash in young children is a "friendly" ailment that almost every baby will get. The fever and rash will basically heal on their own after 3 days. There is really no need to worry about diet. There is a long list of taboos that the whole family will follow. The core principle is just one: if the baby is willing to eat, does not feel uncomfortable after eating, and does not have allergies, it is better than anything else. Don’t starve the baby because of the so-called “rules”, which will slow down the recovery.