What should I do if my child has a fever? As long as the child is not in poor spirits when he has a fever and the temperature does not exceed 39.5°C, parents can also handle the fever themselves.
There is a rule for children with fever: if the child’s hands and feet are cold and pale when he or she has a fever, the child’s body temperature will rise again; and if the child’s hands and feet become warm and sweaty, the child’s body temperature will not rise again. There are several ways for parents to deal with their children when they encounter fever.
1, within one and a half years of infants and toddlers, the fontanelle is not completely closed, parents can fall asleep after the child, with the palm of the hand cover the child’s fontanelle, until the child’s head slightly sweating, then look at the little baby, the nose through, breathing smoothly, the temperature has also come down. At this time, parents then wake up the baby, feed more warm water or brown sugar water, the baby will soon recover as before. My son had several colds and fevers before he was one year old were cured by this method, the shortest one took only 15 minutes, the longest one covered for an hour and a half, my hands were numb before I saw my son’s head sweating. So when it comes to covering the fontanelle with your baby’s palm, parents should never rush, it is best to be operated by the child’s father, men’s heat is large and the baby is prone to sweat.
2, most children or cold cold caused by the fever, fever, cold hands and feet, white tongue, pale face, urine color is light, parents can use ginger brown sugar water to children to dispel the cold, the effect is good, if the ginger brown sugar water and then add 2 to 3 sections cut into an inch long white onion, the effect will be better. If the child is afraid of spicy, you can add two slices of ginger, two green onions and a few drops of vinegar to the thin rice cooked for the child, after cooking, remove the ginger and green onions and feed it to the child, which can dispel cold, generate sweat and reduce fever with good effect, and the child is willing to eat. Parents can feed their children 2 to 3 times a day, after the child’s fever has subsided, do not add green onions, the tongue is no longer white, ginger can also not put.
3, if the child’s hands and feet are not cold when the fever, but the face is red, sore throat, yellow or red tongue, yellow color urine, heavy smell, red eyes, it means that the child’s body internal heat is heavy, you can not drink ginger brown sugar water, parents should let the child drink a lot of warm water, you can also add a small amount of salt in the water, brewed into light salt water for children to drink, can eliminate internal heat. The child only drink a lot of water, more urine, so that the body’s internal heat with urine discharge, body temperature will drop, the symptoms of fire will also be better.
4, if the child is feverish during the day and night, it means that there is internal heat or inflammation in the body, parents can use bitter melon cut into thin slices, take 10 slices, add water and boil for 5 to 10 minutes and give the child to drink, 2 to 3 times a day, until the child is not feverish during the day, do not drink again. Also try to give the child more water, eat fresh fruit, diet should be relatively light, can not eat fish, shrimp, only other meat and vegetables.
5, if the child’s body temperature is normal during the day, and then rises in the evening, and then recedes in the morning, it means that the child’s fever is caused by heavy cold and deficiency in the body, it is still necessary to give the child to drink ginger and brown sugar onion water, preferably with mugwort water to soak the feet to dispel the cold, and you can let the child drink meat soup and light chicken soup, the solid yuan paste can be eaten twice a day, once a small half spoon, to give the child timely nutrition, and at the same time let the child drink more water.
6, for children over 2 years old, parents can help the child massage. First rub the child’s feet, the heat led downward, and so the feet rubbed hot, and then rub the calves, up and down back and forth, the calves rubbed hot, and then rub the child’s small hands, arms, back and ears, and finally rub the top of the child’s head right in the hundred points. Parents in helping children massage not too hard, to gently rub, the speed of rubbing can not be too fast, to rub slowly one by one, not in a hurry, while rubbing, while the child drink more warm water. If the child’s fever does not subside, use warm water to wipe the child’s entire body once, using a towel to rub the child’s skin red, rub hot, so that the child’s body dissipates heat on its own.
If the child still has cold hands and feet, it means that the cold is heavy, parents can give the child several times in a row to drink ginger brown sugar onion water, after this treatment, the child can mostly cool down.
Parents need to note that when drinking onion and ginger brown sugar water plus massage for fever, they should drink onion and ginger brown sugar water first and then massage.
Once, a 5-year-old boy had a cold and fever due to air conditioning, and I taught his mother this method. After 3 days, the child’s mother came to me, she said, according to my method to the child massage, the child’s fever went down, even if the fever 3 times a day in a row, massage can work, but later found that the child a little wheezing, and rushed to the hospital to take the child to infusion. I asked her, did you give the child ginger water? She said no. I said, the child is obviously cold caused by blowing air conditioning, you should first give the child to get rid of cold, so that the child’s whole body warm up and then massage, if you just give the child massage, massage more, the child is easy to qi deficiency, so the child has cold in the body, at the same time cough plus qi deficiency, naturally wheezing. The next day’s treatment is very crucial, if cured, the condition will not rebound and the child will not have fever again; however, if the cold and dampness in the child’s body is too heavy and not yet dispelled, the child will burn up again after the afternoon. The above mentioned are pediatric fever that parents can handle by themselves, but there are some cases that must be sent to the hospital.
What symptoms should be sent to the hospital promptly after a child has a cold or fever?
1.High fever of 39.5℃ or more.
2.The child can no longer drink water, or there are convulsions.
3.The child is poor in spirit, drowsy or not easy to wake up.
4.The child has a throat wheezing sound when breathing.
5.The child’s breathing is accelerated after the cold (≥ 60 breaths per minute for small infants under 2 months, ≥ 50 breaths per minute for children between 2 months and 1 year old, and ≥ 40 breaths per minute for children between 1 and 4 years old), which may have triggered mild pneumonia.
6, the child breathes faster and has upper chest depression (refers to the depression of the lower part of the chest wall when the child inhales, which is due to the poor elasticity of the lung tissues and the effort of inspiration; if the child inhales with only the soft tissues between the ribs or above the clavicle sunken in, it is not a chest depression). The presence of this feature indicates that the child has developed more pronounced respiratory distress and may have severe pneumonia.
A fever is the result of the body’s defense system fighting against foreign invading pathogens. A higher fever means that the body’s resistance is stronger, but it does not mean that the disease is more serious. Infants and children under three months of age rarely have high fever even with severe pneumonia because their immune function is not yet developed and their resistance is not strong.
A common example of hyperthermia is early childhood emergency rash, a disease that occurs mostly in infants 6-9 months of age, with a temperature usually above 39 degrees and a fever of three days. However, the child’s spirit is usually very good, the temperature subsides in 72 hours, a red rash appears on the face and trunk, and the rash disappears and heals in 2-3 days with almost no after-effects.
Also fever is a self-protective mechanism, fever can effectively inhibit the growth and reproduction of pathogenic bacteria and reduce the damage to the body. The most suitable temperature for the growth of most pathogenic microorganisms is 37 degrees, and an increase in temperature will significantly reduce the ability of pathogens to reproduce. Don’t rush to reduce your body temperature to normal!
Hyperthermia also has its bad side, which can cause metabolic disorders and dysfunction of various systems in the body, leading to damage to vital organs. Because the pediatric nervous system is not well developed, especially children under 5 years of age are prone to convulsions during fever, which can cause different degrees of brain damage. Therefore, pediatric fever, especially high fever, should be promptly treated with heat.
A. What clinical antipyretic drugs are available
1, acetaminophen, is the first choice of antipyretic drugs recommended by the World Health Organization for infants and children with high fever. Its antipyretic effect is mild and long-lasting, characterized by good efficacy, few side effects and rapid and complete absorption.
2, ibuprofen, fever reduction is fast and effective, and the duration of fever reduction can be maintained for 6 to 8 hours, with few side effects, which can reduce the number of doses. The side effects are relatively small.
3, aspirin, antipyretic effect is stronger, but the side effects are relatively large. It is generally used in small doses for short periods of time and is still relatively safe. The clinical use of lysergicin injection administration, the effect is fast. However, the phenomenon of lysergic aspirin causing Richter’s syndrome (a serious disease) in children has been reported repeatedly and requires close attention.
4.Nimesulide, a new type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic, the antipyretic effect is relatively good compared with ibuprofen, but the side effects are relatively large, especially the side effects on the liver have been reported repeatedly.
5, anti-inflammatory pain, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic, with a strong and lasting antipyretic effect, due to the high incidence of adverse reactions to this product, the liver function, kidney and blood system have different degrees of side effects, in general, are not used.
6, Anacin, is an ancient antipyretic drug, antipyretic effect quickly, because it can cause granulocytopenia, kidney damage and other more serious adverse reactions, only in acute hyperthermia and acute condition, and no other effective antipyretic drugs available, only for emergency antipyretic. It is usually used only once to ensure safety. Oral administration is no longer used, can use 20% solution for nasal drops to reduce fever.
7, Chinese medicine antipyretic drugs, many Chinese medicines have different degrees of antipyretic effect, but because of the slow antipyretic effect of Chinese medicine, and the drug composition is not very clear, parents are not recommended to use Chinese medicine as antipyretic drugs. 8, note: the general situation of antipyretic effect and side effects proportional to the fever! The better the effect, the greater the side effects.
Second, how to use antipyretic drugs
1.If the body temperature is lower than 38.5℃, with high energy and good spirit, there is no need to use antipyretic drugs.
2.If the body temperature exceeds 38.5℃, hot face, irritability and bad spirit, it is necessary to give antipyretic drugs immediately.
3.When the body temperature exceeds 39℃, it is easy to induce convulsions caused by high fever, and antipyretic drugs must be used immediately.
4, taking antipyretic drugs, you can choose to choose two different ingredients, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen. When giving your child an antipyretic, you can choose to alternate between the two drugs. This not only reduces the number of times each drug is used within 24 hours, but also reduces the side effects of the drug. You can choose ibuprofen 4 hours after acetaminophen and acetaminophen 6 hours after ibuprofen. When a child takes a drug if vomiting occurs within 5 minutes, another drug should be chosen.
5.If the child cannot tolerate oral medication, suppositories for intra-rectal use can be chosen.
6.Even if the drug is chosen correctly and the dosage is appropriate, the child should be allowed to take in enough fluids to achieve the desired effect, so as to ensure that the body achieves the effect of reducing fever through heat dissipation.
7, for high fever persists, you can choose warm water bath, which is generally considered the best way. For dry stools, you can also laxative to clear the fire, or even give a warm saline enema to cool the temperature.
Most fevers in children are caused by viruses, and the duration of the illness is usually 3 to 5 days, depending on the child’s physical condition. Those in good health will get better in about 3 days, while those in poor health will take a week to recover.
During this period, the fever will recur, which is caused by the virus in the body and is normal, so parents do not need to be too anxious and should remain calm. Parents who are too nervous will cause stress to the child, which is not conducive to the recovery of the disease. Give him more water, it is best to take herbal treatment, using Chinese herbs to clear the fever and detoxify the toxin, such as the pediatric double yellow Lian and other fever and detoxification preparations. Do not take the drip lightly, that will damage the blood vessels of young children, and the drug will also remain in the blood vessels of young children. Antipyretic drugs can only temporarily relieve the condition, only to reduce the fever, not to solve the underlying problem. If a child’s fever is not high (below 38.5 degrees and below 38 degrees for children with a history of febrile convulsions), you can use physical cooling by wiping the child’s palms, feet, armpits and thighs with warm water at about 40 degrees and covering the head with a towel.
During this period, insist on taking herbs and drinking plenty of water. The diet during the illness is based on easily digestible food, such as noodles and thin rice with vegetables, and you can eat egg custard and tofu, and less meat food. When drinking milk, dilute it with some water so that the child can take in more water to facilitate detoxification.