In the hot summer, some parents may find that their children are wilting, eating less food, losing weight, and losing their energy, and some even have fever. When they go to the hospital for examination, everything is normal. What is this? This is commonly known as “bitter summer”, known in Chinese medicine as “resistance summer”, “summer fever”.
This is called “summer resistance” and “summer fever” in Chinese medicine. It is a fever with unknown symptoms that occurs in children in summer. According to Chinese medicine, children suffer from bitter summer mainly because of their lack of spleen and stomach qi and poor gastrointestinal function; summer heat is in season and the evil of summer heat damages the vital energy and causes the above symptoms.
Children with bitter summer are mostly found to be physically weak, and their manifestations are as follows.
① No appetite, see rice is not good, but love to eat cold drinks.
②They often show mental fatigue, yellowish complexion, no weight gain, and they like to lie down and move lazily and are reluctant to talk.
③It is often accompanied by irritability, crying, easy to lose temper, red lips and mouth, white or yellow tongue coating, sour smell in the mouth, and thin and sticky stools. Some may also have nausea and fever on the head, body and palms, but the body temperature is not high.
(4) Some children may have fever and the temperature fluctuates up and down with the temperature. Despite the fever, the child does not sweat much, or even not at all. Thirst is obvious and drinking more water. When the climate turns cooler, the body temperature can return to normal.
Chinese medicine believes that summer heat and humidity should be the main focus of health care “clear”. Therefore, in the summer, parents must take care of their children to keep them away from the bitter summer. There are several specific measures.
Light diet
Let children eat more fresh fruits and vegetables as well as foods that are good for the stomach and dispel dampness, such as lentils, barley kernel, glutinous rice, millet, lotus seeds, carp, mung beans, cucumber, tofu, watermelon, winter melon, loofah, bitter melon, peaches, strawberries, tomatoes, fresh lotus root, etc. Don’t emphasize too much on the variety and balance of meals, try to prepare some foods that children like to eat, ensure the quantity of food first, then emphasize nutrition, but be careful to avoid greasy.
Eat less raw and cold food
Despite the hot weather, children should not be allowed to crave raw food and cold drinks, which may damage the spleen and stomach and aggravate the symptoms of bitter summer. Let children drink more water, and babies should be fed with water between feedings.
Cool room
The room should be ventilated, and the indoor temperature should be kept at 25℃ to 28℃. Keep the humidity in the room to avoid dryness that may cause discomfort to the children.
Dress comfortably
In summer, children should dress loosely and choose soft, breathable and moisture-absorbent cotton fabrics; diapers for babies should also be made of cotton. In addition, when children go out, they should avoid being exposed to the hot sun.
Enhance physical fitness
Children with poor appetite, thin body and yellow face can take some Chinese medicine to strengthen the spleen and eliminate food, such as children’s health oral liquid, spleen and eliminate food combination, 5-10 ml each time, 3 times a day, for 1 to 2 weeks; children with hot hands and feet, temper, bad breath and thick tongue can take Chinese medicine to clear heat and fire, such as yellow gardenia oral liquid, 5-10 ml each time, 3 times a day, for 2 to 3 days. All of the above should be taken under the guidance of a doctor.
Tui Na health care
1, abdominal massage method: an hour after eating, the mother can use the palm of the hand or finger belly to gently massage the stomach area of the child, according to the clockwise direction, from right to left rotation massage, 3 minutes each time. This method has the effect of promoting digestion. Massage, if the child does not adapt to immediately stop.
2, pinch crest method: let the child lying prone on the bed or parent’s knee can be, reveal the waist, back, buttocks, mother two hands thumb and index, middle finger relative to pinch up the skin along both sides of the crest, hands alternately twisting forward, pinch three, while lifting a. Pinch from the caudal part of the crest vertebrae to the seventh cervical vertebrae, do it five times each time, once a day.
Medicinal aid treatment
1, take 100 grams of watermelon rind cut into slices, 30 grams of fresh bamboo leaves, add 500 to 1000 ml of water and boil, then put the right amount of rock sugar, so that children drink in lieu of tea. It can clear the summer heat and relieve heartburn.
2, take 25 grams of mung beans, 10 grams of lotus seed meat, 10 large red dates and remove the core, 100 grams of barley. Wash and boil the porridge, can be served for 5~7 days.
3.Take 1 fresh lotus leaf, 100 grams of barley and 20 grams of fresh bamboo leaves. Wash and boil the porridge and take it several times a day for 5~7 days.
4.Take 1 fresh lotus leaf, 3 fresh loofah leaves and 10 grams of fresh bamboo leaves, add water and boil them, then add a little rock sugar to make a decoction and drink it as tea every day.
5, fresh patchouli, pelargonium 10 grams each, talcum, jujube 30 grams each, licorice 3 grams decoction to drink as tea, 1 dose daily. It can be taken regularly.
If a child’s bitter summer symptoms gradually worsen, or accompanied by significant wasting and other conditions, parents need to promptly take the affected child to the doctor.