How to take care of children in cold season

The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said that current temperatures and those in the coming days in the Northwestern provinces will fluctuate between 10-13 degrees, with some places below 10 degrees.

Potential for many health problems

Due to the cold air mass shifting to the east, the Northeast (the plains and midlands, including Hanoi) also saw a sharp drop in temperature, only fluctuating between 9-12 degrees, with some places dropping below 8 degrees. Hanoi alone has experienced days with temperatures down to 8 degrees and is currently very cold.

Doctor Pham Thi Phuong Thao (Hanoi Xanh Pon General Hospital) said that this is a favorable weather condition, potentially causing many diseases to arise in children.

In fact, there has been a sudden increase in the number of children with viral fever, diarrhea, sore throat, cough, etc. in pediatric departments and pediatric hospitals in Hanoi since this severe cold spell began.

The harsh weather has also made many mothers tired when having to deal with the possibility of their children getting sick, especially those who are new mothers for the first time. On the webtretho and lamchame forums, many women even created topics about children's illnesses in the cold season and shared them with each other.

Ms. Khanh Vi, whose son is 2 years old, said: Her son has had a high fever and a bad cough since the cold weather started. Even after going to the doctor, no illness was diagnosed (although the doctor said he had tonsillitis). The antibiotics and fever reducers prescribed by the doctor did not help reduce his fever or cough.

Not knowing what to do, Ms. Vi went online to ask around and was told by many people in the same situation that simple and effective treatments were available, such as gargling with salt water every day, wearing a mask for her child before leaving the house to avoid breathing in polluted air, and taking her child for a blood test to see if he had a viral fever or a secondary infection.

At the pediatric department of Xanh Pon Hospital, Dr. Thao said that in recent days, the number of children coming for examination has increased due to negative symptoms related to the respiratory tract.

There are children under 2 years old who suddenly become ill and the disease progresses rapidly. Many children have severe coughs. Many families do not know how to handle it and give their children strong antibiotics, forgetting that the child coughs due to a cold, respiratory infection, and a throat that is not kept warm.

Many mothers, because they are too worried and careful, have revealed their lack of knowledge when taking care of their children in the cold season. That is, bathing their children in conditions where the wind can penetrate the house, without heating equipment, causing the children to have heat shock.

In particular, many families let their children wear too warm clothes when they go to bed, causing them to sweat profusely and then catch a cold, causing a high fever.

Need to know how to take care of children properly

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, recommends that in such harsh weather conditions, it is necessary to know how to take care of children to ensure that they are fed enough nutrients and have enough resistance to fight diseases. According to Ms. Lam, it is not good for children to take a lot of antibiotics, because their organs such as the liver and kidneys are still weak when having to work to eliminate the drug's metabolites.

Therefore, parents should take care of their children with a nutritious and balanced diet. Every day, they should add fruit and vitamin C syrup because vitamin C helps increase the child's resistance.

In addition, for newborns, when they do not have the ability to regulate their own body temperature, they often get too hot or too cold. It is necessary to dress the baby appropriately and avoid taking the baby out in the wind or when it is very cold outside. Do not keep the baby too warm, as this will cause the baby to get hot and sweaty.

One important thing to do on cold days is to bathe your baby properly. You need to bathe in a room that is not windy, turn on the heater to warm the room before bathing your baby. Or turn on the hot water tap to let the heat spread throughout the room before bathing your baby. You need to clean and bathe your baby quickly with warm water and keep him warm immediately after bathing to prevent catching a cold.

“When it is cold and the child has any unusual signs such as diarrhea, not being able to eat or drink, crying constantly, refusing to breastfeed, rapid breathing, high fever that does not stop, etc., it is necessary to closely monitor and take the child to the hospital for timely medical care,” Dr. Thao recommends.

According to suckhoevadoisong