Be careful when using suppositories to reduce fever in children.

Many mothers, when their children have a fever, immediately think of suppositories to prevent the child from vomiting. However, overdosing or using them too often is very dangerous for the child's health.

Consequences of arbitrarily using suppositories

Every time her 2-year-old daughter Anh Thu has a fever, Ms. Van Anh (Ngoc Khanh - Ba Dinh) immediately buys paracetamol suppositories for her child. Because her child vomits every time she takes the medicine, every time she gives her child a fever reducer, it is a nightmare for her. This time, her child had a high fever, so she used suppositories for the fever reducer. The fever went down significantly, but on the second day, her child had diarrhea. But because she thought her child had a viral fever, which could be accompanied by diarrhea, she did not take her child to the doctor.

When her husband came home from a business trip while the child was in the toilet, he discovered that the child had bloody mucus in his stool, and his anus was red with symptoms of swelling and pain. They rushed to take the child to the doctor and found out that it was a side effect of overusing rectal antipyretics while the child had a fever.

According to Master, Doctor Le Thi Phuong Hue (Thanh Nhan Hospital), when children have a fever, parents should not abuse suppositories because the medicine can cause side effects. It is best for parents to measure the temperature accurately and then give their children the medicine with the appropriate content and dosage. Only in case of emergency should they put in medicine, but they should not put in too much.

To reduce your child's fever with oral or rectal medication, you need a doctor's prescription. (Illustration)

If you use rectal medication for a few days and your child has symptoms of diarrhea, you need to stop immediately and regularly check the child's anus to see if there are any effects. Because using medication while the child is having diarrhea can easily cause poisoning and anal infection, causing the child's anus to swell, become painful, and also cause rectal inflammation or diarrhea.

A similar case to Ms. Van Anh's is the 19-month-old son of Mr. Hieu and Ms. Ngan (Dong Ngac - Tu Liem) who also has difficulty taking medicine every time he is sick. Due to difficult economic circumstances and no one to look after him, the couple had to send their child to daycare early. Their child's health is not good, so he often has a fever. Every time he has a fever, the couple loses sleep and appetite because every time their son Manh takes fever-reducing medicine, he cries, vomits, and turns purple in the face... Worried, the couple turned to using suppositories to relieve their child's fever.

When she first started using the suppositories, Ms. Ngan found them very effective because the fever subsided very quickly, and she thought that was good. The next time, every time her child had a fever, her husband and she immediately thought of paracetamol suppositories. Normally, each time she got sick, she only needed to use them a few times to get better. She didn't understand why, but the last few times her child had a fever, she kept using the suppositories but it didn't get better. Not only that, sometimes her anus secreted yellow liquid that smelled like feces and she had diarrhea.

Parents need to pay attention to the use of suppositories for fever reduction.

Sharing about this, Dr. Phuong Hue said that suppositories have the effect of reducing fever for children and adults. Suppositories to reduce fever are often used for children who often vomit or regurgitate when taking medicine. Therefore, using suppositories still penetrates the blood like oral medicine, which means it still passes through the liver if we abuse it too much. Therefore, children or adults with liver disease should not use this pill.

Therefore, to have solid knowledge in taking care of children when they have a fever, mothers should not overuse rectal suppositories and should not use high doses because using too much will cause anal ulcers and drug poisoning. When using medicine directly through the anus, the medicine will be absorbed very quickly, affecting liver function. Therefore, when parents use medicine for children with fever, they need to consult a doctor, avoid using too much medicine on their own, which will be harmful to the child's health. When children have a fever, it is necessary to measure the child's temperature accurately before using the medicine.

However, before inserting the medicine into the child's rectum, mothers need to do one more thing: clean the child's anus. Position the child's buttocks up to make it easier to insert the medicine and be gentle when inserting, avoiding force. There are cases where the child arches his body when inserting the medicine, so parents often use force to try to insert the medicine into the rectum, causing the child to feel pain.

In addition, children with anal fissures, anal infections, dysentery, diarrhea, liver disease, kidney disease, or allergies to paracetamol should not use suppositories under any circumstances.

When a child has a fever, parents should absolutely not dress their child in too many clothes, give the child plenty of water and can eat more fruit, because when a child has a fever, it is often accompanied by dehydration, so it is necessary to replenish water and electrolytes by dissolving each 27.5g packet of Oresol powder with 1 liter of boiled water to cool for the child to drink gradually during the day. If Oresol is not available, it can be replaced with orange juice, lemon juice, rice porridge, salt and sugar water and divide meals into many small meals a day, eat liquid food, and monitor the child's body temperature carefully.

When a child has a fever, the mother needs to dry the sweat and sometimes we have to bathe the child in a warm room to keep the child clean and free from infection due to dirt accumulated on the body. In addition, mothers can also use a warm towel to cool down by wiping the armpits, groin, neck, and thin skin areas to quickly release heat.

If the child has a fever with other symptoms, parents should take the child to a medical facility for examination. In the case of a simple fever, you should also consult a doctor for medication. If the fever is not accompanied by other symptoms but does not go away after 3 days, you should also see a doctor.

According to PLXH