Top Expert Says Sick Child Often Needs Parent’s Care Over Meds

Photo by Andrew Seaman on Flickr.com

 

It is the most helpless feeling in the world when your sick child looks at you in discomfort, expecting you to take away all their pain, and you can’t.

So many parents rush their children to the doctors to do something – anything.

But the truth is, you have a secret weapon in your arsenal that doctors don’t have, and it cures more ailments than you know.

Disclaimer: no advice in this article is to replace a medical professional.

When a baby has a fever, accompanied by a cough and wheezing, it can be scary.

Worst-case scenarios race through your mind and you think, “If I don’t rush my baby to the doctor something awful will happen.”

Turns out that may not be the best response. 

Every parent has been confronted with the doctor who throws an antibiotic at an illness and a prescription for albuterol for the wheeze. 

However, those symptoms are commonly associated with bronchiolitis which, according to Harvard Health, “the best treatment is no treatment.”

How can that be?!

Bronchiolitis is commonly caused by viruses (so antibiotics would be useless) in the lungs, according to Harvard Health.

One such nasty bug you’ve probably heard of is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). 

And while your world revolves around your sick child, the fact is one in five babies under 12 months goes to the doctors for bronchiolitis and 2-3% end up hospitalized, Harvard Health tells us.

Dealing with this sickness is heartbreaking and exhausting, but thankfully, rarely fatal.

So what can we do for our ailing baby when medications don’t help and come with “side effects that aren’t good for babies,” as Harvard Health reports?

That’s when we pull out our secret weapon!

TLC, or “tender loving care,” is how your little one is able to jump on the fast track to healing.

How you care for your babe, according to Harvard Health, is giving them:

  • lots of fluids — dehydration can make all that congestion worse
  • a humidifier, to loosen the congestion
  • a bulb syringe to clear out the baby’s nose (nasal saline drops, available at any pharmacy, can help you get more out of the nose)

Strengthening your child’s immunity with vitamins is often helpful and has little to no negative effects, as Mommy Underground has previously reported.

And frequent hand-washing can help stop the spread of the virus to other members in the family. 

And many mothers will tell you that snuggles speed up the healing time too. 

Of course, there are times when a doctor visit or an emergency visit are necessary, Harvard Health tells us, such as when your child has:

  • a high fever (more than 102 degrees Fahrenheit), or a new fever after being sick for a few days
  • trouble breathing that doesn’t get better with the humidifier or the bulb syringe (signs of trouble breathing include rapid breathing or sucking in around the ribs)
  • a pale or blue color to the skin
  • sleepiness or irritability that is much worse than normal
  • refusal to take fluids, or not wetting diapers every 6 hours

But if your child is diagnosed with bronchiolitis, rest assured that you are doing the best for your little one just by tending to them with care and consideration. 

Just be prepared to watch every Daniel Tiger episode available – but at least you’ll get some much-needed rest too.