Expert Opinion

 

Antimicrobials do not work as fever reducing medicines!

If not required and given may cause harm than benefit

 

Fever is not always Bacterial infection; most fevers in children do not need antimicrobials

Fevers are due to infections, immune reactions of the body or malignancies. Rarely some drugs including antimicrobials can also cause fever. Rare genetic conditions also cause fever in some children. 

Infections may be due to bacteria, virus, parasite or fungus. Antimicrobials work mostly against bacteria alone. 

Bacteria as a cause of fever in immune-competent children is a rare.

Viruses are the most common causes of fever in children

Antimicrobials do not affect the course of viral infections. Only few antiviral drugs are available for select situations only!

Do consult and discuss with your doctor for the use of antimicrobials in your child 

Fever is a friend, not a foe!

 

Breast Feeding is the best feeding for your newly born infant!

Every mother knows this, yet every mother is not comfortable or successful in feeding her child at breast.

There are many reasons to this.

The first and the foremost is the confidence of the mother in herself! The mother is in a state of ‘stress’ after child birth, and is looking for support from family and friends. She has a new member in the family for which she has to find time and make adjustments in her routine.

Most infants are alert and awake at night and more demanding at that time.

She has lots of doubts about the infant as well as many a times people around her create doubts about the success of breast feeding / breast milk.

Our customs forbid many food or even plain water to our new mothers, which adds on to the stress.

All these things are counterproductive to successful flow of milk.

It is not the production of milk but the flow of milk that is a problem.

A timely support from the family members especially the grandmother(s), with a guiding and helpful pediatrician who is supervising the needs of the new born, are needed to make the lactation successful in this critical stage of the new life.

 

Till what age should the child be fed at breast:

WHO says “Exclusive Breast feeding (not even water) till six months of age, and continued breast feeding till two years

  

Medical Reasons for mothers to not to feed the new born:

 

Mother on anticancer treatment, antipsychotic treatment as well as anti-thyroid treatment should not feed the child at breast milk.

Mothers with flat or inverted nipples may not be able to feed directly from breast. Talk to your pediatrician to overcome this problem.

 

Reason for the child for not to be fed at breast:

Child with true lactose intolerance should not be given breast milk.

Other reasons for not allowing breast feeding (suckling at breast) would be a very low birth weight /premature child, unless your doctor allows you to feed the child directly from breast. Till that time the child may be fed at expressed breast milk.

 

Children with cleft palate – deformity of the palate of the child may not be able to swallow the milk without help for which your pediatrician would guide you further.

Is asthma curable?

 

No, asthma is condition in which the body reacts to a set of environment and this reactivity of the body cannot be cured; rather this can be controlled by using some medicines for a long term. To avoid the side effects of these medicines, we prescribe the inhaled route to minimize the doses. Please adhere to the methods prescribed by the pediatrician.

 

Stress in children

 

Most parents do not agree or know that their children at are stress. Any unexplained symptom may be the result of stress in a child which should be professionally managed by a trained psychologist. The symptoms may range from aches and pains at various locations of the body, with non-measurable symptoms like weaknesses, poor scholastic performance, unacceptable social behavior etc.

 

 

 

DIVYA CLINIC                     Dr L N TANEJA                    Dr RENU TANEJA