Be careful of respiratory diseases "attacking" your children in the cold weather. What should parents do to prevent the baby's illness?

Recognizing the symptoms of respiratory disease in children, parents need to pay attention to

According to TTTT. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Former Head of the Pediatrics Department at Bach Mai Hospital, "Due to the short and narrow airway characteristics of young children, they are more susceptible to pathogens. Especially children have immature immune systems, so their resistance is weak, leading to children not being able to resist the attack of invading pathogens from outside.

According to Dr. Dung, children often get two primary diseases: acute respiratory infections (such as upper respiratory infection, rhinitis, and pneumonia) and respiratory allergic diseases (such as allergic rhinitis). , allergic sinusitis, asthma, pharyngitis, otitis media). 

Parents can detect early childhood ear, nose, and throat diseases through some of the following symptoms:

• Children must breathe through their mouth so their throat is dry and burning. The mucus from the nose flows down the throat, causing the child to get stuck in the throat, cough spits up often.

•  The voice is not clear with the consonants M, and N (M reads as B and N reads as T), speaking in nasal congestion.

• Blocked nose also often causes blockage of the eustachian tubes so that children may have hearing loss and tinnitus. Calling children when they can't hear or not will be poor at school.

• If bacteria cause nasopharyngitis, the nasal discharge is yellow-green, gradually thickening. The most common manifestation in children is the phenomenon of "blue nose protrusion." 

• After a few days to a week, if not treated promptly, symptoms of acute nasopharyngitis will appear, such as fever, stuffy nose, cough with yellow-green sputum... or otitis media (children crying, high fever, etc.) of ear pain, even ear discharge...).

Prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases for children properly

Assoc. Dr. Pham Thi Bich Dao - Senior Lecturer in the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Hanoi Medical University, shared with parents how to prevent ENT diseases for children as follows:

- Wear masks for children every time they go out. Because the current Vietnamese environment is heavily polluted by construction dust, gasoline, and chemicals

- Limit bringing children into crowded places because it is easy for children to be infected when the body is not resistant enough.

- Keep the baby's neck, chest, and belly warm when it's cold.

- Avoid leaving children in drafty places.

- Should go to the doctor so the child can be treated early for nose and throat symptoms. Good treatment of inflammatory foci in the nose, throat, and mouth

- Parents need to know how to drop their children's noses and properly instruct children on how to blow their noses so as not to push pus and germs into the middle ear or the sinuses.

- Do not pump too much or blow your nose vigorously, especially for children, because if you do this incorrectly, you can accidentally introduce bacteria into the ears, sinuses. Note further, if the treatment of these symptoms is not correct, such as using cough suppressants of the type that inhibit the respiratory center, it will lose the ability to protect the lungs of the child through the cough reflex, leading to Complications such as: Bronchitis, pneumonia ... It is necessary to carefully monitor if there are symptoms of bacterial superinfection such as: yellow-green nasal discharge, bad breath... must take antibiotics promptly.

Parents should take their children to the doctor as soon as they are sick to get accurate advice. Trust and follow the instructions of the treating doctor.

At the CarePlus VietNam, parents can rest assured to take their baby for regular health check-ups. In addition to clinical examination services and necessary tests, a team of experienced pediatricians will directly advise and guide children on how to take care of children at home and prevent common diseases. From there, it helps parents proactively know how to help their children get comprehensive physical and mental care.

Source of information: Suckhoedoisong.vn