What should I do if my child has a cough, sore throat, or nasal congestion? Yang Jinghua: Pay attention to three points in home care
On the afternoon of Saturday, December 2, the National Health Commission held a press conference to introduce the prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases in winter. Mi Feng, spokesperson of the National Health Commission and deputy director of the Publicity Department, said that according to monitoring, the current epidemic of acute respiratory diseases are all caused by known pathogens, and there are corresponding mature treatment methods, and no new infectious diseases caused by new viruses or bacteria have been found. Mi Feng said that the supply of medical services will be further increased, and the pediatric outpatient clinics of all levels and types of medical institutions such as traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and maternal and child health hospitals should be opened as much as possible, and the number of patients will be increased according to the number of patients.
How to distinguish between cold and heat in children with acute respiratory tract infections? What are the characteristics of children with diseases in southern China? What should we pay attention to in home care for children infected with respiratory diseases? At the press conference, Professor Yang Jinghua, director of the Department of Pediatrics of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, gave detailed answers to hot questions.
Children in the south are mainly hot and windy, and are prone to dampness
Many parents find their child's symptoms complex and difficult to distinguish between cold and heat. Professor Yang Jinghua explained that you can first look at the cold and heat, and then see if there are symptoms such as wet and cold.
Generally speaking, there are two types of acute respiratory infections in children: wind-fever and wind-cold. At present, in Guangdong, the temperature is still relatively high, but it is cool in the morning and evening, so children in the south such as Guangdong have wind and heat as the main syndrome characteristics, and at the same time, they will also be mixed with some damp or cold evils. "Children with dampness will have poor appetite and even vomiting and diarrhea, which are symptoms of dampness that hinder the movement of the spleen and stomach. If there is a combination of cold and evil, symptoms of external cold and internal heat may also appear at the same time. External cold is often manifested as high fever and chills, with obvious symptoms of cold intolerance, nasal congestion, runny nose, and sneezing, but at the same time, there are also symptoms of sore throat, red lips, dry stool, and short yellow urine. Yang Jinghua said that this syndrome may often cause the child's symptoms to be more prominent, and it is difficult to get rid of fever.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that children have the characteristics of "three deficiencies and two excesses", so after acute respiratory infection, children are prone to phlegm, stagnation, and convulsion. These are the characteristics of colds in children. Sputum entrapment is caused by impaired lung function leading to cough and phlegm; stagnation is the manifestation of poor spleen and stomach function, poor appetite, thick tongue coating, and foul breath after a cold; sputum entrapment is the sudden dizziness and convulsions of individual children when they have a fever.
"But in the south, it is also prone to wetness. Yang Jinghua reminded that if the dampness evil invades the muscle surface of the human body, people will feel that the body is sleepy, the head is heavy and other symptoms, and more children will invade the spleen and stomach because of the dampness evil, which will lead to vomiting, diarrhea, thick tongue coating, etc.
Yang Jinghua reminded that the spleen and stomach function of children in the south is relatively weak, so special attention should be paid to the use of medicine, not too bitter cold medicine, and do not consume too much cold food, so as not to cause damage to the child's yang qi, resulting in the aggravation or prolongation of the disease.
Do not use fruit juice instead of drinking water!
Professor Yang Jinghua said that for children with respiratory diseases, in home care, parents should first pay attention to adding or removing clothes in time according to the temperature changes in the morning and evening; second, pay attention to indoor ventilation to reduce the gathering of indoor pathogens; and third, keep not smoking indoors. In addition, try to go out as much as possible during the illness and avoid going to crowded and noisy places.
Proper attention should also be paid when it comes to diet. During illness, children should have balanced and rich nutrition, but they should also pay attention to the fact that they should be light and easy to digest, and they can appropriately consume some vegetables and fruits, but avoid some unhealthy diets. Specifically, there are three types of attention:
First, Chinese medicine says that "if you drink cold, you will hurt your lungs", and if you eat too much cold, it will cause damage to your lungs. Therefore, children with cough generally do not eat cold drinks or eat too much melon and fruit food;
Second, the lungs are afraid of hot and spicy food, so they should try to avoid ingesting hot and bitter foods such as chili peppers and french fries.
Third, fatty, sweet and greasy will hurt the spleen and stomach, the child's spleen and stomach function is relatively weak, especially during illness, the digestive function will decline, so at this time the food must be easy to digest, try to avoid the intake of some high-calorie foods, and do not ingest desserts or drinks.
Yang Jinghua reminded that during respiratory tract infections, special attention should be paid to replenishing enough water, but fruit juice should not be used to completely replace drinking water. Because most fruits are on the cold side, consuming too much cold fruit may make your child's cough difficult to heal.
In the care of the recovery period of the disease, it is also necessary to avoid raw and cold seafood, fat, sweet and greasy, but also do not make up too early, because too early supplementation will make the evil qi stay in the spleen and stomach, which is not conducive to the recovery of the disease.
Children's cough, nasal congestion, sore throat?
What should I do if my child has fever, cough, nasal congestion, or sore throat? Safe, effective, simple and easy-to-use TCM appropriate techniques (also known as traditional TCM treatments) have played a great role in the field of pediatric treatment.
Yang Jinghua introduced that for children with fever, they can use traditional Chinese medicine baths, pediatric massage, and scraping therapy to help reduce fever; You can also use fat sea boiled water instead of tea, which plays the role of dispelling wind and clearing heat and improving throat. It can also relieve sore throat by pinching and pressing the Shaoshang acupoint, rubbing the Yingxiang acupoint for nasal congestion, and for children with cough, acupoint application and pediatric massage can help improve the symptoms of cough.
Some small home methods can promote the recovery of spleen and stomach function in the later stage. For example, if the child has a bad appetite, he can use grain sprouts, malt, and hawthorn to boil water to promote the child's digestion and strengthen the spleen. In addition, some simple pediatric massage methods, such as chiropractic and kneading the door, can also be used to promote the child's spleen and stomach function.
Of course, these methods must also be selected and used under the guidance of a professional doctor, according to the different conditions of the child. Everyone can go to the websites of various TCM hospitals to watch, learn, and consult, and pay attention to the child's condition when using these appropriate technologies. Yang Jinghua reminded.
Reporter Lin Qingqing
Photo: China.com
Source | Yangcheng Evening News, Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Xue Renzheng
Proofreading | Zhou Yong