Bed-Wetting:
What to do now:
1. Remind your child to use the bathroom just before bed each night.
2. Limit the amount your child drinks before bedtime.
3. Don’t give your child drinks like colas and teas, that contain caffeine; caffeinated drinks produce more urine.
4. Wake your child to use the toilet again before you go to bed if he or she has been sleeping for more than an hour.
5. Praise your child whenever he or she stays dry. But never scold a child for bed-wetting; you may make the problem worse.
When to call a doctor:
1. If your child has painful urination, bloody or very cloudy urine stream; this could signal a bladder infection.
2. If either you or your child feel frustrated and want more help.
How to prevent it:
1. Try bladder training: Once a day encourage your child to hold his or her urine for a few minutes past the first sensation of a full bladder. Practice for three months to give the technique a chance to work.
Chicken Pox:
What to do now:
1. Give acetaminophen for pain. (Never give aspirin to a child under 12 who has chicken pox, flu, or any other illness your suspect of being caused by a virus).
2. If your child wears diapers, leave them off as much as possible to let blisters dry.
3. Make sure your child gets plenty of rest and lots to drink.
4. To relieve itching apply calamine lotion to the rash, and try adding a handful of oatmeal, baking soda, or an over-the-counter anti-itch bath powder to your child’s bath water.
5. Keep your child’s skin, clothes, and bed linens clean.
6. To prevent scratching, trim your child’s fingernails and or cover her hands with socks or mittens.
When to call a doctor:
1. If chicken pox is accompanied by persistent drowsiness, double vision, extreme sensitivity to light, eye pain, loss of hearing, speech impairment, a stiff neck or back, or a severe cough; these may be symptoms of acute encephalitis, a inflammation of the brain.
2. If breathing becomes difficult; this may be a symptom of pneumonia, a possible complication (sometimes in adults, rarely in children).
3. If areas of your child’s rash look increasingly red, swollen, or tender, or produce a yellow discharge.
4. If chicken pox is accompanied by a fever over 102 for three to four days, a symptom of possible strep infection.
How to prevent it:
1. A Chicken pox vaccine is available for all children over 13 months, and it can be combined with other routine immunizations. For children under 13 years old, a single injection should provide immunity to the disease. Anyone
over 13 needs two shots, four to eight weeks apart
Fifth_Disease:
What to do now:
1. Encourage bed rest and give plenty of water and other fluids to your child if he or she feels sick.
2. For minor aches or pains, or discomfort from fever, you can give your child acetaminophen. (Never give aspirin to a child under 12 who has fifth disease, chicken pox, flu, r any other illness you suspect of being caused by a virus).
3. If the rash is itchy, apply a cream such as calamine lotion.
4. Fifth disease can harm a developing fetus, so keep your child away from pregnant women.
When to call a doctor:
1. If your child is affected with any kind of rash. Fifth disease isn’t serious, but it has symptoms that can appear similar to those of more serious illness.
2. If your child develops new symptoms or a fever of 102 degrees or higher.
How to prevent it:
Make sure your children wash their hands often. It will reduce the chance of spreading infections.
Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease:
Signs and Symptoms:
1. Small, tender, canker-like sores on the tongue and inside of the cheeks.
2. An itchy reddish rash or small blister on the hands and feet, between the fingers and toes, and sometimes appearing on the buttocks.
3. Low fever up to 102 degrees.
4. Tiredness.
What to do now:
1. Be sure your child drinks plenty of fluids.
2. If the rash is itchy, apply an anti-itch cream.
3. Avoid citrus fruits, spicy foods, and other foods that might irritate your child’s sore mouth. Try serving nutritious liquids, such as chicken or vegetable soup, and soft foods, such as mashed banana, if solid foods are too painful to chew.
4. To help relieve pain or reduce your child’s fever, give acetaminophen. (Never give aspirin to a child under 12 who has hand, foot, and mouth disease, chicken pox, flu, or any other illness you suspect of being caused by a virus).
When to call a doctor:
1. If your child have extreme difficulty swallowing.
2. Whenever your child gets a rash. Hand, foot, and mouth disease is not serious, but it can be confused with a rash.
How to prevent it:
1. Make sure children don’t share glasses, silverware, or toys that have been in other children’s mouths.
2. Ensure that your children wash their hands after using the toilet.
Teething:
Signs and Symptoms
1. Increased fussiness, nighttime crying, and clingy behavior.
2. Excessive salivate.
3. Chewing on fingers and other objects.
4. Swollen, red, and inflamed gums.
5. Increased desire for nursing or bottle-feeding, or child may refuse breast or bottle because sucking action hurts sore gums.
6. Reduced appetite.
What to do now:
1. When your child seems uncomfortable, rub his or her gums with a clean finger.
2. Wrap an ice cube in a soft cloth, and rub it gently on your child’s gums to reduce inflammation. Keep moving the ice over the gums to avoid damaging tissue.
3. If discomfort persists, consult doctor about using acetaminophen. ( Never give aspirin to a child under 12 who has chicken pox, flu, or any other illness your suspect of being caused by a virus).
4. The drooling that accompanies teething can cause a rash on the face, neck, and upper chest.
5. Change wet clothing often, or use bibs.
6. Never rub brandy or any other alcoholic drink on your child’s gums (no matter what you might have heard). Alcohol, even in small amounts, is bad for children.
When to call a doctor:
1. If your child has no teeth by 12 months of age. This could indicate a harmless, inherited tendency to late teething, but it might mean a condition that causes delayed bone development.
2. If your child has a fever that lasts more than 48 hours or is higher than 100 degrees, has diarrhea, or is lethargic; these symptoms may indicate a condition more serious than teething.
3. If your child has cold symptoms, a persistent fever, trouble eating or sleeping, or garbs at the side of his or her face; this could signal an ear infection.
Whooping Cough:
Signs and Symptoms:
1. Low fever of 100 to 101 degrees.
2. Runny nose and sneezing.
3. Dry cough.
Second Stage (lasts two to ten weeks):
1. Severe, frequent coughing, sometimes followed by a whooping sound when breathing in. (Babies may have repeated coughing fits without making the whooping sound.)
2. Red or blue face during coughing episodes. If your child turns blue or stops breathing, Get emergency treatment.
3. Vomiting may follow coughing fits.
Third stage (which may last for several months):
1. Cough that gradually becomes less frequent and severe.
What to do now:
1. First diagnose the problem.
2. Keep your child comfortable.
3. Give your child plenty of liquids to drink. Frequent small meals may reduce likelihood of vomiting.
4. Children may be able to breathe more easily when coughing if they sit up and lean forward.
5. Do not give your child a cough suppressant, as it may prevent the clearing of mucus from blocked airways.
6. Give acetaminophen for pain relief.(Never give aspirin to a child under 12 who has chicken pox, flu, or any other illness you suspect of being caused by a virus).
When to call a doctor:
1. If your child turns blue or stops breathing during or after coughing.
Call for an immediate appointment:
1. If your child’s cough becomes more severe and frequent.
2. If he or she has been exposed to someone with whooping cough, even if your child has been immunized.
How to prevent it:
1. Starting at the age of two months, a child should be immunized against whooping cough. The vaccine is about 80 percent effective after three doses.
2. Doctor may recommend preventive antibiotics for family members or schoolmates of a child who has whooping cough, even for those who have been immunized.
3. Avoid exposing your child to anyone who has whooping cough.
