Urticaria (skin allergy)
Red blotches, round or oval and raised from the skin surface appear on the body accompanied by itching. If it is associated with swelling of the lips and tongue, pallor, breathing difficulty or light-headedness, it may signify a serious disorder called “anaphylaxis.” Under such circumstances the child should be taken to the doctor immediately. Otherwise urticaria is a benign condition and the best treatment is anti-histaminic drugs. The only problem with urticaria is that like asthma it is difficult to trace the allergen and hence it may be chronic and recurrent.
Skin Tips in Eczema
Small children and babies can wear cotton gloves to prevent them from causing more damage to the skin by scratching. Avoid scratching or rubbing the itchy areas.
Avoid frequent hot bath or showers.
Cotton underclothes and socks should be worn. Woollen clothes should be avoided.
Applying bath oils before bathing and a moisturiser after bathing will prevent skin from drying out. Avoid common soaps and increase the use of glycerine soaps, mild face washes and moisturisers.
Source: American Association of Family Physicians
Headaches in childhood
Parents tend to blame eyestrain or hearing problems as the main cause for headaches, which is seldom correct. The commonest causes for headaches in childhood are migraine, tension headaches, organic headaches and psychogenic headaches. Migrainous attacks cause a severe throbbing headache often followed by vomiting. The child wants to retire to a dark room. There is often a positive family history of migraine.
Tension headaches are due to a continual stress during the daytime, which results in a headache in the evenings, mainly due to muscle soreness. Psychogenic headaches are a means of seeking attention or a means to escape from an Unpleasant activity, say going to school. Organic headaches are due to a disease of the brain and should be taken seriously. Whatever the cause, headache should not be taken lightly. It is best to consult a doctor, primarily to rule out an organic cause such as a tumour of the brain or infection of the brain as the cause for headache.
Dental caries
Food, high in sugar content and remaining in the mouth for a prolonged period is the commonest factor responsible for dental caries. Babies who sleep with the bottle containing sweetened milk in their mouth are especially prone to get it, called as “nursing bottle” caries. The tooth becomes sensitive to the temperature of the food and hence cold or hot foodstuff may hurt. Later on, there may be a constant pain and even a dental abscess (collection of pus). In the early stages of tooth decay, the decayed part is cleaned and tooth filling done.
Later on, extraction of the teeth may become necessary. Even milk teeth should be cared for meticulously. Just because they are going to fall off at the age of 6 years onwards and replaced by new permanent teeth doesn’t mean that they should be ignored. Milk teeth allow the child to speak and eat properly, have a good self-image and preserve the space for the permanent teeth.
To prevent dental problems, teeth should be cleaned regularly. The gums of even a small baby can be cleaned by wiping it with a moist cotton cloth. As the child grows older and cuts out the milk teeth, these can be cleaned by rubbing them with a soft cloth or a soft baby toothbrush. Toothpaste may be used even though the child tends to swallow it (it causes no harm). Cleaning should be done twice a day preferably, particularly before bedtime and after that the child should have no more food items.
The second important step is to limit the intake of high sugar food particularly those/which are concentrated, viscous and have a sticky texture. The third and final step is to strengthen the tooth and this is done by fluoridation of the toothpaste. Caries of the milk teeth does not directly cause caries of the permanent teeth. Antiseptic mouthwashes, though a good way of protection against dental caries, are of little value in a small child, as he tends to swallow it, particularly before the age of 6 years.
Anaemias in childhood
It is a frequently encountered problem. The child looks pale and gets tired quickly. The best way to diagnose anaemia is by testing “haemoglobin” of the blood. Anaemia, in the majority of cases, is due to a nutritional deficiency of iron, folic acid or Vitamin-B12. However any case of anaemia should be thoroughly investigated and one should strive to find a cause for anaemias diligently. If the doctor orders a battery of tests, it is worth the effort, time and money to get them done, because often anaemias can be a perplexing problem and the cause difficult to ascertain.
Giving iron and other tonics indiscriminately for anaemias without knowing the type of anaemia is not correct. In fact iron is contraindicated in certain types of anaemias called “haemolytic” anaemias, the prototype of which is “Thalessemia” in which blood gets “destroyed” prematurely. Children suffering from this devastating disease are dependent on regular blood transfusions, as there is no definitive therapy for it yet. So prevention is best, which takes mainly two forms. One is to avoid consanguineous marriages (i.e. marriages among close relatives) and secondly is to go for genetic counselling. This can be done during the early weeks of pregnancy and if the baby in-utero is found to be having Thalessemia, it is advisable to go for therapeutic abortion.