The child is very often sick with colds Komarovsky. The child often suffers from colds: what to do? Reviews of doctors
Does your child get sick very often and you don't know what to do? Many parents are familiar with such a situation when for almost six months they do not see their child healthy, because one “cold” replaces another. And if the doctor asks them: "What are you complaining about?", They answer: "The child is often sick."
Who is considered a frequently ill child
In domestic medicine, the following are often considered ill: children under 1 year old, if cases of acute respiratory diseases (ARI) - 4 or more per year; children from 1 to 3 years old - 6 or more acute respiratory infections per year; children from 3 to 5 years old - 5 or more acute respiratory infections per year; children over 5 years old - 4 or more acute respiratory infections per year.
Often, a child is sick not only often, but also for a long time (more than 10 - 14 days, one acute respiratory disease). Long-term ill children can also be categorized as frequently ill.
Outwardly, acute respiratory infections can be manifested by a runny nose, cough, reddening of the throat, general weakness, and a rise in temperature. Frequently ill children may have one but long-term symptom, such as persistent coughing or coughing, persistent nasal discharge, and the temperature may be normal. If the child has a constant fever, but there are no symptoms of acute respiratory infections, this is often a sign of chronic infections, and requires a detailed medical examination.
Why does the child often get sick
If a child is often or for a long time sick, this means that his immunity is weakened.
Reasons for weakened immunity:
1. The functions of the immune system begin to form in utero, therefore, intrauterine infection, prematurity or morpho-functional immaturity of the baby can lead to the fact that the child subsequently becomes often ill.
2. The next important factor for the formation of immunity is mother's milk, therefore, children who are breastfed rarely get sick with acute respiratory infections, and vice versa, an early transition to artificial mixtures can lead to the fact that already in the first year of life, the child may begin to often get sick with colds ...
3. In the first year of life or at an older age, the baby, as a result of various unfavorable factors, may develop background conditions that weaken the immune system. These are intestinal dysbiosis, hypovitaminosis, rickets.
4. A pronounced weakening of immunity often occurs after serious illness or surgery. If a child has had dysentery, salmonellosis, pneumonia, sore throat, his immunity is weakened.
5. Viruses greatly weaken the functions of the immune system. After suffering from influenza, measles, and other viral diseases, the child has an increased sensitivity to infections and may become frequently ill.
6. Long-term use of certain medications weakens the immune system. These drugs are immunosuppressants used for autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.), some anticancer drugs, oral steroid hormones, most antibiotics. In the event that the use of these drugs is necessary, it is advisable to take preventive measures to maintain the normal functioning of the immune system.
7. The presence of chronic diseases in a child also contributes to the weakening of defense mechanisms and can cause the child to get sick often. Such diseases can be chronic sinusitis, tonsillitis, sluggish and atypical infections caused by pathogens such as mycoplasma, pneumocystis, chlamydia, yersinia. Often, the cause of a weakened immune system is worms, which are quite difficult to diagnose by feces.
8. There are congenital immunodeficiency states, including isolated immunodeficiencies, when a child's immune system is impaired. Children with such immunodeficiencies can often get sick with any recurrent, i.e. recurring diseases. If a child is constantly ill with the same type of disease, for example, recurrent thrush, chronic infection of the upper respiratory tract, he should be examined for the existence of congenital immunopathy.
9. Finally, a correct balanced diet and regimen are of great importance for the normal functioning of the immune system. A child can often and for a long time get sick if his diet lacks vitamins or nutrition is unbalanced, for example, there are no animal products or food contains a large amount of carbohydrates, but low in protein and fat. If a child is rarely outdoors, leads a sedentary lifestyle, inhales tobacco smoke from adults who smoke, this can lead to a weakening of his immunity.
How dangerous is it often for children to get sick
Children who are often ill are not only a medical problem, but also a social one. Such children, as a rule, have a violation of the preventive vaccination schedule, they cannot attend preschool institutions, and at school age they are forced to miss school. Parents often have to take time off from work and stay at home with a sick child.
A frequently ill child develops a “vicious circle”: against the background of a weakened immune system, the child becomes ill with acute respiratory infections, which, in turn, further weaken the immune system. As a result of increased sensitivity of the body to various infectious agents and a decrease in defense mechanisms, there is a high probability of developing chronic, sluggish infectious and non-infectious diseases (gastritis and gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, bronchial asthma, chronic sinusitis, frontal sinusitis, etc.). The presence of chronic infections can lead to a delay in physical development, allergization.
Children who are often ill may develop various psychological problems, “complexes”. First of all, it is an “inferiority complex”, a feeling of self-doubt. The inability, due to frequent illnesses, to live a full life for one's age can lead to social maladjustment (a child can avoid peers, be withdrawn, rude, irritable).
Given these possible consequences, parents should be motivated to prevent the weakening of the child's immunity.
Prevention: what can be done so that the child does not get sick often
Even during pregnancy, the expectant mother needs to take care of the health of her unborn child. A woman preparing to become a mother needs to exclude smoking and alcohol intake. It is very important to latch the baby to the breast immediately after birth, when colostrum, rich in immunoglobulins, is excreted from the mammary glands. Breastfeeding is very important. Breast milk is the most important component for the formation of a child's immunity, therefore, even if there is little milk, it is desirable for the child to receive it. If you have to feed a baby, stability is important, i.e. it is not necessary to change the formula if the child does not have an intolerance to the mixture that he receives.
As mentioned above, a weakening of the child's immunity can occur against the background of intestinal dysbiosis or hypovitaminosis. It is important to identify these conditions in the first year of life and correct them under medical supervision. Children under 3 years old in the autumn-winter-spring periods of the year are shown the prevention of rickets with vitamin D preparations (vigantol, vitamin D2 and D3).
In the summer, it is possible not to carry out drug prevention of rickets, provided that the child spends a lot of time in the air (not necessarily in direct sunlight). In addition, sea air is very useful for children who are often ill. Therefore, if possible, if a child often suffers from colds, he should be sent to the sea.
As a prevention of weakening of immunity, multivitamins can be used, but before giving them to a child, you need to consult a doctor.
It is important to establish a balanced diet. For the normal functioning of the immune system, it is necessary that the child's diet contains proteins and fats of animal origin (dairy and sour milk products, meat, fish), vitamins, the main source of which are vegetables and fruits.
In summer, children over 4 - 5 months old are very useful for fresh, not thermally processed fruits, berries, juices. They contain significantly more vitamins than the same products after heat treatment or canning. The child's body can accumulate vitamins over the summer, which will strengthen its immune system.
Hardening has a general strengthening effect on the body. There are different methods of hardening. Some involve pouring cold water over the whole body, others - only some specific areas (legs to knees, shoulders and neck). There are types of hardening without water procedures (air baths). But there are general principles for all types of hardening.
Any hardening should be started gradually, gradually increasing the time of the procedure and gradually lowering the temperature of the water (or air). Hardening must be carried out regularly, and if for some reason the procedures were interrupted, they must be resumed from the very beginning. Only if these rules are observed can a positive effect be achieved.
Since worms are one of the factors that weaken the immune system, parents need to remember about hygiene measures: teach the child to wash their hands, prevent games in the hallway and restroom, make sure that the child does not pick up objects on the street and does not iron street animals, periodically spend at home wet cleaning and washing toys with soap. Given the difficulty of diagnosing worms by feces, it is possible to carry out prophylactic antihelminthic courses several times a year, especially in the fall.
What to do if your child is often sick
If a child is often sick, it is important to cure chronic diseases, especially the pathology of the ENT organs: chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis (sinusitis, frontal sinusitis), adenoids.
Parents of children with frequent illnesses should consult a doctor (pediatrician, gastroenterologist, immunologist). Doctors will order tests to help determine the cause of the weakened immune system. After that, depending on the cause, the doctor will prescribe the appropriate treatment and give appropriate recommendations.
If you are reading this article, it means that you are really worried that the child is often sick. This means that you have already begun to take steps to study and competently influence this problem. We wish you success and good health to your child!
The kid goes to kindergarten for a week, and then sits at home for a month with snot, cough, fever, rash. This picture is not fictional, but the most real for many Russian families. A child who is often sick does not surprise anyone today. Rather, a child is of genuine interest, who does not get sick at all or does it very rarely. What to do if frequent ailments prevent the child from attending kindergarten normally, educators call the child "nesadikovsky", and parents are constantly forced to take sick leave in order to diligently treat the next ailment of their son or daughter, says the famous pediatrician and author of books on children's health Yevgeny Komarovsky.
About the problem
If a child is often sick in kindergarten, modern medicine says that he has a reduced immunity. Some parents are sure that they need to wait a little, and the problem will be solved by itself, the baby of the disease will "outgrow". Others buy pills (immunostimulants) and do their best to raise and maintain immunity. Evgeny Komarovsky believes that both are far from the truth.
If a child is sick 8, 10 or even 15 times a year, this, according to the doctor, does not mean that he has a state of immunodeficiency.
True congenital immunodeficiency is an extremely rare and extremely dangerous condition. With him, the child will not be ill with ARVI, but ARVI with a severe course and very strong bacterial complications that threaten life and are difficult to treat.
Komarovsky emphasizes that true immunodeficiency is a rare phenomenon, and it is not worth attributing such a harsh diagnosis to a generally healthy child, who just has the flu or ARVI more often than others.
Frequent illnesses are secondary immunodeficiency. This means that the baby was born completely normal, but under the influence of some circumstances and factors, his immune defense does not develop quickly enough (or something has a depressing effect on it).
There are two ways to help in this situation: try to maintain immunity with the help of drugs, or to create such conditions under which the immunity itself begins to grow stronger and work more efficiently.
For parents, according to Komarovsky, it is very difficult even to admit the idea that it is not the child (and not the peculiarities of his body) that is guilty of everything, but they themselves, mom and dad.
If the baby is wrapped up from birth, they do not allow the baby to stomp around the apartment with bare feet, they always try to close the windows and feed them better, then there is nothing surprising and unusual in the fact that he gets sick every 2 weeks.
What drugs can strengthen the immune system?
Medicines will not achieve the goal, says Yevgeny Komarovsky. There is no such medicine that would treat "bad" immunity. As for antiviral drugs (immunomodulators, immunostimulants), their effect has not been clinically proven, and therefore they only help their own manufacturers, who each cold season earn trillions of net profit from the sale of such funds.
They are most often just harmless, but completely useless "dummies". If there is an effect, it is exclusively a placebo effect. The names of such drugs are on everyone's lips - "Anaferon", "Oscillococcinum", "Immunokind" and so on.
Komarovsky speaks quite skeptically of strengthening immunity with folk remedies. If this drug does not harm the child, take it for health. This can be attributed to juices, tea with lemon, onions and garlic, cranberries. However, there is no need to talk about a therapeutic effect. All these folk remedies are natural immunomodulators, their benefits are based on the beneficial effects of the vitamins they contain. Onions and garlic cannot cure influenza or rotavirus infection that is already developing. There will be no preventive protection against them either.
It is strongly discouraged to practice traditional methods that can be harmful. If you are advised to drip iodine into milk and give it to the child, if you are advised to rub it with badger fat, kerosene or vodka at a temperature, say a resolute parental “no”. Doubtful and very expensive means from the crushed horns of the Tibetan goat - "no". Common sense is paramount.
There are no medicines for strengthening the immune system as such. However, this does not mean that parents cannot influence the natural defense system of their child in any way. They can be helped by a logical and simple algorithm of actions that are designed to change the lifestyle and conditions of the child's environment.
Why does the baby start to get sick?
90% of childhood illnesses are the result of exposure to viruses, says Komarovsky. Viruses are spread by airborne droplets, less often by household.
In children, immunity is still immature, he only has to get acquainted with many pathogens, to develop specific antibodies to them.
If one child comes to the kindergarten with signs of infection (runny nose, cough, perspiration), then in a closed team the exchange of viruses will be as efficient as possible. However, not everyone gets infected and gets sick. One will go to bed the next day, and the other will not care. The case, according to Evgeny Komarovsky, is in a state of immunity. The baby already cured by the parents is more likely to get sick, and the danger will pass by the one who is not given a bunch of pills for preventive purposes, and the one who grows up in the right conditions.
Needless to say, simple hygiene rules are violated in the kindergartens, there are no humidifiers, hygrometers, and the educators do not even think about opening the window and ventilating it (especially in winter). In a stuffy group with dry air, viruses circulate much more actively.
How to examine the state of immunity?
Some parents believe that if their baby is sick more than 8 times a year, then he certainly has poor immunity. Morbidity rates, according to Komarovsky, do not exist. Therefore, an examination for immunodeficiency is required more for parents to calm down, realizing that they are "doing everything possible" than for the child himself.
If you really want to pay for this and learn a lot of new medical terms, then welcome to any paid or free clinic. There you will be prescribed a blood test for antibodies, the child will have a scraping for the eggs of worms, tests for lamblia, they will do a general analysis of blood and urine, and will also offer a special research method - an immunogram. Then the doctor will try to summarize the findings and assess the state of the immune system.
How to improve immunity?
Only by eliminating the child's conflict with the environment, one can hope that his immunity will begin to work more actively, as a result of which the number of diseases will significantly decrease. Komarovsky recommends for parents to start by creating the right microclimate.
How to breathe?
The air must not be dry. If a child breathes dry air, the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx, which viruses attack in the first place, will not be able to give a decent "response" to pathogenic agents, and an already begun respiratory tract disease will result in complications. It is optimal if both at home and in the kindergarten there will be clean, cool and humid air.
The best humidity values are 50-70%. Buy a special device - a humidifier. In extreme cases, get an aquarium with fish, hang (especially in winter) wet towels and make sure that they do not dry out.
Place a special valve on the radiator.
The child should not breathe air in which there are undesirable aromas for him - tobacco smoke, fumes of varnishes, paints, chlorine-based detergents.
Where to live?
If the child begins to get sick often, this is not a reason to curse the kindergarten, but it's time to check whether you yourself have furnished the nursery correctly. In the room where the child lives, there should be no accumulators of dust - large soft toys, carpets with a long pile. Wet cleaning the room should be carried out with plain water, without adding any detergents. It is advisable to buy a vacuum cleaner with a water filter. The room needs to be ventilated more often - especially in the morning, after the night. The air temperature should not exceed 18-20 degrees. The child's toys should be kept in a special box and books on a shelf behind glass.
How to sleep?
The child should sleep in a room where it is necessarily cool. If it's scary to immediately lower the temperature in the room to 18 degrees, then it is better to put on warmer pajamas on the child, but still find the strength to bring the temperature back to normal.
Bed linen should not be bright, containing textile dyes. They can be additional allergens. It is better to buy linen from natural fabrics of classic white color. To wash both pajamas and bedding of an often ill offspring should be baby powder. It is also worth subjecting things to an additional rinse.
What to eat and drink?
You need to feed the child only when he begins to beg for food himself, and not when mom and dad decided that it would be time to eat. In no case should a child be force-fed: an overfed child does not have healthy immunity.... But the drink should be plentiful. This does not apply to carbonated sweet lemonades. The child needs to be given more water, still mineral water, tea, fruit drinks, compotes. To find out the child's fluid needs, multiply the child's weight by 30. The resulting number will be the desired one.
It is important to remember that the drink should be at room temperature - this way the liquid will be absorbed faster in the intestines. If earlier they tried to water the child warm, then the temperature should be gradually reduced.
How to dress?
The child must be properly dressed - not wrapped up or overcooled. Komarovsky says sweating causes disease more often than hypothermia. Therefore, it is important to find the "golden mean" - the required minimum of clothing. It is quite simple to define it - a child should not have more things than an adult. If earlier the family practiced the "grandmother's" dressing system (two socks in June and three in October), then the amount of clothes should be reduced gradually so that the transition to a normal life does not become a shock for the child.
How to play?
Preschooler toys are an important part of development. Parents should remember that babies take them in their mouths, gnaw, lick them. Therefore, the choice of toys must be approached responsibly. Toys should be practical and washable. They should be washed as often as possible, but with plain water, without chemicals. If the toy smells bad or smells harsh, you cannot buy it, it may be toxic.
How to walk?
The child should walk every day - and not once. Dr. Komarovsky considers evening walks before bedtime to be very useful. You can walk in any weather, dressed appropriately. Even if the child is sick, this is not a reason to give up walking. The only limitation is the high temperature.
Hardening
Komarovsky advises to temper a child with weak immunity. If you approach this carefully and make hardening the usual daily norm of life, then rather quickly you can forget about frequent illnesses brought from the kindergarten.
It is best, the doctor says, to start practicing tempering procedures from birth. These are walks, and cool baths, and dousing, and massage. If the question of what it is necessary to improve immunity arose only now and at once in full growth, then no radical action is needed. Activities should be introduced alternately and gradually.
First, enroll your child in the sports section. Wrestling and boxing for a frequently ill child is not suitable, because in these cases the child will be in a room where, in addition to him, many children breathe and sweat.
It is better if the son or daughter go in for active outdoor sports - athletics, skiing, cycling, figure skating.
Swimming, of course, is very useful, but for a child who gets sick very often, visiting a public pool is not the best decision, says Evgeny Olegovich.
Additional education(music schools, art studios, foreign language study circles, when classes are held in confined spaces) better to postpone for later, when the number of diseases of the child will decrease by at least 2 times.
How to rest?
The widespread opinion that the sea air has a very beneficial effect on a child who is often sick is far from reality, says Komarovsky. It is better to send the child to the village in the summer to visit relatives, where he can breathe plenty of clean air, drink well water and bathe in it, if you fill an inflatable pool with it.
It is necessary to forbid the village relatives to feed the child “for slaughter” with sour cream and pancakes. Food should be given only when he himself asks for it. Such vacations lasting 3-4 weeks are usually quite enough for the immunity, which has been severely undermined by city life, to fully recover.
How to protect yourself from disease?
The best prevention, according to Komarovsky, is not mountains of pills and synthetic vitamin complexes. First of all, contact should be limited during seasonal epidemics of viral infections. You should not travel by public transport, visit large shopping centers, circuses and cinemas.
All family members of a frequently ill child need to be vaccinated against the flu, and everyone (including the child) needs to wash their hands more often, especially after returning from the street. For walks, you should choose not areas in the courtyard where there are many children, but less crowded parks, squares, alleys.
How to treat?
A viral disease does not need special treatment. If a child brings another runny nose with a cough from the kindergarten, it is safe to say that he has a viral infection. Treatment should consist in observing the above rules - plentiful warm drink, clean and humid air, walks, moderate nutrition, moisturizing the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx with the help of instillation of saline solutions. It is better to take a pause of 7-10 days after recovery, to allow the immune defense to strengthen - and only then resume visiting a preschool, school, section.
There are no “Nesadikov's” children. There are parents who do not understand how to resist morbidity and maintain immunity.
The child will become quite "kindergarten" if, during the next 3-4 episodes of ARVI, the parents do not give him pharmaceutical medicines, carry him to doctors, do inhalations and steam his legs in a basin of hot water.
If he independently (on compotes and fruit drinks) cope with diseases, his immunity will learn to resist external threats, and the likelihood that the next time he gets sick, picking up the virus in kindergarten, will be minimal.
If parents are going to make a gift to the kindergarten for another important holiday, then try to convince other parents who plan to financially participate in it to buy a humidifier for the group with the funds raised. From such an acquisition, it will become better and easier for all children - both often ill and strong. This is both prevention and treatment, and simply the creation of normal conditions in a preschool institution.
Dr. Komarovsky will tell you more in the video below.
On average, these children suffer from acute respiratory infections from 4 times a year. There is another indicator - they get sick not so often, but for a long time. Sometimes a cold can last for two weeks or more.
The situation is dangerous because against the background of acute respiratory infections, immunity decreases, colds and flu give complications, and chronic diseases appear. And this is much more serious.
Why does a child often get colds
Before talking about the reasons, you should definitely determine whether your baby belongs to a group of frequently ill children.
Pediatricians have the following classification, which you can check right now. They refer to BWD:
How bad is it that a child often gets colds?
- infant under one year old if within 12 months he has had acute respiratory infections or ARVI 4 times or more;
- small child from 1 to 3 years old if he was sick more than 7 times a year;
- children from 3 to 5 years old- in case of recurrence of relapses more than 6 times;
- between the ages of 5 and 6- more than 5 times;
- over 6 years old, schoolchildren of elementary grades and adolescents- 4 times or more.
According to statistics, every 4th baby under the age of three, especially in large cities, belongs to the category of frequently ill children.
The main cause of frequent colds is a weakened immune system. But there are many factors contributing to this:
| Factor | Characteristic |
| Development pathologies in the womb | The baby's immune system suffers in case of intrauterine infection, his birth premature or with signs of morphological and functional immaturity |
| Artificial feeding | The infant does not receive the mother's immune system found in breast milk. For up to six months, they must protect him from any disease; |
| Birth trauma, hypoxia, accompanied by a weakening of brain functions | Leads to metabolic disorders, blood clotting and insufficient production of immune antibodies |
| Early surgery or infectious diseases |
Diseases caused by viruses of measles, rubella, mumps, etc .; very weaken the immunity of the baby; |
| Untreated diseases of the nasopharynx | Focuses of infection remain in the body |
| Lack of function of the thymus gland | Occurs due to malfunctions of the endocrine system. The child will be constantly ill, since the thymus gland does not produce enough of the main defenders against viruses and infections - T-lymphocytes; |
| Malfunctions of the adrenal cortex | Lead to a decrease in the synthesis of corticosteroid hormones. The main symptom is darkening of the skin on the elbows and knees of the child. This condition causes bowel problems such as:
And again, the baby's immunity decreases; |
Immunological disorders associated with:
| In this case, the baby suffers not only from frequent colds, but also more serious pathologies:
|
| Hereditarily low immunity | When the functions of one of the links of the immune chain are impaired, and the child can often suffer from the same disease, including the common cold. In this case, the baby must be examined in specialized medical centers. |
| Repetitive stressful situations or trauma | May lead to weakening of the immune system |
| Unfavorable ecological situation | The negative effect of harmful substances on the primary (at the genetic level) and secondary state of immunodeficiency |
| Unbalanced diet, protein deficiency | Weaken the immune system, as do the daily intake of soda, sweets, sausages or sausages. Until the age of 5 years, the baby's diet should mainly consist of protein foods. Include dairy products, eggs, chicken, fish, cereals, vegetables and fruits in your diet. |
Other factors:
- rickets in infancy, intestinal dysbiosis, lack of essential vitamins in the body, hypovitaminosis;
- frequent and prolonged use of antibiotics, steroid hormones, immunomodulators, and other medications;
- metabolic disorders in the body;
- insufficient physical activity of the baby, especially in the fresh air;
Often the child starts to get sick after attending kindergarten What if the child is often sick?
Let's figure out what to do so that the child does not often get sick with colds. In order for the immune system not to suffer in the womb, you need to start thinking about this during pregnancy planning. Moreover, if the birth of a baby is a long-awaited and desired event for you.
Change your place of residence if you are convinced that you live in unfavorable environmental conditions.
Change your place of work... A pregnant woman, especially in the first trimester, should in no case deal with paints, solvents, heavy metals, especially lead, electromagnetic radiation.
Besides:
| What to do | Characteristic |
| Before conception, it is necessary to undergo an examination by a gynecologist and andrologist | It will help to identify diseases, if any, and undergo a course of treatment |
| Examination of the expectant mother by other specialists | A very important point. examination, including at the dentist |
| Avoid infections during pregnancy | You should avoid viral diseases, colds and even more flu, beware and try not to contact with carriers of the infection |
| Breast-feeding | Try to feed your baby with mother's milk at least up to 4-6 months, otherwise you deprive him of maternal protection, and he immediately falls into the risk group of frequently ill children. |
| If you notice that the baby has begun to get sick often, immediately seek help from specialists. | To begin with, go to your local pediatrician, who will give you a referral to narrower specialists:
They will diagnose and determine the cause of the reduced immunity. |
| Many experts can advise you to see a psychologist. | Don't take it lightly. Psychology and immunology have long been going hand in hand and are inextricably linked. And today such specialists can be found even in kindergarten and school. |
| Try to keep the peace in your family, do not quarrel in the presence of the child | He almost always takes it personally and gets very upset. And this is a direct path to weakening the protective forces. Teach yourself to be calm about any life situations, avoid stress |
| Do not patronize too much, do not create sterile conditions around him | This can make him feel inferior, inferior. |
| Pay more attention to it, create an atmosphere of peace of mind and warmth around | Try to spend more time with him, play, walk, involve him in household chores |
| Temper and feed your baby | In this case, the doctor should help formulate the diet and advise tempering procedures. |
According to doctors' reviews, many mothers are shocked that they are advised to start with hardening when their child's tests show poor results.
Komarovsky's opinion
The famous doctor Komarovsky is sure that there are no magic pills to prevent children from getting colds so often. It is possible and necessary to increase its protective forces by eliminating the conflict with the environment. And colds and flu should be treated only naturally.
Basically, all babies are born with healthy strong immunity. But under the influence of environmental conditions and the external environment, it acquires signs of secondary immunodeficiency.
There are two ways to deal with the suppression of protective forces: to adapt to the environment with the help of medications, or to change this very environment so that it does not depress the baby.
External environment what we call a way of life: air, food, movement, drink, sleep.
And the parents of a small child should decide as soon as possible what is good for him and what is not very good.
The doctor devoted his books and television programs to these questions, which are very popular, despite the fact that the reviews of parents and grandparents on specialized forums dedicated to children's health are very different.
Useful video: Komarovsky about frequently ill children
It is difficult to evaluate Komarovsky's methods without applying and experiencing their results on your child. But it is even more difficult to take full responsibility for the health of your children on yourself, bypassing grandmother's methods, advice from friends, bad kindergartens, careless pediatricians and teachers.
No matter how much the author urges parents to treat childhood illnesses calmly and philosophically, not as tragedies, but as temporary minor troubles, not everyone succeeds and not always. In the end, it is not at all uncommon for a mother to simply not say how many times a child has had an acute respiratory disease in a year - these acute respiratory infections simply do not end. Some snot flows smoothly into others, a stuffy nose passes into a diseased ear, a reddened throat turns pale, but the voice hoots, a cough is moistened, but the temperature rises again ...
Who is to blame for this?
They used to say: "What can I do, I was so ugly" and added: "Be patient, it will outgrow."
Now they say: "Poor immunity" and, as a rule, add: "It is necessary to treat."
Let's try to figure out what still needs to be done - endure or treat?
Parents should be aware that congenital disorders of immunity are the so-called. primary immunodeficiencyNS- a rarity. They are manifested not only by frequent ARVI, but by very severe ARVI with dangerous bacterial complications that are difficult to treat. Congenital immunodeficiency is a deadly condition and has nothing to do with a two-month cold.
Thus, frequent acute respiratory infections are, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a consequence of secondary immunodeficiency- that is, the child was born normal, but under the influence of certain external factors, his immunity either does not develop, or is suppressed by something.
Main conclusion:
if a child, normal from birth, does not get out of illness, it means that he has a conflict with the environment. And there are two options for help: try to reconcile the child with the environment with the help of drugs, or try to change the environment so that it suits the child.
The formation and functioning of the immune system is primarily due to external influences. All that is perfectly familiar to everyone, all that we put into the concept of "lifestyle": food, drink, air, clothing, physical activity, rest, treatment of diseases.
Parents of a child who often suffers from acute respiratory infections must first of all understand that it is not the child who is to blame for this, but the adults around him, who in no way can figure out the answers to questions about good and bad. It is very difficult to admit to ourselves that we are doing something wrong - we feed us the wrong way, dress in the wrong way, rest in the wrong way, do not help in case of illnesses that way.
And the saddest thing is that no one can help such parents and such a child.
Judge for yourself. The child is often sick. Where should mom go for advice?
Let's start with grandma. And what we will hear: he eats badly at your place, he is also my mother, he is not able to feed the child; who dresses a child like that - a completely naked neck; it opens up at night, so you need to sleep in warm socks, etc. We will feed you with songs and dances. Wrap it tightly with a very warm scarf. Let's put on socks. The frequency of acute respiratory infections will not decrease from all this, but it is easier for the grandmother.
We will turn to friends, acquaintances, and colleagues for help. The main advice (wise and safe) is to be patient. But we will definitely hear a story about how “one woman had a child who was sick all the time, but she did not spare the money and bought him a special and very biologically active vitamin complex with the addition of crushed horns of a high-mountain Tibetan goat, after which everything disappeared as if by hand - the acute respiratory infections stopped, the adenoids resolved, and the famous professor said he was shocked and bought the complex for his grandson. " By the way, Klavdia Petrovna still has the last pack of these vitamins, but we must hurry - the goat hunting season is over, new supplies will be available only in a year.
We hurried. We bought it. They began to save the child. Oh, how easy it has become! It is easy for us, parents, - after all, we do not regret anything for a child, we, parents, are correct. Are ARIs continuing? Well it such a child.
Maybe let's turn to serious doctors?
Doctor, we have 10 acute respiratory infections in a year. We have already eaten 3 kg of vitamins, 2 kg of cough medicine and 1 kg of antibiotics this year. Help! From our frivolous Anna Nikolaevna's pediatrician is no use - she requires the child to be tempered, but how can he be tempered so "without immunity"! We probably have some kind of terrible disease ...
Well, let's examine. Let's look for viruses, bacteria, worms, determine the state of immunity.
Examined. We found herpes, cytomegalovirus, lamblia, and staphylococcus in the intestines. A blood test with the clever name "immunogram" showed numerous abnormalities.
Now it's all clear! It's not our fault! We, parents, are good, attentive, caring. Hooray!!! We are normal! Poor Lenochka, how many things fell on her at once - both staphylococcus aureus, and viruses, horror! Well, nothing! We have already been told about special medications that will surely remove all this muck ...
And what is also nice, you can demonstrate these tests to your grandmother, she probably never heard such a word - "cytomegalovirus"! But at least he will stop criticizing ...
And we will definitely show the analyzes to Anna Nikolaevna. Let her realize her delusions, it's good that we did not obey her and did not become with such a terrible immunogram tempered.
The saddest thing is that Anna Nikolaevna does not want to admit delusions! It claims that staphylococcus is a completely normal inhabitant of the intestines in most people. He says that it is impossible to live in a city and not have antibodies to lamblia, herpes and cytomegalovirus. Persists! Insists that all this is nonsense, and refuses to treat! Again and again he tries to convince us that it is not staphylococcus-herpes that are to blame for everything, but we are the parents !!!
The author is aware that you can get very upset and even close this book. But Anna Nikolaevna is absolutely right with the highest possible degree of probability - you, parents, are really to blame! Not from malicious intent, not from harm. Out of ignorance, misunderstanding, laziness, gullibility, but you are to blame.
If a child often suffers from acute respiratory infections, it is impossible to solve this problem with any pills. Eliminate conflict with the environment. Change your lifestyle. Don't look for the culprit - this is a dead end. Your and your child's chances of breaking out of the vicious circle of eternal snot are very real.
I repeat once again: there are no magic pills "for poor immunity". But there is an effective algorithm for real practical actions. We will not talk about everything in detail - the answers to questions about it should be, and without that, many pages are devoted, both in this and in other books of the author.
Nevertheless, we will now list and emphasize the most important points. In fact, these will be the answers to questions about what is good and what is bad. I fix your attention - these are not explanations, but ready-made answers: there have already been so many explanations that if they did not help, then nothing can be done, although Lenochka is very sorry ...
AIR
Clean, cool, damp. Avoid anything that smells like varnishes, paints, deodorants, detergents.
HOUSING
At the slightest opportunity, organize a personal children's room for the child. There are no dust accumulators in the children's room, everything is subject to wet cleaning (ordinary water without disinfectants). The regulator is on the heating battery. Humidifier. Vacuum cleaner with water filter. Toys in a box. Books behind glass. Folding everything scattered around + washing the floor + dusting off are standard steps before bed. There is a thermometer and a hygrometer on the wall in the room. At night, they should show a temperature of 18 ° C and a humidity of 50-70%. Regular ventilation, obligatory and intensive - in the morning after sleep.
DREAM
In a cool, damp room. On request - in warm pajamas, under a warm blanket. White linens, washed with baby powder and rinsed thoroughly.
NUTRITION
Never, under any circumstances, force a child to eat. It is ideal to feed not when you agree to eat, but when begs for food. Discontinue feeding between feedings. Do not abuse overseas products. Do not get carried away with a variety of foods. Prefer natural sweets (honey, raisins, dried apricots, etc.) over artificial ones (based on sucrose). Make sure that there are no food debris in the mouth, especially sweet ones.
DRINK
Optional, but the child should always be able to quench his thirst. I draw your attention: not to get pleasure from a sweet carbonated drink, but to quench your thirst! Optimal drinking: still, unboiled mineral water, compotes, fruit drinks, fruit teas. Room temperature drinks. If everything was previously heated, gradually reduce the heating intensity.
CLOTHES
A sufficient minimum. Remember that sweating causes illness more often than hypothermia. The child should not have more clothing items than his parents. The decrease in quantity is gradual.
TOYS
The most careful way to monitor the quality, especially if the child takes them in the mouth. Any hint that this toy smells or gets dirty should be discarded. Any soft toys - accumulators of dust, allergens and microorganisms. Prefer washable toys. Washable toys to wash.
WALKING
Daily, active. Through parenting "I'm tired - I can't - I don't want to." It is highly desirable before bedtime.
SPORT
Outdoor activities are ideal. Any sports involving active communication with other children in a confined space are not desirable. Swimming in public pools is not advisable for a frequently ill child.
ADDITIONAL LESSONS
They are good in the place of permanent residence, when the state of health does not allow leaving the house. First, you need to stop being sick often and only then start attending the choir, foreign language courses, a fine arts studio, etc.
SUMMER REST
The child should take a break from contact with many people, from city air, from chlorinated water and household chemicals. In the overwhelming majority of cases, rest "on the seas" has nothing to do with the health of a frequently ill child, since most of the harmful factors remain, plus public catering is added and, as a rule, the living conditions are worse in comparison with home conditions.
The ideal rest of a frequently ill child looks like this (every word is important): summer in the country; inflatable pool with well water, next to a pile of sand; dress code - underpants, barefoot; restriction on the use of soap; feed only when he shouts: "Mom, I'll eat you!". A dirty naked child who jumps from water to sand, begs for food, breathes fresh air and does not come into contact with many people for 3-4 weeks restores immunity damaged by city life.
ARD PREVENTION
It is extremely unlikely that a child who is often sick is constantly hypothermic or eats ice cream in kilograms. Thus, frequent illnesses are not colds, they are ARVI. If Petya is finally healthy on Friday, and on Sunday he has a stuffy nose again, it means that Petya found a new virus between Friday and Sunday. And his relatives are definitely to blame for this, in particular, his grandfather, who took advantage of an unexpected recovery in order to urgently take his grandson to the circus.
The main task of parents is to fully implement the recommendations detailed in chapter 12.2 -. Avoid unnecessary contact with people in every possible way, wash hands, maintain local immunity, vaccinate all family members against influenza.
If a child often suffers from ARVI, it means that he is often infected.
The child cannot be to blame for this. This is his family's behavior pattern. This means that it is necessary to change the model, and not to treat the child.
ARVI TREATMENT
Treating ARVI does not mean giving medicine. This means creating such conditions so that the child's body copes with the virus as quickly as possible and with minimal loss of health. To treat ARVI means to provide optimal parameters of temperature and humidity of the air, to dress warmly, not to feed until you ask, to actively water. Saline nasal drops and paracetamol at a high body temperature are an ample list of medications. Any active treatment interferes with the formation of immunity. If a child is often sick, it means that any drug should be used only when it is definitely impossible to do without it.... This is especially true of antibiotic therapy, which in most cases is carried out without real reason - from fear, from fear of responsibility, from doubts about the diagnosis.
ACTIONS AFTER RECOVERY
It is very important to remember: improvement in the condition and normalization of temperature do not at all indicate that the immune system has recovered. ... But after all, all the time a child goes to the children's collective literally the next day after the improvement of his condition. And even earlier, before the children's team, he goes to the clinic, where a doctor looks at him, who says that the child is healthy.
In the queue to see the doctor and the next day at school or in kindergarten, the child will definitely meet with a new virus. A child with an immunity that has not yet strengthened after an illness! A new disease will begin in a weakened organism. It will be more severe than the previous one, with a greater likelihood of complications, and will require the use of drugs.
But this disease will end. And you will go to the clinic, and then to the kindergarten ... And then you will talk about a child who is often ill, who “was so ugly”!
It has become better - it means you need to start living a normal life. A normal life is not a trip to the circus, not a school, and certainly not a children's clinic. A normal life is jumping-jumping in the fresh air, "fattening up" appetite, healthy sleep, restoration of mucous membranes.
With an active lifestyle and the maximum possible limitation of contact with people, complete recovery usually requires no more than a week. Now you can go to the circus!
We must not forget that contact with people is risky, especially in the premises. Outdoor play with children is generally safe (unless spitting or kissing). Hence, a completely acceptable algorithm for visiting kindergarten immediately after recovery is to go there when the children go out for a walk. We took a walk, all for lunch in the room, and we went home. It is clear that it is far from always possible to implement this (the mother works, the teacher does not agree, the kindergarten is far from home), but at least this option can be kept in mind.
And in conclusion, we note the obvious: the "action after recovery" algorithm applies to all children, not just those who are often ill. This is actually one of the most important rules that helps a normal child not to get sick often.
Well, as soon as we started talking about “all children,” we will note that when going to a children's team after an illness, one must think not only about oneself, but also about other children. After all, SARS can be mild when the body temperature remains normal. Snot ran, you sat at home for a couple of days, and then went to kindergarten, while remaining infectious!
Antibodies to the virus are produced no earlier than the fifth day of illness. That's why it is possible to resume visiting the children's team no earlier than the sixth day after the onset of ARVI, regardless of its severity, but in any case, at least three days should pass from the moment the body temperature returns to normal .
VISITING CHILDREN'S COLLECTIVO V
"NESADIK" CHILD
The situation in which a child becomes often ill only after he starts attending kindergarten is absolutely typical. Until the age of three, I practically did not get sick, they walked, tempered, never treated with anything. At the age of three I went to kindergarten - and during the winter five acute respiratory infections ... Have you already understood who is to blame? Definitely not a child.
When the phrase "I was not sick until three years old" is said, this phrase states that we have an absolutely normal, healthy child. The environment has changed - diseases have begun.
What to do? First, recognize the fact that it is impossible to start actively communicating with children and not get sick. Yes, you, in fact, were ready for this, but did not think that the disease would be permanent. Persistent illness means that either you are in a hurry to return to children after an illness, or something is fundamentally wrong in the kindergarten itself (they accept sick children, do not ventilate, walk a little, etc.).
Do we have the ability to influence the kindergarten? As a rule, we don’t. Can we change the kindergarten? Sometimes we can. But it is not easy and expensive.
Can we not take the child to kindergarten if the bosses demand us at work, and the doctor does not intend to extend the sick leave?
Can not. We cannot change the kindergarten. We cannot but take them to the kindergarten. We take it away. Let's get sick. We are getting well. We take it away. Let's get sick. Suddenly we realize that everything we earn at work is spent on childhood illnesses!
And then someone around says the phrase: your child is "nesadikovsky"... And everything suddenly becomes clear. We quit our work. We stop going to the kindergarten. Indeed, after 1-2 months we cease to be a frequently ill child.
we could not find a normal kindergarten.
We stopped going to kindergarten because we didn’t have the opportunity restore the child after illness.
Pay attention: "we could not ...", "we did not have the opportunity ...".
there are no non-Sadik children. There are non-Sadik parents .
We did not find a normal kindergarten because it simply does not exist.
We did not have the opportunity to restore the child after the illness, because such a possibility is not provided for by the instructions of our pediatrician and the code of labor laws.
there are no non-Sadik parents. There is a non-Sadik society.
But in reality, everything is not so dramatic at all. Since even very frequent acute respiratory infections, with proper treatment, do not affect the child's health at all.
I got sick. Moistened, ventilated, watered, nasal dripped. Recovered. I went to kindergarten for two days. I got sick. Moistened, ventilated, watered, nasal dripped. Recovered. We did nothing dangerous, bad or harmful.
But if every sneeze is a reason for prescribing a dozen pill syrups, for bullying called "distracting procedures", for injections of antibiotics, for a thorough examination, for the consultation of a dozen specialists, each of whom considers it necessary to add a couple or two more drugs to the treatment, - such acute respiratory infections are unambiguous and obvious EVIL and such acute respiratory infections do not pass without a trace and do not overgrow painlessly. And for such a child, kindergarten is dangerous. And parents are dangerous. And the doctors ...
If a child suffers from acute respiratory infections often, even very often, but does not recover with the help of medications, but in a natural way - so let him get sick, let him go to kindergarten, let him do whatever he wants.
It is not harmful - to be so sick and so to recover!
But foreign doctors are of the opinion that for a child who actively attends children's institutions and collectives to get sick with viral infections from 6 to 10 times a year is absolutely normal and even useful in a certain sense. After all, every time, coping with the next infection, the child's immunity becomes stronger and stronger. In fact, it is in this way that it is formed.
So, it is quite possible that your anxiety called "my child is often sick" from the point of view of Western doctors does not have any grounds for anxiety and panic at all. The frequency of episodes of viral infections directly depends on how intensely you and your children are in contact with other people and other babies.
After all, every human organism is a carrier of a gigantic number of viruses and bacteria, which we constantly exchange during communication.
Living in a metropolis, leading an active lifestyle and not getting sick often is almost impossible. It is important to simply change the very attitude to this circumstance: often for children 1-10 years old to get sick is not scary, it is normal in the conditions of modern urban realities. As they grow older, the baby's immunity will get stronger and a frequently ill child by itself will turn into a rarely ill teenager.
It is important not how often the child gets sick, but how quickly he recovers.
If each viral infection (ARVI) in a child proceeds within the permissible limits, without complications, and passes without a trace in about 7-8 days, then the parents simply have no cause for concern. Even if the baby picks up such viral infections with a frequency of once a month.
And what does it mean - "to be ill within the limits of the permissible"? Normally, any standard ARVI in a child should pass on its own when certain conditions are created about 6-7 days after infection. Certain conditions mean:
- during ARVI, the child should receive a plentiful drink;
- a child with a viral infection should eat only if he asked for it (if the child has no appetite, it is absolutely impossible to feed him!);
- a child with ARVI should be in a room with an air temperature of no more than 19 ° C (while the baby must, of course, be dressed warmly) and a humidity of about 55-65%.
If these simple conditions are met, then, as a rule, the baby does not need any medication (except for the use of antipyretics in cases where the body temperature has exceeded 38 ° C). After 5 days from the moment of infection, the child's body will independently produce such a number of interferons (cell protectors) that they themselves will defeat the disease, regardless of whether you give the child additional antiviral drugs or not.
That is why many pediatricians insist that during the course of acute respiratory viral infections without complications, one should not rush to drug therapy for the child, but it is quite possible to stop at drinking plenty of fluids and favorite cartoons. Certain symptoms, such as a runny nose or cough in a child, even often suffering from acute respiratory viral infections, are also quite effectively treated without medication.
If, subject to these conditions, your baby gets sick easily and recovers quickly, then no matter how often he is sick with viral infections, this should not cause either anxiety or a desire to "finally give him some medicine that is more effective."
Can a frequently ill child end up as a rarely ill teenager and adult? And those children who get sick only 1-2 times a year, and those who manage to "catch" a dozen ARVI in 6 months - both of them, growing up, equally develop stronger and more stable immunity. Accordingly, the older children get, the less often they get sick.
Frequently ill children (CHBD) also continue to get sick often and in adulthood, usually only in those cases when they grow up (and endlessly "heal") surrounded by hypochondriacal relatives. And with adequate parents (who try not to "overfeed" the child with all sorts of syrups and pills for "every sneeze", do not soar his feet in boiling water every evening, etc.) children, even if they are often sick, always grow up in rarely sick adolescents.