Heat. Medical care for a child

FUNDAMENTALS OF FIRST AID
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Heat. Medical care for a child

Fundamentals of First Aid (OPMP)

Increased body temperature is a protective reaction of the body against the effects of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Under the influence of temperature, the immune system activates specific cells - leukocytes and antibodies, and begins to produce interferon. Therefore, harmful microbes stop multiplying and die. In addition, by raising the temperature, the body adapts to changing environmental conditions. An increase in body temperature to 38-38,5 ° C is not dangerous. However, high temperature (39-40°C) can affect the heart and respiratory systems, as well as the liver and kidneys, significantly worsening the general condition of the child. Particularly dangerous are changes in the central nervous system (the child becomes depressed, his consciousness is disturbed) and convulsions that occur when the body temperature rises.

Causes of temperature increase

1. In children, body temperature may change depending on their emotional state and some factors - food, sleep, physical activity, crying, etc.

2. Fever can be caused by an acute respiratory viral or bacterial infection of the upper respiratory tract. It is accompanied by characteristic symptoms of a cold: runny nose, sore throat, cough, lacrimation, etc.

3. The temperature can rise with diseases of the central nervous system (birth trauma, hemorrhage, tumor), endocrine diseases (hyperthyroidism - increased thyroid function), under the influence of painful stimuli (pain with urolithiasis, cholelithiasis, acute diseases of the peritoneum), after the action of outsiders irritants (bruise, fracture, hematoma, burn), when using certain medications such as caffeine, ephedrine, a number of antibiotics, sulfa drugs.

4. There is also a vegetative increase in temperature. It most often worries teenage children and is caused by the peculiarities of their hormonal levels.

Measurement of body temperature

The normal temperature is considered to be 36,6 ° C, but this is a conditional norm, since there are individual characteristics of the organism. In one child, the temperature is 36 ° C, and in the other - 37 ° C. In addition, the temperature during the day varies within a whole degree. The temperature is not the same in different parts of the body.

You can measure the temperature in the armpit: conditionally, the norm is 36,6 ° C, the temperature in the mouth is 37 ° C, in the rectum - 37,6 ° C.

The most accurate temperature measurement is in the rectum. Lubricate the tip of the thermometer with petroleum jelly and gently insert it into the anus. This procedure should not bring the child any pain or discomfort. For an accurate temperature measurement, the thermometer must be in the anus for 2-3 minutes.

When emergency care is needed

With an increase in temperature above 38 ° C in children of the first three months of life.

If the child has already had convulsions and they may appear again with an increase in temperature.

If the temperature has risen in a child with a disease of the central nervous system or with heart and vascular defects, as well as with some hereditary diseases - galactosemia, phenylketonuria, etc.

At temperatures above 40°C.

If antipyretics do not work and the temperature continues to rise.

What to do at high temperatures

1. If the temperature has risen in an infant, first check whether he is lightly dressed. Swaddle or undress the child, give him the opportunity to move freely and take an air bath. The temperature may have risen as a result of overheating. Take your temperature after a few minutes.

ATTENTION!

A premature baby should not be left naked, because he has a very high heat dissipation and can become cold.

2. If the child is older than three months and tolerates high temperatures well, that is, his skin is pink, warm and slightly moist to the touch, then the temperature can not be brought down to 38,5 ° C. Let your child drink more often - rosehip broth, cranberry and lingonberry juice (not sour), tea with lemon. Place a wet, cool washcloth on your forehead.

3. At high temperatures, undress the baby, wipe the body with water at room temperature (or do a water-vinegar rubdown). If his feet are cold, apply a heating pad with warm water to them, put on woolen socks. If the vasospasm does not go away, the limbs are still cold, give the child a no-shpu.

4. If the child's hands and feet are warm, continue wiping with water (for older children, half with vodka or vinegar) until the fever has passed.

5. If the child has a severe chill, first warm him up (cold water should not be taken away, as this can increase vasospasm and worsen heat transfer). Give your child an antipyretic - paracetamol, panadol, kalpol, tylinol, etc. Ibuprofen-containing drugs are also used (for example, Nurofen for children).

6. Many drugs are available in several forms - syrups, suppositories. For young children, it is better to use rectal suppositories, for example, eferalgan from 0 to 5 months, which already contain a dose of the substance selected for age. Medicines begin to act in 30-40 minutes.

7. If 1-2 hours after taking the antipyretic, the temperature remains above 40 ° C, seat the child in a bath with warm water, reaching him to the navel. Rub the child's body with a sponge or towel for about 20 minutes. To prevent the temperature of the water in the bath from falling and the child from feeling chills, periodically pour warm water into it. Quickly dry (but do not rub) the baby. Dress him in light clothes and give him a drink. Keep the room pleasantly cool.

8. In case of a severe headache, place an ice pack or water-filled and pre-frozen heating pads or small plastic bottles on the child's head through a diaper or thick towel. It is more convenient to use special gel bags, which are sold at the pharmacy. They are cooled in the refrigerator and put on the forehead. They are suitable for any part of the body, taking its shape.

9. If the child is not tolerant of fever or has had convulsions (so-called febrile convulsions) when the temperature rises, then reduce the temperature already starting from 37,5 ° C, without waiting for its further rise.

10. With a very rapid decrease in elevated temperature (by 2 ° C per hour):

the child needs to be warmed;
apply a heating pad to the legs;
give him strong tea;
change clothes if the child is sweating, and change the linen if it becomes wet.

11. With a vegetative increase in temperature (without signs of somatic diseases), especially in adolescent children, use valerian, motherwort, corvalol (the number of drops corresponds to the age of the child) or sedatives prescribed by a doctor.

WATER AND VINEGAR rubbing

The alcohol solution quickly evaporates from the surface of the body and due to this, heat transfer increases and the temperature decreases.

Prepare the following mixture: 50 ml of 9% table vinegar (diluted 1:1), 50 ml of vodka and 50 ml of water.

Moisten a bandage or cotton swab with the resulting solution and wipe (without rubbing) the chest, stomach, back, arms, legs of the child, especially carefully rubbing the palms, soles, the inner surface of the arms and legs. Then let it dry and repeat the procedure 2-3 more times.

After the rubdown, dress your child in pajamas and put them to bed. Do not wrap the baby, as a repeated increase in temperature is possible.

Attention! You can not pour cold water on a child with a high temperature and rub it with alcohol. Also, do not wrap a child who has a fever in warm blankets!

Non-drug methods to reduce high fever

Full wraps for children after a year

Type in a container about 1 liter of cold water or infusion of herbs - chamomile, yarrow, St. John's wort. Soak a cotton cloth in this liquid and wring it out. Then quickly wrap it around the child's body, leaving his hands and feet free. Wrap the baby in a sheet or thin blanket, then a thicker blanket or blanket, leaving the face and feet free. Put on socks soaked in cold water and wrung out on your feet, and warm woolen socks over them. Leave the child in such a cold compress for 45-60 minutes, during which time give him a warm drink.

Make sure that the child does not freeze. In this case, cover him with another warm blanket, and put a warm heating pad at his feet.

At the end of the procedure, prepare a warm bath for the child. Unroll your baby and quickly soak him in a bath of warm water, then pat him dry with a towel and put him to bed.

After 15-30 minutes, dress the child in clean underwear. You can rinse the baby in the shower instead of a bath. If the child falls asleep during the procedure, then he should not be awakened until he wakes up on his own.

Cold wrap for children up to a year

Lay a terry towel or blanket across the crib or changing table. Then soak a folded diaper in cold water and lay it on top of a towel or blanket. Undress the baby and lay him on his back on a wet diaper. Lifting the baby in the diaper slightly, wrap the loose ends of the wet diaper around the baby's chest. Now soak in water and wring out the second diaper, which is attached to the baby's chest.

Wrap your baby in a dry towel, blanket or blanket and put him to bed for 30-45 minutes. After that, untie the baby and dry it with a dry towel, then put on dry underwear.

Do cold wraps once a day and only at temperatures above 38 ° C. Wraps can be alternated with acetic or alcohol wipes. It should be remembered that cold wraps are used only when the body temperature rises above 38 ° C. Subfebrile temperature (37-37,5 ° C) requires the use of hot wraps.

Lowering the temperature with an enema

For enemas, a hypertonic solution is used: saline and herbal infusion of chamomile flowers.

Saline solution: 1 tbsp. a spoonful of salt in 1 cup of lukewarm water.

Chamomile infusion: take 3 tbsp. spoons of chamomile flowers in a glass of water, boil in a water bath for 15 minutes or brew in a thermos.

The enema bottle (pear) should be with a soft tip. The volume of enema for children depending on age: under the age of 6 months - 30-50 ml, from 6 months to 1,5 years - 70-100 ml, from 1,5 to 5 years - 180-200 ml, from 6 to 12 years - 200-400 ml.

Before use, boil the enema pear for 2-5 minutes, then cool and fill with the prepared solution. Remove excess air by lightly squeezing the balloon until liquid appears from the upwardly facing tip, lubricate the tip itself with petroleum jelly.

Lay the baby on his back with his legs raised up, and the child of the age of one year - on his side with his legs pulled up to his stomach. Carefully insert the tip of the balloon into the anus, so as not to injure the mucous membrane of the rectum, to a depth of 3-5 cm in young children, 6-8 cm in older children.

Slowly squeezing the pear, squeeze all the liquid into the rectum. Then, without opening the balloon, carefully remove the tip. Squeeze the child's buttocks for a few minutes to keep fluid in the intestines. This is followed by bowel movement.

FOR THE NOTICE

Pharmacies sell disposable sterile plastic bottles with tips and ready-made solutions for cleansing enemas of various sizes for children of different ages.

ATTENTION!

In inflammatory bowel diseases, enemas should not be used without consulting a doctor!

Author: Basharova N.A.

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