This heat is punishing. The baby has been in just his diapers all day for more than a month now, jus to help him deal with the heat. He is in airconditioning some days, but most of the time he is indoors with a fan and that's just not enough to stave off the dreaded heat rash that summers bring to children.
Bungang araw is generally harmless, but it's uncomfortable as hell for the child. It is painful to hear his nails violently scratching through his skin even when he is asleep. Here are few things we have tried. Some are better than others:
1. Caladryl. Generic name calamine lotion. It helps ease the itchiness but won't prevent a rash from appearing. Since it is in liquid form it is also not ideal for the daytime. It'll bleed into his sweat and it'll be a gunky sticky mess. Use at night so he is more comfy in this sleep. Warning though, the stuff is pink, so if you apply it and let the baby lie down on your sheets you'll have pink stained sheets!
2. Fissan. Make sure you ask the nice but clueless lady at the local drugstore for the kind that's for heat rash, otherwise he/she will give you the stuff for your feet. Apply liberally throughout the day. It gets caky when mixed with sweat. Just wipe him down and the re-apply.
3. If you are vigilant about keeping the rash dry then you won't have to deal with yeast infections. If the rash does end up with candida it'll look really raw and red and angry. Gah, not a pretty sight. It will also get worse really really fast if left alone. If the rash gets suspicious looking apply anti-fungal cream immediately and often until it dries up. If you can't get anti-fungal cream some diaper rash cream applied often will help dry it out, the fungus will die eventually.
4. When drippy with sweat, wipe down with a damp washcloth often. This will keep his skin cool as the stuff dries and gets rid of the sweat which, when sitting next to his skin for extended periods, can irritate his skin even more.
The only other thing I can think of is to wait this nasty summer out! We did take a dip in the pool. The pool had a hundred other kids there though, and 2 days later he developed a fever, so perhaps not the best idea :P
Monday, May 6, 2013
Taking baby to the ER: Tips
Baby J has inherited from me, the nasty habit of getting seizures when he has a fever. I've discussed seizures before, this post is about taking babies to the ER. As a nervous mom who lives 5 minutes away from Medical City and has a kid with medical insurance, it doesn't take much for me to decide to take J to the ER. We have taken him for fever/seizure 3 times, and for diarrhea countless times. Our family is there so often the floor nurses at the pedia area and at the ER pediatrics section know us already.
All this experience has taught us how to prepare for a trip to the ER. If you can't bring all of these when you first get there (emergency and all), get them immediately afterward or have someone bring them for you. SOme of these are for convenience and others are to save you money.
1. With every trip to the ER make sure you have with you (no matter the reason for going):
-a feeding bottle or sippy cup: if he is there for diarrhea they will give him rehydration salts and they don't supply feeding bottles
-a change of clothes for the baby: if he has a fever they will give him a sponge bath and he will need to change afterwards
-a washcloth: spongebaths in the ER, if you don't have one they will charge you for one
-disposable diapers even if your kid wears cloth: among other reasons, they use disposables to wrap around the area where the IV is tapped
- drinking water, snacks for the baby (cheerios are good food and entertainment): it's annoying to have to run to the store when someone gets thirsty
- sandals/shoes, socks: it will be tough getting your child to stay on the bed, they will be restless so having shoes will give them some mobility, the socks are primarily for the cold
2. Before the nurse puts in the IV tube, have her give you some time to decide where they will put it. They can put it on a foot or on a hand. If your baby walks, foot is a bad idea. If the iV will be on a hand make sure you pick the non-dominant hand (read: the one he doesn't use to play with the ipad). They do these things in a rush and don't consult the parent. If you end up at the hospital for several days the baby will be miserable if his right hand is all tied up.
3. Bring paracetamol and other medicine with you everywhere. Nurses know to ask if you have your own medicine. It is much much cheaper to bring your own than let the hospital supply something as simple as paracetamol drops.
4. Ask your resident/doctor incessantly if the IV drip can be disconnected. As soon as we knew Baby J was safe, we asked his doctor and he said it was fine. It bought J back a lot of comfort. The IV was pointless once his fever broke. They will just keep the tap open through a Heplock but the tube and bottle goes.
5. Bring chargers for your electronic devices. These are mostly to keep baby entertained.
6. If you plan to sleep at night, ask the nurses and housekeeping staff to minimize their visits to your room in the middle of the night to the absolutely necessary ones. I swear it is much harder to get well at a hospital because they just don't let you sleep! They are in there every 15 minutes mucking about. If you were not able to sleep at night, consider putting a sign on the door in the morning indicating you don't want any housekeeping visits. Housekeeping folks are noisy, they do their work in the morning so they are confident about knocking loudly and screaming "housekeeping!" when you and the baby are trying to catch up on sleep.
Lastly, sleep next to your kid on the bed if it's possible. They feel so much better when they are being cuddled and sleep very soundly when next to mom or dad. Also if you have a toddler it'll help avoid nasty falls from the bed :)
All this experience has taught us how to prepare for a trip to the ER. If you can't bring all of these when you first get there (emergency and all), get them immediately afterward or have someone bring them for you. SOme of these are for convenience and others are to save you money.
1. With every trip to the ER make sure you have with you (no matter the reason for going):
-a feeding bottle or sippy cup: if he is there for diarrhea they will give him rehydration salts and they don't supply feeding bottles
-a change of clothes for the baby: if he has a fever they will give him a sponge bath and he will need to change afterwards
-a washcloth: spongebaths in the ER, if you don't have one they will charge you for one
-disposable diapers even if your kid wears cloth: among other reasons, they use disposables to wrap around the area where the IV is tapped
- drinking water, snacks for the baby (cheerios are good food and entertainment): it's annoying to have to run to the store when someone gets thirsty
- sandals/shoes, socks: it will be tough getting your child to stay on the bed, they will be restless so having shoes will give them some mobility, the socks are primarily for the cold
2. Before the nurse puts in the IV tube, have her give you some time to decide where they will put it. They can put it on a foot or on a hand. If your baby walks, foot is a bad idea. If the iV will be on a hand make sure you pick the non-dominant hand (read: the one he doesn't use to play with the ipad). They do these things in a rush and don't consult the parent. If you end up at the hospital for several days the baby will be miserable if his right hand is all tied up.
3. Bring paracetamol and other medicine with you everywhere. Nurses know to ask if you have your own medicine. It is much much cheaper to bring your own than let the hospital supply something as simple as paracetamol drops.
4. Ask your resident/doctor incessantly if the IV drip can be disconnected. As soon as we knew Baby J was safe, we asked his doctor and he said it was fine. It bought J back a lot of comfort. The IV was pointless once his fever broke. They will just keep the tap open through a Heplock but the tube and bottle goes.
5. Bring chargers for your electronic devices. These are mostly to keep baby entertained.
6. If you plan to sleep at night, ask the nurses and housekeeping staff to minimize their visits to your room in the middle of the night to the absolutely necessary ones. I swear it is much harder to get well at a hospital because they just don't let you sleep! They are in there every 15 minutes mucking about. If you were not able to sleep at night, consider putting a sign on the door in the morning indicating you don't want any housekeeping visits. Housekeeping folks are noisy, they do their work in the morning so they are confident about knocking loudly and screaming "housekeeping!" when you and the baby are trying to catch up on sleep.
Lastly, sleep next to your kid on the bed if it's possible. They feel so much better when they are being cuddled and sleep very soundly when next to mom or dad. Also if you have a toddler it'll help avoid nasty falls from the bed :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)