What to Do When Your Children Get Sick

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Children often get sick when they are young. Ear nose and throat problems in children and adolescents is very common and usually nothing to worry about but they should still be seen to by a doctor in case the problems progress into breathing difficulties, hearing loss or sinus infections. Ear nose and throat problems in children and adolescents can be caused by many different things ranging from a simple cold to laryngopharyngeal reflux issues. Whatever the case may be, it’s always a good idea to have a doctor check out your child just to make sure that everything is actually okay and no further action needs to take place.

I used to freak out whenever my children would get sick. I thought it was bad for them, especially as babies. The first almost two years of my son’s life, I felt like he was sick the entire time. However, his doctor was never worried and constantly reassured me that he was either going to get sick now, or when he started school. He stated that it was even better for him to be sick now so that once he did start school, he would miss less days than other children who had been protected from any kind of bacteria and he wouldn’t fall behind.

Children get sick. This is just what happens, unfortunately. They need to build up their white blood cell count and their immune systems. The best way to do this is to be exposed to different kinds of viruses and bacteria so that the body has a chance to build up an immunity against them. You may be concerned by ear nose and throat problems in children and adolescents, especially when they are your own but you can think of it as the same as when they get vaccines. A vaccination is a little bit of the actual virus or disease that is injected into the body so that the white blood cells can begin to fight against it. Of course, it’s a fixed fight because the dosages are so heavily researched to find out how much the body can take and it ensure the white blood cells will win. Ear nose and throat problems in children and adolescents may take a little longer for them to fight since there may be more bacteria present than with a vaccination but it’s still good for their bodies to learn how to fight off unwanted elements.

If you child gets an infection or a sickness, the best thing to do first of all is to have a doctor check them over to make sure that they don’t need any kind of antibiotics or special medicine. If they prove to be fine and just need rest, which is usually the case in children, take them home, settle them in bed and help them to remain comfortable. Treat fever symptoms, coughs, sore throats and other pain as you normally would with children’s medicines and pain relievers. If the child is over one years old, honey and lemon tea works wonders as a throat soother.

It’s understandable if, as the parent, you are worried about your child. It’s difficult for a parent to see their child suffering. A great way to think about it is a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. If you were to assist the butterfly and break open the cocoon, they would not live very long because they were not able to build up the strength they needed to stay away from predators and gather the food they need. Similarly, if you could take all the pain and sickness from your children they would not build up the antibodies necessary to efficiently function in this world full of germs. The truth is, the more they are exposed to at a young age when their bodies are strong and youthful, the easier a time they will have with their health as they get older.

Balance is key. Don’t purposely expose your children to dangerous elements, but don’t try to avoid the common cold and other things by keeping your children over sanitized; and yes, there is such a thing as over sanitation! Let them live and love and treat the symptoms when necessary.

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