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Common children's medical issues

Please find some advice and guidance for common medical conditions in children and babies below.

Fever control

  • A fever is the body’s normal response to an infection 
  • It is often caused by a viral illness and antibiotics will not help
  • The fever will often come down with paracetamol and / or ibuprofen – reducing the fever helps to make your child feel better but doesn’t cure the illness, the fever will return when the medicine wears off.  
  • It is very common or nursery age children to get recurrent viral illnesses while they develop their immune system
  • Children who are hot have higher fluid requirements, its is therefore important to encourage them to drink, using a syringe like medication if necessary. 

Burns first aid

  • Following any kind of burn it is really important to run under cool (but not cold) water for 20mins to remove the heat from the burn
    • This will be the action that limits the scaring and will be beneficial up to 3 hours after the burn
  • If running water is not available then you can use a wet cloth, each time the cloth gets warm then rinse again with cool water
  • To reduce pain you can cover (but do not wrap) the area in clingfilm
  • Paracetamol will also help with the pain 

Head injuries  

  • Patients who have a head injury often benefit from pain relief such as paracetamol
  • A head injury will make people feel sleepy and there is no reason to keep them awake, every hour or so just check they are easy to wake
  • The following symptoms would require a medical assessment: more than 3 episodes of vomiting, increasing confusion or drowsiness, weakness to the arms or legs, or worsening headaches. 
  • If your child has had a head injury we will give you a leaflet of all the things to look out for.  

Limb injuries 

  • Soft tissue injuries can take up to 8 weeks to heal
  • Simple pain relief such as paracetamol or ibuprofen can help with the pain
  • Elevation and ice packs can help with swelling
  • It is important to aid healing and reduce the risk of compilations that you use the injured limb, gradually increasing the movements and usage over time as things improve.   

The fluid challenge - for patients with reduced food/fluid intake, vomiting and/or fever

  • Use a medicines syringe to give a small amount of fluid every 10mins
  • For babies, you can give 5mls every 10 mins and children 10mls every 10 mins
  • The volume can be increased as tolerated
  • For breastfed babies, you can give small frequent breast feeds.