Child Wellness Category

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_index.htm

A baby’s first tooth emerges on average during the sixth month of life. However, it can also appear sooner or later. There is a common conception that teething may be accompanied by: crying, drooling, irritability, gum pain, a rash on the face, decrease in appetite, fever (to 38.0), pulling of the ears, etc. These symptoms can appear for four days before the tooth eruption, and last until three days after. Medical studies of recent years have not proven that these phenomena are caused by teeth eruption and the scientific debate continues on this issue. Indeed sometimes these symptoms appear in children aged 3-5 months (drooling, crying, placing a hand in the mouth), but usually in these early ages symptoms such these end without tooth eruption.

Head injuries are a common phenomenon in children. Fortunately, most head injuries are minor and only require observation over the next 24 hours, while some are quite severe and require immediate medical attention. In children who have an accident, it is head injury that usually causes the most severe sequelae. The most common reasons for head injury in children are (in order of frequency) falls, accidents when the child is the bike rider, and motor vehicle/bicycle accidents when the child is a pedestrian.

Bike riding is a very important part of a child’s daily exercise. However, along with the fun and importance of bicycle riding comes an obligation for parents to educate their children about how to ride safely. 61.4% of hospitalizations for bike accidents are children (www.baterem.org). 80% of accidents occur during the months April-October, and a majority (65%) occur during the hours of 1400-2000. A road, which does not have a cross, walk is considered a bigger risk than those roads that do have cross walks: 59% of accidents occur on a road with no cross walk.

Anemia is defined as a decrease in the number of red blood cells or blood concentration of hemoglobin. There are several reasons for anemia, depending on the age of the child.

Lack of iron is the most important risk factor for anemia in Israeli children aged six months to two years, but medical studies have not yet found an explanation why the prevalence of iron deficiency is so high amongst children in Israel. Anemia is a significant problem because the lack of iron may impair the development of the child, and according to medical research, there is the possibility of irreversible damage even after the child receives treatment with iron.

“Fever Phobia” has been around for a long time. Everyone knows that when a child’s body temperature is elevated and the heat is felt on the skin, he is ill. The febrile illness causes anxiety since it could prove to be serious. Although the child is usually only mildly ill with a self-limited viral illness or an easily treated bacterial illness such as strep throat, there is a small possibility that he could, G-d forbid, have a life-threatening bacterial illness such as meningitis, pneumonia or septicemia.

Probably the most significant innovation in medicine in the last 200 years is the vaccine. It has already saved more lives more than any other medical discovery to date. Thanks to vaccines, we now live (almost completely) without the terrible threat of: mumps, measles, whooping cough, tetanus, Paralyzing children, diphtheria, and Hepatitis type A and B. All these diseases are now extremely rare thanks to vaccines. Other diseases such as meningitis have also been significantly decreased. Recently there have been other vaccines introduced to Israel including: Rotateq and Rotarix (against severe diarrhea), Gardasil and Cerverix (against cervical cancer and genital warts) and Prevenar(against pneumonia, ear infections, blood infections and meningitis).

The miserable symptoms of constipation can occur at any age. The problem is defined as difficulty passing bowel movements. Constipation can also cause poor appetite, irritability, abdominal pain, rectal pain and bleeding. Here is a basic overview on this common problem.