Hi mamas (and papas), Happy Independence Day. I cant seem to find the post of the lady concerned about her 7 month child who had cough and flu, and was given piritex and clavulin but child ended up getting diarrhea. Had made a mental note to respond but cant seem to find her post. I think her name was Christine. Anyway, for learning purposes, in posting the my response here. Not sure if its against house rules. Christine, if youre reading this, really sorry about your child being ill. It must be frustrating for any mother to see their child ill; and even more so, to not get better after a visit to the doctors. Im going to give you a pretty long post because its a learning opportunity for not only you, but the other mamas on here. Being concerned about your little one is a normal thing. And its ok to feel aggrieved. The best advice I can give you right now is either to insist you visit the doctor again, or take your little one for a second opinion. Thats because any advice I, or any other person wed give here would be purely speculative. Diseases are unique. So are people, more so, children. Diarrhea in my child might be due to something else while in yours, it might be completely caused by a completely different thing. Same goes for cough. Cough and diarrhea are a bit like headache. Theyre not diseases in and of themselves, but are a manifestation of something underlying. This something could be innocuous or destructive. So the primary advice is let a health worker review your little one. Now, in terms of your question; by far the commonest cause of cough and flu in a seven month old is a viral infection ( I know most mothers hate that term, but its true!). Bacterial and other infections can cause these came symptoms, but a flu is usually a strong indicator of a viral infection. Now, a flu and cough can be complicated by a bacterial infection. Meaning, all that mucous in the chest and nose can easily breed bacteria, depending how bad it gets. A doctor will usually examine your child to look out for signs of complications and the severity of the infection. Theyll look for: A temperature; what noises are coming from the chest; are the ears and mouth affected too? What about signs of dehydration? Theyll also order a blood count to confirm whether the cells that fight viral infection in the body have gone up (they tend to go up if you have a viral infection). Now, only after taking all that, (and a few things in your babys past medical history) into consideration does he then make a decision on what to do. Either, give you medication, or ask you to observe your child and return after an appropriate day. He would also advise you to return if symptoms get worse; irrespective of what he may have given. Now, a viral infection can also become a diarrhea as well. In fact most diarrheas (more 80%) in your childs age group are viral. And they usually start with a cough and flu. Alternatively, a viral cough can easily become a pneumonia, most pneumonias also start with a cough and flu. Any child with a cough and diarrhea should see a health worker for these reasons alone. In your case, you got piritex and clavulin. First off. Immediately stop the piritex. Its not supposed to be given to any child under 2 years, as not only is it useless in fighting flu in this age group, it sedates the child quite a bit. So discontinue it. In fact dont give your child any flu or cough mixture. Theyre useless for those under 2 years. Your child will be ok, as their immune system works on them. On the clavulin. Clavulin is an extremely strong antibiotic; First off, its usually prudent to give an antibiotic to prevent the infection becoming complicated into a pneumonia as mentioned above. So giving an antibiotic is ok. But which one? Second, the doctor might have checked and found a pneumonia already present and thus given a strong medication. Clavulin is effective for ear, nose, sinus lung or bladder infections. It ideally should be reserved for infections that are resistant to other antibiotics. (Think of killing a mosquito with a bazzuka). It tends to also kill the good bacteria in your childs gut, changing the balance of organisms there; and hence a common side effect is diarrhea. So; your childs diarrhea can be caused by either a complication of the flu and cold; or a complication of the strong medicine your child is taking. Either way, diarrhea causes dehydration. Dehydration kills. So make sure your little one takes enough fluid. Id suggest you breastfeed more (if youre breastfeeding) frequently; and give them chicken broth, rice, and starchy fresh foods. Feed them up to 6 times a day. Avoid oily, processed foods and anything sweet. These make the diarrhea worse. Id also give a mashed banana or two, as these contain potassium. Diarrhea makes you lose potassium and lack of potassium can be deadly. One or two bananas are enough if the diarrhea isnt very severe. Id also open a sachet of ORS with zinc and follow the instructions. The dose depends on your childs weight. As you do all this, visit a doctor to make sure the child is not deteriorating. Its always common sense to err on the side of caution. Sorry again for the long post. Good luck. Hope your little one gets better soon. Happy Independence Day!
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 03:54:46 +0000
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