Childhood Illnesses

When you have a family, it is not just your own health that is of concern: the health of your children is also in your hands. While this may seem like a daunting thought, dealing with children's everyday ailments does not need to be scary.

Anyone who has a child, or has come in contact with children knows that they pick up a whole host of common ailments through contact with other children. This is inevitable, and is an essential step in the formation of a healthy immune system. Most common ailments are not serious and will rarely need antibiotics from the GP, so treating your child's ailment or infection yourself, or with advice and medicines from your pharmacist, can often be the easiest and quickest way to deal with your child's problem.

However, results - from a new survey conducted by the Consumer Health Information Centre (CHIC) and Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP) - show that many parents are unsure who to turn to when their child is taken ill, with many overestimating the seriousness of the condition.

Over a third (39 per cent) of parents worry about their child catching ailments at school with 49 per cent of parents saying it is very likely that their child will catch something during the school term. This finding is not unfounded as the survey results show that in the last year, 43 per cent of children have suffered from diarrhoea and 85 per cent have caught a cough/cold or flu. Pharmacists are experts in diagnosing and recommending treatment for common ailments as well as giving medicines advice, but many parents visit their GP or A&E when their child has a minor ailment.

Often, for parents, their GP is the first point of call when their child becomes ill: 64% of parents would consult their GP if their child got worms for instance, but most GPs would advise a parent to visit their pharmacist for treatment and advice. The pharmacist is an excellent source of advice and has access to a vast array of medicines. The pharmacist will help you decide on an appropriate treatment for your child's ailment, and can also advise you on which treatments would be useful to keep in your medicine cupboard at home

CHIC and DPP have put together some handy tips to help parents understand more about their child's ailments:

Practical advice on common childhood ailments

1. Coughs/colds/flu - symptoms include runny nose, sore throat, fever, aches and pains, a phlegmy or dry cough and sneezing. If your child has flu, they will feel much worse than with a cold although both are treated in the same way.

• Administer children's OTC medicines for the symptoms your child is suffering from at the recommended dosage
• Encourage your child to drink extra fluids - warm drinks can help soothe a sore throat
• If a cough is present, you may also want to prop your child's head up in bed with extra pillows to help then sleep better
• Plenty of rest will aid a speedy recovery.

2. Sickness

• Encourage your child to drink small amounts of fluids continuously
• Avoid giving solid foods, gradually reintroducing bland foods (eg.toast)
• If you are still worried, the symptoms persist or if the vomit contains blood, ask your pharmacist, health visitor or Doctor for advice or cal NHS Direct on 0845 4647 (England and Wales only).

3. Diarrhoea - generally defined as frequent, loose or liquid stools and occurs as a result of an 'irritated' gut.

• Encourage your child to drink as much extra fluid as they need
• Avoid giving solid foods until their appetite returns
• If your child has had diarrhoea more than three times in the last 24 hours, has a fever, is also vomiting and not keeping fluids down or if there is blood in the diarrhoea, consult a Doctor.

4. Fever - fever can be a symptom of many ailments such as flu, chickenpox and earache.

• Administer children's paracetamol or ibuprofen* at the recommended dosage for 48 hours
• Encourage your child to drink extra fluids
• Reduce night-time bedding to a simple cotton sheet
• If your child is under one year old, they have difficulty breathing, they are difficult to wake, not taking down fluids, or complaining of the light hurting their eyes, consult a Doctor.

5. Head lice - small, flesh-coloured insects that live in human hair. The empty shells of the lice are called nits.

• Only living lice should be treated therefore use a plastic detection comb from your pharmacy to identify living lice
• Ask your pharmacist to recommend an appropriate treatment for your child
• Check the rest of the family's hair for lice and if present, treat as before.

6. Threadworms - tiny white worms that live in the gut and around the bottom

• Confirm the presence of worms by pressing a piece of clear sellotape around your child's bottom first thing in the morning
• Ask your pharmacist to recommend a suitable treatment
• Ensure the whole family wash their hands regularly and do not use each others' towels or bed linen.

7. Ear infections - common in children less than five years and usually caused by a viral infection although can also be caused by other conditions (eg.toothache)

• Place your child in an upright position using pillows and place a warm (but not boiling) hot water bottle wrapped in a towel over the ear to relieve the pain
• Administer children's paracetamol or ibuprofen (Ibuprofen should not be given to a child with asthma) at the recommended dosage
• Ask your pharmacist to recommend a suitable decongestant, which will help relieve any pressure in the ear
• Do not let your child drink from a bottle whilst lying down
• Keep your child away from smoky environments
• Never poke any objects such as cotton buds into the ears
• If the earache persists, ask your pharmacist, health visitor or doctor for advice or call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 (England and Wales only).

Medicine Chest
You may want to consider keeping a small supply of an appropriate self-medication treatment at home for your child - these are all available from your local pharmacy.

To support parents dealing with their child's minor ailments, CHIC and DPP have launched a 'Managing Minor Ailments' campaign which includes an information booklet 'Caring for Kids - a self-care guide to childhood ailments'. The booklet takes parents through common ailments, what symptoms to look out for and how to treat the condition.

You can download your free booklet on 'Caring for Kids' here. Alternatively, call the CHIC helpline on 020 7761 1803.