When Babies Get Colds It’s A Serious Matter

This week was really busy. I found four sick babies in my household visits! Three of them had colds and one had diarrhea. I counted the breaths of all three babies with my timer and was happy that none of them had pneumonia. I reminded the mothers very nicely to keep their babies warm and feed them lots of liquids like breast milk, warm water with lemon juice or basil and honey, along with their usual food. I also reminded them to clean their babies’ noses with a clean soft cloth.

I made a follow-up visit two days later and found that all the babies were doing fine. I am trying to teach the mothers about simple things they can do to prevent colds. Common colds cannot be treated, but they can be prevented. There is a proverb in our country that if you treat a cold, it will take one week to be cured and if you do not treat it, it will take seven days to be cured. So you have to prevent them. When babies get colds it’s a serious matter, because they can be fatal if they turn into pneumonia. Also coughs and colds spoil a baby’s appetite, so they lose weight and become weak. So, it’s best to keep the babies warm and clean, so they don’t catch colds!

One of the mothers was waiting at her house for me and said that her baby started frequent defecation last night. She was worried. I checked and found it was not severe diarrhea but the baby needed oral rehydration solution immediately. The mother was alone with her baby at that time. Her mother-in-law lives with them but she was at a neighbor’s house. I told the mother that I would stay with the baby so she could go get her mother-in-law. The mother did this and we sent the mother-in-law to the shop to buy ORS. Once she got back home, I showed them how to mix the solution and give it to the baby. I instructed the mother to feed the baby ORS as many times as it defecated. I did not want to take any chances, so the very next day, first thing in the morning I went for a follow-up visit. I was very happy to find the baby had stopped frequent defecation and was doing much better.