Food for Thought

The brain forms only 2% of body weight however, at rest, the adult brain uses 20% of dietary energy. A child's brain uses even larger amounts than an adult's with a newborn's brain using up to 60% of total energy intake.

Good nutrition plays a significant metabolic rate in brain structure and function. Essentially, nutritional aspects from fats, carbs, proteins and fruit and vegetables work together to build and maintain brain function. Fatty acids from fats build the brain, and amino acids from proteins unite it. Glucose from carbs fuels the brain, and micronutrients from fruit and veggies help to protect it.

Mood, motivation and mental performance can be significantly influenced by diet. Natural neurochemicals contained in foods can help enhance mental capabilities and aid concentration, tune sensorimotor skills, encourage motivation, magnify memory, speed reaction times and help lessen stress.

Links:
www.kidslife.com.au
Nutrition and your child's development - Food for the brain

Extracted from ASG's Scholastic magazine Issue 2 : 2008

First aid for burns

It is indeed astonishing to see many adults come in to the pharmacy, without any basic knowledge of first aid to the most common household accidents.

It's winter here and naturally many homes are warmed up with ducted heatings, heaters, or column heaters. If you have got small children, it is advisable not to use bar radiators as they are the least effective and the floor models are the primary factor in many fires and contact burns. But in the nutshell, choose wisely. I have a column oil filled heater in Aidan's room, and at the minimum temperature, it is safe to touch.

One customer came in with a burn on his leg. He said it backed into a heater. I took a look at it, and the burn was somewhat wet and shiny. I asked him what he applied, and he said vaseline.

Now everyone!

• The first thing you do is to run cool water over the burned area and/or apply cool wet compresses until the pain subsides or lessens.
• Contrary to the beliefs of some old wives tales' do not apply any oil, butter, vaseline or any kind of grease. This will 'seal' the heat and do more damage to the skin.
• Also do not use ice packs as this will damage the nerve tissues.
• When the burn is cool, apply burn ointment, pure aloe vera gel or calendula gel.
• For pain relief, give paracetamol or ibuprofen when needed.
• Check the burn wound daily for signs of infections, such as oozing, increased pain, swelling or fever. Go to the doctor immediately as you may need some medicine if it is infected.

The above is a general guide only for superficial burns that does not require a doctor's care. Many burns happen at home, and the kitchen is one of the main sources of burns. Use the back burners of your stove for cooking if you have little children running around at home. Pot handles should be turned inwards and buy some stove knob covers to prevent potentially harmful accidents such as burns or gas leaks.

And the last but not least advice on this post. If someone's clothing is on fire...

Stop, Drop and Roll. Do not run as it will help fan the flames. Cover face with hands and drop face down. Roll, roll and roll until the fire is extinguished.

Read my post in May and watch this video. You might just learn something new today.

Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider

What will help when you child has a cold? Part Two

In this post I will refer to a child as 'he'.

When your child has a cold and if you think it's okay for you not to bite your fingernails and send the otherwise active boy to the doctor, here's something that might help ease the symptoms:

• Take lots of rest. It may help fight the virus and help him and everyone at home feel better



• Encourage him to drink lots of fluid, meaning the usual amount. Offer something soothing.



• Saline (salt water) drops or spray such as Fess or Narium can help clear mucus. These are non-medicated decongestant nasal spray. Mucus can cause blocked noses in babies, and they do not know how to breath through their mouths, and even when they can, it can result in sore throats and sleeping difficulties. Fess Little Noses comes with an aspirator and is ideal for newborns and babies. The aspirator is used to suck excess mucus from the nose, keeping babies nose clear.



• Use a vaporizer that creates steam for easier breathing. Remember to keep room well ventilated. For babies, try not to use inhalants. Steam alone is sufficient.



• Humidifier is another option, personally I think it may be a better choice safety wise, if you have older chilren at home, as it releases cool misty air and avoid itchy fingers or hands getting burned or scalded. You also have the option of getting one which has all the features of filtering dust, pollens, smoke and bacteria too.



• Elevate the mattress underneath the pillow with telephone books. This will help baby breathe better.

Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider

Cold and Flu, what's the difference? Part One

Common cold is an infection of the respiratory tract with symptoms including sneezing, coughing, sore throat and a blocked and/or runny rose, and may be accompanied by a mild fever.

It is an interesting fact, that there are more than 200 different viruses that can cause the common colds. They usually last for 5-7 days, and accompanying coughs usually last 1-2 weeks longer than other symptoms. These colds rarely cause serious harm, and children with colds can go to childcare or school as long as they feel well enough to participate.

Bear in mind colds are not flu. Flu (Influenza) is a serious illness. It usually start suddenly with a high fever and you may feel sick enough to stay in bed. Other symptoms may include irritation in the throat and lungs, dry cough, shivering, hot and cold sweating and body/muscle ache.


How are common colds spread?

They are usually caught from other people, can be passed on through touching hands or objects or by breathing in droplets from sneezes or coughs. Hence you may find your children get this quite a lot from school and seem never-ending. To boost their immune system, cod liver oil is recommended as their daily supplemetary intake.

To help prevent the spread of colds, encourage your children to:

• cover their mouths and nose when coughing or sneezing


• keep hands away from eyes, nose and mouth


• use tissues to blow their nose and throw away after use


• wash their hands, particularly before handling and eating food after blowing their nose


• avoid sharing dining utensils and cutlery

So, how do you treat a common cold?

Common colds need common sense, not antibiotics. Common colds, flu and most coughs are caused by viruses, and will usually get better on their own. Antibiotics work only on bacterial infections and have no effect on viruses. They won't help a cold get better faster, won't stop a cold from getting worse, and won't stop the cold from spreading to other people. Remember, using antibiotics when they are not needed may hinder their effectiveness when they are needed, and may cause unwanted side effects like diarrhoea, allergic reactions such as rashes or urticaria, thrush and stomach upsets.

As a general guideline, mucus from runny nose or phlegm from coughing that is clear usually indicates viral infection, and decongestant or anti-histamines can be taken to relief the symptoms. Dimetapp Infant Drops contains a decongestant which assists in drying a runny nose and reducing sinus and nasal congestion, and also an anti-histamine which provides relief of itchy watery eyes and sneezing. This may cause drowsiness in children and a great relief for parents where everyone gets a good night's sleep.

The above preparation can only be given to infants from 1 month of age, and can be given together with paracetamol preparations. Cough suppressants are not recommended for children under 2 years of age.

Encourage children to drink their usual amount of fluid and rest a lot.

I'll make another post on how to relief a blocked nose and how to clear mucus.


Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider

OTC medications for sick babies

I've been reading about a lot of children getting sick from mummy bloggers and would like to share this with everyone, especially parents with newborns, or to refresh the memories of parents of newborns for the second, third, fourth..... time.

The Royal Children's Hospital of Melbourne has a site where we can seek information and here are the factsheets.

Normally, we do not give any medication for newborns under one month of age. As a general guideline, paracetamol, or Panadol, can be only given to babies from one month of age in liquid form. It is the preferred analgesic for fever and pain relief. If babies over 6 months of age are vomitting, suffering from nausea and cannot take paracetamol orally, or perhaps you need to bring down a fever in a quicker way, suppositories may be used.

Nurofen, or ibuprofen, has been revised and now can be given to babies from 3 months onwards, instead of 6 months. Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory and analgesic, great for fever, teething, or ear infections, and longer lasting. The downside is, as with any other anti-inflammatories, do make sure it is to be given with or immediately after food, as it may cause stomach upset. Also, if the baby has, or if you know or think that your baby has asthma, do not give anti-inflammatories. Not until your doctor says okay, if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen can be given alternately, but make it a point to give only paracetamol in the middle of the night, as those little tummies are empty.

If you need to give anti-histamines to stop runny nose, it may be given together with the above two. That is, one after another.

Babies and children suffering from chickenpox, in older times we use Calamine Lotion. Now the preferred first lines are either SoloSite or the Ego Pinetarsol range, together with paracetamol and anti-histamines.

Working in a pharmacy, I have seen parents swear by Avene's Trixera emollient bath and cream for babies with eczema. Or try their Avene Thermal Spring Water spray, even for nappy rash. There's something in the water that works wonders. And personally, there was a phase where my legs were flaky due to prolonged exposure to the fan heater last winter. No amount of lotion did good. I used Trixera cream for a week, although it is kind of greasy, and the skin on my legs were back to normal. This is personal and first hand info!

That's all for now, gotta go pick Aidan up! :)

Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider.

Be Sensible in the Sun

After a bout of hot and dreadful weather, it occured to me that sense in the sun is really important.

Sunrays are harmful to the skin. The natural pigment in our skin, melanin, gives protection from these damaging rays, but most often it isn't enough. UVB rays may cause skin cancer and UVA rays damage the skin causing women's worst enemies, wrinkles, saggings and premature aging. Scared or not?!! So I can't fathom why year after year people walk into the pharmacy asking for sunburn relief after being half-baked and cooked-lobster-red. Don't they ever get it?

Therefore it is important for us to know that the UVA and UVB rays are strongest and most dangerous from around 10am to 3pm, and say you want to paint that gate or swing at that time. Clouds do not block out the rays and white surfaces such as the snow, sand and cement reflect sunlight and increase your exposure to the rays. Sunlight go through water and can burn you while you swim. And sometimes when the weather is cool here but forecast at 28 degree Celsius, we can still get sunburn.

You are at risk if you have fair (like me) or sensitive skin. Skin cancer in adults is usually related to the amount of exposure to UVA and UVB rays during childhood. Die, I cycled so much then most people called me 'Malai Kai' (Malay chicken). So mums, do like us Aussie do for your kids. SLIP SLOP SLAP!

SLIP on sun protection clothing.
SLOP on a SPF 30+ sunscreen, and reapply as needed.
SLAP on a hat.

And of course, slide on the coolest pair of sunnies. Also drink plenty of water to keep hydrated, and check with your doctor for some medications that may cause adverse reaction when skin is exposed to sunlight. For a niece of mine whose taking some acne medication (yes, you!) keep this in mind ok?

In general, have your skin checked yearly for sun damage. There may be signs and symptoms like:

Melanoma - most dangerous skin cancer. Usually curable if treated early. It appears as a new spot, freckle or mole that changes in colour, shape or size. It usually has an irregular outline and spots different colours, and may grow over weeks to months in all parts of the body.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) - can spread to other parts of the body if not treated and appears as a thickened, red, scaly spot that may bleed or form an ulcer.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) - most common and least dangerous, it appears red or pale and looks like a sore that doesn't heal, or heals and then breaks down again. Usually found on the head, neck and upper body.

Sunspots - red, flat and scaling areas which may sting if scratched and is a warning sign you are prone to skin cancer, mostly in middle age people.

So, if you have any of the symptoms above, best get it checked out at your doc's.

Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider.

You may like to know about the dang ulcers

Although it happens very infrequently now, it's still blardy painful and lasts forever! Like a week.

I used to have like 4-6 at the same time during my teen years. And my second sister will hook me by the neck to rub salts on them. YEAOUCH?? YA! YOU TELL ME!

There are many causes for ulcers to appear such as :
Damaging the inside of your mouth with very hot or acidic food, or hot drinks
Biting or chewing the inside of your cheek
Brushing your teeth and gums too hard
Poor fitting dentures (although most of us don't need it... yet!)
Certain medicines
Some cancer treatments
Diseases that affect the immune system
Dry mouth due to medicines or health conditions
Lack of iron, folic acid and most B-group vitamins
Stressed or run down, such as students or people under great pressure
Some women get them just before their period.



Ulcers are usually very painful, in my case, uber painful, and if left untreated, the burning raised red rim gets wider and looks very inflamed. It will take 7-10 days for it to heal. Now do not mistake that with cold sores, for they are usually on the lips and around the mouth. To reduce the pain, I remembered the doctor in Ipoh gave me Bonjela. Whilst it's effective as a baby teething relief, it didn't do much for me.

Personally, I would recommend using Kenalog in Orabase. If you nip it in the bud, that is, use it just when you notice you have an ulcer, it will be gone in two days. Dang effective! Kenalog is a paste used only once a day, usually before you go to bed. It forms a protective layer over the ulcer, giving it a chance to heal, while relieving the pain, redness and swelling.

Other methods are to suck on ice, drink heaps of water and avoid eating hot and spicy food. Or you can rub salt on it. Stings like mad for a while, then after that it will be numb. Haha, I know, so not funny. Donno where my sister got that idea and tortured me like that. Or you can use a gel that contains anaesthetic like lignocaine to numb the pain before you eat.

In any case, you should see a doctor if the ulcer/s last for more than three weeks or have not healed with treatment, larger than 1cm in diameter, bleeding, or occur often such as every 1-2 weeks. You should also be concern if ulcers occur with a sore throat, painless or with a rash on face or body, or diarrhoea.

But sometimes I'm a little bit sicko. Lazy (Ya, how lazy?) to apply at night and let the ulcer grow and heal by itself. LLC lor... (Lor lay chin)

Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider.

First time parents and fever facts

When I first had Aidan, everything was new and overwhelming. I stayed in the hospital for four days, resting from a stomach muscle separation and being treated with painful mastitis. Aidan being a little bit yellow didn't sit well with me either.

I felt protected then and did not want to be discharged as I will be fully responsible for a little human being when I got home. I was scared. Feeling that way took away some pleasure a new parent should feel.

One of the many 'problems' parents deal with is the common fever. Having a baby with temperature in their arms makes them feel unprepared, frightened, and ignorant. Working at the pharmacy which operates till midnight for many years now, I often have parents walking into the store seeking advice, mainly we are so accessible. Here are some facts you may like to know:

Very young babies cannot control their body temperature, so he or she may not develop a fever to deal with infections. And when fevers do arise, they can often come quickly and frighten new parents, especially if there is a threat of febrile convulsion.

Babies cannot tell us when they are not feeling well, therefore body temperature can be the best indication that the child is fighting an infection. There is no 'standard' body temperature. Being normal is usually around 37 degrees C, but varies individually. A good way to monitor the baby's normal temperature is to record a reading when the child is feeling well, i.e. one in the morning and one in the evening, then take the average of the two.

Mild fever (up to 39 degrees C) is usually not harmful, but Wilkin will always pester me to bring Aidan to the clinic anyhow. I will give Aidan liquid paracetamol and dab a cool towel on his forehead and neck. That usually does the trick. However, a high fever (41.5 or more) can be dangerous, and if prolonged, can trigger convulsions.

Temperature readings differ depending on the part of the body taken. Under arm temperature reading is usually 0.5 degrees C lower, and rectal temperature reading is usually 0.5 degrees C higher, than the temperature taken orally.

In Australia, babies above six months of age can be given anti-inflammatory/antipyretic liquid preparations such as ibuprofen, provided the baby does not have any allergy or known asthma condition. It lasts longer and is also effective for relieving discomforts from teething and ear infections. However, this medication is to be given only on a full tummy, i.e. with or immediately after food, hence it may not be a good choice if you need to give a dose in the middle of the night.

Useful information for Australians, there is a 24 hour 'Nurse-On-Call' line if you need to seek any advice at two or three o'clock in the morning. 1300 60 60 24

Disclaimer: This information is not to be used as medical advice or substituted for treatment by your health care provider.

You may like to know...

I was thinking that since I have almost ten years experience in retail pharmacy, I will now dedicate a category to it in my blog.

You will find general facts and advice on various subjects from fever to constipation. By no means I am taking up a role as a pharmacist here, but if there is any questions that you would like to relate to one, I can assist in forwarding the query to a qualified and registered pharmacist in Australia, and get back to you within 24 hours.

Hope you'll find my column useful. Happy reading.