Keep children's safety in mind during the Spring Festival

This is the 4218th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

The Spring Festival of 2023, after three years of epidemic prevention and control, we can finally move freely during this Spring Festival. All the work that can be put down is put down, and the circle of friends is mostly filled with the happy scenes of relatives and friends happily gathering together to celebrate the New Year, just as Mr. Wang Zengqi said, "Families sit together, and the lights are friendly."

As a pediatrician, in the joyful atmosphere of the Spring Festival, I also need to remind parents and friends who raise children to keep children's safety in mind and always pay attention to preventing accidental injuries. There are dangers and accidental injuries hidden everywhere when children eat, drink, defecate, urinate, sleep and play. These accidental injuries can almost all be avoided as long as they are known in advance and taken precautions.

1. Accidental injuries during play

Children are curious and lively by nature. Whether they are at home or visiting relatives and friends during the Spring Festival, parents should pay special attention to understanding the dangers and hazards around children's residences and activities, and try to avoid and prevent them. Playing is a common activity during the Spring Festival. If children participate, special attention should be paid to ensuring their safety and preventing accidental injuries such as falls, bumps, punctures, and burns. You should always pay attention when traveling and living in a new environment in your hometown.

Accidental injuries are common pediatric emergencies and have become the number one killer of children. Most accidental injuries to children are related to the negligence of their families, especially in the busy and festive season. Head injuries, knocked-out teeth, broken limbs, falls, drowning, car accidents, etc. are all common pediatric emergencies that hospitals receive. In the pediatric emergency room of the hospital, you can often see cute children in danger of life due to accidental injuries being rushed in by their anxious parents and 120. Many times, they have already "died before arriving at the hospital", and the children's precious lives have no response to superb medical skills and superb technology! At such a moment, no one wants to see it, and everyone hopes that there is a magical power that can send the cute children back!

Children are a group that is easily injured by accidents. In addition to the negligence of their parents, the more important reason is that children's physical and intellectual development is not perfect, and their ability to identify, react to and avoid danger is limited. Many children cannot avoid oncoming cars in time and effectively. When crossing the road, they only pay attention to vehicles in one direction and ignore the other direction. They lack the correct judgment of the speed and danger of cars. Children who love the world, love their parents, grandparents and all relatives around them, their clear eyes only appreciate and like everything around them curiously, and never think that anything will hurt him/her. Accidental injuries are often hidden in children's lively play and frolic, and parents and guardians need to be vigilant, help and remind them at all times!

2. Accidental injuries during eating and drinking

In recent days, the news that "a doctor treated 36 patients with choking on food on New Year's Eve" has attracted much attention. Children are at high risk of accidental choking due to food, especially those under 5 years old. In addition to fish bones, bones, jelly, melon seeds, peanuts and other foods, there are also various non-food items such as coins, small toy parts, buttons and so on that can cause children to choke on food.

When children are eating or playing with objects in their mouths, crying, laughing, or talking, they are likely to accidentally inhale food, toys, or other foreign objects into their trachea. If foreign objects are blocked in the trachea, the child cannot breathe, and over time, suffocation may occur, which is life-threatening. The golden rescue time for foreign objects in the trachea is 4-10 minutes.

Taking the wrong medicine or eating the wrong food is also a common accidental injury in children's eating and drinking. Children are not only growing physically, but also growing in their thoughts, which are sometimes beyond your imagination. Especially for infants and young children aged 1-3, they seem to understand many things, but their curiosity and desire to explore are very strong. The responsibility of ensuring the safety of children lies with parents and guardians. The author once treated a 3-year-old child who took his grandmother's antihypertensive medicine by mistake. When he came to the hospital, his grandmother was still preaching: "I told you that you can't take this medicine, and you agreed...!" In fact, it was the grandmother's advice that prompted the child to take the medicine he shouldn't take. For a curious child, the more you stop him/her, the more he/she wants to try; what's more, he/she sees his/her grandmother taking this so seriously every day, why not let him/her take it? ! For children of this age, the best way is to keep him/her away from danger and put dangerous things where he/she can't reach or touch them.

3. Accidental injuries caused by allergies

There are many things and ways that can cause accidental allergic injuries to children, especially during travel and holidays when visiting relatives and friends, when the environment and diet and living habits are constantly changing. Things or objects encountered, touched, inhaled, or eaten can become serious allergens.

The younger the child is, the less we parents know about him/her. There are more places, things and foods that he/she has never seen, eaten or touched. Therefore, parents need to pay special attention to children. When children need to face any places, things and foods that they have never seen, eaten or touched before, they should always be vigilant and pay attention to observe the children's reactions and adaptability. When children have the following abnormal conditions, they need to be alert to whether it is an accidental allergic injury.

1. Abnormal conditions such as redness, swelling, rash, etc. of the skin and mucous membranes;

2. Itchy nose, runny nose, tears, cough, hoarseness, shortness of breath and other respiratory abnormalities;

3. Abnormal gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, or even hematemesis and bloody stools;

4. Abnormal brain nerve conditions such as dizziness and headache, and even life-threatening conditions such as anaphylactic shock and coma.

During the Spring Festival trip or visiting relatives and friends, if you find that children have the above discomfort, immediately pay attention to whether an allergic reaction has occurred, and immediately leave or stop the suspected allergen. If the itching is obvious, you can take cetirizine or loratadine orally to relieve allergies, and use calamine lotion or desonide cream to relieve itching. If necessary, go to the hospital immediately for treatment. In case of emergency, call 120 for medical assistance. Accidental allergic injuries vary greatly in severity. Most of them can be relieved by themselves after leaving the allergen, and some are sudden and critical attacks. If not handled in time, it may even be fatal!

In summary, accidental injuries are sudden and unexpected, and the premise for avoiding them is to take precautions. In 2023, when China is full of vitality, vigor, and good luck, I wish every child in the motherland to grow up healthy and happy, and I wish every family to be happy, healthy, harmonious and happy!

【References】

1. Wang Weiping, Sun Kun, Chang Liwen. Pediatrics[M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2018.

2. Xu Lingmin. Common Pediatric Diseases: A Guide [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, 2018.

3. Xu Lingmin. Pediatric emergency and emergency questions[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, 2020.

4. Xu Lingmin, ed. Basics and Evaluation of Pediatric Medicine[M]. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2022.

Qingpu Branch of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University

Pediatrics Chief Physician Xu Lingmin