Prevention of food poisoning for children in the summer

After continuous school days in class, N.M.P (2 years old, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) had a summer vacation at home.Due to her busy work schedule, P's every eating and drinking activity was taken care of by her grandmother.The child is hyperactive, puts everything in his mouth and eats the foods he likes.

For about 4 days now, P has had abdominal pain accompanied by mucus stools.The family took him to a clinic near their home and was diagnosed with a digestive disorder due to an infection.The child was prescribed antibiotics but still did not get better.

"I took my child to a large hospital, and are receiving treatment, the situation is still not very positive," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh - P's mother.

Specialist Doctor II Le Thi Kim Ly - Deputy Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Gia Dinh People's Hospital - said that in the summer, children often tend to eat foods sold along the street such as gravel, sugarcane juice, pre-cut fruits...These foods have the potential to cause diarrhea, food poisoning or acute enteritis.The main cause is infection with bacteria such as cholera bacteria, welded joints, dysentery bacteria...

In these cases, Dr. Ly believes that parents should not arbitrarily use antibiotics for children with diarrhea, especially in young children.The risk of drug allergies is real, not to mention that if overused, it can easily lead to antibiotic resistance.

Instead, when children have diarrhea, parents should use electrolyte rehydration solutions such as ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts) or probiotics, not diarrhea control pills.

Therefore, to avoid unfortunate complications, as soon as the child shows signs of diarrhea, the first and most important thing at home is to rehydrate and electrolyte as soon as possible.replenishing electrolytes can be done by drinking oresol (ORS) solution.

If oresol is not available at home, parents can temporarily replace it with coconut water, diluted congee water or other electrolyte compensation solutions currently available on the market such as Bioflor, Hydrite or convenient packaging products.Another note is not to abstain from eating.Many parents are worried that eating them will make diarrhea worse, so they do not let their children eat anything.This is a misconception.When having diarrhea, children are dehydrated and easily malnourished, so they still need to eat normally to ensure their health.

However, you should avoid foods high in oil, spicy foods, or foods that are difficult to digest.

In addition, if possible, parents can also supplement probiotics to support their baby's intestines.It is especially important to monitor signs of danger to take children to medical facilities promptly.These signs include: bloody diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, high fever, or a weakness or loss of alertness.When seeing these signs, do not hesitate but take your child to the hospital immediately.