When it comes to antibiotics, two extreme phenomena are often prone to occur: one is that the child is given antibiotics when the throat is uncomfortable or has a little cold; the other is that even if the child has a serious illness Bacterial infection, parents still live and die without antibiotics.
About when to use antibiotics, when not to use them, and how to use them? As a parent, it is not mainly self-judgment, but according to the specific situation of the child, neither abuse nor taboo drugs.
1. What are antibiotics? Is it the same kind of anti-inflammatory drug?
Antibiotics are a class of metabolites with anti-pathogen or other activities produced by microorganisms or higher animals and plants in the process of life, which can interfere with the development of other cells. Simply put, antibiotics kill or inhibit bacteria.
Most people think that anti-inflammatory drugs are antibiotics. The child has a cold and a fever. After taking antibiotics, the fever is gone, and the throat is no longer sore.
Actually, anti-inflammatories are not the same class as antibiotics. Anti-inflammatory drugs are drugs used to reduce inflammation in the body, which are mainly divided into glucocorticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Antibiotics are medicines that require a prescription and are only suitable for use in the case of bacterial infections.
So how do you identify antibiotics? In fact, you can look at the name of the drug. If there are these 10 keywords, it is basically an antibiotic: Metronidium, cyclone, penem, sulfa, micin, cillin, cephalosporin, mycin, conazole, and floxacin.
There are also some that can’t be seen from the name. The easiest way is to read the manual. If it says “For XXX infection caused by XXX bacteria” , that’s basically antibiotics.
Parents who find antibiotics with these words in their names should not administer them to their children by themselves. They must be used under the diagnosis of a doctor. To take them arbitrarily is abuse.
2. Why is it not recommended to use antibiotics as soon as you get sick?
When a child is sick, of course, as a parent, you will be anxious and hope that your child will get well as soon as possible, but this does not mean that you can rudely give your child antibiotics by yourself, because of the following reasons :
1. “Specialized in surgery”, single role
Antibiotics only work on bacterial infections, other than that they don’t. Therefore, do not use antibiotics indiscriminately when encountering these diseases: 90% of common colds are caused by viruses; 80% of autumn diarrhea is caused by rotavirus and norovirus infections; hand, foot and mouth disease is caused by intestinal Caused by airway viruses; asthma is a chronic airway disease that may be caused by allergies or genetics.
So, don’t give your child antibiotics as soon as you get sick until you’ve identified the cause. Drugs entering the child’s body, because the child’s metabolic organs have not yet developed, abuse, it will damage the baby’s delicate organs.
For example, antibiotics with floxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, and quinolone antibiotics may affect bone development in children under the age of 18. There are also some antibiotics, which can damage a child’s hearing when used in large quantities, and can cause severe deafness.
2. Antibiotics are neither friend nor foe
Antibiotics only have an effect on bacteria, which seems to be “smart”, but this kind of ability is also a headache, because once it is confirmed that it is a bacteria, whether it is beneficial to the human body or good Bacteria, or bad germs that make people sick, will kill them all, overuse will kill more normal bacteria in the body.
3. Exercise your immune system
If bacteria are compared to the “enemy”, immunity is the “army” to protect the body, and antibiotics are the “reinforcement”. If the child immediately greets the “reinforcement” every time he is sick, how can the “army” exercise and improve combat skills?
4. Inducing bacteria to develop drug resistance
Although antibiotics control and disinfect bacteria, they may also induce bacteria to develop resistance and become superbugs, making treatment more difficult until the day when it is really needed When it comes to antibiotics, it is very likely to face the embarrassing situation of no medicine available.
3. When can antibiotics be used? how to use?
Since there are a lot of bad antibiotics, just don’t use them. When you get sick, you can completely rely on your own recovery, okay? Of course not.
Once a bacterial infection spreads, it spreads in minutes. If our own immunity is “not enough” and we don’t use antibiotics to snipe the bacteria in time, once the scope of infection expands or becomes chronic infection , oppositeThe damage to body organs is also great. Therefore, it is important to know when and how to use antibiotics.
When a child is sick, the most important thing for parents is to observe their child’s status. Although the child is a little uncomfortable, eating, drinking, sleeping, and sleeping is no different from usual, and he still plays well. You can observe it at home first.
If your child loses appetite, drinks less water, looks sick, and keeps crying, you should go to the hospital in time.
At the hospital, antibiotics need to be considered only if the doctor confirms that it is a bacterial infection and prescribes antibiotics.
But in the process of giving medicine to babies, many parents make the mistake of reducing or stopping antibiotics at will. Don’t do this, because casually discontinuing the drug will not completely destroy the bacteria, but may also make a better condition worse. It is easy to cause bacteria to develop drug resistance.
So the correct operation is to follow the doctor’s advice. You must know that the dose prescribed by the doctor is originally calculated based on the baby’s condition, weight, and the child’s metabolic capacity, not simply half the adult dose. reduced. Too little dose can’t completely kill the bacteria in your baby’s body, and the bacteria may come back.
In addition to taking the dosage for the baby, it is necessary to adhere to the course of treatment. Parents do not see signs of improvement and stop the antibiotics. Generally, antibiotics take time to work: Bacteria The course of infection is generally 3-5 days, and the course of antibiotics is generally 5-7 days, which will not be immediate.
In summary, antibiotics treat bacterial infections, not viral infections. When your baby really needs antibiotics for treatment, don’t blindly reject it, but don’t use it at will, just follow the doctor’s advice.