Medicine for Young Children

My children have been having respiratory problem lately - cough, running nose, sore throat, and even led to middle ear infection! Common oral medicines prescribed by doctors to relieve the symptoms, mostly in syrup (liquid) mode, include Diphenhydramine, Chlorpheniramine (Piriton), Bromhexine, Cetirizine (brand name Zyrtec), Rhinathiol (cough), and sometimes antibiotic Amoxycillin. Fluimucil is used to reduce phlegm.

For middle ear infection, the following antibiotic was prescribed (which can also be used for conjunctivitis) - Framycetin Eye/Ear Drop - which unfortunately did not cure my son's fever after 6 days, and he was switched to the oral antibiotic Augmentin.

The other medicines according to my experience with my children are as follows:

For fever, the most commonly used medicine is Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) (brand names Panadol, Dhamol, Uphamol, Tylenol etc.). Sometimes Voltaren suppositories (to be inserted into the rectum) may be used on very young children to reduce the temperature quickly. Voltaren is a type of NSAID (non-standard anti-inflammatory drugs) and should not be used together with other NSAIDS such as Ibuprufen (brand name Advil) and Aspirin , both oral medicines which could be prescribed for fever (however Aspirin should not be prescribed to children at all time!). Voltaren may have some side effects - patients are advised to drink a lot of water (as with all other drugs!). Other means to reduce the temperature include wiping the forehead / body with cold towel. I find some commercial products to attach cold pads on the forehead useful, although not every child may like it. My son even had an "ice-bath" when he had very high fever at the age of 3 years old.

For diarrhea, we have used Maalox, Smecta, Lacteol and Kaolin. I usually switch from milk powder to soy powder. However, for infant below 1 year old on breast milk, they often have very soft tools as they digest the breast milk very well. Normally this is nothing to worry about. Constipation is more of a headache! I used prune juice on infants to help bowel movements.

For infant colic, Colimix is common. Personally, I find Dr. Brown's milk bottle quite a good product to prevent colic, but nothing can compare to direct breastfeeding.

I believe in natural cure and try not to take medicine whenever possible but lots of time, it is not possible. Also, due to their interaction with other children from child care center, they get sick easily. Anyway, to keep your kids healthy it's important to let them exercise regularly, eat a balance diet, drink lots of water, may be take some supplements, BUT one very important key that cannot be undone is to breastfeed the baby for as much and as long as possible - breastfeed exclusively if you can, at least for the first 6 months. It will play a crucial role to your children's health and it can only be done at that point of time. In fact, for infants, breast milk is the medicine to cure most of the sickness, if any. Nothing can replace breast milk. I guess I will write another entry on breastfeeding, soon.

Disclaimer: The above are all based on my knowledge, experience and research online as a parent and is meant for your reference only. Please consult your physician for professional advice on proper drugs and dosage.

A topic for my blog - parenting

I have decided to give my blog a topic, instead of just a blog for me to "blah" anything. I have been silent for a while, partly because I am not sure what to write. Too much freedom can be a problem... that's what I have been facing.. Anyway, by having a focus topic on my blog, it will be easier for me to work on, with an objective in mind.

Actually I have been thinking of this long before I created a blog. I have 2 young children at home, approaching the age of 6 and 2. There are lots of experience I gained from bringing up them, and I have been sharing with my friends on these valuable experience, which I think is beneficial. On the other hand, I also frequently search online for resources on childcare. So, why not just use this channel to share out my experience and benefit more people.

I have lots of ideas about good toys or education kits for children. I can share some problems and solutions with eating, sleeping, discipline, etc. Perhaps some tips on fun activities we can do together with the kids and on travelling (I have been through a lot!) . The very first thing I would like to share is the medicines for young children - since my children have been sick lately.

So the goal will be to share out my parenting experience and hopefully we will enjoy bringing up our children in a loving and fun manner. Enjoy reading my blog!

Reflections 感言

I remember the years when I was studying in Japan, I had my homepage attached with Osaka University, and I would write "some sort of a diary" to jot down the happenings, at least once per month. I also wrote a few articles to remember my mother and a dear friend who had passed away. I kept all those in a CD when I left Japan and moved back to my hometown. Unfortunately 2 years ago when I took the CD out to share some of the articles with my friends, the CD was physically broken by accident. I almost stopped breathing when I saw the CD, as the contents was such a treasure to me. There was no way to retrieve the data. I tried finding other copies in my old laptops but until today I haven't found it, may be I haven't tried hard enough, due to everyday's busy schedule. I will definitely try again.

However, although I might have lost them physically, they are still part of me and in some sense they will never be lost as long as I still have memory. This is the same with lots of other things in life. We may lose a friend, but the friendship and happy moments we shared with the person will never be lost as they had been part of our life. Likely, we may lose a job, but the job experience will remain with us. Whatever challenges we face in life is to lead to a better future, whatever failure we face in life is only temporary and the lesson we learn from the failure will help us to self-improve if we choose to look at it in a positive way. The choice is in our hands.

The world is facing an economical challenge now. I wish everyone good luck in keeping your job and be strong and tough to face whatever challenges ahead. Remember, at the end of the tunnel, there is always light!

My first blog...

Finally, I have created my own blog! There are many times in life when we talk and talk but we don't act. This is a very good example. Anyway, I am glad that I have finally acted. I love to write and this will be a good channel for me to release my thoughts and possibly release my stress. :) Hope to write more and hope you enjoy reading it.