Tonsillitis, in the easiest terms, is the swelling of tonsils in our throat that is accompanied by symptoms like throat pain, difficulty in swallowing/ drinking, altered voice and fever etc.

As in the case of most infections, the occurrence of tonsillitis is more common in children due to relatively lower immunity and habits that invite infections. Let's take a look at the first line of defence when you have a cranky child with swollen tonsils.

1. Make your child gargle with salty warm water: This treatment is most helpful in any infection in the mouth. Add half teaspoonful of salt to a glass of warm water and make the child gargle with the mixture as many times in the day as possible (to a maximum of 5 times). Continue till the condition prevails.

Make sure the child spits out the water and not drinks it.

2. Antibiotics: Consult the ent specialist and have the antibiotics if it is a bacterial cause as per the doctor. Take the alternative treatment prescribed in case of other causes. The entire course of medication should be completed even if the kid gets better sooner to eliminate all traces of bacteria.

3. Painkiller/numbing lozenges: Painkillers that are prescribed by the doctor can be given to ease the pain. Same is the case with lozenges but care should be taken that he/she should not have too many of these.

4. Allow him/her to take rest: It does help in a betterment of the condition!

5. Give warm (not hot) soothing food: Soup, ginger honey mixture, ginger tea can help soothe the inflamed tonsils in most cases. The condition, more often than not, gets better within 7-10 days.


Best Ways to Deal With Tonsillitis in Kids

Did you know that there are certain foods that increase your child's height naturally? Foods that are rich in essential nutrients such as Vitamins, Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium etc can prove to be highly instrumental in adding extra inches to your child's height. Read on...

1. Whole Grains - Whole grains are rich sources of Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin B, which play a very vital role in promoting your child's growth during his/her budding years. Additionally, whole grains also contain calories and carbohydrates, which ensure the maintenance of proper weight in your child, imparting him/her with the requisite energy to go on throughout the day. Feed your child whole-grain breads, cereals and pastas to make him healthier and taller.

2. Milk - Milk contains calcium and Vitamin D, which help in bone development during the growing years of a child, besides increasing his/her physical strength. Milk also helps in assimilating different proteins making it one of the best foods to be consumed by your child for attaining a good height. Three servings of milk, or milk products such as cheese or yoghurt, each day will suffice your child's Vitamin D and calcium requirement.

3. Fruits and Vegetables - Fruits are excellent sources of Vitamin A, which is instrumental in ensuring an enhanced rate of bone growth in your child, consequently making him/her taller. You can include carrots, mangoes, sweet potatoes, spinach etc. in your child?s diet to aid his/her height growth. It's advisable to provide him/her with 3 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

4. Eggs - To ensure that your child grows taller naturally, providing him/her with a protein rich diet is very crucial. Eggs contain ample amount of protein needed to keep your child energetic throughout the day and help him/her grow taller. One to two eggs per day is considered to be the ideal intake amount for a child.

5. Soybeans - Soybeans are rich sources of protein and help in enhancing the growth of bones and muscles of your child, which in turn adds to his/her height during the budding years. You can cook various soybean dishes or you can add ground soybean powder to the dough while making rotis to make soybean a part of your child?s diet.

Although a child's height is also dependent on his/her genes, a well balanced diet containing these super-foods will increase your child's chances of growing to the fullest to attain a good height.



5 Foods That'll Help Increase Your Child's Height Naturally

Epilepsy is a form of chronic disorder and it is characterized by recurrent seizures. The episodes of epileptic seizures may differ from person to person. These seizures could be a result of a genetic disorder or a result of trauma or stroke. During a seizure, a patient may also experience symptoms of neurological disorders and sometimes lose consciousness.

Medical help for epilepsy
Epilepsy itself cannot be cured using medication, but proper medicines help in eliminating recurrent seizures. These medicines stabilize the electrical activity within the brain preventing seizures.

How effective is the medication for epilepsy?
The success of controlling seizures using medicines depends on the type and severity of epilepsy. Medicines for epilepsy are usually very effective and may fully keep seizures under control. However, controlling seizures caused due to brain problems may be more difficult. Usually, epilepsy medicines can control seizures for a long period of time when they are taken regularly.

When is medical help needed?
The decision about when to start medicines for epilepsy is a tricky one. This is because a first seizure cannot confirm whether a person has an on-going epilepsy problem. A second seizure may occur after many years or may not happen at all. Prediction of seizures is also quite difficult.

The severity of seizures also indicates when to start medicines for treatment. In case a first seizure is quite severe, medication should be started at once. Some people have very mild seizures even though they may be recurring in nature, and medication can be avoided in this situation.

The decision of starting medication will vary from case to case and in most cases, medications may be prudent after the first seizure itself. You should always consult a doctor to know when you need to start taking medicines to treat the condition.

For making the most out of the medicines to control seizures, you should follow certain steps:

You must take medications exactly as your doctor has prescribed.
Before switching to generic versions of your medicines or before taking other prescribed medicines, you must consult your doctor.
You should never stop taking the medicines.
In case you experience enhanced depression, mood swings and suicidal thoughts, you should talk to your doctor immediately.
In case you have the migraine, you should let your doctor know so that he can prescribe you anti-epileptic medicines, which also prevent migraines.
Medicines cannot treat the underlying cause of epilepsy, but these help in controlling seizures and this is the most common symptom of epilepsy. Medication should be started at a proper time and must be continued without stopping.

Epilepsy - When To Seek Medical Help?

Growth is the most important aspect of childhood, one that distinguishes children from adults. Growth is affected by a number of diseases and growth failure is often the first sign of a serious disease. Unfortunately children with growth failure present very late when no help is possible. 

Why to worry?

Growth is the best marker of health and growth failure may be caused by a seious disease. Moreover children with short stature have lower self esteem. 

When to worry? 

Plot the height of your child in the growth chart and if it is below the lower limit visit a doctor. Alternatively if your child's height is less than the formula (Height = Age in years x 6 + 77 cm) it may be a cause of concern. Growth stops at the age of 14 years in girls and 16 years in boys. Hence the child should be reviewed latest by 10 years for girls and 12 years for boys. 

What causes growth failure? 

Growth failure can be due to a number of causes including poor nutrition, lack of physical activities and low genetic potential with parents being short. Short stature can also be caused by a number of diseases like thyroid problems, growth hormone deifiency and celiac disease (wheat allergy). 

How can I improve my child's growth?

Please encourage your child to play for atleast 1 hour a day. It is important to restrict screen time including television, computer, tablets and mobiles to less than an hour. Increased protein and calcium intake with more milk, pulses and vegetables also helps in improving growth. Growth hormone is produced during sleep. Sleeping for at least eight hours a day is therefore essential for a child to achieve good growth. 

What can be done if my child is very short? 

Please consut a doctor to identify the cause of short stature. Most conditions are readily treatable. Children with growth hormone deficiency respond dramatically to growth hormone. Growth hormone is also being used now in children with turner syndrome, familial short staure, small size at birth and kidney disease. 

Time is important- act now if your child is short. 

Is My Child Short? 

When you have a newborn bundle of joy, no parent would be ready for constant crying bouts from the infant. However, for various reasons, even healthy, well-fed infants can be colicky.

What is it: although a mystery, a baby is said to be colicky if it cries for more than 3 hours a day for more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks at a stretch. The baby is completely healthy, and the symptoms start about 2 to 3 weeks of life in both breast-fed and bottle-fed babies. The baby usually has a red face from crying and could be pulling its legs towards its chest due to the abdominal discomfort.

Causes: though still not exactly established, some things that are believed to cause colic include:
1. The baby's digestive system that is growing and goes through spasms
2. Extreme sensitivity to noise and light in the surrounding environment
3. Accumulation of gas in the belly that is ingested with the milk (breast or bottles)
4. Hormones that are supposedly affecting the baby's moods

Treatment: as there is no specific cause identified, the treatment is also symptomatic and aims at soothing the baby's pain and discomfort.

1. Altered feeding: given that a baby's tummy is very small and is about the size of a fist, it makes sense to feed it small amounts at regular intervals than to give a full feed once in like 4 to 5 hours. The baby is sure to feel full with this and therefore the discomfort. Burping between the feed is also shown to help avoid feeling of fullness. If you are breast feeding, try to not let the baby doze off when feeding.

2. Anti-colic bottles: these bottles have a vent inside the bottle which will help reduce the accumulation of gas within the bottle. There are various brands available in the market, these could be a good solution if the baby is even partially bottle-fed.

3. Simethicone: this is an anti-flatulent, which again helps eliminate gas bubbles in the stomach and thereby provides relief to the infant. It can be given either by a dropper or a syringe.

4. Exercise: try bending the legs at the knee and holding it towards the baby's stomach, this can help ease the pain.

Remember that this is a very transient thing and usually disappears on its own by the 4th month, and the above measures are only to help the baby and the mother.

Colic Pain - How to Treat It

Cold and cough is caused by a viral infection, which can last for about two to four weeks. The symptoms include stuffy or a runny nose, coughing and sore throat. Many times, the infection may raise body temperature and the child may suffer from fever. Our body s immune system naturally fights with such infections. Depending on the type of cough and the symptoms, the virus can stay active in the body for about 4 to 6 weeks. It is quite painful to see the child suffering from cold and cough. The symptoms of this infection are worse during the first two days.

The child will experience pain and irritation in the throat with difficulty in swallowing, frequent coughing with mucous, breathing difficulty and high fever. Most parents rush to over the counter drugs for cold and cough to ease of their child s agony. However, most drugs/ cough syrups available over the counter only provide temporary relief. Medical evidence suggests that antibiotics do not kill viruses, thus, it is not advisable to treat cold and cough with antibiotics unless accompanied by another infection. So, what do parents do? Well, there is a lot that can be done.

Let s first understand the type of a cough your child might be suffering from:



Dry cough: Generally occurs due to infection in upper respiratory tract, cold or influenza. Children with asthma and allergies are also prone to this type of cough as dry cough is triggered by smoke or dust.
Croup Cough: A harsh barking and dry cough with swelling beneath vocal cords.
Wet Cough: Most commonly caused by cold. This is an infection of the lower respiratory tract characterised by mucous secretions.
Whooping cough: Characterised by fast coughing, breathing difficulties and a whooping sound while breathing.
Apart from this, If coughing starts suddenly along with choking, the child may have inhaled a foreign body. Immediate help may be required. For babies less than 12 months of age, cold cough followed by breathing difficulties may indicate bronchiolitis and require a paediatric attention. A normal cold and cough generally subside with two to four weeks. However, it is important to understand when to consult a doctor.

Chest pain or breathing problems
Cough lasting for more than 6 weeks.
A yellow, green or brown mucous indicating another infection.
Swollen glands, persistent high fever, rashes.
Body getting pale and symptoms getting worse.
Temperature higher than 38 degrees in the case of infants.
Precautions and diet that should be taken care of

Increase Intake of fluids especially hot liquids
Never stop breastfeeding the baby
Vapour rub applied on chest and back is an effective remedy
Inhaling steam provides relief to a sore throat and nose
Intake of crushed tulsi leaves with honey or hot turmeric milk is soothing and very helpful
There is little we can do to prevent viral infections. However, proper care and caution can ensure a smooth recovery.

Cold and Cough in Children - Precautions that Parents Must Take

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