What to do if your baby gets stung

The end of the summer is the most common time to get stung -- there are a lot of drowsy, angry wasps out there. Here’s what to do if it happens to you
  
DO

+ If you can see the sting, brush or scrape it off
sideways with a credit card, the blunt edge of a knife
or your fingernail.

+ Hold a cold compress to the area for 10 minutes to
reduce swelling and pain.

+To reduce swelling and pain, give the appropriate
dose of ibuprofen or apply ibuprofen gel.

+Mix a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with a little
water to a smooth paste and apply to the site to draw
out or destroy the venom.

+A slice of raw onion or a compress made with lemon
juice or cider vinegar will help reduce pain and
swelling.

+ If your child is stung in the mouth, give him an ice
lolly or ice cube to suck to reduce the pain and
swelling.

DON’T

+ Try to swat the bee or wasp away from your baby –
this will agitate it and they are attracted by
movement.

+ Use tweezers to remove the sting – you could
accidentally deepen it

+ Dress your baby in brightly coloured clothing or use
perfumed toiletries, as these attract insects.

+ Leave your baby exposed in areas where there are a
lot of bees and wasps around. If neessary , use a
mosquito net to cover his pram or

+ Use tweezers to remove the sting – it can make

‘If your child suffers a severe reaction to a bite or
sting (such as swelling or breathlessness) seek
medical help immediately.

Hot off the press

A recent UK study of thousands of working mums found that they felt that their child’s diets suffered because they had less time to prepare food. But there’s no need to stress – a new study in Glasgow has found that the diets of children whose mums had jobs were no less healthy than those with stay-at home-mums.

All babies should have heart scans in their first month of life to check for life-threatening problems, say cardiologists from Italy. Routine ECG screening could save up to 250 lives a year in EU countries, they claim.

The test could pick up a genetic condition called long QT syndrome, which is treatable but deadly if missed. The condition rarely causes symptoms but is a leading cause of sudden death in babies and young children. The Department of Health is considering the case for routine ECGs, but as yet has no plans to introduce them.

Many children who visit their GPS with persistent coughs have signs of whooping cough, a study suggests. Researchers from the University of Oxford said its research of 172 children suggested the disease is still widespread among children despite routine immunisation. One of the reasons for the apparent rise may be that parents are not getting their babies vaccinated on time, say experts.

Letting your baby fall asleep with a bottle can cause dental cavities and increase the risk of ear infections. A recent study also suggests that the habit can increase his risk of developing asthma.

Lying down with a bottle is believed to allow tiny particles from milk to trickle into the lungs, which can have a damaging effect on lungs. To avoid health problems, hold your baby in a semi-upright position
while you’re feeding him, and never leave him alone in bed with a bottle.

33%

• the number of new dads in Britain who admit to
trying their partner’s breastmilk! (survey by Cow and
Gate)

Baby clinic

Heart murmurs

Heart murmurs are surprisingly common – one in 20 babies have one at some time. The vast majority are harmless, but because they can occasionally indicate a problem, they need to be monitored.

What is it?

A heart murmur means that a doctor listening to your baby’s chest with a stethoscope can hear an extra sound in addition to the normal heartbeat. There’s no known reason for this, although it may sometimes simply be caused by the sound of blood flowing round the heart. These murmurs are known as innocent and don’t require treatment.

But in a minority of cases, a murmur can mean there is something wrong with your child’s heart – perhaps there is a hole, or one of the blood vessels is narrower than normal.

Who is affected?

Heart murmurs are common in newborn babies. This is usually because, while your baby is in your womb, she has an extra blood vessel leading from her heart to her lungs, which provides her developing lungs with blood. Once your baby is breathing air, the blood vessel shuts down, but this can take a few days, so doctors won’t stop hearing the murmur until after this.

For this reason, if your new baby has a murmur, but is feeding well and isn’t breathless, her heart probably won’t be examined again until her six to eight week check.

Diagnosis

If your baby still has a murmur after this, or if your doctor suspects your baby or toddler’s heart murmur may be more serious, she will be referred for tests. These may include:

-An ECG or electrocardiogram, which monitors your baby’s heart using fine electrodes which are attached to your baby’s chest, arms and legs.

-Oxygen saturation test (SAT)  - a blood test used to find out how much oxygen is in her blood.

If these tests reveal a problem, your child will be referred to a paediatric heart specialist. At this stage, she may also have a special ultrasound scan to check her heart.

Treatment

Even if your child is found to have a heart defect, she may not need treatment – in fact, less than half of them need any attention. Seventy per cent of holes in the heart close by themselves. This can take anything from months to years, and your child will be seen regularly while it persists.

Many heart defects are now treated with drugs rather than surgery. Although the risks are greater for children with severe heart problems, the success rate for all treatments is extremely high.