For many, summer is the time for fun and frolic. It’s that part of the year when parents get to spend more time with their kids and enjoy their vacation as a family before another relentless academic year kicks in.
Not so for those who have little ones at home who are troubled with ear, nose, and throat problems — some of them which are emergencies and some which have been troubling them for quite some time, but demanding the parents’ attention during the holiday season.
Nose bleeds
Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) specialist T.V. Rajini Kanth says it helps to know a bit about these particular conditions so that one would know when to act fast and get some medical attention and when not to panic.
These are the most common emergencies that happens to children in sweltering heat.
The hot weather dries up the nasal passages, especially at the nostrils. The mucosa or the lining on the inside of the nose is so richly supplied with blood vessels that it bleeds easily when hot air is inhaled.
The heat leads to crusting and causes damage to the blood vessels, leading to bleeding, which at times is uncontrollable. Adding to the problem is the fact that a lot of kids have the habit of nose picking. Parents need to first apply pressure to the nose. This is done by pinching the nose firmly between two fingers so that both the nostrils are closed and there is indirect pressure on the central partition or the septum. During this time, the child is made to breathe through the mouth.
The child should not blow the nose in an attempt to clean it of the clots because that would result in fresh bleeding. If bleeding still continues, then an ENT specialist should be consulted.
Ear pain
As a parent, the most important thing to do to prevent this condition is to stop children from picking their nose. Also, one should avoid taking their children outdoors in the afternoon heat, says Dr Rajini Kanth.
This is the time when many kids enrol in various kinds of summer camps, some of them offering swimming classes.
Ear canal infections develop due to fungus as the water repeatedly enters the ears. Middle ear, or ear drum infections follow a cold or sore throat, which in turn can happen due to accidental swallowing of water or water entry into the nose.
The very fact that swimming pools have huge number of kids jumping in during the camps makes them a source of bacterial and viral infections.
The first thing that needs to be done is administration of an analgesic or a painkiller. This would ease the pain and put the child at ease. Only after that medical attention should be sought, he said.
