When the mucous membranes become infected by a fungus called Candida albicans, it is called thrush. The growth of candida is usually kept in check by the normal presence of bacteria, but when these bacteria are eradicated by antibiotics, candida begins to multiply unrestricted  (The antibiotic is used to kill a disease-causing bacterium, but “good bacteria,” which help digestion and other body functions, are killed as well.) Alternatively, candida can be passed from a mother at the time of birth. Although, thrush is not serious, it can cause a young baby discomfort while he is sucking or feeding.

When it infects the gastrointestinal tract and the anal area it is called candida or monilia (familiar to adult woman as “yeast infection”). Candida is sometimes associated with diaper rush.

Symptoms Thrush produces white, curdlike patches on the gums, cheeks, tongue, and roof of the mouth. If you attempt to wipe them off, they become raw and may bleed. Around the anus, monilia appears as red spots or a rash. If your child has diaper rash as well, there may red, elevated spots.

Treatment Thrush can be treated quickly and simply with antifungal medications, in liquid form for oral and gastro intestinal infection and cream form for the anal and diaper areas. These are available only on prescription. Liquefied, bland, cold, or lukewarm foods are best if your child has oral thrush.

Fungi flourish in warm, moist conditions, so if your baby has monilia, you should keep him as dry as possible. Leave his bottom exposed to the air as much as you can and avoid plastic pants. Be meticulous about hygiene.

When the follicle of an eyelash becomes infected, a stye, or small abscess, develops on the margins of the eyelid. Rubbing the eyes may encourage styes to develop. A stye requires medical treatment because it’s painful and may obscure vision.

SymptomsAt first the eyelid appears red and a bit swollen, and then the swelling fills with pus and the stye may protrude noticeably from the eyelid.

Treatment the swelling can be relieved temporarily with warm compresses – use a clean washcloth or cotton handkerchief and plain warm (not hot) water, holding it over the eye for a few minutes. A stye should be seen by a doctor, who may prescribe medication or continued compresses. Although styes are not as contagious as other eye infections, you should still keep your child’s washcloth and towel separate from the rest of the families.

In this common eye complaint, the membrane covering the eyeball and inside of the eyelids (the conjunctiva) becomes inflamed and red.There are three main causes of conjunctivitis: infection by a virus or bacteria, damage due to a foreign body, and an allergic reaction. Infectious conjunctivitis is very contagious; if one eye is infected, the other one is likely to become infected too.

Symptoms Inflammations causes pain on blinking, and your child may be uncomfortable in well-lighted rooms or bright daylight. When pink eye is caused by an infection, the eye will be sticky and there may be a crust of pus on the lower eyelid. Allergic conjunctivitis causes teary eyes and swollen eyelids.

Treatment When a foreign body is visible, you may try flushing it out with clear water. If that doesn’t work and the particle doesn’t wash out with tears, bring your child to the doctor. Always seek medical advice for a child with pink eye. A doctor might prescribe an antibiotic ointment or drops for an infection or anti-inflammatory drops and antihistamines for allergic conjunctivitis.

MOUTH

Childhood mouth problems are generally minor; thrush is the only condition that needs immediate medical attention, since it does not respond to the usual home remedies. Your child may refuse food when his mouth is sore. Give him purred bland foods that he can suck through a straw.

Mouth Ulcers 

Open sores in the mouth occur inside the lower lip, although they are common on the tongue, gums, and inside the cheeks. They are usually caused by viruses, including herpes and coxsackie. They should go away by themselves in 10-14 days, but if they’re recurrent or prevent eating, consult your doctor.

Symptoms All mouth ulcers are painful. Your child may have difficulty eating, especially food that is acidic or salty, and may refuse food.

Treatment Follow your pediatrician’s advice. An anti-inflammatory cream may be prescribed or acetaminophen elixir be given to relieve discomfort.

While the mouth feels sore, puree and liquefy your child’s food, give him a straw to drink through, and avoid salty, acidic, or other strong tastes.

This is a learning disorder that affects reading, spelling, and written language. These difficulties may be accompanied by problems with numbers, poor short-term memory, and clumsiness. Although dyslexia particularly affects a child’s mastery of written symbols – letters, numbers, and musical notation – she may have difficulties with spoken language too. Dyslexia is a specific neurological disorder, not the result of poor hearing or vision, or low intelligence. One in seven children is dyslexic. Three times more boys than girls are diagnosed, but many authorities believe it affect as many girls as boys and those girls are simply under diagnosed. 

DIAGNOSIS: Many bright children are dyslexic, and the condition is often diagnosed earlier in these children since parents become aware of the gap between their child’s obvious intelligence and her level of achievement in specific areas. The main symptoms of dyslexia are difficulty in reading and writing. A child may have problems perceiving letters in the correct order, or she may confuse similarity shaped letters such as b and d and q. the following may help parents recognize dyslexia in their child:

• Poor spelling.
• Poor coordination.
• Difficulty in remembering lists of words. Numbers, or letters, such as the alphabet or tables.
• Difficulty in remembering the order of everyday things, such as days of the week.
• Problem telling left from right.
• Jumbled phrases, such as “tebby dare” instead of “teddy bear.”
• Difficulty learning nursery rhymes.

Many of these signs will not be apparent until a child begins school, but it is possible to test for dyslexia in the preschool years.

Labeling a child dyslexic if she is not is just as harmful as failing to recognize it if she is. No child should be labeled as dyslexic without receiving expert advice and professional testing.

EFFECTS OF DYSLEXIA: The problem listed above may occur in children who don’t have dyslexia. The difference is that dyslexic children will suffer more severe symptoms and won’t grow out of them.

Recent research suggests that as well as having problems with literacy, dyslexic children also have problems with distinguishing different sounds, and with memory and balance. For example, dyslexic children will find it much more difficult to balance on one leg than children who are not dyslexic.

A dyslexic child’s strengths are likely to be sensitivity, intuition, and impulsiveness. Skills associated with the left side of the brain, such as dealing with written symbols, responding to instructions, and putting things in order, are weak in the dyslexic child. Some dyslexic children may be very creative and have an aptitude for drawing and painting.

SPECIAL NEEDS: One of the main problems that dyslexic children face is incorrect diagnosis. It is common for children to attempt to learn to read and write, fail to do so, and then be labeled “slow” or even disabled. This is very demoralizing for the child and is bound to affect her school performance overall. Parents and teachers often confuse dyslexia with a low IQ, but in fact most dyslexic children have an average or above-average IQ.

If dyslexia is recognized early, remedial education is very effective. A child diagnosed as dyslexic at the age of four or five, when she goes to school, will probably need only one half-hour of special lessons a day for about six months to bring her reading and writing up normal standards. If it is not diagnosed until the age of seven or eight, however, the child will have a lot of catching up to do.

Childhood skin complains may be caused by an infection, an allergy, or response to very high or very low temperatures. Most of them are minor and can easily be treated. Rashes occur with a variety of complains, some of which are serious; if you are at all worried about a rash, you should consult your child’s doctor.

CHAPPED SKIN

Chaps are little cracks in the skin, sometimes raw and deep. Exposure to the cold makes skin dry and prone to chapping, particularly at the extremities where circulation is poor – hands, fingers, and ears. Damp skin around the lips chaps, too. Failing to dry properly after washing and washing so frequently that the skin’s natural oils are removed can both contribute to chapping.

Symptoms Chapped skin has a dry, cracked appearance. If the cracks are deep, there may be some bleeding and pain, and if they become infected, you may notice pus and inflammation.

Treatment Unless chapped skin becomes infected or is very slow to heal, you can probably solve the problem with home remedies. Apply rich emollient creams to your child’s skin, use lip balm on his lips, avoid using soap (use baby lotion instead), and dress him warmly in cold weather. Avoid icy winds and sudden changes in temperature. Infected chapped skin should be treated by your child’s doctor.

A child’s teeth usually begin to come through at about six months and are complete by his third birthday. During the period when the teeth are erupting, the gums may be red and swollen. Some children suffer terribly with teething while others take it in stride or seem not to notice it at all. The molars usually cause more discomfort than other teeth.

Symptoms of teething: If you touch the swollen, red gums you may feel a hard lump beneath them. Your baby will salivate and dribble much more than usual and will chew objects. He may have trouble sleeping and be more irritable and clingy than usual. He may also find eating painful.

Pain relief: Chewing on a cool teething ring – never frozen – rubbing the gums with your finger and acetaminophen elixir can ease the pain.

Treatment Don’t think other symptoms, such as loss of appetite, fever, runny nose, or vomiting, are caused by teething. They never are. Consult your pediatrician if your baby seems very uncomfortable. She may recommend acetaminophen elixir for the every bad times. More often, however, something cool but firm to chew on will provide relief.

The argument that women are better equipped than men for parenthood is no longer valid.

Sixty years ago, it was not uncommon for a woman to have ten children or more, and young girls were more likely to be involved in looking after them. Nowadays, most mothers have never seen a newborn until they give birth.

If a woman does have more experience in looking after a baby than her partner, it is important that she not mock his efforts, since he may respond by withdrawing his help altogether. When this happens, the role of each parent becomes polarized, increasing pressure on the mother and isolating the father from the family unit.

Throat infections such as tonsillitis and adenoiditis are rare in babies under one year. They are more common in children who have just started school and are being exposed to a new rang of bacteria.

SORE THROAT: An uncomfortable or painful throat is usually due to infection by a bacterium such as streptococcus or a virus such as the cold viruses.

Symptoms Your child may tell you that her throat hurts, or you may notice that she finds it hard to swallow. Depress her tongue with a spoon handle and tell her to say “aaahhh” so you can look down her throat for signs of redness (inflammation) or enlarged red tonsils.

Treatment Give lots of drinks, and liquefy your child’s food if she finds it difficult to swallow. Your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic if there is a bacterial infection or tonsillitis.

TONSILLITIS AND ADENOIDITIS

The tonsils, situated on both sides of the back of the throat, trap and kill bacteria that invade the throat, preventing them from entering the body. This can result in the tonsils themselves becoming swollen and infected. The adenoids, located at the back of the nose, may be affected at the same time.

Symptoms Your child will complain of a sore throat and may find swallowing difficult. On examination by a doctor, the tonsils appear red and enlarged, possibly with yellow and white patches. She may have raised temperature, the glands in her neck may be swollen, and her breath might smell foul. If the adenoids are swollen, too, her speech may sound nasal.

Treatment Consult your doctor, who may take a throat swab and examine your child’s ears and neck glands. The treatment for bacterial tonsillitis is a course of the appropriate antibiotic medication. Removal of the tonsils is considered after many severe recurrent attacks.

LARYNGITIS

An infection of the larynx, or voice box, may accompany any cold or sore throat. As long as it does not develop into severe croup, laryngitis is rarely a serious condition.

Symptoms The most common symptoms are loss of voice or hoarseness. Your child may find it uncomfortable or painful to swallow, and may also have a dry cough and a mild fever. When it is severe, a child with laryngitis may develop a croupy cough.

Treatment Most cases of laryngitis are short-lived. Your child should rest, preferably in a humid environment in which the air can circulate. Give her lots of fluids and encourage her to rest her voice. Make sure she doesn’t overheat and should she have difficulty breathing (stridor), seek medical help as soon as possible.

Lymph Nodes: With a local infection, extra white blood cells are produced at the lymph nodes nearest the site of the infection to kill and mop up the bacteria. The production of white cells causes lymph glands to become inflamed and sore.

Swollen glands

Lymph nodes in front of the ear and below the angle of the jaw swell due to throat infections. To feel them run your fingers down your child’s neck from a point just below her ears. Never push or prod.

The most common childhood eye problems are infections or inflammations that can be cured with good hygiene, and sometimes antibiotic eye drops.

BLEPHARITIS

This is inflammation of the eyelid margins, found in injunction with eczema and cradle cap, and usually recurring. It is not serious and can usually be alleviated with sample measures. Consult your doctor if your child’s eyes become sticky or if the condition does not clear up within a week.

Symptoms The eyelid margins appear red, scaly, and inflamed, and you may notice tiny crusts of dried pus on your child’s eyelashes.

Treatment Using a wad of cotton dipped in warm water, wipe each eye from the nose outward. Use a fresh piece of cotton each time you wipe the eye. Bring it to the attention of your pediatrician, who may prescribe medication.