6 very harmful traditional medicine tips for treating children

Reasons to turn to funds traditional medicine each has its own:

- Someone believes that it is not for nothing that these secrets exist, which means that the people "knew something";

- someone does not believe in modern medicines and thinks that pharmaceutical companies just want to cash in on his health;

- someone impressionable fell under the influence of older relatives and believes that it is possible to recover without going to the doctor or to the pharmacy;

- Someone thinks that in this way they preserve their child's health and do not stuff him with "chemistry".

We note right away that today there is no more effective medicine than evidence-based medicine. And it involves taking medication in cases where the body needs it.

That is, you always need to adhere to the principles of moderation and expediency: do not give antibiotics to a child with a common ARVI, but also not avoiding going to the doctor and modern medications when there are really alarming symptoms that require intervention specialists.

Remember that traditional medicine was not invented out of a desire for "natural" treatment, but out of poverty and lack of access to real medicines. And the mortality rate and life expectancy of those centuries speaks for itself.

Nevertheless, the "recipes of folk wisdom" are still being tested on modern children.

Which of them are not only useless from the point of view of treatment, but also cause harm - let us consider in more detail.

1. Mustard plasters

"Good old" mustard plasters, the use of which in childhood, few people managed to avoid. They are tissue layers, between which a layer of mustard seed powder is applied.

Mustard plasters supposedly have a warming effect, help with coughs, bronchitis. In fact, they can cause serious chemical burns on the delicate child's skin, and if the child breathes in vapors, this is will lead to nausea, vomiting, headache (these consequences are usually attributed by parents to the fact that it manifests itself this way disease).

2. Kerosene treatment

It is terrible to imagine, but in some families children are really "treated" with kerosene. For some reason, it is believed that this is a good remedy for throat diseases and lice.

Please note that kerosene is not a medicine and is not at all a harmless liquid. Its use for treatment is dangerous to the life and health of both children and adults.

The use of kerosene leads to severe poisoning. When vapors are inhaled, there is swelling of the larynx, difficulty breathing. If kerosene gets into the eyes, ears, nose, throat, it causes pain, loss of vision.

Ingestion of kerosene leads to burns of internal organs, vomiting of blood. Even a simple contact with children's skin can cause burns.

In addition, kerosene inhibits the action of the cardiovascular system, causes convulsions, dizziness, loss of consciousness, and headaches. There will be no time for red throat and head lice.

3. Steam inhalation

At first glance, it sounds harmless. What bad thing can happen if you put your child to breathe steam over hot potatoes or a decoction of herbs?

However, in a number of diseases, breathing hot steam is really harmful. For example, with bronchitis, tracheitis and sore throat, you can get a burn of the respiratory tract.

In addition, it is difficult for children to sit still, they can easily overturn a pot of hot potatoes or boiling water over themselves, and get terrible burns.

However, the effectiveness of such steam inhalation has not been proven. If a child's illness requires inhalation of medicines, there are modern safe inhalers with cold steam for this. However, they must be used strictly as directed by a doctor.

Often, children's coughs require no adult intervention at all other than the provision of a warm drink. However, attempts to cure it by any means and lead to complications.

4. Treatment of burns with sour cream

If a child has received a burnt burn, it is imperative to show it to a doctor to determine the degree of damage and prescribe medications. Self-medication can lead to an aggravation of the condition, up to convulsions, loss of consciousness.

If the sunburn is minor and there is no doubt that it is possible to cope with a home first-aid kit, then a special gel should be applied to the affected skin to treat wounds and burns.

With household burns, the wound must be urgently cooled: rinse under cold running water for several minutes. This will relieve pain and cleanse the wound. If it is not cooled, then the area of ​​the burn and the degree of damage will increase.

In no case should sour cream, butter, fatty cream and other fat-containing products be applied to the burn. Fat creates a film on the surface of the burn - and a greenhouse effect is obtained. The cells do not cool down, and neighboring cells, which did not fall under the initial damage, also suffer.

5. Bathing in decoctions of herbs

This is still a very common practice, adding a decoction of herbs to a baby bath is even advised by children's pediatricians.

However, it has been scientifically proven that such bathing can lead to allergic reactions and irritations, increased sensitivity to sunlight.

The thing is that the skin of babies is very delicate, it easily absorbs all the components of herbs, and for the body, who only adapts to the world around him, it can be strong and completely unnecessary stress. Herbs are not as safe for newborns as they are for adults.

The ideal bathing environment for your baby is clean water (and you don't need to boil either).

6. Garlic for the prevention and treatment of ARVI

It is difficult to say how the people came to the conclusion that garlic saves from viruses or helps in treatment. Perhaps, it was believed that if such a specific smell scares people away, then microorganisms will even more so escape.

In any case, the danger of garlic treatment is that it kills not only pathogenic, but also good bacteria, including those in the nose and throat. That is, you do not fight viruses and bacteria, but interfere with your own body to cope on its own.

In addition, the effectiveness of garlic treatment has not been proven. Scientists in experiments in test tubes found that allicin, which is contained in garlic, kills bacteria, but if in real it will kill both good and bad bacteria in the human body, this is fraught with bacterial complications, more serious than ARVI.

In children, the use of garlic can also cause a severe allergic reaction.

You will also be interested to read:

• 5 mistakes in treating colds in children
• best drinks for kids for colds
• 5 household habits that prevent you from curing a cold