Tips for Parents

Tips for dealing with children and the flu
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Dr. Steve Baldwin, assistant medical director for the emergency department at Children's Hospital, spends much of his time talking with parents about children who are sick with the flu.
Here are common concerns he deals with:
Fever. While fevers are a sign of illness, they are also part of the body's immune response. "The fever in itself is not a harmful thing," Baldwin said. "The fever will go up and down no matter what you do. Tylenol and Motrin will make it less miserable. But the height of the fever is fairly high in kids. In general those things are not particularly serious issues."
Fluid intake. "If they're drinking enough so they're urinating at least a couple times a day or better, that's usually sufficient to tide them over," Baldwin said.
When to get help. "It's important to react if they're ... progressively acting sicker," he said. Contact a physician, or go to an emergency room.
"The things to particularly worry about is if they get short of breath, they're not awake or alert or they're not drinking enough and are getting dehydrated," Baldwin said.
Curing the flu. "In general there's nothing terribly dramatic in that regard," Baldwin said. "There are some drugs, but they are a little controversial about when to use them." Different doctors will give different answers about these antiviral drugs depending on a child's condition.
Forget about antibiotics. They don't work on the flu, which is a virus. Antibiotics work on bacterial infections. Dave Parks --