Paediatrician Dr R Kishore Kumar answers questions related to children’s health.
Paediatrician Dr R Kishore Kumar answers questions related to children’s health.
My daughter is one year old. She has been getting vaccinations at her paediatrician’s chamber since she was born, including polio drops. However, as per the the Pulse Programme of the government of India, health workers come to our apartment regularly to immunise children by giving them polio drops. We can’t decide whether she needs these or not and we have skipped a couple. Should we go ahead and give her the polio drops through the government programme as well as the ones given by her doctor?
John Clint Thomas, Adugodi
This is one of the commonest questions that are asked by most parents and it is an important one. I keep telling all my parents/patients that Pulse Polio is different than routine polio and every child under 5 years should get Pulse Polio done and most parents look in surprise. I always give tell them that “whenever there is a threat of Polio — all children are immunised with Polio with a view to raise the immunity of everyone so that the virus doesn’t spread”. Some parents still don’t understand. I give them an example: “When Kasab came to Mumbai, the police were there — but it required army to protect them” and Pulse Polio is like army and Kasab is like the threat whenever it happens! I hope that answers your question.
My son is four years old. Of late he seems to be suffering from stomach upsets too often. Usually he has stomach cramps and loose motions and these last for a day or two. I can't understand the reason behind these frequent episodes. We don't allow him to eat outside food and at home we drink filtered water. Please advise.
Anitha Reddy, NGEF
Any child, if having frequent loose motions or stomach upsets, must be made aware of “hand hygiene”, the hygiene that is very easily forgotten. It is not just drinking filtered water, but a child needs hand washing before eating any food and after using toilet (which most children don’t do). If you are absolutely certain that you are following all these then your child needs to be investigated for what we call as “recurrent diarrhoea”. Sometimes there can be an underlying reasons that need to be medically investigated.
My son is three years old. He loves playing with his toys and all our friends and relatives keep gifting him a lot of toys. I recently read somewhere that Chinese toys made of plastic are not of good quality and can be harmful for kids. Since then I have noticed that most of the toys my son has are ‘Made in China’; not just the cheaper ones but even the branded toys from international companies. I don’t think I can stop him from playing with his favourite toys altogether, so I want to know how harmful can these toys be?
Shaina Sahil, Hennur Main Rd
Yes you are right — kids love toys and Chinese toys were recently banned for containing lead paint. If any of the toys are painted with a metallic paint, they can cause lead poisoning in children. Hence these were banned by most countries. If they don’t have a metallic paint and are from ‘international companies’ then they have a moral obligation to ensure that they are safe. But China has been having one disaster after another recently — with milk powder initially and then with toys and metallic painting. I would be very cautious. Choose the ‘Made in China’ toys carefully before you allow your child to play with them!
Dr R Kishore Kumar is Consultant Neonatologist at Cloudnine (previously called Cradle Bangalore)
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