peacettw:

I agree with you here. It really isn't safe giving your child antibiotics all the time. It creates a state of drug resistance. Moreover, most cough and catarrh are caused by viruses and there are no antibiotics for viruses. In other words, there are no drugs for it. When we give antibiotics, then we are suspecting a bacterial infection in addition to the viral infection, otherwise, if it is just viral, then it is self limiting meaning it will go on its own in about a week.

In my center, we really don't treat simple cough and catarrh by giving antibiotics. I say simple, because a doctor listens to the chest to rule out serious infection as well as access for signs of difficulty in breathing. When these are present, then it is no longer simple but complex. Hence we advise mothers of any baby less than 6 months with cough and catarrh to visit the hospital cos it just might be the complex type.

thanks to this tread i have not visited the Doctor for sometime now. i give my Boy vitamin c daily 5mls morning and evening.

peacettw:
DEBUNKING THE MYTHS

There are several beliefs that have stood the test of time that we come across daily in our practice. While I respect cultural beliefs and differences inherent in our society, the truth still remains that some of these beliefs are killing our babies.

Here are some of the beliefs that need to be debunked

1. There is nothing like “nla” and “nta”. I must confess that up till now, I still don’t understand the true meaning of these two terms since it is interpreted differently by many. But from the general opinion, nla and nta are skin lesions and excessive passage of golden brown stools observed in babies. For these, parents go to traditionalists who give them drugs to cure this only to come down with liver and kidney failure due to its toxicity and many die.
Oh, and by the way, if a child is on exclusive breast feeding, up to 10x of stooling per day is normal. And if you google benign neonatal skin diseases, you will be amazed at how many they are, they are absolutely benign and go after a short while with no problems whatsoever. The most common being ERYTHEMA TOXICUM.
So mothers, your newborn having rashes and stooling so many times a day while on breastmilk is absolutely benign.

2. IT IS AN ATTACK. My dear, i am here to tell you that it is most likely NOT AN ATTACK.
If your child is jerking, it is called SEIZURES
Crying and fainting only to get up again- BREATH HOLDING SPELLS
Crying out at night in terror only to forget what transpired the night before the next day- NIGHT TERRORS
All the male children dying off in your family- X-LINKED RECESSIVE DISORDER
No head at birth- ANENCEPHALY
Many heads at birth- CONJOINED TWINS
Giving birth always before due date: there are so many differentials here that I cant list them all

3. Rubbing of a dark goo in the middle of a newborn head scalp to cure the opening there. That opening is absolutely normal and is called an ANTERIOR FONTANELLE. Infact, what will be abnormal is if your baby’s head has no opening, and then we will be dealing with a medical condition called CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS which trust me, in its most severe form leads to mental retardation

4. If your baby has jaundice, no amount of glucose water will make that jaundice go away. Please note, JAUNDICE ON THE FIRST DAY OF LIFE IS NEVER EVER A GOOD THING. GO TO THE HOSPITAL ASAP

5. TRADITIONAL DRUGS ARE DANGEROUS. There is no other way to say this, adults have gotten away with drinking bucket loads of herbal drugs just because their kidneys and liver are matured enough to deal with that junk. Sadly, for children, it is not the same and their tiny immature kidneys and liver fail when faced with such an herculean task of clearing the toxins their body is riddled with.

6. SPIRITUAL HEALING. Everyone believing that all diseases can be cured with prayers even HIV. I believe in God, please don’t get me wrong, but I am yet to see a disease cured just with prayers without any drugs given. If God in his infinite wisdom gave man the knowledge and wisdom to create drugs, then surely, drugs are not meant to be viewed as therapy for those with little faith. Having that belief that can get your child killed.

7. Taking your child to a herbalist after a dog bite. My colleagues and I were forced to go a nearby village (after having 3 mortality cases due to rabies) to visit their priests and local chiefs to educate their wards to take their children that were bitten by dogs to the hospital. Till this date, RABIES HAS NO CURE and has 100% mortality. The same behavioural approach should apply to nail punctures to avoid tetanus.

8. There is no such thing as BREAST MILK IN MOTHER’S BREASTS SPOILING. It really makes no sense. I still can’t understand the rationale. Maybe someone can care to explain.

These are the ones I can remember that are the most common challenges we face. Let us join hands in educating our sisters, mothers, aunties and the men to help debunk these myths.

Hi. Thanks for this highly informative piece. I am a Medical Herbalist trained in England and i strongly believe in using herbs to treat chronic ailments that orthodox doctors cannot as well as some acute ones, responsibly. Not all herbalists are charlatans who know nothing about standardisation, right dosages and active constituents in the potions they dole out. I use herbs that have passed the gold standard of double blind/randomised control trials. We have a lot of work to do as you know that over 80% of the population still rely on herbal medicines/traditional herbalists (not all are bad by the way). I have a BSc in Medical Herbalism and I am a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalist in England and i have just moved my practice to Nigeria. I would advice those who want the services of a good herbalist to check the register of the Nigerian Association of Traditional and Herbal Practitioners. I hear that a Bill is imminent (if not already out) on the compulsory study of indigenous herbs to treat pathologies (as they do in Germany, China, Ghana etc) by medical students - i was part of the receiving team at Middlesex University when the contingent in charge of developing the curriculum came to London on their fact finding mission. So please, we must understand that we have no choice but to work together as professionals whose main aim is to "First do no harm" to our fellow human beings and give them as many options as possible in empowering them to take control of their own health. Take care