Infants doing sodium chloride IV drip through the forehead
I stopped in at a local children's hospital with a friend the other day when her child came down with a very high fever and noticed that there were many infants (some only 6 months old; some as old as 7 or 8) with IV drips attached to their foreheads. I was surprised simply because this did not seem to be a regular practice back at home (although I have little experience here on this). Then her child was prescribed the same thing. When I looked closely, was receiving Sodium Chloride and Glucose.
Is this safe for infants?
We have a youngster ourselves and have never been prescribed such by our hospital when he has a fever (we usually give some fever reducer and wait the 5-7 days for it to rollover). The waiting is occasionally excruciating because you don't know how high is "too high". My Chinese is not good, so I couldn't raise any questions with her child's doctor to ask anything more. However, was good to see that her child started getting better that same evening and the fever was almost gone by the next day. The baby's appetite had returned and she started playing again the next day as though the fever was almost never there. Maybe it was that IV. I'm not sure but would love to learn more from other parents here about their experience with this magical mix and whether it is safe for infants.
Re: Infants doing sodium chloride IV drip through the ...
One common thing about parents in the east and the west, we all get a bit panicky about fevers and it is fairly common for parents to take sick kids to the doctor/hospital - especially the first child. Since Savvy and I both had lots of previous experience with little ones, we generally avoided hospitals whenever possible. For the most part, we let her fever burn out whatever ails her and steer clear of the meds, particularly fever reducers. Although I sought the assistance of an ND (Dr. Melissa Rodriguez) when Reina contracted the flu in December, it was mainly to help relieve her congestion so she could sleep - worked like magic.
Here, as with adults, the IV drip is a very common way to administer drugs to patients at hospitals. I recall the first time I saw a room full of over 50 people in recliners with IV drips, I was taken aback, but it's the way of things here. The line in the heads of little ones helps prevent them from yanking the line out and may be less painful.
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Re: Infants doing sodium chloride IV drip through the ...
China is a country obsessed with IV drips. It's a cure for everything, including (apparently) tree diseases, as this photo I snapped last year seems to indicate.
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Re: Infants doing sodium chloride IV drip through the ...
Recently took a friend to the hospital and all she needed was an inhaler. She has asthma. I was insistent with the doctor about NOT giving her an IV drip because she knew she only needed the inhaler. It was very hard to convince him, but in the end, she did not need it and did not have it. No sense giving someone more drugs than is necessary.
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