CHILDREN’S SYMPTOMS

CHILDREN’S SYMPTOMS

Chapter contents

INTRODUCTION

The interrogation of children, especially young children, obviously needs to be carried out with the help of the child’s parents or other relatives. In older children (over the age of 5 years), although we still need the help of the parents in describing the child’s symptoms and signs, it is important to listen carefully to the child as well. When asking children about their symptoms, we should obviously avoid the use of difficult medical terms such as ‘abdomen’ and use colloquial terms such as ‘tummy’.

Most of the questions related to adults discussed in the previous chapters apply to children as well (e.g. digestive system and taste, thirst, defecation, urination, etc.). There are, however, several questions which pertain only to children and these are the mother’s pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum problems, immunizations and childhood diseases. In addition to the above areas of questioning, questions about the child’s digestive system, respiratory symptoms, earache, and sleep are also important and have a slightly different significance to that in adults.

MOTHER’S PREGNANCY

The period in the womb is extremely important in influencing the constitution of the baby. Many factors affect the baby and its constitution in the gestation period. Emotional shocks to the mother can affect the child’s nervous system and the Heart. The consumption of alcohol and recreational drugs and smoking obviously affect the child’s constitution adversely.

When a baby cries a lot at night and vomits frequently, this may be due to what the Chinese called ‘womb Heat’, which itself may be due either to the pregnant mother’s consumption of excessively hot foods or, more commonly, to her suffering from shock during pregnancy. Prenatal shock may also manifest with a bluish tinge on the baby’s forehead and chin.

The influence of pregnancy events on the baby’s health is discussed also in Chapter 48.

CHILDBIRTH

The conditions of childbirth also have an important influence on the baby’s constitution. Premature cutting of the umbilical cord, induction or a Caesarean birth can all affect the baby’s constitution adversely and in particular may cause a Lung deficiency. Therefore if a baby or very young child suffers from a Lung deficiency, this may be due to the above mentioned conditions in childbirth.

POSTPARTUM PROBLEMS

The main question to ask is about breast feeding: lack of breast feeding or too short breast feeding often adversely affects a baby’s digestive system causing either a Stomach deficiency or retention of food in the Stomach. Giving solid food to babies too early (before 6 months of age) is a very common cause of retention of food in babies and children.

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Tags: Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine A Comprehensive Guide

Apr 15, 2017 | Posted by admin in GENERAL & FAMILY MEDICINE | Comments Off

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