Category: Prevention

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The “point” of the matter! A pencil can be dangerous

Sharpened Pencil

Recently, I had this ten-year-old boy, who came to me with a four-day-old injury. Apparently, the boys were playing rather boisterously at school. As is usual children, especially if they have not been cautioned earlier, quite forget that even everyday objects can be quite dangerous. While horsing around, one of the children drove the nicely sharpened point of his pencil into the child’s arm.

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Pillion riding for Adults Only

Dangerous Pillion riding

Pillion riding is dangerous even for adults but is an absolute no-no for children. It is also illegal to transport children riding pillion on two-wheelers. People who regularly travel by two-wheelers cite the convenience.  Given the traffic situation in most towns and cities in India, there is more than a grain of truth in that. Public transport is not as good as it should be. Moreover, public transportation at odd hours or during emergencies may just not be available. Two-wheelers are also much cheaper to maintain than cars.

Yet, children should never travel on two-wheelers, as it is downright dangerous. Most people, do not pay any heed to safety and don’t realize how dangerous it is to ferry children around on two-wheelers. We have this gentleman, nicely protected by his helmet (I suspect more out of fear of the law than by concerns about safety!), ferrying not one, but two kids in the rear.

There is no protection and no restraint. Any accident (whosoever is at fault, whether it be the rider himself, other drivers, the road or pedestrians), will result in the children being flung with great force out of the vehicle and crashing into anything that is nearby. Please do yourself and your children (whom you profess to love so much!) a favor and only travel with them, properly restrained in car seats in the back of four-wheelers! Please!

I have seen children actually dozing off at the back, when pillion riding. I quickly move away from such riders as I would certainly not want to be the instrument of their doom!

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Keeping Children Safe In Parked Cars

Kids, 2 & 4, get locked in car, die of suffocation

The headlines practically screamed at me! What a waste of precious life! All because we cannot take basic precautions? It immediately brought back memories of another headline just a few month back

Four Children Suffocate to Death in Locked Tamil Nadu Car

How many times have we left our kids in the car while we finished off an errand in “just a

Car parked in the sun
Car Parked in the sun for an hour can get by as much as 22° C over the surrounding temperature

minute”. Most unknowingly, that minute can turn into a few minutes and that for a child trapped in a hot, parked car can be fatal. It is the sun and the resultant heat stroke, that kills, not the temperature outside. Even on a cool day, just by virtue of being out in the sun, in closed confines, can heat up the inside by around 22° C in an hour! Most of this (80%) increase occurs in the first half an hour.

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Tongue Tied? Could be literally true!

Tight Frenulum causing tongue tie
Note the tight cord anchoring tongue to the floor of the mouth

While most of us get tongue tied when we are overawed by a famous personality or when asked to speak in public, or too overcome by emotions, in the case of your infant, it could be due to the fact that the cord of tissue (called the frenulum) that holds the tongue in place against the floor of the mouth is too tight / thick / rigid.

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Take care! How to prevent the most common burn injury in children

You are having a well deserved cup of hot chai after a long, hard day at work. Either the phone or the doorbell rings and you get up to answer it or maybe you get called away to another part of the house. Unfortunately, absentmindedly, you leave your cup of tea at the edge of the table with the handle jutting out. Continue reading “Take care! How to prevent the most common burn injury in children”

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CT scans may increase the risk of cancer in adolescents & children

With the advent of newer technology, there is a greater tendency amongst patients and doctors to demand that there should be complete diagnosis and evaluation for even the most trivial of complaints. This results in a plethora of investigations. Just like everything else in life, everything comes at a price. The indiscriminate use of CT scans (especially CT head for minor trauma) has greatly increased the risk of developing cancer subsequently. [1]

I think one needs to be sensible and discuss with your doctor, whether a particular investigation is really required, what are the benefits and what are the risks of the procedure.

 

1. CT Scans May Increase Cancer Risk in Children, Adolescents

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Is feeding nuts to toddlers and young children good?

Nuts
Nuts are healthy but can also kill – use carefully in young children

Do not feed nuts to children less than four years of age!

Our ancestors have prized nuts as a great, dense source of nutrients. In Indian folklore, our forefathers recommended students eat almonds to improve their memory. While most of these beliefs are based on fact, we strongly recommended that you do not feed nuts to your child till he/she is beyond four years of age

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