Bacterial and viral infection can make your child sick. However, worm infections may not manifest immediately, but remain hidden for a while, causing delay in growth and development.
How can Your Baby Get Infected?
Children develop worm infections when they unknowingly eat worm eggs. This can happen when they:
Play in mud and put their hands in the mouth without washing.
Swallow food or water containing the eggs
Touch articles contaminated with worm eggs.
Good personal hygiene plays an important role in avoiding worm infections. So make sure that your child washes hands frequently, especially after using the toilet, after playing outside, and before eating.
Secretly eats soil from indoor plant pots
Worm infections are common once your child starts going to pre-school or school.
Symptoms of worm infection
Your child may show following symptoms when having a worm infection:
Nausea
Bloated and bulged abdomen
Abdominal pain
Diarrhea
Loss of appetite and body weight
Tired feeling
Shortness of breath
Itching in the anal region
What is Deworming and Why is it Important?
Treatment of children at risk of developing worm infections, with anti-helminthic medicines, at regular intervals is called deworming.
Worm infections like roundworm, pinworm or tapeworm infections may lead to malnutrition and cause physical and intellectual developmental delay in your child.
Some worms like roundworms and tapeworms may cause anaemia, vitamin A deficiency and loss of appetite in your child.
How is Deworming done?
Several safe and effective deworming medications are available in the market. Your doctor will recommend the best one depending on your child’s condition.
When to Start Deworming?
You doctor may recommend deworming if your child has started going to preschool or regular school.
How Often Should you Deworm?
Depending in your area of residence your doctor may decide the required dose.
If you are living in a well-sanitized area, where over 2 in 10 kids have chances of developing worm infections, your doctor may advice deworming only once a year.
If you are living in an area where your child is exposed to poor hygiene and sanitation most of the time and where over 5 in 10 kids may have worm infections, your doctor may advice deworming twice a year.
Precautions to take:
Your child may or may not experience symptoms like weakness, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain for a day or two after taking the deworming medications. Call your doctor if these symptoms persist. Otherwise, rest assured, the deworming medicines are only helping your child expel the worm out of his or her body.
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