Aimee, with disheveled hair and dark circles under her eyes wearing a printed white shirt and blue denim cut-offs, juggles 9-month- old Princess in her left arm while her right fingers tap the numbers on the keypad of her iPhone.
“Nanay, can you ask Manang to come over to help me take care of Princess?” asks Aimee over the phone.
“Sure, Aimee, What happened to Yaya Marlyn?” Is it her day off today?” asks Maria at the other end of the line.
“I wish it was that simple, Nay! But Yaya Marlyn is no longer with us,” sighs Aimee.
“I thought that you and Princess are getting along well with Marlyn. Did she do something amiss or is she sick of something?” asks Maria.
“Nothing that drastic, Nanay,” explains Aimee.
“Manang can stay with you for awhile. I already asked her to bring some clothes so she can help you watch over Princess,” says Maria.
“Nanay, was I ever sick as a chikd?” asks Aimee.
“Sometimes but nothing serious,” Maria replies.
“Did you give me any medicines for fever?’ asks Aimee.
“As much as possible, I usually give you home remedies instead of synthetic medicines,” Maria says.
It is nerve wracking when you finally find yourself without help and then your baby gets sick. How do you deal with a common symptom like fever?
As a mother, you begin to worry when your child has high grade fever. You worry about seizure so you do everything in your power to bring the temperature down without realizing that fever has a purpose. Lowering the fever will only block you child’s natural immune response to infection.
It is part of maternal instinct to grab an antipyretic like paracetamol or ibuprofen and give it to your child to afford quick relief of fever. Western conventional medicine has taught us that fever is a sign of illness, whereas anthroposophic medicine has cited evidences that it is actually a sign of healing. Your child needs the warmth to activate the immune system and bring the illness to its conclusion.
Fever is defined as an elevated temperature of 0.3 C above the average upper limit of normal depending on the site where the temperature is taken. Body temperature varies from time to time and usually reaches its highest between 4 to 6 pm and the lowest at 5 to 7 am.
Age, fever pattern and duration, presence of other symptoms and even absence of obvious causes are the factors to consider when you want to investigate the cause of fever.
As a parent or a child’s caregiver, you must be confident in assessing your child’s situation whenever he or she has a fever and this comes with practice. Too much anxiety may further aggravate your child’s condition and will not help you both. However, if you’re not sure about your ability, it is always best to consult your child’s physician.
You can be your child’s own doctor at home. You give directions and advice to your nurse, in this case, your child’s caregiver, who will carry out your orders. You have to prepare home remedies that are safe and acceptable. You have to make sure that your caregiver also knows how to prepare and use them.
Excerpt from "WANTED:PERFECT YAYA (7 Easy Steps to Equip Your Child's Caregiver)" by Dr. Josephine T.R. Holgado