|
One
of the most important factors to be considered while
feeding a child with a fever is the timing of giving
a feed. If milk or food is given when the temperature
is rising, the child may refuse to eat, may vomit what
he eats or if he does eat it, it would cause the fever
to rise higher. Milk or any food must be given only
45 minutes to one hour after a dose of paracetamol has
been given and one sees the temperature coming down.
All
fatty foods should be restricted as they are difficult
to digest and may cause the fever to rise higher.  When
the fever is very high (first 2-3 days) milk should
be diluted 2/3 milk to 1/3 water. Rice kanji with curd
or thin dhal and mashed vegetables, fruits and fruit
juices may be given. Small frequent feeds are advisable.
Light biscuits like marie, arrowroot or monaco salt,
rusk, toast etc. can be given frequently along with
milk or as snacks in-between to provide more energy.
Jam, jelly and custard are also helpful in increasing
energy intake. It is also very important to give a morning
and evening dose of B and C vitamin during a fever.
During
a fever the body temperature is high. This raises the
metabolic rate of the body and one tends to burn much
more calories. This is the reason why we see a quick
weight loss during a fever and this also makes the body
very weak and susceptible to further infections. To
protect against this our mission in feeding must be
to supply a high calorie diet which is however low in
fat content. This can be achieved by giving small frequent
feeds of carbohydrate foods. Jam/honey and toast is
one of the best options, light biscuits, rice and curd
or rice and rasam, rice or rava kanjee or porridges
and plenty of fruits, fruit juices and vegetable soups
must be consumed whenever possible. I have personally
followed this and tried this with my three children
and have visibly seen very quick recovering when committed
effort was made to keep the carbohydrate intake as frequent
and as high as possible.
This
is not easy as appetite is low but here it helps if
we take a B complex supplement. Also when ill the tongue
gets coated and there is no taste in the mouth. Keeping
the tongue clean and mouth fresh helps to keep the appetite
up.
 Glucose
may be used instead of sugar to sweeten milk and juices
during a fever as it is more quickly and easily absorbed
into the blood stream. The water intake must be increased
as large amounts of fluid are lost when sweating occurs
as the fever breaks. The daily requirement can be any
thing between to two and a half to four liters. Water,
tender coconut water, fruit juices and soups help to
meet this need.
Those
doing regular exercise or children in training camps
or coaching must be made to completely drop all exercise
and rest as much as possible for 2-3 days atleast so
that calories may be saved and the body uses these calories
to fight the infection and recover quickly. If you continue
to exercise or train with the fever the illness may
get prolonged for a week or 10 days.
|
