Parents, How Much Do You Know About Antibiotics?

There's an effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help make sure that we use antibiotics wisely. In the U.S. 1 in 5 of children visits to health care practitioners result in a prescription of antibiotics. This amounts to over 50 million prescriptions annually! Of which 10 million are for respiratory illnesses that antibiotics aren't helpful for. 

Antibiotics are of course very important and life saving when they are needed, however, their use does not come without risks including the killing off of natural bacteria that grow in our bodies and that we rely upon for forging a healthy immune system to fight off disease and infections. Antibiotic resistance is another concern of indiscriminate prescribing. 

Here's a helpful quick quiz published in Harvard Health Publications to help families make informed decisions about antibiotic use. 

Take this quick quiz to check your antibiotic smarts

Question: (True or false) Any time the doctor says your child has an ear infection, you should leave the office with a prescription for antibiotics.

Answer: False. Turns out that most ear infections get better without antibiotics. In some circumstances, such as in young infants, severe infections, or children with immune system problems, antibiotics are necessary. But for most healthy children, all that is really needed is some acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain, some time, and some TLC.

Question:  Which of the following set of symptoms means your child has sinusitis?

A. A cough for a week, with fever at the beginning and not since

B. Green nasal discharge and cough for four days, fever to 101

C. Both of the above

D. None of the above

Answer: D. The common cold, caused by a virus, can give you cough, fever, and green nasal discharge — and antibiotics are not only unnecessary, they won’t do a thing. Antibiotics should only be considered if:

• There is nasal congestion and cough, preferably with fever, that has lasted for 10 days or more (it still may be a cold, your doctor needs to examine and be sure)
• There is new fever, congestion, and cough after a cold seemed to be getting better
• There is high fever (103 F or more) and severe congestion and cough for three days

Question: Your child has a bad sore throat and fever. You take your child to the doctor, who says that the throat is very red and has pus, but doesn’t find anything else that worries her. What should happen?

A. You should get antibiotics, because pus means there must be a bacteria

B. You should get a strep test and antibiotics

C. You should get a strep test, but no antibiotics unless the rapid strep test or culture comes back positive.

Answer: C. Turns out that pus doesn’t necessarily mean there are bacteria. Some of the nastiest throat infections are caused by viruses — which, again, antibiotics don’t treat.

Question: (True or False) Since sometimes colds can lead to ear infections or sinusitis or pneumonia, it’s a good idea to take an antibiotic to prevent that from happening.

Answer: False. While it’s really understandable to want to “be on the safe side” and ward off a bacterial infection, most colds don’t lead to bacterial infections — and if you are in touch with your doctor, you should be able to pick up the signs of anything that needs to be treated by antibiotics.

To learn more about smart use of antibiotics, check out these resources from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Let Them Eat Dirt" - Book suggestion

"Let Them Eat Dirt" by Drs Marie-Clair Arrieta and Brett Finlay is a must read for parents, educators and health professionals. It's about the importance of gut bugs to a child's developing immune system and the authors explain how to give kids the best immune boost starting early in life.

Microbiome refers to all the microbes that cover our skin and inhabit our intestines. We now realize these trillions of microbes are really important for our kids' health,  for their brain, gut, and immune development. 

The authors of "Let Them Eat Dirt" explain in their book that the microbes that colonize the gut in the first 100 days help determine whether children will become obese, suffer from allergies or asthma, and essentially how well they will be able to fight off infections and disease. 

It's a compelling read with practical suggestions and answers to important questions about what influences childhood development and how microbes influence a child's susceptibility to obesity, diabetes, asthma, allergies, eczema, and other chronic conditions. The authors extrapolate the latest scientific literature to help empower parents to give their kids the healthiest start in life possible. 

Here are some of the best ways to raise your kids with a healthy dose of microbes: 

There are many things families can do to help ensure their children have a healthy microbiome, ultimately, feeding kids a diverse whole food diet that is low in sugar and high in fiber is key. Avoiding antibiotics and antiseptics unless absolutely necessary and letting your children play in dirt and go barefoot in grass are other helpful tips.

A columnist for one of the online papers made a great suggestion for picky eaters that don't love vegetables. She suggests telling kids that they have little critters living inside them and their survival is dependent on them eating vegetables. When faced with the knowledge that their little pets will die without vegetables, kids most often will opt for broccoli over fries. Might be worth a try?! 

To our kids' health!