![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5014445_3_articleinlinemobile_PA-_20family_20health_20book_202.jpg\" "\\"The")
The Complete Guide To Family Child Health is available in hardback. Picture: Hamlyn\/PA\u00a0<\/p>\nAll too often, they will search the internet for initial advice about how to deal with children\u2019s health issues \u2013 but this can open up a world of misinformation, warns GP Dr Nighat Arif.<\/p>\n
In a bid to help people get the right advice about a myriad of both children\u2019s and adults\u2019 health problems, Arif has written The Complete Guide to Family Health, and explains: \u201cThis is a perfect antidote to Dr Google or ChatGPT, and it came about because there was so much misinformation online.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is my underpinning of more than 15 years\u2019 worth of GP practice knowledge put into a book; a how-to health guide for your whole family \u2013 things to have in the emergency medicine cupboard, when to call 111, what red flags to look out for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried to make it as simple as possible, so if you do worry about a headache, you\u2019re not googling something that comes up with a brain tumour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arif says the most common query from parents is \u2018Is my child normal or not?\u2019, often relating to their behaviour or eating patterns.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr it could be a simple rash, or a cough and cold \u2013 is this normal or do I need to be worried and escalate this? Could this turn into a pneumonia?<\/p>\n
Those are some of the huge concerns, and they vary so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are some of the most common children\u2019s health problems parents may worry about, and Arif\u2019s advice\u2026<\/p>\n
Children bang their heads with alarming frequency, but it can be hard for parents to know when it\u2019s just a bump, or something more serious that needs checking out.<\/p>\n
Arif says head injuries aren\u2019t usually serious, but stresses: \u201cCaution should be exercised with young children who can\u2019t communicate well how they feel.<\/p>\n
\u201cBear in mind that there may be minimal visible damage, but there could be bleeding or swelling in the brain that you can\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
\u201cHead injuries in children can mean all different things \u2013 it\u2019s looking out for what\u2019s unusual for your child.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says most children with head injuries will just have bumps and bruises and recover quickly within 24 to 48 hours, but stresses that parents should monitor them and not leave them alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep an eye on them because you\u2019re looking for concussion symptoms \u2013 that could be dizziness, loss of consciousness, vomiting, confusion, and severe headaches,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
They may also have trouble walking and \u201cfeel jittery on their feet\u201d, she says, adding: \u201cI would say to parents, you know your child best, so keep an eye on them, and look for irritability, because young children who\u2019ve had a head injury, especially ones that aren\u2019t speaking yet, can\u2019t express pain, so they might cry, and be more irritable than usual.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith young children, look out for behavioural signs like being off their food, disinterest in toys or crying more than usual \u2013 go to A&E if you have any concerns. It\u2019s much better to get it checked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arif points out that fevers are the body\u2019s response to infection, and while a temperature accompanied by other symptoms may indicate something more serious, she says in many cases a fever is simply a healthy immune system reacting to an infection as it should. \u201cIt\u2019s usually nothing to worry about,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
In the book, she stresses that if a baby under three months has a temperature above 38\u00b0C (100\u00b0F) or below 36\u00b0C (97\u00b0F) it\u2019s a red flag situation where urgent medical attention is needed.<\/p>\n
Generally, fever treatment depends on the age of the baby\/child and the temperature, with a table in the book outlining what to do in various scenarios.<\/p>\n
But Arif warns: \u201cFevers are more serious in babies. If you are worried, trust your instincts and go to your nearest hospital \u2013 this also applies to children over five years old and adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eczema is common in children, causing dry, scaly and itchy patches of skin. Arif says that although the condition can\u2019t be cured, it\u2019s important to manage it before it causes scarring or infection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a lot of eczema, it\u2019s so common, and it\u2019s a bane on parents\u2019 lives,\u201d she says, pointing out that the main treatment is moisturising emollient creams.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmollients, emollients, please put on repeatedly throughout the day with your child,\u201d she stresses.<\/p>\n
She says emollients with paraffin in them are particularly good, and it\u2019s also important to look at a child\u2019s diet to see if that could be causing the eczema.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould there be something you\u2019re giving them that\u2019s allergic?\u201d she asks, \u201cbecause the skin is the largest organ we have, but the problem can be elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo have a look at their milk intolerance or gluten intolerance etc, and then please go and see the doctor if the emollients need changing or we need to investigate.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t just sit on eczema, because it can be investigated further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arif says most of the patients with coughs that come to her practice have a virus. \u201cBut it can still make parents feel absolutely worried about the cough, and children can be really poorly,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Red flags to look out for in children with a cough, she says, are: have they had a temperature that isn\u2019t coming down, even when they\u2019ve had paracetamol, and are they drinking enough fluids?<\/p>\n
The Complete Guide To Family Child Health is available in hardback. Picture: Hamlyn\/PA\u00a0<\/p>\n
So if they\u2019re still in nappies, monitor how often they\u2019re wet and whether it\u2019s a normal amount.<\/p>\n
She stresses that viral coughs don\u2019t need antibiotics, and warns that some coughs can last two to three weeks. If a cough lasts longer than three weeks for children or adults, it\u2019s worth seeing a doctor, she says, as a chest x-ray may be needed to work out if the cough may be caused by something else, like undiagnosed asthma, for example.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about TLC,\u201d she says, \u201cand parents are so good with their gut feeling \u2013 it\u2019s trying to reassure them to go with their gut. If they feel their child is really struggling with breathing, come in and let a doctor have a look.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the doctor, who has three boys herself, stresses that parents should never be worried about overreacting to their children\u2019s symptoms. \u201cIt\u2019s easily done where you can miss the signs in your children \u2013 and I say that as a mother and a doctor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say to parents, you\u2019re just being vigilant \u2013 you\u2019re doing the role you\u2019re assigned to do, assessing what\u2019s normal and what\u2019s not normal. Nobody knows your child better than you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n The Complete Guide to Family Health by Dr Nighat Arif is published in hardback by Hamlyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s only natural for parents to worry about their children\u2019s health and fear the worst when they get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-365930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}