Travel Health Tips for Children

Travel Tips: Health Tips for Children

• Ensure all scheduled vaccines and immunizations are up to date. In addition to these, consult your paediatrician for any additional vaccinations with respect to the country you are visiting at least six weeks prior to the date of travel. Most diseases are more severe in children than in adults and many of them are preventable by vaccines and immunizations, so it is always advisable to immunize against diseases that are prevalent in your destination country and any countries you might pass through.
• Children might require an accelerated vaccine schedule to ensure full active protection prior to travel.
• Consider the age of your child for vaccines. Most vaccines are not suitable to very young infants. In such cases, it is advisable to postpone the travel until the child is old enough for the vaccinations.
• If you are lactating, discuss your vaccinations with your doctor. Most vaccines are safe for lactating mothers; still it pays to be on the safer side.
• Children are more prone to developing severe malaria. Hence, travel to malaria-prevalent areas prevalent with mosquito-borne diseases such as Yellow Fever, Dengue, Rift Valley, Arboviral Encephalitides and chikungunya is best avoided.
• However, if the travel cannot be avoided or postponed, visit your doctor to determine if anti-malaria medication is recommended. Use mosquito repellent patches, creams and other such products and ensure they wear protective clothing that covers hands and legs fully. Children should be protected from insect and tick bites as well.
• Check with your doctor about the use of insect repellents especially if your child is less than six months old. Because of the presence of DEET, use of insect repellents is generally not recommended for children under the age of six months. However, in areas where dengue or malaria is prevalent, these diseases pose a greater risk to children than the potential adverse effects of insect repellent.
• Ask your doctor for age-specific recommendations on how often to apply insect repellent in such areas.
• Bed nets can be placed over playpens, cribs, or strollers to protect young children
• Like all other medications, all anti-malaria medication should be stored in childproof containers and kept out of reach of children.
• Practice safe food and water precautions. Eat only from places, where food is prepared in hygienic conditions. If you cannot see the kitchen, judge for yourself from the food that the other customers are eating and the hygiene in the eating area. Avoid street eateries or eateries where flies are abundantly lacing the food.
• For infants, exclusive breastfeeding is the best way to avoid infections and food- and water-borne diseases.
• Wash bottles, pacifiers, teething rings and toys in clean drinking water and sterilize them with baby bottle sterilizing liquid or tablets. This will ensure that bacteria if any are killed.
• Invest in a portable steam sterilizer if your infant is bottle-fed.
• Use drinking water to brush your teeth and enforce the rule for your children as well
• Travellers’ diarrhoea is a particular concern in children because their little bodies are more prone to dehydration than are adults. Hence, in addition to practicing and seeing to hygiene,
• If infected and suffering from a bout of diarrhoea, children should be given an oral rehydration solution (ORS) to drink as soon as diarrhoea starts. Even if they are suffering from vomiting, they will be able to keep the ORS down, especially if it is given in small measures with small but frequent sips.
• For infants, continue to breast feed or bottle-feed them while giving them small frequent sips of ORS. Children who are no longer nursing should continue to eat solid food in addition to ORS.
• Breastfeeding mothers should also avoid using bismuth subsalicylate to treat diarrhoea.
• Diseases like schistosomiasis and leptospirosis can be transmitted by swimming in fresh water contaminated with parasitic bacteria. Avoid swimming is fresh water lakes and public pools where hygiene might be a concern.
• Curiosity and a small size can be a dangerous combination, especially when it comes to animals. Do not allow children to pet or even go near stray animals; if bitten, apart from the injury from the bite, they can even contract life-threatening diseases.
• Children are often at a higher risk of catching infections from other people, especially if they have not received all of their vaccinations due to age or weight issues.
• Wash your and your babies hands with a disinfectant soap and water often; use hand sanitizers when on the go, and teach older kids to do the same.
• Practice and encourage practise of proper cough and sneeze etiquette.
• Unfamiliar situations and a change in routine may cause stress in children.
• Take along some medications for common ailments such as fever, body ache, running nose and upset stomachs.

Seek medical assistance immediately to assess the risk and discuss treatment options if:

• You or your child develops a fever while travelling or after travel (typically within three months) to an area where malaria is prevalent.
• You or your child has diarrhoea and if:
  • the diarrhoea is bloody;
  • the diarrhoea is accompanied by high fever, jaundice (yellow skin) or persistent vomiting; or
  • Dehydration does not improve despite the use of ORS.
  • your child is bitten, scratched or licked on broken skin or mucous membranes