Is enema good for treating fever in children?

When a child has a fever, many mothers will choose to treat it with enema. So is it really advisable to use enema to treat a child's fever? Can the baby's weak rectum withstand this cold stimulation? Let us discuss whether it is advisable to treat a child's fever with enema. If it is not advisable, are there any good treatment methods? Let’s take a look at it together.

1. The significance of enema

Chinese medicine retention enema is administered through the rectum. The doctor will inject 30 to 50 ml of Chinese medicine preparations according to the age of the child. The medicine can be retained in the intestine for about 4 to 5 hours without pain, bloating or diarrhea. Moreover, the perfusion process is short and easy for children to accept. Because it has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, promoting lung function and relieving constipation, it can treat both the symptoms and the root cause, so the child's body temperature rarely rebounds after it drops. You only need to receive treatment once in the hospital, and then go home to take herbal medicine for treatment.

2. How effective is enema?

Because it is administered rectally, it does not pass through the digestive tract and liver. After being absorbed by the intestinal mucosa, the drug directly enters the inferior vena cava, which is more effective than oral medication. Compared with Western medicine for reducing fever, Chinese medicine retention enema not only has fewer side effects, but its antipyretic effect is also mild, long-lasting and stable. Therefore, parents don’t need to worry about the side effects.

3. Large-volume non-retention enema method

Master the temperature, concentration, flow rate, pressure and liquid volume of the enema solution. When giving enema to typhoid patients, the solution should not exceed 500ml and the pressure should be low (the liquid level should not be more than 30cm from the anus). For cooling enema, you can use 28-32℃ isotonic saline, or 4℃ isotonic saline, retain it for 30 minutes and then excrete it. Measure the body temperature again half an hour after defecation and record it. Pay attention to the patient's reaction during the enema process. If necessary, stop the enema immediately and take appropriate measures.

4. Precautions for retention enema

Before enema, understand the location of the lesion so as to choose the appropriate lying position and insertion depth of the anal canal. To improve the therapeutic effect, ask the patient to defecate first before enema, and master the operating principles of "thin, deep, small, slow, warm and quiet", that is: the anal canal is thin, the insertion is deep, the liquid volume is small, the flow rate is slow, the temperature is appropriate, and lie still after enema. During enema, most children are in the breastfeeding position, which makes it easier for nursing staff to operate. After the enema, parents should clamp the child's buttocks and lift them about 10 cm to keep the injected medicine longer, which is more conducive to the full absorption of the intestinal mucosa. After the medicine is injected, a quiet place should be chosen for the child to sleep. Parents of children who live far from the hospital are especially reminded not to let their children sleep on the way, so as not to reduce the children's sensitivity to the medicine, reduce the sedative and hypnotic effects of the medicine, and cause inconvenience to the examination.

After reading the above, I believe that mothers have understood that enema is a treatment method for infants with fever. It is for babies with more serious fever. Mild fever can be treated by taking antipyretics or physical cooling. Only high temperature above 39°C needs to be treated by enema. Prolonged high temperature will seriously affect the baby's brain development, so this method of treatment will only be chosen when necessary, because enema is the fastest way to reduce temperature.