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With the Wind with Dr. Paul – Show 197: Pediatric Perspectives: Parent’s Questions, Pediatrician’s Answers with DeeDee Hoover
Speakers’ Speaking Times
Dr. Paul
00:00:40:34 – 00:01:05:39
VAX facts this book hits bookstores December 10th. You can get a copy now by going to VAX Facts book.com, where you can get a signed author’s copy, where you can order an e-book, or you can also preorder the book if you are seeing this message before December 10th. You can also order this book at any bookseller, any bookstore, wherever books are sold, and preorder your copy.
Dr. Paul
00:01:05:53 – 00:01:17:28
Get this book for your loved ones, for your family, for yourself, and let’s get healthy.
Dr. Paul
00:01:35:10 – 00:01:57:10
Good morning. Welcome to Pediatric Perspectives, where we are looking at children’s health challenges from a different perspective, one that includes critical thinking. We’re not afraid to ask the difficult questions. Today, we’re flipping the script and my partner coauthor on the book, Vacs facts, Deedee Hoover. She goes by JM just a mom. She’s going to take the reins and ask me the questions that she’s getting.
Dr. Paul
00:01:57:10 – 00:02:12:52
So she’s she tracks all the questions that you all send in to HDTV. Regarding what you’re interested in, questions you may have. So she’s going to hit me with some of the most common questions that you all have been asking. I actually don’t know exactly what I’m going to get asked. So we’re going to see what happens here.
DeeDee Hoover
00:02:12:53 – 00:02:32:24
So I want to make one correction. Okay. Polly Tommy tracks all the questions. You can see HD. Okay. However we have five websites that people can submit questions to. And that’s what I’m going to ask today is we get asked a lot of questions. So I call it Frequently Asked questions of a pediatrician.
Dr. Paul
00:02:32:28 – 00:02:33:19
Sounds good.
DeeDee Hoover
00:02:33:24 – 00:02:48:37
All right. So right now what’s been happening and I’m talking daily I’m getting at least 1 or 2 of questions around this. And we have coached on this or I have coached on this a lot this winter. Colds, flus, viruses. Why are they lasting longer?
Dr. Paul
00:02:48:39 – 00:03:16:00
That’s a good question. I can only make an educated, hopefully very well informed guess because we’re hearing this a lot. People are getting sick this winter and they’re staying sick longer. Why? Well, the interesting thing that’s happened this year is we are seeing a number of different infections happening all around the same time at much greater magnitude, you know, frequency.
Dr. Paul
00:03:16:09 – 00:03:36:45
So we’re talking about actual flu, which really is only at the peak of the flu season. About 10% of the cases of what looks like flu is actually flu. But we’re seeing a lot of flu. We’re definitely seeing a lot of RSV restoration social virus and it that can last a long time anyway. So it could just be that there’s more RSV than usual this year would be one reason.
Dr. Paul
00:03:36:49 – 00:04:03:48
But there’s also pertussis going around. And I think it’s a big year for pertussis. That’s whooping cough. All these things including Covid still going around, including all the normal colds and flu viruses that are going around when they start stacking on each other or one end to the other, it feels like you’re sick for months. And actually with just RSV, for example, or pertussis, you can be sick, you can be coughing for weeks or even months, especially with pertussis.
Dr. Paul
00:04:03:53 – 00:04:24:12
So I think that’s the why of it all. There’s a lot of things going on. Could there be a new or an altered virus that’s especially persistent and hard to clear. Yeah. It’s possible. I mean we saw with Covid there was some funny business going on that the creation of SARS-CoV-2 in the bio labs in the bioweapons labs.
Dr. Paul
00:04:24:12 – 00:04:26:48
I don’t know that there’s such a thing going on, but it’s possible.
DeeDee Hoover
00:04:26:50 – 00:04:44:01
One of the questions I get asked is, like their kids will be sick for I’m hearing 6 to 8 weeks, right? They can’t go to school, coughs, all those things. But isn’t it. Isn’t it possible? I mean, one thing I personally wonder is, can’t they. Because their immune system is weakened by something, can’t they catch something else?
DeeDee Hoover
00:04:44:01 – 00:04:46:29
Aren’t they going to be more likely to catch a different bug?
Dr. Paul
00:04:46:31 – 00:05:10:22
Absolutely. That’s a phenomenon we see with vaccines too. So when you vaccinate against especially the combo vaccines that vaccinate against a lot of different things, it focuses the immune system on those things against which you’re vaccinating to the detriment of your immune system’s ability to cover everything else. Okay, it’s hyper focusing. The immune system on just certain things that are in the vaccine.
Dr. Paul
00:05:10:31 – 00:05:35:14
Well, to some extent that happens in real infections. So you’ve got you’re dealing with RSV and you’re a little down and out because you’re sick. And then you get exposed to the next thing, whether it’s pertussis or the flu or Covid or whatever, or just a common cold, vaccinated kids, the literature shows they get about 5 to 7 colds per winter, and if a cold last 7 to 10 days times seven, I mean, you’re at you had a month and a half right there.
Dr. Paul
00:05:35:25 – 00:05:41:16
Just fall on top of a cold. Now you throw in RSV, flu, Covid and no wonder right.
DeeDee Hoover
00:05:41:16 – 00:05:48:36
And you bring up a really good point. But I’m going to really bring up is but my child unvaccinated. Why are they getting sick.
Dr. Paul
00:05:48:40 – 00:06:12:30
Well unvaccinated kids still get sick. But they generally I mean my data and many other data sets now that are published show that unvaccinated kids are less often sick. And when they are sick, they get better quicker. Right. So this is definitely one of the huge advantages to to not vaccinating because your kids will will be healthier and less ill.
DeeDee Hoover
00:06:12:37 – 00:06:17:27
One of the questions that I get a lot is, you know, my child’s been sick for a long time. Does that mean they need antibiotics?
Dr. Paul
00:06:17:30 – 00:06:35:23
Well, the antibiotics question when you go to a mainstream pediatrician, I was one, by the way. I’m not diagnosing or treating. I’m just educating here in this platform as a pediatrician. And I would get a sick kid come in and they’ve got all the rest, right? Symptoms which are usually viral, by the way, you don’t need antibiotics for viruses.
DeeDee Hoover
00:06:35:23 – 00:06:36:19
Why?
Dr. Paul
00:06:36:24 – 00:06:37:40
Because they don’t work.
DeeDee Hoover
00:06:37:51 – 00:06:38:16
Okay.
Dr. Paul
00:06:38:18 – 00:07:04:58
Do nothing to reduce viral infections. And the antivirals are almost worthless in almost all cases. I mean, and are rare cases where there isn’t a specific antiviral. You can use acyclovir. Valacyclovir for herpes, for example, is is one use it can be done, but there’s almost never a good pharmaceutical, antiviral or anti antibiotic for most of the infections our kids have.
Dr. Paul
00:07:04:58 – 00:07:10:31
We just need to support their natural immune system so they can combat it naturally.
DeeDee Hoover
00:07:10:36 – 00:07:31:08
So is there a time or a reason I would put them on? Because to be honest with you parents, I get this all the time is I don’t understand the difference between viral and bacterial, so they don’t understand that. And so then that when a doctor tells them you have to put them on an antibiotic because it’s this or that, the parent we don’t understand, I have no idea.
Dr. Paul
00:07:31:13 – 00:07:53:58
So most pediatricians that are putting you on an antibiotic are covering the possibility that you have a bacterial infection. They are trying to prevent you from having to come back because your kid didn’t get better. Right. And so it’s kind of like insurance for them that you won’t leave and be disgusted because the doctor didn’t do anything right.
Dr. Paul
00:07:53:59 – 00:08:11:00
At least they gave me this antibiotic. So there’s this huge incentive for doctors to prescribe. It keeps the parents happy. But honestly, parents, it’s rare that you need an antibiotic. I mean, I know unvaccinated families who have children who are in their teens, who have never had a single antibiotic.
DeeDee Hoover
00:08:11:00 – 00:08:11:19
Right.
Dr. Paul
00:08:11:34 – 00:08:34:01
That blows me away because my kids I mean, one of my kids had 13 rounds of ear infections and antibiotics. My fault for buying into that as the way to treat it. Most ear infections do not need antibiotics will get better on their own, just as easily. Maybe it takes a day or two longer if you don’t start the antibiotics, even in those cases where the antibiotics might work.
Dr. Paul
00:08:34:06 – 00:08:42:18
So we need to let our natural immune systems kick in and reserve antibiotics for those rare instances where you actually do need them.
DeeDee Hoover
00:08:42:22 – 00:08:52:04
You know, I’ve got this child that hasn’t had anything no vaccines, nothing, no antibiotics. And my child is really sick. Is there a reason that I would need to do an antibiotic?
Dr. Paul
00:08:52:09 – 00:09:13:53
There could be. So what I used to do in the winter when I had the sickest kids, right. So let’s say I had 15,000 patients in my practice at the time. And I was seeing but at the height of winter 20, 30 sick kids a day back when I was super busy, and out of those 2030 sick kids, there was maybe one arm, no more than 1 or 2, sometimes none.
Dr. Paul
00:09:13:58 – 00:09:23:00
They were sick enough for me to think, oh, they might need an antibiotic, or they might need to go to the hospital, right. So you’ve got to figure that out.
DeeDee Hoover
00:09:23:07 – 00:09:37:34
That is a big thing, right? Is that whether or not my child needs an antibiotic, you know, what are the signs and symptoms I’m looking at for something severe? And when do I need to go? When do I need to go to the doctor and when do I need to go to the emergency room? What’s the.
Dr. Paul
00:09:37:34 – 00:09:57:53
Difference? You need to go to the emergency room when your child is, scary sick. What pediatricians call toxic. So in my training, I took care of the sickest kids. And, I mean, I even ran an urgent care for pediatrics. So I was all the sickest kids in town were coming to me, and then I would help determine whether they need to be hospitalized.
Dr. Paul
00:09:57:54 – 00:10:14:48
Right. That’s sort of like the function of a ER. Now, a pediatric emergency room would be getting the sickest kids and trying to figure out if they need to be hospitalized, or can we send them back home with some approach. Right. The truth of the matter is, if you have a practitioner, if I were in practice, I’m not.
Dr. Paul
00:10:14:48 – 00:10:29:30
I don’t diagnose or treat. But if I were in practice and I could see your child would examine them, would be nice to listen to the lungs, the heart, check the ears and throat and all that stuff. But if I could just see them, make sure they’re not struggling to breathe, they’re not dehydrated. They’re still. And you can get some of this by history.
Dr. Paul
00:10:29:39 – 00:10:51:03
They’re still drinking and eating. They’re they’re not at risk of being dehydration. And their observations okay. If you have a coughing infant or a coughing young child or any age child that it’s especially the youngest ones who are more vulnerable to getting in trouble and they’ve got respiratory symptoms, cough, they might have fever, body aches, sore throat, but they’ve got a bad cough and they’re sick.
Dr. Paul
00:10:51:08 – 00:11:08:24
How do you know if they need to go to the emergency room or the hospital? What you were asking me. Right. Well, there’s a couple a few things you can use to help make that decision, but I hope you have somebody in your on your court, on your team that will help you look at that kid and somebody with a lot of experience with sick kids.
Dr. Paul
00:11:08:28 – 00:11:29:49
And they can just look at your child and go, oh yeah, you know, you you got to go, right? How would I know that if I was the one observing your child? Well, they may look really, really, really sick. They’re not making good eye contact. They’re just sort of almost roll. Eyes are almost rolling in their head. They go from irritable to lethargic, being sort of listless and out of it.
Dr. Paul
00:11:29:54 – 00:11:35:07
And they they’re not eating well. They’re not drinking well, they’re.
Dr. Paul
00:11:35:12 – 00:11:55:42
They’re working really hard to breathe. Okay. That kid is in trouble. If I had a pulse ox, it’s a little box. The hospitals have fancier ones, but you can get a little box for, like, 30, 40 bucks. Put it on the finger. Beep beep beep beep. The highest number you get. That’s the accurate number. If that pulse ox never gets over 90, and you know a young child who’s struggling to breathe, they’ve got to go to the emergency room.
Dr. Paul
00:11:55:42 – 00:12:12:51
They probably need oxygen. And if they need oxygen, they’re going to need to be hospitalized. If your pulse ox is 93, 95 higher, there is no oxygen need. The only issue for hospitalization is need I.V. fluids. If they don’t need IV fluids because they’re still drinking and eating, then you can tough it out, hang it, hang in there with them.
Dr. Paul
00:12:12:51 – 00:12:34:52
And that’s 99.9% of the cases don’t need to be hospitalized. Pulse oximeter is the full name for ox. It’s a little device that threw a little light feature. It measures your pulse. It captures the amount of oxygen in each of those pulses of blood flow through your capillary system on your finger, and it’s a really great tool.
Dr. Paul
00:12:34:54 – 00:12:57:49
I had this Italian family once. I love the way she put it with her Italian accent. No respectful Italian family would go into child rearing without a pulse oximeter, and that’s cool because it really is a useful tool. And, you know, I know with Covid we got shipped down the wrong path by worrying about the oxygenation for a different sort of illness.
Dr. Paul
00:12:57:49 – 00:13:06:40
But these illnesses that are getting kids today that we’re talking about now, knowing that their oxygen is fine, golden, you don’t have to worry as long as they’re still drinking and eating.
DeeDee Hoover
00:13:06:49 – 00:13:14:43
Something that I’ve dealt with a lot. And in coaching, these parents that call us is that just because they’re coughing doesn’t mean they’re oxygen is low.
Dr. Paul
00:13:14:48 – 00:13:15:26
Oh, absolutely.
DeeDee Hoover
00:13:15:26 – 00:13:26:48
Correct. And I think that’s the thing people get afraid of the most is what are those symptoms? I’m at home. I’m not going to. The doctors I’ve heard of people say, well, I’ve called the nurse online and their.
Dr. Paul
00:13:26:48 – 00:13:28:22
Doctor, they’ll tell you to go to the ER.
DeeDee Hoover
00:13:28:31 – 00:13:30:50
Yeah. And explain why.
Dr. Paul
00:13:30:55 – 00:13:47:33
So if you called me, I say, how is your pediatrician? Back when I was in practice and I happened to be on call, which in the old days I used to do a lot. And you’re the mom and you tell me I’m listening on the phone and you’re telling me. Yeah, my child’s lethargic and they’re breathing hard and they’re coughing all the time.
Dr. Paul
00:13:47:37 – 00:14:06:59
You use those words lethargic or they’re super irritable. They’re lethargic, they’re listless. I can’t take a chance and reassure you. I haven’t even seen the child. I don’t know what they’re looking like. I don’t know what their pulse oximeter is reading. I don’t know the restaurant rate. I don’t have enough data. And honestly, I would need to eyeball that kid.
Dr. Paul
00:14:07:04 – 00:14:31:23
And by eyeballing that kid with the experience I’ve had, I would probably be able to go, ooh, I think you probably should go in, right? Or a lot of the time the kid looks fine. But here’s what you need to watch for, right? So there’s things like how fast is the infant breathing if we’re talking about an infant, if they’re breathing 60 breaths per minute or more, that’s one that’s 2000 okay.
Dr. Paul
00:14:31:24 – 00:14:47:54
Their oxygenation is going to be right around 90. They’re right at that point where if they if that gets any worse, they’re going to need oxygen and they’re going to need it fast and they’re going to need a lot of it. Okay. And really the beautiful thing about young kids is they all get better if you provide them the support they need.
Dr. Paul
00:14:47:59 – 00:15:02:30
If they need oxygen, they need oxygen. If they need fluids, they need fluids. But other than that, and those rare instances where they might need antibiotics, so we we would do. If your kid is close to being hospitalized or needs to be asked why you do blood work, it helps you. Is this viral or bacterial? You do swabs.
Dr. Paul
00:15:02:30 – 00:15:21:40
We used to swab kids for 30 different things in one nasal swab, but it included, coronavirus. Before we had Covid, it included influenza A and B, it includes adenovirus. It includes all the bacterial things for which you do need antibiotics if you’ve gotten pneumonia from those things. So there’s a lot of information you can get, but a lot of this can be managed at home.
Dr. Paul
00:15:21:40 – 00:15:23:21
If you have a team that knows what they’re doing.
DeeDee Hoover
00:15:23:36 – 00:15:39:40
We had a baby who was oxygen was low. They lived further away on their own. They took grandma’s oxygen and gave the baby some oxygen and the thing went up. Still had a fever. So the one thing I feel like we do have to talk about, and I want to ask you, is, does a fever play into any of this?
DeeDee Hoover
00:15:39:40 – 00:15:47:09
And when is a fever dangerous? Because that’s the big thing. I always ask, do they have a fever? They don’t have a fever. I think they’re fine.
Dr. Paul
00:15:47:14 – 00:16:07:36
While they’re fine if they’re also breathing and eating and drink okay, they could still be in trouble and not have a fever because especially young infants less than two months old, they don’t always make a fever. It’s very interesting. We’re able to make a fever. And the older we get, the more robust our immune system gets. That’s part of a natural immune response is to mount inflammation, mount a fever.
Dr. Paul
00:16:07:36 – 00:16:30:28
That’s what attacks the infecting organisms. So here’s what you need to know about fever. If your baby is beyond 2 or 3 months, I would say two months is a safe cut off before two months. And if you have a real fever, just go get that baby scene. So we’re talking 100.6, 38.4. If you’re using, centigrade instead of Fahrenheit or above.
Dr. Paul
00:16:30:28 – 00:16:52:26
So if you’re above 38.4, if you’re above 100.6 and your baby’s less than two months old, just play it safe. Go get that baby evaluated. There’s enough of a chance it’s still love. Like in the 2%. Maybe at the most. 4% of those infants actually need antibiotics, so that means 96 to 98% of them do not need antibiotics.
Dr. Paul
00:16:52:31 – 00:16:58:04
But you don’t want to miss that. 2 to 4% who might have a serious blood infection or meningitis.
DeeDee Hoover
00:16:58:04 – 00:17:01:20
And they’re going to have other symptoms of just, besides a fever. Right.
Dr. Paul
00:17:01:20 – 00:17:23:20
Because they would at 99. Well, 98% of those babies don’t have anything serious. And all they have is a cold or the flu or, you know, but you don’t want to miss that 2%. But the symptoms still in little infants is are they breathing okay or are they drinking and eating okay. And are they alert they may at least have moments of alertness where they’re looking you in the eye, or maybe they’re smiling already.
Dr. Paul
00:17:23:25 – 00:17:45:19
And you get that reassurance that, okay, they’re there, they’re home. Somebody is there, right? Look in the eyes and you’re getting that connectedness, and they’re still hydrated and still eating and drinking your good. But if they have a fever and they’re under two months old to address the fever thing. Now the flip side of that is you got a three month old who’s got 103, oh my gosh, what if it’s 104 but 104?
Dr. Paul
00:17:45:19 – 00:18:05:18
The risk of a bacterial infections starts to go up. But below that as long as they’re still looking fine, they’re breathing okay, they’re hydrated, they’re eating and drinking. And they’re not the toxic thing. They’re not like really lethargic and irritable. And nobody’s home. Sometimes in those cases, when you get up above 102, you got to bring the fever down and see if they still look okay.
Dr. Paul
00:18:05:25 – 00:18:23:36
Right? Right. So you can sponge bath lukewarm washcloth or sponge or whatever. As the water evaporates off your body within five, ten minutes, you can bring that fever down. Now, how do they look? Because if you’re a hundred and for most babies look delirious, they look scary sick. Get the fever down below 102 and they’re like, oh, I feel better.
Dr. Paul
00:18:23:36 – 00:18:25:26
And they want to play. You’re good.
DeeDee Hoover
00:18:25:31 – 00:18:42:10
Doesn’t that kind of go for all the ages too? Because again, we get a lot of older kids three, 4 or 5, six, ten who parents are really worried. They’ve they’ve all of a sudden started this fever. And yeah it’s only 100 and 203, but they can’t get them to wake up. So there’s a lot of things you’re looking at.
Dr. Paul
00:18:42:12 – 00:18:58:18
If you can’t get your kid to wake up, you need to sponge them down and get that fever down fast. And if they’re still not waking up, that’s 911 material. Yeah. A kid who’s not waking up, spray him with some cold water. They don’t wake up to that. You’re not. You get to the hospital right away.
DeeDee Hoover
00:18:58:24 – 00:19:19:08
And you’re right. I think it’s okay to. I think parents need to know. And again, and you’ve actually addressed this, I think that what happens for parents with unvaccinated children is they will stay home longer, and they’ll be more leery, and especially of calling 911, because if these people come into their home, we feel vulnerable, right? We don’t want that to happen.
DeeDee Hoover
00:19:19:13 – 00:19:31:55
But again, explain if you could also explain the differences between lethargic and agitated, because that’s when we get I’ll have parents say my child’s super lethargic. And what they mean is they’re cranky and fussy. Anything that’s normal, right?
Dr. Paul
00:19:32:00 – 00:19:32:17
Yeah.
DeeDee Hoover
00:19:32:17 – 00:19:33:16
You’re sick. Yeah.
Dr. Paul
00:19:33:19 – 00:19:44:06
You’re sick. So, you and I coach, and, as part of that coaching, it’s if it’s long distance, which usually it is, we get to see that baby on the screen.
Dr. Paul
00:19:44:10 – 00:20:11:22
Right. And 99.9% of the time both of us have worked with so many kids for so long we can look and go, yeah your kid looks great. Mom was calling this kid lethargic or irritable and they’re like smiling and playing and nursing or whatever. It’s like, yeah, we’re we’re this looks good. Now. We’re not diagnosing or treating. We’re just observing with them as part of being part of their team, and giving them tips on things to think about.
DeeDee Hoover
00:20:11:27 – 00:20:31:34
Right. Well, and I think that parental support is really important too. I think when I tell people if you don’t have, like most of the people that reach out to us, our new moms that don’t have family members, that can help them with whether or not their child is, is really sick and needs to be seen. Yeah. So what are some of the other things that we can do for these kids when they’re sick?
DeeDee Hoover
00:20:31:34 – 00:20:33:52
You mentioned for a fever you can.
Dr. Paul
00:20:33:57 – 00:20:56:03
Get the fever down. Down. Yeah. Don’t don’t be afraid of the fever. If your kid’s not really out of it or they’re not crazy irritable and the fever is less than 102, I would say do nothing for the fever. Fever is the proper immune response to an infection, right. And by bringing it down, you’re actually harming the body’s ability to kill and suppress the viral or bacterial infection.
Dr. Paul
00:20:56:03 – 00:21:15:50
So we like fever. That’s a robust good immune response. So that’s absolutely something to do. Too often we’re reaching for fever control medicine. And I ever give Tylenol I was about to bring that up. I trained my patients for 20 plus years. Get Tylenol out of your house, period. That way you’re not even tempted to go use it.
Dr. Paul
00:21:15:55 – 00:21:34:49
It has no place. Ibuprofen is not as bad as Tylenol for a number of reasons, although it still can have problems. But you can’t give every problem for six months, so that’s something to remember. But you can. There are natural things one can do if you do need to get the fever down, and especially just sponging down. If it’s a short term thing, you need to see how your kid looks when the fever is lower.
DeeDee Hoover
00:21:34:49 – 00:21:54:06
What is the reason you would use ibuprofen or something for a child? I think where parents get concerned is my kids not sleeping, and if the kid isn’t sleeping because rest is one of the most important things, right? So can you address that? What? When can we use ibuprofen or or something else? If our child is just beside themselves with discomfort and pain.
DeeDee Hoover
00:21:54:06 – 00:21:54:48
Right.
Dr. Paul
00:21:54:53 – 00:22:14:21
So some of our viewers who are major league natural people, you know how to use, you know, curcumin, turmeric, you can make this golden thing with some natural honey. Your kids should be over a year before you use honey. There are some natural fever reducers and and homeopathic, so you can definitely look into that. I’m not an expert on that.
Dr. Paul
00:22:14:21 – 00:22:17:57
Just know don’t let fever be your defining symptom.
DeeDee Hoover
00:22:18:04 – 00:22:38:54
If my child is tested and this has happened. I heard this happening a lot, but it took him to the doctor’s office, pediatric pediatricians office, and they were tested. They tested positive for something like strep throat or something like that. And I really don’t want to give them enough biotics. Is there a reason that, I mean, do I have to?
Dr. Paul
00:22:38:59 – 00:22:57:35
It depends. So if they tested positive for a viral infection, no, they don’t need any biotics. So if they came back positive for RSV or for influenza A or B, maybe they’re testing for other viruses. Usually not, but not you absolutely don’t need antibiotics for viral infections. And when you’ve proven a viral infection, you absolutely don’t need antibiotics, right?
Dr. Paul
00:22:57:35 – 00:23:23:27
At least at that point, unless in the context of an infection, even if it’s viral, your immune system is suppressed and it is more likely that you get a bacterial infection. It’s more possible okay than someone who doesn’t have an infection. So that’s where it started as a viral infection, as RSV, as flu, as a cold and now they’ve got a higher fever and now they’re getting sicker and they’re coughing worse either.
Dr. Paul
00:23:23:27 – 00:23:46:42
Perhaps they have pertussis, which can be treated with high dose vitamin C and maybe an antibiotic called azithromycin and C pack, or they’ve gotten a different bacterial infection on top of the viral infection. We had stories of a couple deaths from measles this past year in Texas. Well, I spoke with the team of doctors that saw those kids and those who analyzed the medical records of those kids.
Dr. Paul
00:23:46:42 – 00:24:09:23
They didn’t die from measles. They died from inappropriate treatment of other infections that came on top of the measles. Okay, so measles can make you pretty sick. Well, if you then get a mycoplasma pneumonia, which is the most common cause of, you know, school age kids getting pneumonia that needs to be treated. But certainly if you have an actual pneumonia and those kids weren’t put on the correct antibiotic.
Dr. Paul
00:24:09:28 – 00:24:16:20
So there’s there’s a whole rationale for which antibiotic you pick for what situation. And sometimes you need to use them, but it’s very rare that you do.
DeeDee Hoover
00:24:16:29 – 00:24:25:30
We hear so much about antibiotics and things and how those are horrible for our kids. Yes. So they have a bacterial infection. Do I have to use.
Dr. Paul
00:24:25:34 – 00:24:50:43
So now my kid who got 13 rounds of antibiotics for ear infections, I wonder how he would have done had he gotten zero because guess what? He probably would have been just fine. There’s something that happens when we repeatedly treat ear infections with antibiotics is they actually are more prone to getting more ear infections. It’s it’s because we’re disrupting the gut flora and the microbiome in the intestinal tract.
Dr. Paul
00:24:50:43 – 00:25:12:51
And that microbiome is responsible for a lot of our immunity. So we are compromising their immune system by all this antibiotic use and overuse. So antibiotics have a place, but it should be last resort for bacterial infections that are serious, not for colds and coughs and flus and, you know, ear infections and, you know, strep throat. I would treat with antibiotics.
Dr. Paul
00:25:12:51 – 00:25:30:39
I know a couple natural paths who feel confident enough that they can get people through a strep throat without antibiotics. I don’t fault them necessarily. I remember having discussions with various naturopaths and some felt like I did. If it’s an actual bad strep throat, probably better to treat it.
DeeDee Hoover
00:25:30:46 – 00:25:48:32
When can I send my kid back to school? Because I work? That’s one of the questions I get a lot is we have working parents that they’re having to take off work to be with their child a lot of, and that’s one of the reasons that kids get sick or at school and childcare. So when do I have to keep my kid home and when can I send them back?
Dr. Paul
00:25:48:37 – 00:26:08:10
So quarantine works, folks. I mean, if you know, if another massive, horrible infection hits our world, I’m going to stay home. I’m going to stay out of public places, but I’m not going to worry about it, because if I’m not around the sick people, I’m not going to get sick. When you send your kid to school, you are exposing them to everything that’s going around.
Dr. Paul
00:26:08:10 – 00:26:32:36
Let’s just face it, kids are in close quarters and their hygiene is borderline. You mean handwashing? Said and said. You know they’re going to share their germs. I mean, they’re coughing and sneezing and touching their noses and everything else. So, except for when there’s a massive outbreak of, say, whooping cough or measles, something like that. That can truly, at times get serious.
Dr. Paul
00:26:32:41 – 00:26:54:39
I would feel fine sending kids to school when they’re getting exposed to colds. Everybody’s already had a cold. Same with RSV, by the way. You cannot prevent your kid from being exposed to RSV unless you just keep them on. Period. During RSV season, almost every infant gets RSV. If you’re under age 2 or 3, you’re in in a daycare or school like system, you’re going to get RSV and you’re mostly going to do fine.
Dr. Paul
00:26:54:39 – 00:27:09:40
But if you can avoid getting RSV, I think that would be great. So the reality of what parents are doing, because remember, we’re talking at the top of the show. You get 5 to 7 calls in. Most parents are vaccinating. Their kids are going to be sick the whole winter. The parents are going to have to stay home.
Dr. Paul
00:27:09:40 – 00:27:24:51
Somebody’s going to stay home for much of the winter. It’s not practical. It’s not the reality that most parents can live with. So what they’re going to do is, you know, give a little if they’re over six months, give a little ibuprofen, and off you go to school. So you don’t get that call. The kid’s got the fever at school, right?
Dr. Paul
00:27:24:51 – 00:27:35:47
Ibuprofen off you go. And the same with oh, man, I was such a bad parent. I would give I would give ibuprofen at bedtime. I was I didn’t want them to wake me up in the middle of night with a fever.
DeeDee Hoover
00:27:35:52 – 00:27:36:27
Oh my gosh.
Dr. Paul
00:27:36:30 – 00:27:53:22
I am not saying that’s what you should do. You can take the young child and infant and co-sleep if you don’t have a fever and your body’s normal temperature and they’re warm, they’re being up skin to skin against you and your body’s not warm. Could actually reduce their fever. That could go either way. If you tend to.
DeeDee Hoover
00:27:53:23 – 00:27:54:23
It’s a whole nother something.
Dr. Paul
00:27:54:24 – 00:27:57:28
You tend to create a lot of heat. And don’t do that. Don’t create more heat.
DeeDee Hoover
00:27:57:35 – 00:28:06:05
Should I just keep my kid home and homeschool my kid? Because in the winter, because I don’t isn’t is it better that they don’t catch anything?
Dr. Paul
00:28:06:10 – 00:28:20:59
So if you can do that, there’s certainly nothing wrong with it. I would support that. It’s not a reality for most parents, but you know, you don’t need to be afraid of infections either. I mean, in.
DeeDee Hoover
00:28:20:59 – 00:28:21:58
In fact, I can say that my.
Dr. Paul
00:28:22:04 – 00:28:42:23
Infections are exercising the immune system, right? So, I mean, like we get calls all the time about travel, I’m afraid to go on an airplane. Right. And here’s the thing. I’ll tell if you have a new baby that first two months, don’t go out into public spaces, especially in the winter. Definitely avoid plane travel if you can.
Dr. Paul
00:28:42:28 – 00:29:00:55
I mean, being a pediatrician, for as long as I was, it was like clockwork. You go on a vacation, but you go on a plane and it’s between December and March. You come back sick. Somebody at that reunion? Yeah. Even if you’re an adult. Somebody at that family reunion, at that gathering was sick because so many people are sick at that time of year, and you come back sick.
Dr. Paul
00:29:01:00 – 00:29:07:06
Who wants that? Right? So if you can avoid that, great. But should you be afraid of it? Absolutely not.
DeeDee Hoover
00:29:07:11 – 00:29:26:32
No, I think that’s where and I guess I’ve been saying it wrong is when parents will say that. Should I just keep them home and avoid them ever getting sick? My responses I have always thought and been told, and that is I do want you to address, is that we do want them. I’ve always said we do want them to catch things in order to build the strength of their immune system.
Dr. Paul
00:29:26:32 – 00:29:59:45
Is that yes, that’s fine. However, and I used to say that because most of my patients were kids, were in daycare, we had two parents working and they had no other way to do it. And so if that’s your situation and you don’t really have a choice, it’s fine. Go with it, right? If you have a choice, would would you would your kid be better off maybe being home schooled for the first couple, 2 or 3 years of life, and then when they’re a little older and their immune system more developed, then get all these infections.
Dr. Paul
00:29:59:45 – 00:30:21:55
Yes, it would be better when you have a more robust immune system. So the first 4 to 6 months you are relying on the immunity your mom transferred to you through the umbilical cord. And those antibodies last 4 to 6 months. During those first 4 to 6 months, you’re also starting to develop your own immune system. But it’s not super robust.
Dr. Paul
00:30:22:06 – 00:30:43:12
You know, there’s there’s a reason that infants and newborns don’t react to very many things. And that’s because they’ve got to survive in this world. And if they’re reacting to everything, they just they wouldn’t work. So the infant, the newborn in the womb and the newborn, the immune system is somewhat suppressed. But you do have that natural immunity that came from mom.
DeeDee Hoover
00:30:44:07 – 00:30:57:45
All right. I think we covered most of because, again, that this time of year, we just get so many questions around that we have kids first forever. And you coach and a personal coach, and they don’t always need when they have these simple questions. Don’t you offer something?
Dr. Paul
00:30:57:49 – 00:31:18:03
Yes. You can have a coaching session with either of us online. We’re face to face. We’re we’re going to be part of your team, and help you with whatever situation you’re going through. The problem with simple questions is there’s more to it. And so we would ask for some background information so that we make sure we’re not misleading you or misguiding you.
Dr. Paul
00:31:18:08 – 00:31:39:08
We’re not diagnosing or treating, but we’re just helping you with information that might help your situation, whatever it may be. And I can do some of those by email. So so you have your question. You give we’ll make sure you give us the information we need to give you a proper response. I think the beauty of becoming one of our coaches, if you will, is that you’re part of our family.
Dr. Paul
00:31:39:17 – 00:32:02:23
And the combination of these two here is pretty powerful, because I have the pediatric background and this woman has intuition like you wouldn’t. You can’t believe God guided an amazing coach. So we are available at Kids First forever.com. And I really hope this show is helpful for somebody. I look forward to seeing you every week and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
Dr. Paul
00:32:02:27 – 00:32:09:57
Thanks for watching.
Speakers’ Speaking Times
- Dr. Paul — 81.4%
- DeeDee Hoover — 18.6%
Dr. Paul
00:00:40:34 – 00:01:05:39
VAX facts this book hits bookstores December 10th. You can get a copy now by going to VAX Facts book.com, where you can get a signed author’s copy, where you can order an e-book, or you can also preorder the book if you are seeing this message before December 10th. You can also order this book at any bookseller, any bookstore, wherever books are sold, and preorder your copy.
Dr. Paul
00:01:05:53 – 00:01:17:28
Get this book for your loved ones, for your family, for yourself, and let’s get healthy.
Dr. Paul
00:01:35:10 – 00:01:57:10
Good morning. Welcome to Pediatric Perspectives, where we are looking at children’s health challenges from a different perspective, one that includes critical thinking. We’re not afraid to ask the difficult questions. Today, we’re flipping the script and my partner coauthor on the book, Vacs facts, Deedee Hoover. She goes by JM just a mom. She’s going to take the reins and ask me the questions that she’s getting.
Dr. Paul
00:01:57:10 – 00:02:12:52
So she’s she tracks all the questions that you all send in to HDTV. Regarding what you’re interested in, questions you may have. So she’s going to hit me with some of the most common questions that you all have been asking. I actually don’t know exactly what I’m going to get asked. So we’re going to see what happens here.
DeeDee Hoover
00:02:12:53 – 00:02:32:24
So I want to make one correction. Okay. Polly Tommy tracks all the questions. You can see HD. Okay. However we have five websites that people can submit questions to. And that’s what I’m going to ask today is we get asked a lot of questions. So I call it Frequently Asked questions of a pediatrician.
Dr. Paul
00:02:32:28 – 00:02:33:19
Sounds good.
DeeDee Hoover
00:02:33:24 – 00:02:48:37
All right. So right now what’s been happening and I’m talking daily I’m getting at least 1 or 2 of questions around this. And we have coached on this or I have coached on this a lot this winter. Colds, flus, viruses. Why are they lasting longer?
Dr. Paul
00:02:48:39 – 00:03:16:00
That’s a good question. I can only make an educated, hopefully very well informed guess because we’re hearing this a lot. People are getting sick this winter and they’re staying sick longer. Why? Well, the interesting thing that’s happened this year is we are seeing a number of different infections happening all around the same time at much greater magnitude, you know, frequency.
Dr. Paul
00:03:16:09 – 00:03:36:45
So we’re talking about actual flu, which really is only at the peak of the flu season. About 10% of the cases of what looks like flu is actually flu. But we’re seeing a lot of flu. We’re definitely seeing a lot of RSV restoration social virus and it that can last a long time anyway. So it could just be that there’s more RSV than usual this year would be one reason.
Dr. Paul
00:03:36:49 – 00:04:03:48
But there’s also pertussis going around. And I think it’s a big year for pertussis. That’s whooping cough. All these things including Covid still going around, including all the normal colds and flu viruses that are going around when they start stacking on each other or one end to the other, it feels like you’re sick for months. And actually with just RSV, for example, or pertussis, you can be sick, you can be coughing for weeks or even months, especially with pertussis.
Dr. Paul
00:04:03:53 – 00:04:24:12
So I think that’s the why of it all. There’s a lot of things going on. Could there be a new or an altered virus that’s especially persistent and hard to clear. Yeah. It’s possible. I mean we saw with Covid there was some funny business going on that the creation of SARS-CoV-2 in the bio labs in the bioweapons labs.
Dr. Paul
00:04:24:12 – 00:04:26:48
I don’t know that there’s such a thing going on, but it’s possible.
DeeDee Hoover
00:04:26:50 – 00:04:44:01
One of the questions I get asked is, like their kids will be sick for I’m hearing 6 to 8 weeks, right? They can’t go to school, coughs, all those things. But isn’t it. Isn’t it possible? I mean, one thing I personally wonder is, can’t they. Because their immune system is weakened by something, can’t they catch something else?
DeeDee Hoover
00:04:44:01 – 00:04:46:29
Aren’t they going to be more likely to catch a different bug?
Dr. Paul
00:04:46:31 – 00:05:10:22
Absolutely. That’s a phenomenon we see with vaccines too. So when you vaccinate against especially the combo vaccines that vaccinate against a lot of different things, it focuses the immune system on those things against which you’re vaccinating to the detriment of your immune system’s ability to cover everything else. Okay, it’s hyper focusing. The immune system on just certain things that are in the vaccine.
Dr. Paul
00:05:10:31 – 00:05:35:14
Well, to some extent that happens in real infections. So you’ve got you’re dealing with RSV and you’re a little down and out because you’re sick. And then you get exposed to the next thing, whether it’s pertussis or the flu or Covid or whatever, or just a common cold, vaccinated kids, the literature shows they get about 5 to 7 colds per winter, and if a cold last 7 to 10 days times seven, I mean, you’re at you had a month and a half right there.
Dr. Paul
00:05:35:25 – 00:05:41:16
Just fall on top of a cold. Now you throw in RSV, flu, Covid and no wonder right.
DeeDee Hoover
00:05:41:16 – 00:05:48:36
And you bring up a really good point. But I’m going to really bring up is but my child unvaccinated. Why are they getting sick.
Dr. Paul
00:05:48:40 – 00:06:12:30
Well unvaccinated kids still get sick. But they generally I mean my data and many other data sets now that are published show that unvaccinated kids are less often sick. And when they are sick, they get better quicker. Right. So this is definitely one of the huge advantages to to not vaccinating because your kids will will be healthier and less ill.
DeeDee Hoover
00:06:12:37 – 00:06:17:27
One of the questions that I get a lot is, you know, my child’s been sick for a long time. Does that mean they need antibiotics?
Dr. Paul
00:06:17:30 – 00:06:35:23
Well, the antibiotics question when you go to a mainstream pediatrician, I was one, by the way. I’m not diagnosing or treating. I’m just educating here in this platform as a pediatrician. And I would get a sick kid come in and they’ve got all the rest, right? Symptoms which are usually viral, by the way, you don’t need antibiotics for viruses.
DeeDee Hoover
00:06:35:23 – 00:06:36:19
Why?
Dr. Paul
00:06:36:24 – 00:06:37:40
Because they don’t work.
DeeDee Hoover
00:06:37:51 – 00:06:38:16
Okay.
Dr. Paul
00:06:38:18 – 00:07:04:58
Do nothing to reduce viral infections. And the antivirals are almost worthless in almost all cases. I mean, and are rare cases where there isn’t a specific antiviral. You can use acyclovir. Valacyclovir for herpes, for example, is is one use it can be done, but there’s almost never a good pharmaceutical, antiviral or anti antibiotic for most of the infections our kids have.
Dr. Paul
00:07:04:58 – 00:07:10:31
We just need to support their natural immune system so they can combat it naturally.
DeeDee Hoover
00:07:10:36 – 00:07:31:08
So is there a time or a reason I would put them on? Because to be honest with you parents, I get this all the time is I don’t understand the difference between viral and bacterial, so they don’t understand that. And so then that when a doctor tells them you have to put them on an antibiotic because it’s this or that, the parent we don’t understand, I have no idea.
Dr. Paul
00:07:31:13 – 00:07:53:58
So most pediatricians that are putting you on an antibiotic are covering the possibility that you have a bacterial infection. They are trying to prevent you from having to come back because your kid didn’t get better. Right. And so it’s kind of like insurance for them that you won’t leave and be disgusted because the doctor didn’t do anything right.
Dr. Paul
00:07:53:59 – 00:08:11:00
At least they gave me this antibiotic. So there’s this huge incentive for doctors to prescribe. It keeps the parents happy. But honestly, parents, it’s rare that you need an antibiotic. I mean, I know unvaccinated families who have children who are in their teens, who have never had a single antibiotic.
DeeDee Hoover
00:08:11:00 – 00:08:11:19
Right.
Dr. Paul
00:08:11:34 – 00:08:34:01
That blows me away because my kids I mean, one of my kids had 13 rounds of ear infections and antibiotics. My fault for buying into that as the way to treat it. Most ear infections do not need antibiotics will get better on their own, just as easily. Maybe it takes a day or two longer if you don’t start the antibiotics, even in those cases where the antibiotics might work.
Dr. Paul
00:08:34:06 – 00:08:42:18
So we need to let our natural immune systems kick in and reserve antibiotics for those rare instances where you actually do need them.
DeeDee Hoover
00:08:42:22 – 00:08:52:04
You know, I’ve got this child that hasn’t had anything no vaccines, nothing, no antibiotics. And my child is really sick. Is there a reason that I would need to do an antibiotic?
Dr. Paul
00:08:52:09 – 00:09:13:53
There could be. So what I used to do in the winter when I had the sickest kids, right. So let’s say I had 15,000 patients in my practice at the time. And I was seeing but at the height of winter 20, 30 sick kids a day back when I was super busy, and out of those 2030 sick kids, there was maybe one arm, no more than 1 or 2, sometimes none.
Dr. Paul
00:09:13:58 – 00:09:23:00
They were sick enough for me to think, oh, they might need an antibiotic, or they might need to go to the hospital, right. So you’ve got to figure that out.
DeeDee Hoover
00:09:23:07 – 00:09:37:34
That is a big thing, right? Is that whether or not my child needs an antibiotic, you know, what are the signs and symptoms I’m looking at for something severe? And when do I need to go? When do I need to go to the doctor and when do I need to go to the emergency room? What’s the.
Dr. Paul
00:09:37:34 – 00:09:57:53
Difference? You need to go to the emergency room when your child is, scary sick. What pediatricians call toxic. So in my training, I took care of the sickest kids. And, I mean, I even ran an urgent care for pediatrics. So I was all the sickest kids in town were coming to me, and then I would help determine whether they need to be hospitalized.
Dr. Paul
00:09:57:54 – 00:10:14:48
Right. That’s sort of like the function of a ER. Now, a pediatric emergency room would be getting the sickest kids and trying to figure out if they need to be hospitalized, or can we send them back home with some approach. Right. The truth of the matter is, if you have a practitioner, if I were in practice, I’m not.
Dr. Paul
00:10:14:48 – 00:10:29:30
I don’t diagnose or treat. But if I were in practice and I could see your child would examine them, would be nice to listen to the lungs, the heart, check the ears and throat and all that stuff. But if I could just see them, make sure they’re not struggling to breathe, they’re not dehydrated. They’re still. And you can get some of this by history.
Dr. Paul
00:10:29:39 – 00:10:51:03
They’re still drinking and eating. They’re they’re not at risk of being dehydration. And their observations okay. If you have a coughing infant or a coughing young child or any age child that it’s especially the youngest ones who are more vulnerable to getting in trouble and they’ve got respiratory symptoms, cough, they might have fever, body aches, sore throat, but they’ve got a bad cough and they’re sick.
Dr. Paul
00:10:51:08 – 00:11:08:24
How do you know if they need to go to the emergency room or the hospital? What you were asking me. Right. Well, there’s a couple a few things you can use to help make that decision, but I hope you have somebody in your on your court, on your team that will help you look at that kid and somebody with a lot of experience with sick kids.
Dr. Paul
00:11:08:28 – 00:11:29:49
And they can just look at your child and go, oh yeah, you know, you you got to go, right? How would I know that if I was the one observing your child? Well, they may look really, really, really sick. They’re not making good eye contact. They’re just sort of almost roll. Eyes are almost rolling in their head. They go from irritable to lethargic, being sort of listless and out of it.
Dr. Paul
00:11:29:54 – 00:11:35:07
And they they’re not eating well. They’re not drinking well, they’re.
Dr. Paul
00:11:35:12 – 00:11:55:42
They’re working really hard to breathe. Okay. That kid is in trouble. If I had a pulse ox, it’s a little box. The hospitals have fancier ones, but you can get a little box for, like, 30, 40 bucks. Put it on the finger. Beep beep beep beep. The highest number you get. That’s the accurate number. If that pulse ox never gets over 90, and you know a young child who’s struggling to breathe, they’ve got to go to the emergency room.
Dr. Paul
00:11:55:42 – 00:12:12:51
They probably need oxygen. And if they need oxygen, they’re going to need to be hospitalized. If your pulse ox is 93, 95 higher, there is no oxygen need. The only issue for hospitalization is need I.V. fluids. If they don’t need IV fluids because they’re still drinking and eating, then you can tough it out, hang it, hang in there with them.
Dr. Paul
00:12:12:51 – 00:12:34:52
And that’s 99.9% of the cases don’t need to be hospitalized. Pulse oximeter is the full name for ox. It’s a little device that threw a little light feature. It measures your pulse. It captures the amount of oxygen in each of those pulses of blood flow through your capillary system on your finger, and it’s a really great tool.
Dr. Paul
00:12:34:54 – 00:12:57:49
I had this Italian family once. I love the way she put it with her Italian accent. No respectful Italian family would go into child rearing without a pulse oximeter, and that’s cool because it really is a useful tool. And, you know, I know with Covid we got shipped down the wrong path by worrying about the oxygenation for a different sort of illness.
Dr. Paul
00:12:57:49 – 00:13:06:40
But these illnesses that are getting kids today that we’re talking about now, knowing that their oxygen is fine, golden, you don’t have to worry as long as they’re still drinking and eating.
DeeDee Hoover
00:13:06:49 – 00:13:14:43
Something that I’ve dealt with a lot. And in coaching, these parents that call us is that just because they’re coughing doesn’t mean they’re oxygen is low.
Dr. Paul
00:13:14:48 – 00:13:15:26
Oh, absolutely.
DeeDee Hoover
00:13:15:26 – 00:13:26:48
Correct. And I think that’s the thing people get afraid of the most is what are those symptoms? I’m at home. I’m not going to. The doctors I’ve heard of people say, well, I’ve called the nurse online and their.
Dr. Paul
00:13:26:48 – 00:13:28:22
Doctor, they’ll tell you to go to the ER.
DeeDee Hoover
00:13:28:31 – 00:13:30:50
Yeah. And explain why.
Dr. Paul
00:13:30:55 – 00:13:47:33
So if you called me, I say, how is your pediatrician? Back when I was in practice and I happened to be on call, which in the old days I used to do a lot. And you’re the mom and you tell me I’m listening on the phone and you’re telling me. Yeah, my child’s lethargic and they’re breathing hard and they’re coughing all the time.
Dr. Paul
00:13:47:37 – 00:14:06:59
You use those words lethargic or they’re super irritable. They’re lethargic, they’re listless. I can’t take a chance and reassure you. I haven’t even seen the child. I don’t know what they’re looking like. I don’t know what their pulse oximeter is reading. I don’t know the restaurant rate. I don’t have enough data. And honestly, I would need to eyeball that kid.
Dr. Paul
00:14:07:04 – 00:14:31:23
And by eyeballing that kid with the experience I’ve had, I would probably be able to go, ooh, I think you probably should go in, right? Or a lot of the time the kid looks fine. But here’s what you need to watch for, right? So there’s things like how fast is the infant breathing if we’re talking about an infant, if they’re breathing 60 breaths per minute or more, that’s one that’s 2000 okay.
Dr. Paul
00:14:31:24 – 00:14:47:54
Their oxygenation is going to be right around 90. They’re right at that point where if they if that gets any worse, they’re going to need oxygen and they’re going to need it fast and they’re going to need a lot of it. Okay. And really the beautiful thing about young kids is they all get better if you provide them the support they need.
Dr. Paul
00:14:47:59 – 00:15:02:30
If they need oxygen, they need oxygen. If they need fluids, they need fluids. But other than that, and those rare instances where they might need antibiotics, so we we would do. If your kid is close to being hospitalized or needs to be asked why you do blood work, it helps you. Is this viral or bacterial? You do swabs.
Dr. Paul
00:15:02:30 – 00:15:21:40
We used to swab kids for 30 different things in one nasal swab, but it included, coronavirus. Before we had Covid, it included influenza A and B, it includes adenovirus. It includes all the bacterial things for which you do need antibiotics if you’ve gotten pneumonia from those things. So there’s a lot of information you can get, but a lot of this can be managed at home.
Dr. Paul
00:15:21:40 – 00:15:23:21
If you have a team that knows what they’re doing.
DeeDee Hoover
00:15:23:36 – 00:15:39:40
We had a baby who was oxygen was low. They lived further away on their own. They took grandma’s oxygen and gave the baby some oxygen and the thing went up. Still had a fever. So the one thing I feel like we do have to talk about, and I want to ask you, is, does a fever play into any of this?
DeeDee Hoover
00:15:39:40 – 00:15:47:09
And when is a fever dangerous? Because that’s the big thing. I always ask, do they have a fever? They don’t have a fever. I think they’re fine.
Dr. Paul
00:15:47:14 – 00:16:07:36
While they’re fine if they’re also breathing and eating and drink okay, they could still be in trouble and not have a fever because especially young infants less than two months old, they don’t always make a fever. It’s very interesting. We’re able to make a fever. And the older we get, the more robust our immune system gets. That’s part of a natural immune response is to mount inflammation, mount a fever.
Dr. Paul
00:16:07:36 – 00:16:30:28
That’s what attacks the infecting organisms. So here’s what you need to know about fever. If your baby is beyond 2 or 3 months, I would say two months is a safe cut off before two months. And if you have a real fever, just go get that baby scene. So we’re talking 100.6, 38.4. If you’re using, centigrade instead of Fahrenheit or above.
Dr. Paul
00:16:30:28 – 00:16:52:26
So if you’re above 38.4, if you’re above 100.6 and your baby’s less than two months old, just play it safe. Go get that baby evaluated. There’s enough of a chance it’s still love. Like in the 2%. Maybe at the most. 4% of those infants actually need antibiotics, so that means 96 to 98% of them do not need antibiotics.
Dr. Paul
00:16:52:31 – 00:16:58:04
But you don’t want to miss that. 2 to 4% who might have a serious blood infection or meningitis.
DeeDee Hoover
00:16:58:04 – 00:17:01:20
And they’re going to have other symptoms of just, besides a fever. Right.
Dr. Paul
00:17:01:20 – 00:17:23:20
Because they would at 99. Well, 98% of those babies don’t have anything serious. And all they have is a cold or the flu or, you know, but you don’t want to miss that 2%. But the symptoms still in little infants is are they breathing okay or are they drinking and eating okay. And are they alert they may at least have moments of alertness where they’re looking you in the eye, or maybe they’re smiling already.
Dr. Paul
00:17:23:25 – 00:17:45:19
And you get that reassurance that, okay, they’re there, they’re home. Somebody is there, right? Look in the eyes and you’re getting that connectedness, and they’re still hydrated and still eating and drinking your good. But if they have a fever and they’re under two months old to address the fever thing. Now the flip side of that is you got a three month old who’s got 103, oh my gosh, what if it’s 104 but 104?
Dr. Paul
00:17:45:19 – 00:18:05:18
The risk of a bacterial infections starts to go up. But below that as long as they’re still looking fine, they’re breathing okay, they’re hydrated, they’re eating and drinking. And they’re not the toxic thing. They’re not like really lethargic and irritable. And nobody’s home. Sometimes in those cases, when you get up above 102, you got to bring the fever down and see if they still look okay.
Dr. Paul
00:18:05:25 – 00:18:23:36
Right? Right. So you can sponge bath lukewarm washcloth or sponge or whatever. As the water evaporates off your body within five, ten minutes, you can bring that fever down. Now, how do they look? Because if you’re a hundred and for most babies look delirious, they look scary sick. Get the fever down below 102 and they’re like, oh, I feel better.
Dr. Paul
00:18:23:36 – 00:18:25:26
And they want to play. You’re good.
DeeDee Hoover
00:18:25:31 – 00:18:42:10
Doesn’t that kind of go for all the ages too? Because again, we get a lot of older kids three, 4 or 5, six, ten who parents are really worried. They’ve they’ve all of a sudden started this fever. And yeah it’s only 100 and 203, but they can’t get them to wake up. So there’s a lot of things you’re looking at.
Dr. Paul
00:18:42:12 – 00:18:58:18
If you can’t get your kid to wake up, you need to sponge them down and get that fever down fast. And if they’re still not waking up, that’s 911 material. Yeah. A kid who’s not waking up, spray him with some cold water. They don’t wake up to that. You’re not. You get to the hospital right away.
DeeDee Hoover
00:18:58:24 – 00:19:19:08
And you’re right. I think it’s okay to. I think parents need to know. And again, and you’ve actually addressed this, I think that what happens for parents with unvaccinated children is they will stay home longer, and they’ll be more leery, and especially of calling 911, because if these people come into their home, we feel vulnerable, right? We don’t want that to happen.
DeeDee Hoover
00:19:19:13 – 00:19:31:55
But again, explain if you could also explain the differences between lethargic and agitated, because that’s when we get I’ll have parents say my child’s super lethargic. And what they mean is they’re cranky and fussy. Anything that’s normal, right?
Dr. Paul
00:19:32:00 – 00:19:32:17
Yeah.
DeeDee Hoover
00:19:32:17 – 00:19:33:16
You’re sick. Yeah.
Dr. Paul
00:19:33:19 – 00:19:44:06
You’re sick. So, you and I coach, and, as part of that coaching, it’s if it’s long distance, which usually it is, we get to see that baby on the screen.
Dr. Paul
00:19:44:10 – 00:20:11:22
Right. And 99.9% of the time both of us have worked with so many kids for so long we can look and go, yeah your kid looks great. Mom was calling this kid lethargic or irritable and they’re like smiling and playing and nursing or whatever. It’s like, yeah, we’re we’re this looks good. Now. We’re not diagnosing or treating. We’re just observing with them as part of being part of their team, and giving them tips on things to think about.
DeeDee Hoover
00:20:11:27 – 00:20:31:34
Right. Well, and I think that parental support is really important too. I think when I tell people if you don’t have, like most of the people that reach out to us, our new moms that don’t have family members, that can help them with whether or not their child is, is really sick and needs to be seen. Yeah. So what are some of the other things that we can do for these kids when they’re sick?
DeeDee Hoover
00:20:31:34 – 00:20:33:52
You mentioned for a fever you can.
Dr. Paul
00:20:33:57 – 00:20:56:03
Get the fever down. Down. Yeah. Don’t don’t be afraid of the fever. If your kid’s not really out of it or they’re not crazy irritable and the fever is less than 102, I would say do nothing for the fever. Fever is the proper immune response to an infection, right. And by bringing it down, you’re actually harming the body’s ability to kill and suppress the viral or bacterial infection.
Dr. Paul
00:20:56:03 – 00:21:15:50
So we like fever. That’s a robust good immune response. So that’s absolutely something to do. Too often we’re reaching for fever control medicine. And I ever give Tylenol I was about to bring that up. I trained my patients for 20 plus years. Get Tylenol out of your house, period. That way you’re not even tempted to go use it.
Dr. Paul
00:21:15:55 – 00:21:34:49
It has no place. Ibuprofen is not as bad as Tylenol for a number of reasons, although it still can have problems. But you can’t give every problem for six months, so that’s something to remember. But you can. There are natural things one can do if you do need to get the fever down, and especially just sponging down. If it’s a short term thing, you need to see how your kid looks when the fever is lower.
DeeDee Hoover
00:21:34:49 – 00:21:54:06
What is the reason you would use ibuprofen or something for a child? I think where parents get concerned is my kids not sleeping, and if the kid isn’t sleeping because rest is one of the most important things, right? So can you address that? What? When can we use ibuprofen or or something else? If our child is just beside themselves with discomfort and pain.
DeeDee Hoover
00:21:54:06 – 00:21:54:48
Right.
Dr. Paul
00:21:54:53 – 00:22:14:21
So some of our viewers who are major league natural people, you know how to use, you know, curcumin, turmeric, you can make this golden thing with some natural honey. Your kids should be over a year before you use honey. There are some natural fever reducers and and homeopathic, so you can definitely look into that. I’m not an expert on that.
Dr. Paul
00:22:14:21 – 00:22:17:57
Just know don’t let fever be your defining symptom.
DeeDee Hoover
00:22:18:04 – 00:22:38:54
If my child is tested and this has happened. I heard this happening a lot, but it took him to the doctor’s office, pediatric pediatricians office, and they were tested. They tested positive for something like strep throat or something like that. And I really don’t want to give them enough biotics. Is there a reason that, I mean, do I have to?
Dr. Paul
00:22:38:59 – 00:22:57:35
It depends. So if they tested positive for a viral infection, no, they don’t need any biotics. So if they came back positive for RSV or for influenza A or B, maybe they’re testing for other viruses. Usually not, but not you absolutely don’t need antibiotics for viral infections. And when you’ve proven a viral infection, you absolutely don’t need antibiotics, right?
Dr. Paul
00:22:57:35 – 00:23:23:27
At least at that point, unless in the context of an infection, even if it’s viral, your immune system is suppressed and it is more likely that you get a bacterial infection. It’s more possible okay than someone who doesn’t have an infection. So that’s where it started as a viral infection, as RSV, as flu, as a cold and now they’ve got a higher fever and now they’re getting sicker and they’re coughing worse either.
Dr. Paul
00:23:23:27 – 00:23:46:42
Perhaps they have pertussis, which can be treated with high dose vitamin C and maybe an antibiotic called azithromycin and C pack, or they’ve gotten a different bacterial infection on top of the viral infection. We had stories of a couple deaths from measles this past year in Texas. Well, I spoke with the team of doctors that saw those kids and those who analyzed the medical records of those kids.
Dr. Paul
00:23:46:42 – 00:24:09:23
They didn’t die from measles. They died from inappropriate treatment of other infections that came on top of the measles. Okay, so measles can make you pretty sick. Well, if you then get a mycoplasma pneumonia, which is the most common cause of, you know, school age kids getting pneumonia that needs to be treated. But certainly if you have an actual pneumonia and those kids weren’t put on the correct antibiotic.
Dr. Paul
00:24:09:28 – 00:24:16:20
So there’s there’s a whole rationale for which antibiotic you pick for what situation. And sometimes you need to use them, but it’s very rare that you do.
DeeDee Hoover
00:24:16:29 – 00:24:25:30
We hear so much about antibiotics and things and how those are horrible for our kids. Yes. So they have a bacterial infection. Do I have to use.
Dr. Paul
00:24:25:34 – 00:24:50:43
So now my kid who got 13 rounds of antibiotics for ear infections, I wonder how he would have done had he gotten zero because guess what? He probably would have been just fine. There’s something that happens when we repeatedly treat ear infections with antibiotics is they actually are more prone to getting more ear infections. It’s it’s because we’re disrupting the gut flora and the microbiome in the intestinal tract.
Dr. Paul
00:24:50:43 – 00:25:12:51
And that microbiome is responsible for a lot of our immunity. So we are compromising their immune system by all this antibiotic use and overuse. So antibiotics have a place, but it should be last resort for bacterial infections that are serious, not for colds and coughs and flus and, you know, ear infections and, you know, strep throat. I would treat with antibiotics.
Dr. Paul
00:25:12:51 – 00:25:30:39
I know a couple natural paths who feel confident enough that they can get people through a strep throat without antibiotics. I don’t fault them necessarily. I remember having discussions with various naturopaths and some felt like I did. If it’s an actual bad strep throat, probably better to treat it.
DeeDee Hoover
00:25:30:46 – 00:25:48:32
When can I send my kid back to school? Because I work? That’s one of the questions I get a lot is we have working parents that they’re having to take off work to be with their child a lot of, and that’s one of the reasons that kids get sick or at school and childcare. So when do I have to keep my kid home and when can I send them back?
Dr. Paul
00:25:48:37 – 00:26:08:10
So quarantine works, folks. I mean, if you know, if another massive, horrible infection hits our world, I’m going to stay home. I’m going to stay out of public places, but I’m not going to worry about it, because if I’m not around the sick people, I’m not going to get sick. When you send your kid to school, you are exposing them to everything that’s going around.
Dr. Paul
00:26:08:10 – 00:26:32:36
Let’s just face it, kids are in close quarters and their hygiene is borderline. You mean handwashing? Said and said. You know they’re going to share their germs. I mean, they’re coughing and sneezing and touching their noses and everything else. So, except for when there’s a massive outbreak of, say, whooping cough or measles, something like that. That can truly, at times get serious.
Dr. Paul
00:26:32:41 – 00:26:54:39
I would feel fine sending kids to school when they’re getting exposed to colds. Everybody’s already had a cold. Same with RSV, by the way. You cannot prevent your kid from being exposed to RSV unless you just keep them on. Period. During RSV season, almost every infant gets RSV. If you’re under age 2 or 3, you’re in in a daycare or school like system, you’re going to get RSV and you’re mostly going to do fine.
Dr. Paul
00:26:54:39 – 00:27:09:40
But if you can avoid getting RSV, I think that would be great. So the reality of what parents are doing, because remember, we’re talking at the top of the show. You get 5 to 7 calls in. Most parents are vaccinating. Their kids are going to be sick the whole winter. The parents are going to have to stay home.
Dr. Paul
00:27:09:40 – 00:27:24:51
Somebody’s going to stay home for much of the winter. It’s not practical. It’s not the reality that most parents can live with. So what they’re going to do is, you know, give a little if they’re over six months, give a little ibuprofen, and off you go to school. So you don’t get that call. The kid’s got the fever at school, right?
Dr. Paul
00:27:24:51 – 00:27:35:47
Ibuprofen off you go. And the same with oh, man, I was such a bad parent. I would give I would give ibuprofen at bedtime. I was I didn’t want them to wake me up in the middle of night with a fever.
DeeDee Hoover
00:27:35:52 – 00:27:36:27
Oh my gosh.
Dr. Paul
00:27:36:30 – 00:27:53:22
I am not saying that’s what you should do. You can take the young child and infant and co-sleep if you don’t have a fever and your body’s normal temperature and they’re warm, they’re being up skin to skin against you and your body’s not warm. Could actually reduce their fever. That could go either way. If you tend to.
DeeDee Hoover
00:27:53:23 – 00:27:54:23
It’s a whole nother something.
Dr. Paul
00:27:54:24 – 00:27:57:28
You tend to create a lot of heat. And don’t do that. Don’t create more heat.
DeeDee Hoover
00:27:57:35 – 00:28:06:05
Should I just keep my kid home and homeschool my kid? Because in the winter, because I don’t isn’t is it better that they don’t catch anything?
Dr. Paul
00:28:06:10 – 00:28:20:59
So if you can do that, there’s certainly nothing wrong with it. I would support that. It’s not a reality for most parents, but you know, you don’t need to be afraid of infections either. I mean, in.
DeeDee Hoover
00:28:20:59 – 00:28:21:58
In fact, I can say that my.
Dr. Paul
00:28:22:04 – 00:28:42:23
Infections are exercising the immune system, right? So, I mean, like we get calls all the time about travel, I’m afraid to go on an airplane. Right. And here’s the thing. I’ll tell if you have a new baby that first two months, don’t go out into public spaces, especially in the winter. Definitely avoid plane travel if you can.
Dr. Paul
00:28:42:28 – 00:29:00:55
I mean, being a pediatrician, for as long as I was, it was like clockwork. You go on a vacation, but you go on a plane and it’s between December and March. You come back sick. Somebody at that reunion? Yeah. Even if you’re an adult. Somebody at that family reunion, at that gathering was sick because so many people are sick at that time of year, and you come back sick.
Dr. Paul
00:29:01:00 – 00:29:07:06
Who wants that? Right? So if you can avoid that, great. But should you be afraid of it? Absolutely not.
DeeDee Hoover
00:29:07:11 – 00:29:26:32
No, I think that’s where and I guess I’ve been saying it wrong is when parents will say that. Should I just keep them home and avoid them ever getting sick? My responses I have always thought and been told, and that is I do want you to address, is that we do want them. I’ve always said we do want them to catch things in order to build the strength of their immune system.
Dr. Paul
00:29:26:32 – 00:29:59:45
Is that yes, that’s fine. However, and I used to say that because most of my patients were kids, were in daycare, we had two parents working and they had no other way to do it. And so if that’s your situation and you don’t really have a choice, it’s fine. Go with it, right? If you have a choice, would would you would your kid be better off maybe being home schooled for the first couple, 2 or 3 years of life, and then when they’re a little older and their immune system more developed, then get all these infections.
Dr. Paul
00:29:59:45 – 00:30:21:55
Yes, it would be better when you have a more robust immune system. So the first 4 to 6 months you are relying on the immunity your mom transferred to you through the umbilical cord. And those antibodies last 4 to 6 months. During those first 4 to 6 months, you’re also starting to develop your own immune system. But it’s not super robust.
Dr. Paul
00:30:22:06 – 00:30:43:12
You know, there’s there’s a reason that infants and newborns don’t react to very many things. And that’s because they’ve got to survive in this world. And if they’re reacting to everything, they just they wouldn’t work. So the infant, the newborn in the womb and the newborn, the immune system is somewhat suppressed. But you do have that natural immunity that came from mom.
DeeDee Hoover
00:30:44:07 – 00:30:57:45
All right. I think we covered most of because, again, that this time of year, we just get so many questions around that we have kids first forever. And you coach and a personal coach, and they don’t always need when they have these simple questions. Don’t you offer something?
Dr. Paul
00:30:57:49 – 00:31:18:03
Yes. You can have a coaching session with either of us online. We’re face to face. We’re we’re going to be part of your team, and help you with whatever situation you’re going through. The problem with simple questions is there’s more to it. And so we would ask for some background information so that we make sure we’re not misleading you or misguiding you.
Dr. Paul
00:31:18:08 – 00:31:39:08
We’re not diagnosing or treating, but we’re just helping you with information that might help your situation, whatever it may be. And I can do some of those by email. So so you have your question. You give we’ll make sure you give us the information we need to give you a proper response. I think the beauty of becoming one of our coaches, if you will, is that you’re part of our family.
Dr. Paul
00:31:39:17 – 00:32:02:23
And the combination of these two here is pretty powerful, because I have the pediatric background and this woman has intuition like you wouldn’t. You can’t believe God guided an amazing coach. So we are available at Kids First forever.com. And I really hope this show is helpful for somebody. I look forward to seeing you every week and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
Dr. Paul
00:32:02:27 – 00:32:09:57
Thanks for watching.
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