Everyone knows that a child who shows signs of acute poisoning needs to wash out the stomach. But not many people know exactly how to do this, especially when it comes to very young children.
It is these children who are most often susceptible to poisoning. Their stomachs are sensitive, their immunity is weak, and the temptation to drag everything that lies badly into their mouths is great. We will tell you how to carry out this procedure correctly in this article.
Why is gastric lavage necessary?
Gastric lavage may be required if the child is poisoned, if he has swallowed something poisonous, toxic, as well as in case of overdose and drug poisoning.
Food poisoning is the most common in childhood.
In second place are drug poisoning. No matter how adults try to hide medicines forbidden for them from babies, it is possible that curious researchers will nevertheless find tempting bottles and pills and will definitely taste them. The same story is with household chemicals, soap, and cosmetics.
Gastric lavage will help to remove toxic contents and stop the further absorption of harmful substances in the body. After this procedure, as a rule, the child feels significant relief, and the healing process is significantly accelerated.
When can you carry out the procedure
You can wash your child's stomach at the first signs of poisoning - nausea, headache, if there is no vomiting or it does not bring relief to the child.
It is imperative to make sure that the child does not have internal bleeding. (there should be no impurities and streaks of blood in the feces and vomit).
At the time of the procedure, the child must be in his right mind and firm memory; in case of loss of consciousness, it is impossible to wash the stomach on his own.
Sometimes the need to flush the stomach arises not only in case of poisoning, but also in the event of intestinal obstruction, narrowing of the esophagus, as well as other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Contraindications
In order to flush the baby's stomach at home, the baby needs to be conscious. Fainting is a contraindication, as is the presence of a convulsive syndrome.
If there is any hint of bleeding from the stomach, the procedure should be abandoned. You can not even try to flush the stomach of a child who received severe burns to the larynx, esophagus and stomach itself when swallowing a liquid alkaline or acidic composition.
If the child has congenital or acquired pathologies associated with cerebrovascular accident, you cannot wash the stomach yourself.
If the baby's pulse is unstable, the heart beats unevenly, the heart rhythm is disturbed, it is better to refuse manipulation.
If you have doubts about the existing possible contraindications, call the ambulance and wait for qualified specialists.
Home way
If necessary, rinse the stomach at home using the manual method, which is called the "restaurant method". In this case, the child is abundantly watered with special solutions or plain water until the urge to vomit.
If the urge does not occur, the gag reflex is called manually by gently inserting the index finger into the baby's mouth and lightly pressing on the root of the uvula.
It can be quite difficult to perform such washing for a small child, whom it is almost impossible to force to drink the right amount of liquid. In this case, you will need an assistant - a second adult who will hold the baby while the first adult pours the solution into the child's mouth using a large twenty-millimeter syringe without a needle.
Liquid is poured along the inner surface of the cheek so that the baby does not have the opportunity to spit it out. Drinking solution or water should be warm, but not hot.
The algorithm of actions of adults should be clear and well-coordinated:
- The child is placed in the correct position. The baby is on her arms, lying on her side, the older baby is sitting or lying on her side. Such positions will not allow the child to choke on vomit if they gush out in a "fountain".
- A basin or other container for collecting vomit is placed on the floor at face level.
- After drinking, vomiting is stimulated by holding the child's head over the container.
- The washing is repeated, if necessary, until clear water begins to come out.
It should be noted that this method does not completely empty the stomach, but it is quite acceptable as a first aid. The main thing is to correctly calculate the amount of fluid that is given during the manipulation to the child:
- newborns - 200 ml;
- children from one and a half months to six months - 300 - 500 ml;
- children from 6 to 12 months - 500-700 ml;
- children from a year - 1 liter + 100 x number of years.
Example: a child was poisoned at 2 years old. He is supposed to have a volume of liquid equal to 1000 ml + 100x2 = 1200 ml. A 5-year-old child therefore needs at least 1500 ml to cleanse the stomach.
After washing, the child is allowed to rest for half an hour and they begin to drink him with oral rehydration products, which will avoid dehydration, and also restore the water-salt balance, which will certainly suffer as a result of vomiting. These tools include “Redigron”, “Humana Electrolyte”, “Smecta”.
They are given warm, it is desirable that the temperature of the liquid is equal to the body temperature of the baby, you can drink it in small portions with short breaks.
What to flush
A saline solution can be prepared for home rinsing. For this you need the most common table salt. The concentration should not be too strong, it is enough to add 2 tablespoons of salt to 5 liters of water.
The same proportions should be followed when preparing a soda solution. You can mix these solutions and give the child this mixture.
Rinse with potassium permanganate with great care. Even a slight overdose of crystals, uneven stirring of them can cause severe internal burns.
Without much experience in such manipulations, it is better to refuse a solution of potassium permanganate.
If you still want to use this particular antiseptic, it is important to follow the cooking rules - a small amount of crystals is diluted in water to a light pink color, after which the solution must be passed through a household charcoal filter.
After rinsing, after a few hours, you can start taking enterosorbents... Such drugs should always be in a home medicine cabinet - Enterosgel, activated carbon and white coal, Lactofiltrum.
Probe method
This method will allow you to more thoroughly cleanse the stomach, but you cannot flush it through a tube at home. And not only because there is not a probe in every apartment, but because the probe must be able to insert correctly without harming the baby
The ambulance doctors who have arrived can use the probe, and this technique is also used in medical institutions.
One of the parents will most likely have to assist the nurse during the manipulation.
The patient is seated or laid down. The baby is pre-wrapped with a sheet or a large dense diaper to avoid sudden movements, such violent behavior can result in injury to the esophagus and larynx.
An unconscious baby is laid on its side for washing. The parent's task is to hold the baby, one hand of the adult lies on top of the child's handles, the other must be placed on the baby's forehead, the legs of the little patient are fixed between the knees of the helping adult. The nurse does the rest.
First, the health care provider measures the distance to the stomach to get the tube down to the required depth. To do this, measure the distance from the earlobe to the tip of the nose and to the xiphoid process (this is the very bottom of the sternum, its narrowest part).
The child's mouth is opened with a spatula, if this does not come out, they resort to using a special tongue holder and a mouth dilator. The probe is inserted parallel to the midline of the uvula.
If, when passing the probe, the baby begins to choke, the procedure is interrupted and the attempt is repeated only after breathing has been restored.
The solution is injected through a funnel or Janet syringe without a plunger. The funnel is slowly raised higher and higher, and then quickly and carefully lowered it below the level of the stomach. The contents of this organ are poured into a previously prepared basin.
The manipulation is repeated until the liquid leaving the stomach becomes clear and clear.
The volume of liquid for such washing is calculated by the formula "1 liter for 1 year of life." After manipulation, the vomit is sent for laboratory testing.
Washing, carried out for infants and toddlers under 3 years old, has its own characteristics. The health worker must carefully measure his movements, for easier insertion of the probe, special pain-relieving sprays can be used.
Common mistakes - how not to harm
Liquid temperature
The temperature of the flushing fluid is critical. It is optimal if the solution has a temperature of 27-29 degrees.
Anything colder can provoke a sudden spasm of the alimentary tract, anything that is hot dilates blood vessels, as a result of which they become more permeable and toxins begin to be absorbed at a doubled rate.
Child placement
It is a mistake to force a child to wash the stomach over the toilet. Standing on your feet or kneeling in front of the toilet can cause vomit to enter the respiratory system.
It is important to collect the contents of the stomach into a basin when washing at home so that the visiting doctors can evaluate the vomit. This is necessary in the event that the cause of the poisoning is not obvious, the parents do not know what the child ate or drank.
Medicines
Children do not need to wash their stomachs with herbal decoctions and infusions, as some experts in alternative medicine advise. It is not known how the substances that are contained in the decoction of the medicinal plant react with the contents of the stomach.
How to understand that the procedure was successful?
Whatever the technique for freeing the baby's orgasm from unwanted substances, after it the child should feel much better... If the investment does not come, then either the procedure was performed incorrectly or insufficiently, or the intoxication is already so strong that the child needs intravenous drugs that will reduce the negative effects of toxins.
See below for visual instructions on flushing the baby's stomach.
