Deworming Your Baby Or Child: 4 Things You Need To Know

Deworming your baby regularly is important. Ideally your baby should be dewormed every 6 months from 12 months of age. When you deworm do every member of the household including pets!

It is important to deworm regularly even if there is no sign of a worm infestation, or it is so slight that it is overlooked. A child with worms may have a sore tummy, weight loss and may be irritable.

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Parasites Can Cause Serious Illness

Parasites can cause serious illnesses such as diarrhea, pneumonia, anemia, and malnutrition. Deworming your baby will help protect them against these symptoms.

Deworming your child helps prevent worm infections by killing worms before they become a problem. It also prevents other children from getting sick from worms.

There are several different kinds of worms that can infect babies. Most commonly, roundworms (Ascaris lumbricoides) and hookworms (Necator americanus) are found in the intestines. These parasites can cause severe damage to the digestive tract, leading to malnutrition and weight loss.

How Do Babies And Children Get Worms?

Your baby or child can get worms from infected soil, infected water areas, undercooked or infected food, from another person (or pet that has worms).

Signs That Your Baby Has Worms

There may be obvious symptoms or slight symptoms that your baby has worms, and it may be overlooked. Depending on the type and severity of the worms your child may show some common symptoms of worms.

Here are some of the signs that your child may have worms:

• the obvious sighting of worms around the anus or in stools
• loss of appetite due to the pain or discomfort in the tummy
• itching or pain around the anus, where the worms entered
• a rash – especially hives
• nausea
• anemia
• painful and frequent urination due to urinary tract infection – this is more common in girls
• trouble sleeping
• constant coughs
• blood in the stools
• vomiting (rare)
• diarrhea – (rare)
• blockage of the intestines (rare)
• seizures (rare)
• PICA – eating non-nutritive, inedible things like chalk, soil, or paper

Deworming Your Baby – How To Get Rid Of Worms

Almost all worm infections can be treated with with oral medication. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor to ensure the deworming medication is suitable for your child. You can start giving your child deworming medication from the age of 12 months old and it is recommended to deworm everyone in your family, including pets, every 6 months.