Pregnancy And Baby Care Toddler Illness Toddler Food Poisoning

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How to Avoid Food Poisoning in Toddlers

There are a few basic rules that you should follow in order to prevent food poisoning. Make sure that you wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating them raw. If you feed the toddler meats, make sure that it is very well cooked so that any harmful bacteria present in the flesh are completely destroyed. It is best not to feed leftover food to toddlers, but if you do, make it a point to refrigerate it for future use and heat it again just before consumption. You should also wash all your utensils thoroughly before and after cooking food in them to prevent the breeding of germs. Keep away pets from the kitchen as dander may cause food poisoning. In addition, keep an eye on the child so that he/she does not put dirty objects into her/his mouth.

Also, make the child wash his/her hands properly with antibacterial soap and water before and after meals in order to cleanse away germs and traces of dirt and soil trapped in the nails. Besides these precautionary measures, you may follow a few measures at home in order to bring some relief from the symptoms. Apply a warm compress on the child's stomach to reduce the intensity of the stomach cramps.

You should also make the child drink fluids like water and raw coconut water at regular intervals in order to prevent dehydration and to soothe the digestive tract. Very mild, non-spicy vegetable soups may also be fed to the toddler to replenish the nutrients lost from the body as a result of diarrhea and vomiting. You should also make an oral rehydration solution at home by mixing the juice of fresh lemon and a teaspoon each of salt and sugar to glass of water and make the child drink this solution once every hour. Over-the-counter ORS solutions are also useful in such cases. Once the initial symptoms have subsided, the child may be given mashes potatoes, bananas, rice and cereals to eat.