Is this normal "child health care" in Europe? (Luxembourg specifically)

[NannyR]

I'm a nanny with 15 years experience of working in the UK. I've recently started working in Luxembourg, my first overseas job.

In the past few weeks I've had to take each of my three charges to the paediatrician with clear runny noses, little bit of a nighttime cough, no temp, still eating well, well enough to go to school and generally running amok around the waiting room. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with them that a couple of early nights, calpol and cough linctus or honey and lemon wouldn't sort out.

However being a professional nanny, if mum has concerns about their health then I take them to the appointments she arranges. What really shocks me is each time we have come out of the doctors with prescriptions for two different kinds of nose drops, a saline spray to squirt up their nose, anti-mucus medicine, cough medicine and antibiotics.

For the two year old the antibiotics meant a couple of days of diarrhoea and a really sore bum, which I felt was worse than the cold they were treating.

I wouldn't have even considered booking a gp appt in the uk, let alone have expected to get antibiotics for such a minor cold.

Is this normal, what European parents expect with regards to child health care? Are parents and kids in the UK more stoic, i.e. do we consider runny noses to be a normal part of childhood to be put up with rather than cured?

It just seems to me to be really over the top, as well as potentially harmful (in terms of developing resistance) to be giving "well" kids antibiotics

'I was told that sitting on a radiator means you get piles...'

Yes, that is the DEFINITE, absolute truth FROM GOD'S MOUTH because that's what the nuns told us at school. Only they didn't mention that rude word.

YES sitting on a cold hard surface eg stone wall will give you piles FACT

Is that true?

So bottoms need to be kept away from extremes of heat?

How exactly does one sit on a radiator? I suppose one could perch on the big old cast iron ones that they used to have in schools - which rather suggests it is a myth made up by teachers to stop kids jumping up and sitting on the radiators.

'which rather suggests it is a myth made up by teachers to stop kids jumping up and sitting on the radiators.'

How cynical. ;)

LOL we used to get the radiators one too when we were at school in Italy!!

Maybe the nuns were worried that boys might see your pants if you were sat on the radiator?

We don't own a hairdryer. I've had to physically restrain other mothers from calling the social on me.....

I've also yet to meet anyone Italian or otherwise, who has died from sweating. Although from the hysterical shrieks at birthday parties when michelin-men children are pursued onto the bouncy castle by towel weilding mothers yelling "Don't sweat! I forbid you to sweat! We're going straight home if I see you sweating!"

Oh yes re sweating. Even the most rational women can become victims of the no sweating brigade.

Another thing that makes me here in Italy is the passion for those "anti scivolo" socks, you know those padded socks to prevent children from sliding. I have a friend who carries them around all the time, and her children are 9 and 6.

What's wrong with sweating?

Little children don't really sweat anyway do they? Mine are always running around and never look sweaty, now I come to think of it.

Aah yes the sweating! Surely they wouldnt sweat if they werent overdressed in the first place?

I don't know what's wrong with sweating SQ, but here in Italy sweating can lead to your death.
Especially if you catch a draught after having sweated while drinking a glass of cold water...

However, I can't deny my Italian origins too much, because I like to overdress dress sensibly, according to the weather

my mum (scottish) used to forbid me to wash my hair during my period

My Spanish sil and my brother who has lived in Spain all his adult life are convinced that eating an orange in the evening causes insomnia.

Oooh Seeker, there must be something about oranges in the Med then.
Here in Italy there is a saying that more or less go:
oranges in the morning are gold, silver at midday and lead in the evening!!!

So are these health myths just a Southern thing? Somehow I can't see Norwegian and Finnish grandmothers coming out with this kind of nonsense.

I still remember my teenage shock that my French exchange was being given injections (administered by her mother, who was some sort of community nurse) - to make her hair grow faster.

...and yet any French friend to whom I have related this anecdote since has effectively gone "yes, and.....?"

Yes, possibly Malinois.

I've no idea why Mediterranean people tend to be so apprehensive about these things (while being totally superficial about other more important risks).
As I said, the only comparable angst is the "heat wave" on MN...

Maybe Nordic parents are too busy dealing with real risks- like hypothermia.......

I have for the last 3 days been sitting on my floor as soon as I get in as I have underfloor heating , I also revert to sitting on the floor in an evening ..... no signs of anything yet .......
to the OP - I love the saline sprays , nose drops etc as they don't half shit the snot especially those hardsbits that the little ones can't shift.

The Dutch won't eat reheated spinach because it gives you cancer. Sunbeds, however, are compulsory until you have reached the shade of orange which seems to be the national standard.

You won't get anything from a doctor over here unless you lie about how long you've had it for. Take some paracetamol and get some rest will solve everything. Fortunately we live near the border with Germany and I now just pop over and ask the chemist what they recommend.

Lol Baroness, my friends who live in the NL say the same thing. Paracetamol is the solution for every ailment. But to be honest it was the same where I lived in the UK !
I prefer NUrofen, btw.

In Switzerland I was shrieked at for having a beer with a cheese fondue. In bonkersland it causes the cheese to solidify and you need to have an operation to remove it.
Surgery can be avoided if you drink some tepid mint tea following the accidental ingestion of beer. Altough it isn't guaranteed.

'Maybe the nuns were worried that boys might see your pants if you were sat on the radiator?'

Boys? We weren't allowed any of THEM. They were definitely a health hazard.

OP I have another thought about your situation. In Luxembourg the doctors aren't trained in Lux - they go to medical school elsewhere - either in the surrounding countries or further afield. I have found that where they have trained impacts the way they treat you.

So a Dr who trained in France might be a little more likely to (ahem) over medicate than one trained in Germany, for example. The older ones all over are more likely to prescribe antiobiotics as a one size fits all than the younger ones too.

I waste spend many an hour trying to persuade my in laws (French) that just because my daughter sneezes once does not mean she has a cold, and just because she has cold hands but a warm forehead doesn't mean she is coming down with the flu...