SLEEP INTERRUPTED

You might not notice symptoms during the day, but be on the lookout for sleep disruption as a possible indicator of worms. Paediatrician Dr Paul Sinclair explains: “The male and female worm spend all day in the colon feeding off faecal matter and procreating. Then, through clever built-in sensors, the female worm senses that your toddler has fallen asleep because his heart rate and body temperature have dropped. She then wiggles her pinthin body (which is about two to three centimetres long) down his colon and pushes her bum out of your toddler’s anus, where she lays hundreds of microscopic eggs while wriggling around.” This is why the itchy feeling in the bum area that is associated with a worm infection gets so much worse at night. The worm’s little manoeuvre may actually night-time wake your child because he’ll feel that area. rather itchy in “Often, the child then digs into his pants and scratches his anus because intensely itchy. But this spreads it’s the worms around his bed and clothing results in him just reinfecting and himself if his hand then goes into

To relieve the itching his mouth.” in the case of pinworms, apply petroleum the rectum. jelly to