Tips for Passover

Dr. Ron Berant, Director of the Emergency Medicine Department (ER) at Schneider Children’s, notes that each year the hospital treats children who are left unsupervised and are injured because they come into contact with cleaning agents during Passover cleaning preparations. Cleaning materials should be stored and locked in an elevated storage cupboard so that they are out of children’s reach. Substances such as caustic soda or other strong acids can cause severe burns to the skin and mucosa.

• Cleaning substances should not be stored in empty drinking bottles (such as empty water bottles). Dangerous exposure to cleaning agents, mainly oils in liquid or spray containers, can cause various injuries such as stings, burns or lacerations. Medications should also be moved out of children's reach.
• When using cleaning agents or disinfectants, wear gloves to protect the skin of your hands from substances that can cause itching and skin burns. Should a child swallow any of the cleaning agents, do not induce vomiting as this can aggravate the injury. Take the child to a first aid clinic together with the cleaning agent.
• Should cleaning substances touch the eyes or skin, wash the affected area under running water for several minutes and go to a first aid clinic.
• Children under the age of 5 should not be given nuts of any kind including walnuts, peanuts, seeds, cashews and almonds, in addition to which snacks should not be left within reach of children under the age of 5.
• During immersion of utensils in hot water before Passover, small children should be moved away from the hot water containers. The ER has treated many infants and children in the past who were seriously burnt by boiling water falling or splashing onto their bodies.
• During cleaning and airing the home, gas masks normally kept away from children should be moved out of their reach. Gas mask containers include atropine syringes and children can inject themselves with the substance by mistake.

Dafna Ziv Busani, head of the Nutrition and Dietary Unit at Schneider Children’s, reminds us to ensure that children drink water regularly. This is essential throughout the year, but more so during Passover due to the dry matzot that can cause constipation. This can be offset by extra fluids. Since matzot are dry, we tend to be less satisfied and drinking water both hydrates and adds to a sense of fullness. Passover foods are high in calories: one matza board is equivalent to two slices of regular bread or 4 slices of "light" bread; two matza balls are equivalent to one slice of bread; and traditional holiday foods such as fried matzot and other fried foodstuffs eaten during the holiday are high in calories. Meals should be baked rather than fried.

Those who eat legumes should eat rice cakes instead of matzot as well as beans, lentils and chickpeas. This is also an opportunity to try out different kinds of flour such as chickpea, lentil, quinoa and almond, which can be used to prepare different kinds of breads to make sandwiches instead of matzot and crackers. Walnuts, almonds and peanuts are among the popular snacks during Passover, and they are an excellent source of good and healthy fats. They also contain nutritional fiber that is beneficial to the digestive system as well as vitamins and minerals. At the same time, they are high in calories and thus should be eaten in limited quantities, one by one. Remember that these snacks can cause choking in children under the age of 5 years.

Passover signifies the advent of Spring when pleasant weather invites outdoor activity and physical exercise for the whole family, which, over and above the healthy advantages, promotes a sense of well-being.