Tag: Health

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Health

6 Ways to Boost your Toddler’s Immune System

Once the babies are weaned, they are prone to health issues like runny noses, gastrointestinal problems, colds, coughs, etc. How often have we attributed these symptoms to changes in the weather or allergies? Is it fair to just accept that your toddler is more susceptible to infections than other kids? Instead, why not boost your child’s immunity against common diseases?

Here are some useful tips for better immunity in children

Breast milk

Breastfeeding is the best immunity-boosting method for babies. According to an article published by the National Health Scheme, U.K. breast milk boosts immunity and protects babies from various diseases. Breast milk contains powerful white blood cells and natural antibodies. The nutrients will protect your child from respiratory diseases, urinary tract infections, tummy bugs, meningitis, and others. If you are a stay-at-home mommy and get plenty of breast-milk, then try to breast-feed the baby at least for a year. This will strengthen the immunity of the child much more than supplements do.

Eating right

Some foods have powerful phytonutrients that enhance the production of white blood cells that fight diseases. Add 2 tablespoons of fresh fruit and/or vegetable pulp in the daily diet of your pre-schooler. Green beans, berries, carrots, oranges, kiwi, etc. contain diseases-fighting nutrients like vitamin C, beta-carotene, etc. Other foods that improve immunity in toddlers are oily fish (containing Omega-3), almonds (vitamin B), garlic (sulphur), mushrooms (zinc), yam (vitamin A), and others.

Healthy hygienic habits

Teaching clean habits is one of the most important ways of improving your child’s immunity. There are many situations when toddlers are exposed to disease-carrying germs. They may be handling pets, not washing hands before meals, using shared soaps and towels, etc. Teach your child clean habits at a very early age so that they become second nature.

Adequate sleep

Toddlers need 11 to 15 hours of sleep per day depending on age. Adequate sleep and regular sleep cycles are good for toddlers. Kids with low immunity can be affected by Sleep Deprivation. You need to ensure that your child gets deep sleep in order to remain healthy and happy. On the other hand, Ingestion of the right foods will also help to counteract the side-effects of sleep deprivation to some extent.

Physical activity

You do not want your toddler to grow up into a couch-potato! But formal exercises will be boring for your delightful little toddler. Whereas, music and dance, cycling, follow-the-leader game (which involves walking), racing, ball games, etc. will be fun.

Avoid passive smoking

The parents’ habit of cigarette smoking in the presence of children is the most common reason for respiratory problems in kids. Second-hand smoking or passive smoking will cause low immunity in the child. This will make your kid more susceptible to chronic/recurring diseases like colds, coughs, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, or worse!

Your toddler’s well-being is entirely in your hands. The more you know how to improve your child’s immunity the easier life will be for your toddler. Good health and stamina will ensure that your little darling is always active and happy.

Categories
Health Parenting and Childcare

6 Secrets to Raising a Healthy and Happy Child

As parents, what are our expectations of children? We all want them to be safe, healthy, and happy. But the habit of being a happy person has to be fostered in the early child development stage. This will help your kid deal with personal and professional relationships confidently.

Here are the 6 secrets of raising a healthy and happy child:

Build a strong bond

A child who feels a strong emotional connection with others will be happy. But the foundation for such connections must be laid in the form of parent-child-sibling bond. When you foster healthy connections, your kid will grow up feeling loved. Such a child will rarely develop bad habits like smoking, drugs, or drinking.

Avoid overindulgence

It is a mistake to overindulge your kid with toys and possessions. Your purpose is to make him/her happy but this gives the wrong signal. There is a very thin line between pampering and spoiling a child. If you cross this line repeatedly, your child will develop the wrong impression that money and possessions take precedence over family and friends.

Do not coddle

As parents, we are not responsible for every emotion that a kid experiences. Emotions like sadness, anger, frustration, etc. are part of life and your kid should be allowed to experience and cope with them. Instead of over-protecting your child from such feelings, you can teach how to deal with these emotions and bounce back into a cheerful state of mind. Also, keep a good balance between spending time together and giving space to each other.

Be happy

Your kid will take his/her cue from your behaviour. The best way to raise a happy child is by being happy. If you are relaxed, smiling, cheerful, and usually speaking in a pleasant tone, the child will develop the same habits. When surrounded by a happy family, the kid will learn to find joy in interrelationships and togetherness.

Teach responsibilities

Everyone has an inherent wish to be involved with others and be liked by them. Even a toddler does not want to be excluded from the family activities. Your toddler will feel included when you give him simple tasks. As the kid learns to perform these tasks properly, your kid will develop a sense of achievement and pride in a job well done. Even small jobs like feeding the pet or laying the table will give your child a lot of happiness, especially if you praise his efforts.

Avoid criticism

You may find it difficult to see your child struggle with a task and may criticise with the intent to instruct. On the other hand, to prevent failure you may feel tempted to take over the task rather than letting your toddler struggle with it. The right thing to do is to just guide verbally and let the child complete the given task. You must make allowances for failure because kids learn from their mistakes.

The most beneficial trait of raising a happy child at home is that your kid will grow into a cheerful and confident adult.

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Health

Negative Habits That Lower Your Child’s Immunity

Inertia and lack of fresh air, sunlight, etc. are some of the major reasons for low immunity in children. Some habits in pre-schoolers should be discouraged so that they grow up to be healthy and active individuals. Here are the most common habits that reduce immunity in children:

Inertia

Lack of activity leads to poor blood circulation. Less movement means that the child does not perspire. Perspiration is essential to get rid of toxins from the body. Hence, lack of activity is considered a primary negative habit in kids that should be stopped as soon as it is observed.

Solution: Encourage your toddler to walk, run, jump, climb staircases, and play vigorous games.

No outdoor activities

Playing outdoors for an hour a day exposes your child to sunlight, a natural source of vitamin D. This is essential for calcium absorption which strengthens the bones. Staying indoors for most of the hours can lead to vitamin deficiency and weaken the bones. Secondly, the bone marrow produces the vital white blood cells which are disease-fighters.

Solution: A visit to a children’s park in the morning sunlight is all it takes!

Bad food/water/sleep cycles

Breaking bad habits in toddlers is far more difficult than encouraging good habits. Foodstuff filled with artificial preservatives, additives, sugars, and other chemicals is harmful to your child’s overall development. Also, according to the National Health Service, U.K. a child needs 11 to 15 hours of sleep per day depending on the age. Lack of sleep can cause several health problems, including low immunity.

Solution: Make sure your child consumes freshly cooked home food, vegetables, fruits, and plenty of liquids. Encourage a proper sleep cycle by keeping technical gadgets like computers, tablets, smartphones, etc. away during their bedtime.

Overusing medicines

Another bad habit that several toddler-parents resort to is the overuse of antibiotics. Regular administration of these medicines will reduce the toddler’s natural resistance to diseases.

Solution: Try home remedies and/or alternative treatments for minor colds, coughs, and upset tummies. Visit a doctor in case of recurring or prolonged health problems.

Lack of hygiene

A weak immune system in a toddler can also be due to a lack of hygiene. If you do not wash the child’s hands before every meal, leave fingernails untrimmed, or let your kid play in filthy areas the immune system is bombarded with germs resulting in reduced immunity.

Solution: Teach your toddler at a very early age to wash hands before each meal. Keep the fingernails trimmed so that no dirt accumulates.

Stress

Can stress cause a weakened immune system? The answer to that is a definite “yes”! Just like in adults, the stress in toddlers can lower immunity.

Solution: Communicate with your child and listen to his or her worries so that you can sort out the emotional problems.

Passive smoking

Toddlers and even older children are more susceptible to the ravages of passive smoking than adults. Second-hand smoking can cause chronic problems like asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and even cancer.

Solution: Avoid smoking at home and keep your child far away from public smoking areas.

Keep your child happy and healthy!

Categories
Health Nutrition

How to Introduce New Foods to Your Child

Hello parents! Congratulations on having some of the cutest toddlers ever!
There are a majority of toddlers who would refuse to try all the healthy stuff out there. Are you one of those parents struggling to make your child eat some new healthy food? How would you make them chomp on all those green stuff? Those foods are essential for their development and growth. There are a few tips which we have listed to aid you out.

Club the tasty food with healthy ones

This is one of the easiest ways of ensuring that your child has healthy food on his platter. Put the veggies alongside his favourite ones. This will ensure that he does not think much about the new food on his plate. Make your task easier to feed the child those veggies. You can lure him into eating those stuff. First provide the favourite stuff, not everything at a go and then this one.

Practice what you preach

Children often tend to observe their parents at every step and time of their lives. They often try to emulate you in several ways. You can use this to your advantage by simply eating that healthy stuff before he does. Simply ask him to emulate or just wait until he does. More often than not, they will do it themselves. A task made easier for you in simple words. Way to go! It is of the most effective ways of making your child eat that stuff.

Avoid large portions

Children do not tend to eat large chunks of foods that they dislike or run away from. You must be aware of this fact and try to avoid filling his plates with a truckload of veggies.

Exactly where you want to tread with caution. The portions must be sufficiently poky in size. The child does not feel like he is being made to eat this stuff at gunpoint. You will surely see the results yourself. Surely, the child begins to regularly eat small portions of this stuff. Then you can gradually increase the portion size to meet the daily nutritional requirements.

Addition of lip-smacking flavours

If it is possible to add some lip-smacking flavours which are your child’s favourite ones to those healthy foods, you must try that out.

First up, identify which flavours your child loves to gulp down. Then, identify the healthy foods in which you can add those flavours without compromising on their nutritional values. This will ensure that the child loves the taste while meeting the daily nutritional requirements.

By luring them

Talk about the splendid appearance of the new veggie you wish to load in his mouth. You can gulp it yourself first and then talk about how amazing it was. Your child will most likely emulate you. You can even offer them their favourite games and toys if they finish their portion quickly without much fuss too.

Hence, these are some of the most effective ways to help your child try out new and healthy foods. Good luck!