Health Tips for Parents

Summer Time for Kids and Parents

As the summer vacations are nearing, managing children at home will become a daunting task for many moms! Kids just want to have fun, and are not worried about the hot climate! Longer hours of fun and play may at times cause injuries.

You can easily treat any such injury just by ‘RICE’.

Not the grain, mind you. It is the acronym for:

• Rest – Let your child get enough rest to heal the injuries.
• Ice – Apply Ice to the injured part as it would reduce the pain and swelling, as well as arrest bleeding, if any.
• Compression – Give compression with ice to prevent further swelling.
• Elevation – Place the injured part elevated.

Allergic Reaction

Allergic reaction is a serious concern among younger children. Never take it for granted. It is a hereditary health condition. If you are allergic to certain food, there are 80 percent chances that your children may inherit the same from you. If you are suspicious about foot allergy in your kid, immediately get the opinion of your paediatrician. According to a research, 1 in 15 children have allergic reactions to food. Common foods that causes allergy include milk and milk based products, fish, eggs, wheat, peanuts, and commonly nuts.

While introducing solid foods, don’t feed your child with new foods every day. Give enough time; say 3 to 5 days to understand how your child’s body reacts to a new food. It ensures whether the food triggers any adverse reaction in your child.

Summer Time

Summer is here! Summer is the best time to lose weight, but kids rather gain weight than lose it during summers. In the present day, unlike the earlier days when children played outdoor games a lot, children become couch potatoes, watching television, playing video games and sleeping. Summer brings mindless eating potential to the kids as well as elders. Due to excessive heat, many of us tend to mistake thirst as hunger and feed ourselves very often. It is very common among kids. Children become a grinding machine in summer, eating all the unwanted spicy junk foods. Feed them with sufficient liquid foods, fresh fruit juices and water.

Don’t mess up your child’s health!

Baby the Skin

Summer is almost here, too hot than previous year. Obviously, summer is the most enjoyable time for children, but you definitely worry about the hot sun! Shouldn’t you prep-up your kid’s skin to cope with the hotter months?

The sun’s rays can ruin the skin and may even lead to skin cancer. Also, increased sun exposure may cause dehydration. Let your baby drink lots of liquid foods, say milk, fruit juices and water. Don’t feed the children carbonated drinks or tinned juices, as it might ruin the nutritional intake. Apply oil or baby moisturizer to retain hydration.

Don’t let babies younger than 6 months have direct sun exposure. Keep your children out of the sun from 11 am to 3 pm, the hottest time of the day.

Cleaning the ears of infants and children

A common mistake made by many parents is cleaning the ears of children, particularly infants.

Our ears produce wax to keep the internal parts of the ear intact and protect this complicated organ. However, excessive wax dries up and comes out on its own. Many use ear buds to remove the wax from the ears, which can be very dangerous.

Especially in infants it may ruin their hearing capacity as inappropriate usage of buds could damage the drum and causes severe pain combined with infection. As part of granny’s remedies some parents blow air into or put oil in the child’s ear, which could lead to severe ear problems. With due respect to granny, let us stop putting our child’s hearing at stake. Cleaning the ears just by applying a soft and warm towel should be just fine.

Don’t hesitate to take your kid to a physician if you suspect something wrong or when your child suffers due to ear pain.

Promote Healthy Sleep for Healthy Body and Healthy Mind

Many parents overlook the sleeping pattern or routine of their children. Sleep makes or breaks a day. Your children need sufficient sleep, say around 8 to 10 hours a day to stay active. (Number of hours children sleep can vary by an hour or two). Improve the sleep hygiene with these five simple steps:

• Make your child sleep and wakeup at a specific time every day. Practice makes things perfect.
• Ensure that your child wears soft and breathable fabric at night.
• Little ones may not be able to tolerate too hot or too cold temperatures. Make sure you maintain a comfortable temperature.
• Switch off lights, television, mobile phones and other disturbing gadgets in your bedroom. The blue light from electronics disturbs the sleeping pattern.
• Use comfortable and soft bed that soothes the children.

Mentally active

Mental health can be improved by involving the child in activities such as puzzles, learning new skills or languages, mind-based video games, arts and crafts, card games, etc. anything that makes you really think.

Healthy Life

• An Apple a day, keeps the doctor away.
• One Tulsi Leaf a day keeps cancer at bay.
• One Lemon a day leads to a fat free body.
• One cup of Milk a day, gives stronger bones and teeth.
• 3 litres of water in a day keeps you hydrated and gives glowing skin.