Common childhood illnesses are usually very contagious! This useful infographic from The Pharmacy magazine November 2021 shows some of the incubation periods (how long it takes to fall ill after exposure to someone with the illness) and also information on how long a child is infectious to others. This is useful in planning return to school and socialising after illness!
This is a most pertinent topic to all of us parents of children of different ages! Under 24 months ⏹ From a young age, children are bombarded with…
The basics seem so simple but are often so hard to action! The basics include: – Healthy eating and reducing sugar intake – Exposure to the good outdoors, “sun and sand” – Reducing stress/reducing overfull schedules – Getting enough sleep – Avoiding unnecessary medication. Today we shall only be focusing on healthy eating as it is so important- “we are what we eat!” 1.Healthy eating (food provides the building blocks for a good immunity!) • Eat as much variety as possible • Eat as much “whole food” as possible- processed food is often nutritionally poor and pro-inflammatory • Do not leave out any entire food groups in children- they need them all! A “carb-free” diet, for example, is not appropriate for the vast majority of children. • Veges and fruits are so important for vitamins and anti-oxidants • Zinc and protein are important for tissue repair • Try include some…
Boosting a child’s immunity. Infections are everywhere, many are very catchy, and we cannot dodge every bullet! There is no magic “immune booster” to keep a child healthy,…
A big focus of parenting is on keeping kids healthy. This is, of course, complicated by the fact the children’s immune systems are still developing. Children often encounter various infections ‘for the first time’- which means they have little pre-existing immunity and are prone to getting ill from these infections. In subsequent exposures to similar bugs, an immune memory will have been built up and the illness will tend to be less severe. So what is this thing called the immune system? The immune system is a maze of cells, tissues and organs that work together to: – protect us from invading pathogens – protect us from allergies (over-reacting to “benign” external allergens) – protect us from auto-immunity (attacking our own cells) – resist repeated infections Parts of the immune system are innate (we are born with it) and parts are acquired (built up over time, usually after initial…
PART 4: How do we manage colic? There is no magic bullet for colic… time is usually the ultimate healer. Some basics for all: Rule out “medical” causes,…
Part 2: What is COLIC ? In short, colic is excessive fussing or crying in the young baby who is otherwise well and thriving. The formal medical definition (Rome IV criteria) of infantile colic satisfies 3 criteria: Recurrent and prolonged periods of infant crying, fussing or irritability reported by caregivers, that occurs without obvious cause, and cannot be prevented or resolved by the caregivers (traditionally defined as more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week of crying). Symptoms start and stop in an infant who is less than 5 months of age. There is no evidence of infant failure to thrive, fever or illness. Colic typically presents in the second or third week of life, peaks around 6-8 weeks and gets better by 16 weeks in the vast majority of cases. Crying can occur throughout the day, and peaks in the hours between 6 am and…