Don’t be surprised if your other children are not as excited about your pregnancy as you are. Some children find it very exciting, while others might find it a little bit scary. They may worry that Mom won’t love them as much or have as much time for them when the new baby comes.
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Sunshine, not food, is where most of your vitamin D comes from. So even a healthy and well balanced diet, that provides all the other vitamins and nutrients, is unlikely to provide enough vitamin D. To get enough vitamin D you need to spend some time outside with some bare skin on most days during the summer months.
You make vitamin D under your skin when you are outside in daylight, which is the reason vitamin D is sometimes called the sunshine vitamin. By definition, a vitamin is a nutrient that we cannot make in our body. Vitamin D is actually a hormone rather than a vitamin. Very few foods contain vitamin D naturally.
Vitamin D makes sure you absorb enough calcium for your bones and teeth. Even if you have a calcium-rich diet, without enough vitamin D you cannot absorb calcium into the body. Its importance as a hormone is also being recognised. It helps maintain a healthy immune system and reduces the risk of some forms of cancer. Population studies suggest that lack of vitamin D may increase the risk of chronic health conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
As everyone knows exercise is reaps hug benefits no matter what your age. But, sometimes just the word makes you want to hide. Exercise doesn’t have to seem like work if you do it with someone else. Here are five fitness ideas for families who want to be healthier and need a little boost in the right direction.
A family workout has many benefits. First of all, you have each other for accountability. When one person wants to slack off, their loving family members can help them see the light. Secondly, you have a buddy to push you to do your best. It is a friendly competition that can help you achieve fitness goals you never thought possible.
Who says family workouts have to be boring? Get together as a family and do something that you love to stay healthy.
The diagnosis of diabetes in a child can lead to a variety of emotions in the child, siblings or the adults in the family including anger, sadness, and guilt. These feelings are completely normal.
Most children are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes which means there are going to be a lot of adaptations to make on a daily basis including what foods are eaten, the daily physical activity level, and how they manage caring for their disease like giving shots and taking other medications, monitoring blood glucose level, getting enough sleep and caring for their body.
Children with diabetes can lead normal lives and can be healthy as long as they and those who care for them learn how to manage the disease. An older child can even learn how to do much of his or her diabetic care by herself or himself, with education about the disease and by gaining confidence in their ability to handle things.
It is important for kids to know that they are not alone and that there are other kids who also have diabetes. A child has a lot to learn about diabetes and how to live with it. When a child receives the diagnosis of diabetes it affects the entire family.
Managing diabetes is a daily matter that never goes away. When the child goes to school others will need to be told that the child has diabetes such as teachers.
A child with diabetes can lead a full and healthy life when they follow the treatment plan designed by the pediatrician.
Diabetes will bring a lot of changes to the child’s life but it doesn’t have to take over the life completely. There is more to the child than the disease. As the child gets older the child can take on more responsibility for managing the disease.
Your child’s life include administering insulin shots, blood tests, meal plans, counting carbohydrates, and learning how to recognize symptoms of low or high blood sugar and what to do about it.
The sad fact is that it is not easy for a child or a child’s family members to deal with diabetes. Approximately 35 to 75% of children diagnosed with diabetes do not follow the meal plans designed for them by registered dieticians or their doctors. As many as 80% do not give the insulin correctly or on time.
As many as 70% of them do not record the blood glucose levels. Even though foot care is crucial for diabetics as many as 52% of children or their parents do not take time to get adequate foot care and a shocking 81% do not exercise enough.
There are many reasons why children and their parents slack off when it comes to managing diabetes, a too busy lifestyle, complacency about the possible complications of the disease or lack of education concerning how to manage the disease and avoid complications that can occur.
There are many events that occur in the life of a child that can become complicated by the presence of diabetes including birthday parties, school lunches, sleepovers, and going off to college.
Your child’s doctor can lead you to community resources of diabetic support than can help your family to adjust to life with diabetes and how to help your child manage the disease and cope with all of the events in his or her life which may present special challenges for the diabetic child.
Some rare sleep disorders only affect young children, while there are some disorders that are truly equal opportunity offenders. If your child seems to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep it may simply be that he or she doesn’t want to miss any of the fun and resents having to take time out to sleep.
On the other hand, when it is obvious that your child truly wants to get some sleep, but just can’t seem to get any quality sleep at all, then there is a chance that your child may be suffering from a sleep disorder. If your child’s sleep disorder is considered rare then it may be a little more difficult to find proper treatment for your child.
Rest assured, however, that there are plenty of sleep experts who have spent a lot of time researching childhood sleep disorders – no matter how rare – and therefore there is someone out there who knows how to treat your child effectively.
Sleep disorders among children are often a product of a behavioral issue. The child is not compelled to get to sleep at a proper hour or is not disciplined when he or she continually gets out of bed and plays instead of sleeping.
When this behavior becomes acceptable, it is probable that bad sleeping habits will form and develop into a sleeping disorder commonly referred to by experts as Behavioral Insomnia in Children. This is not rare, and is treated relatively easily with a little discipline from parents.
If the child has parents who enforce a proper bedtime and adequate sleep for the child, however, other sleep problems that arise may merit medical intervention. When a child stops breathing for short periods of time, or breathes at sporadic intervals during sleep, this is a rare sleep disorder that should be treated quickly.
If a child awakens night after night screaming in terror, this goes beyond mere childhood nightmares and needs to be evaluated by a doctor or sleep specialist. The goal is to allow a child to get a good night’s sleep so he or she can rest and grow like other children. Without a full night’s sleep, some children have a hard time learning or even staying physically well.
Parents should be advised that not all treatments for rare sleep disorders are pleasant. Some children may have to stay a night in laboratory for a sleep study, and although most institutions attempt to make the room as pleasant as possible there is still the chance that the child will be scared of a different environment.
Some rare sleep disorders merit breathing machines and other implementations, and while these tactics are important and designed to make sure the child breathes normally through the night, they can still be frightening for children.
For these reasons, parents must work hard to make sure that the child is informed throughout the entire process (as much as the child can understand depending on age) and the parents stay present whenever possible during evaluations and treatments.
Children are born sterile and there are no bacteria or yeast on their bodies, irrespective of whether it is a normal vaginal delivery or through a Caesarean section. Mother’s milk has properties of combating minor ailments.
However, it is also true that with the passage of time even babies are likely to develop some sort of yeast infection in the skin or intestines. The mother may pass on certain infections through her milk and environmental factors can also cause yeast infections.
Infants are prone to develop infections or diaper rashes that may actually be a form of yeast infection or Candida. Bedwetting is a common phenomenon with toddlers who are undergoing toilet training.
Many times, even after proper training, bedwetting accidents do happen due to other factors including psychological problems like stress. Girls run a greater risk of developing yeast infections as they normally take more time to dry due to easier access to the vaginal canal.
Candida in children, in its initial stages, presents itself as superficial infections on skin, in the mouth, rectum and vagina. It is imperative that such minor cases be attended to in time as it can potentially aggravate and become systemic.
Children who develop symptoms of Candida should be treated with care. Allopathic drugs have side effects. For example, Nystatin, which is the mainstay of conventional Candida treatments, is not advisable for neonatal thrush (Candidiasis of the oral cavity).
Prevention is better than cure and more so for infants and young children. Baby hygiene plays a critical role in reducing risk of Candida and avoiding the need for a yeast infection treatment.
Yeast tends to accumulate in damp and moist environment. Take care to wash baby underclothes with a good detergent and dry them completely, preferably in the sun.
Place a water proof sheet under the bed sheet to prevent urine seeping into the mattress. If bedwetting accidents happen, make sure that every time the bedding is washed and dried properly.
Ensure that the baby is fully dry before putting clothes on. Teach older children the importance of drying before dressing up.
Nobody needs to be told that the amount of sugary foods like candy, cookies and the like that children are prone to consume should be controlled. Keep a check on the amount of your child’s sugar intake. Candida feeds on sugar and the most likely cause behind it.
Also teach your child the benefits of eating vegetables and natural foods. The acidophilus that goes in to make yoghurt is a friendly bacterium that helps in fighting the growth of Candida yeast and a very effective Candida cure.
Probiotics, in vegetables help to keep the balance of intestinal flora intact. They also strengthen the immune system. Garlic is a natural anti-fungal and antibacterial herb and should be used liberally in cooking.
In the event of Candida infection actually occurring in children, homeopathic remedies are a better option, which are safer, natural and devoid of any side effects.
Child depression has been an overlooked problem because there are so many myths that surround it. It is surprising to note that most adults have no idea that children can also suffer from depression. Actually, more myths surround child depression than adult depression and it is not uncommon to see such myths finding credence even with those who deal with kids in the course of their professional work.
Adults somehow fail to appreciate the pressures that children face in the modern society. The fact that most of us do not understand what teen depression is all about adds to preconceived notions about childhood. People believe that childhood is still a carefree time and devoid of worries and pressures. In fact, children have no means of exercising control over their lives.
Teens are prone to weave a complicated web around their thinking process. Most of the perceptions come from fallacious ideas of self and others rather than reality. When teens are faced with pressures it can be a very turbulent period in their lives. And there is a genuine threat that such pressures can lead to clinical depression.
Clinical depression is not periodical emotional dips that almost every one of us feels now and then. Although it is the same set of feelings, it is more permeating, more lasting and can even be life threatening. Teen depression is of much greater significance since it has been empirically observed that people who are depressed as teens grow to become depressed adults too. The roots of adult depression are in the critical phases of child development.
Child depression can manifest as behaviors and feelings that adults normally do not associate with it. It is easy to misinterpret a genuine depression as the normal process of growing up. However, parents and the society as a whole needs to be aware of the possibility of child or teen depression since it is a serious problem that is fast increasing.
The evolution of the modern society has been too lop-sided and the buffers provided by traditional cultural setups have long been discarded on our way to modernization.
If child depression is not treated it can affect learning abilities, development of normal relationships with equals as well as with elders, self-esteem and acquisition of skills. It can negatively impact parent-child relationship, which is imperative for child development. The absence of a firm bond and trust with parents can lead to substance abuse, disruptive behaviors, violence and aggression and even suicide.
Even minor episodes of depressive behavior should be addressed early and with care. This is because the disorder may take on worse manifestations like high rate of suicide, work impairment and social isolation over a period of time if not controlled early.
The most important aspect of providing teen depression help is to recognize the symptoms of teen depression. More often than not, parents tend to ignore disruptive behaviors in the classroom or other such behaviors due to a misplaced negative association with depression. The ground realities are actually different.
In many instances, teenage depression occurs due to the perceived fears of the teen and is a result of misplaced worries. These are easily treated with parental and community support. Treatment of such mild depression only requires building a relationship of mutual understanding and trust with the child through patient listening and assurance that help is at hand.
Companion Remedies for Child Anxiety, Depression
* MindSootheJr – Promotes emotional and psychological health and balanced mood in children
* SereniteJr. – Promotes healthy sleep patterns and peaceful nights, even for teething babies.
* PureCalm – Aids nervous system in stress resistance for balanced moods and feelings of well being
* Five Funny Critters – for children aged 5-7, these five stories use metaphors and animal characters in a folktale style to address the issues of fear, change, sleep, school, and interacting with others.
* Moms Magic Trauma Sprinkles – Promotes comfort in children with distress due to shock, trauma and general upset.
* K-OK Kiddie Calmer – Helps reduce nervous exhaustion, specific fears and phobias in anxious children.
* Sammy the Elephant – Help your child overcome bedwetting, simply by relaxing with a delightful bedtime story.
* Be-Dry for Bedwetting – Promotes bladder health to help reduce bedwetting.
* Bad Dream Sprinkles – Aids in the prevention and management of night terrors and nightmares in children.
* Tula Tantrum Tamer – Helps reduce tantrums, soothe fiery tempers and reduce frustration in young children.
References:
http://www.wingofmadness.com/index.php/Articles/Children-and-Depression.html
http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/issues/factdepression.html
http://mhawestchester.org/diagnosechild/cdepress.asp
http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=The+Depressed+Child§ion=Facts+for+Families
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/conditions/depression.html
http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/children.asp
* Roman Chamomile 5 drops
* Grapefruit 10 drops
* Peppermint 5 drops
* Rosemary 3 drops
Children under seven: Diluted in 4 ounces vegetable oil
Children over seven: Diluted in 2 ounces of vegetable oil
The above recipe is from “The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy” by Valerie Ann Worwood
Life is a continuous struggle and the earlier it is realized that one has to meet its challenges, the better it is for everyone. Coming to terms with the changes that death of a special person may bring about, is one such struggle that can become difficult to handle by many individuals.
Such acceptance and management becomes even more difficult for adolescents, who are already undergoing a state of emotional turmoil. Unable to understand the import of life events in their correct perspective, there is a great possibility of the young mind interpreting a situation with trumped up logic. Some general signs that death or a personal loss may bring about in adolescents include:
* A long period of sadness and sorrow during which interest in daily activities is lost.
* Refusal to attend school or a drop in grades.
* Repetitive statements of wanting to join the dead.
* Withdrawal from friends, hyper-activity or keeping too busy.
Considering that today’s teens are extremely stressed out and that some teens may view the entire situation to be extremely negatively, it is possible that adolescents can slowly fall into a state of clinical depression due to grief.
Extreme grief can have serious consequences and in many instances teens are known to resort to substance abuse, casual and indiscriminate sexual behavior, anti-social and criminal activities or suicide. Many private and community associations have come forward by offering grief counseling in schools. They also offer these services to communities that are socially more vulnerable.
Grief counselors often use the strategy of patient listening and subtle suggestions on individual basis. Group activities have also been found to be effective. Teens are given an opportunity to openly express their feelings amongst people in similar situations with whom they can identify with.
Group activities like art therapy and writing are frequently used to reach out to the teenager to help give expression to emotions. This also gives an insight into the inner turmoil that helps in a proper assessment of the emotional distress that the teenager may be passing through.
The basic goals of group activities are:
* To provide a therapeutic environmental condition that enables adolescents to go through the necessary stages of mourning in a healthy manner. This minimizes the negative impact and promotes emotional wellness.
* Help youngsters to perceive grief as a normal human reaction to death. Adolescents are very concerned with being seen as normal. The group format induces a sense of positive identity in the grieving adolescent as groups give mutual aid and a means for re-entering the mainstream.
* Create an atmosphere of compassion and support
* Remove any sense of guilt that may be compelling the child to blame himself or herself for the loss.
* Regain control over their lives and get on with their normal routine activities.
Sessions that help teens to view the loss in the larger context of life as a continuous struggle provide a tool for teens to move forward in life instead of stagnation that grief is liable to result in.
Which gender has a greater prevalence of ADD and ADHD — girls or boys? Results of interviews conducted online by Harris Interactive of the general public, teachers, and sufferers of ADD / ADHD show that the majority of respondents believed that boys are affected more, most likely because girls with the disorder seem less likely to display disruptive behaviors such as aggression or hyperactivity.
This misconception is a bigger problem than it may seem as it leads to fewer specialist referrals and vast under-representation in clinical-based studies. It also blurs the line between which gender is perceived to have the higher number of ADD / ADHD cases and which gender actually does. This is because the number of girls diagnosed with ADD / ADHD is reduced by this lack of specialist referrals.
The survey also polled children living with ADD / ADHD, which revealed that gender has a great impact in diagnosing and treating the disorder.
Girls reported to have lower self esteem, and were 3 times more likely to be taking medication for depression preceding their ADD / ADHD diagnosis. Other responses included gender-specific differences in personal experiences, as girls were more likely to report inattention, distractibility, organizational planning, and time-management issues.
And while some children’s brains may develop out of hyperactive-type behaviors, these behaviors more commonly experienced in girls only worsen with puberty, furthering the need to address these problems that can severely affect daily functioning later in life.
While overcoming these misperceptions will require more research and effort to increase general awareness of the disorder, the healthcare community has made progress in the diagnostic criteria for ADD / ADHD, which has and will continue to help identify problematic individuals so that they can receive proper treatment.
In addition, as more people are becoming educated on the disorder and recognizing that there are alternatives to harsh prescription medications, a greater awareness of natural remedies and lifestyle adaptations is emerging.
Especially in the case of girls, medications will only help alleviate problems with inattention and distractibility, as organization and time management are learned processes, not treatable by drugs. However, natural remedies can aid in concentration, mental focus, memory retention and attention, as well as promote overall brain and systemic health which can therefore help support overall systemic functioning.
* BrightSpark – Aids in concentration, mental focus, and helps control tic disorders and anger outbursts.
* Focus Formula – Promotes concentration, memory and ability to focus attention without distraction.
* Brain Tonic – Aids in cognitive processes including concentration, memory and attentiveness.
* StudyPlus – Promotes brain health, healthy concentration, mental alertness and memory function.
* A+ TestCalmer – Promotes calmness and confidence in children and teenagers prone to test anxiety
* MindSootheJr. – Promotes emotional and psychological health and balanced mood in children.
* K-OK Kiddie Calmer – Helps reduce nervous exhaustion, specific fears and phobias in anxious children.
* PureCalm – Aids nervous system in stress resistance for balanced moods and feelings of well being.
* SereniteJr. – Promotes healthy sleep patterns and peaceful nights, even for teething babies.
“I have to say, my husband and I struggled with the decision to try an herbal remedy on our 10-year-old son. Since kindergarten, we have received numerous calls, notes, etc., about his [behavior]. All I can say is that I wish someone would have told me about [Focus Formula] sooner! I was afraid it would alter his personality and make him like a zombie… He is totally himself, only 100% improved. It has been wonderful… This is a wonderful product. Thank you. ” – Karen, VA, USA
“I have two special needs children (they are six and seven years old). We have been using PureCalm and Focus Formula on both of them for about 8 months and their teachers are amazed and tell us to keep doing what we are doing!! …I recommend PureCalm to any parent who suspects that their child has a runaway mind and can’t slow down enough to have a proper childhood.” – Richard, NV, USA
“I am overjoyed as the parent of a 10 year old girl to find an herbal product that has made such a difference in her outlook and approach. A couple years ago she started moping about and always had her lip on the floor. She would dwell on certain issues, such as her brother going away to college, or her dad’s health. We just wanted her to be more easy-going – like she usually was. Then I found MindSoothe Jr.! From the very first dose, I noticed a definite improvement; she seemed more settled and the twinkle in her eye was back! She even speaks about the future in such a positive way. My bubbly little girl is the life of the party, and she doesn’t fret as much about school. Everyone with a troubled teen should somehow be made aware of this amazing product. I can’t say enough about it. A prayer has definitely been answered.” – Karin, TN, USA
“We were told that my six year old son had a problem controlling his behavior. Then my wife found this website. What a stroke of luck! My six year old is now taking Mood Tonic and MindSoothe Jr. He is a pleasure to be with, always smiling and so inquisitive of everything around him – Thank you! ” – Maryann, NJ, USA