May Lactating Women Drink Alcohol?

Many mothers soothe themselves that a little red wine will not affect the baby. But at the same time, each lactating woman should understand that we are talking about a glass, not a bottle of wine, because alcohol is wholly absorbed into the baby’s blood with the milk. So we recommend to abstain from alcohol in any quantity while you are breastfeeding your baby.

Foods That Change the Taste of Breast Milk

The following products are also better not to use for a breastfeeding woman because they change the taste of milk.

• Breastfeeding mums are not to eat canned and fresh garlic, onion, hot pepper, ramson, the “Tabasco” sauce, and mayonnaise. All of these products give milk spiciness.
• Horseradish, mustard, black strong coffee, dark chocolate, cheese with mold, like “Dor Blue”, and other cheeses with various additives make milk bitter.
• Octopus, mussels, spicy herring, squid, cod roe, particularly containing additives, give milk a salty taste.
• Canned or fresh tuna and shrimps can provoke allergy in your baby

Foods Breastfeeding Moms Should Be Careful with

We are talking about a number of products that breastfeeding moms were previously forbidden to eat by paediatricians. Modern doctors believe that the following products can be included into young mothers diet but gradually and in small quantities.

• Mothers should remember that melon, fresh yogurt, beans, peas, and vegetable oils can lead to the baby’s bowel disorder and bloating. As a consequence, you will have sleepless nights.
• Rice, pomegranate, pear, persimmon, fresh bread, and cookies, on the contrary, can lead to constipations.
• Among the allergens are also grapefruits, oranges, eggs, caviar, millet, semolina, and corn. They should be used with extreme caution.

Foods Recommended to Breastfeeding Mothers

Products that are marked with this color of the “traffic light” can be used with no problems. They are useful both to you and your child!

Carrots, dill and parsley can help you and your child retain visual acuity. Black currants, lettuce and gooseberries strengthen the immunity. Zucchini, cod, pumpkin and perch contribute to the baby’s growth and rapid development. Natural yogurt and cottage cheese make bones and teeth strong. Kefir, Airan, broccoli, oatmeal and cauliflower improve digestion.

So, follow our tips and your baby will not suffer from food allergies or other problems. Bon Appetit!

Such children often deliberately hurt themselves: cut hands, pull out hair, beat their head against the wall. They often have a suicidal mood – in this case, they may fulfil their plans quickly if adults do not pay attention to their problems in time.

The study showed that the adolescents who were bullied three times more that their peers had an 8% risk to hurt themselves. For those who rarely got into such situations this figure equalled 2%. Moreover, girls hurt themselves more often than boys do. The authors of the study emphasize a few factors that increase the risks: a similar case that took place within the family, abuse, behavioural and emotional problems.

Sunbeds are addictive and not quite harmless, as is borne out by a number of experts in the field. Talking to NJ.com, Sophie Balk, a pediatrician at New York’s Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, explained that the phenomenon of addiction to artificial sunbathing, known as “tanorexia,” gives the feeling of relaxation that many people develop a habit for. Later they may find it hard to give up the habit and even suffer from withdrawal symptoms. “They may know it’s bad but they can’t cut back,” she concluded, adding that withdrawal causes anxiety and fits of depression. Jeanine Downie, a dermatologist in Montclair, New Jersey, says sunbathing can cause addiction due to the release of dopamine, for this neurotransmitter enhances a sense of well-being. Besides, there are chronic tanners who cling to the belief that dark skin makes them look healthier and more beautiful.

By now it’s common knowledge that too much sunbed lying is fraught with health threat: the danger of developing skin cancer becomes much higher in tanorexics. The Skin Cancer Foundation reports that sunbathers run 4 times more risk of developing melanoma. Dr. Downie says it’s not surprising since tanning beds are about 15 times as ultraviolet active as the sun – therefore a chronic tanner increases his or her chances of melanoma by 75 % with every next tan. According to authorities, Ms Krentcil brought her fair-complexioned daughter with her to a tanning salon, and the child ended up with multiple burns. The girl was 5, whereas the New Jersey law prohibits the use of tanning salon to children below 14.

Ms Krentcil admits to having developed a tanning habit. On the following day the girl’s kindergarten teacher saw the burns covering the girls’ body and called in medical help. Eventually Ms Krentcil was arrested and taken to the Superior Court where she was accused of child endangerment. Ms Krentcil was heard to say before the hearing that the accusation was a “made up” affair. At the court she pleaded not guilty through her attorney.

Today, diagnosis of depression is based on surveying the patient, who enlists the symptoms, and physicians prescribe therapy on the basis of these data. The researchers from Chicago say that their method will help identify depression at an early stage and use personalized treatment.

According to the scientists, the new test will be particularly relevant for adolescent patients. Depression in children is difficult to identify because children cannot always tell what depresses and worries them, and so they cannot get the right treatment. The development of the disease at an early age suggests its being of genetic nature, that is inherited.

According to the experts, if the level of depression at a younger age does not exceed 2-4%, depression in teenagers is already at the level of 10-20%. If depression is left untreated, the risk of overusing psychoactive substances increases, there appear difficulties with social adjustment, and the child may get sick often. Sometimes teenagers run away from home, unable to cope with problems on their own, or even attempt suicide. That is why the researchers say it is important to give an early and accurate diagnosis.

To conduct their research, the team of scientists invited 14 teenagers, diagnosed with depression, and 14 healthy teens from 15 to 19 years old. Taking blood samples, the researchers paid particular attention to the 26 biological markers of depression, which had been previously identified in the course of experiments on rats. 11 of these markers were found in the blood of the teenagers, participating in the experiment.

According to the report of the American scientists, published in the Translational Psychiatry journal, biological markers of blood provide objective data that can be used to verify verbal information obtained from the patient and improve the accuracy of diagnosis. Diagnosis and classification of depression at its early stage would help extend the arsenal of therapeutic means and select individual therapy.

It is believed that the mother’s lifestyle before and during pregnancy can affect the health of the child in the long run. Her diet, the air that she breathes, alcohol, smoking – all of this can cause irreversible changes in the DNA of her unborn child. Metaphorically speaking, if we imagine that the first letters and words appear in the book of the child’s future life during pregnancy, they will remain unchanged. What can be changed is the punctuation, as the Daily Mail magazine writes.

Thus, the scientists from Newcastle University have proved that obesity predisposition may develop at the stage of fetus formation. The researchers analyzed blood samples of the children aged 9 to 11 years (the samples had been taken at birth). In particular, they were looking for genes that had the same sequence, but “behaved” differently in people with normal weight and overweight. It was found that DNA markers in obese children were different as early as at birth.

In their study, the researchers relied on the methods of epigenetics (which is yet a controversial science), studying changes in gene expression and cell phenotype caused by the mechanisms that do not involve changes in DNA sequence.

These are the results of the new study, which was conducted in England. The researchers analyzed the questionnaires of 11,000 children. First of all, the data about the quality of sleep were collected when the children were 6, 18, 30, 42, 57, and 69 months old, and then the parents were asked to answer some questions about the behavioral factors of their children (at the age of 4 and 7 years).

According to the statistics collected, 45% of the children had no problems with the quality of sleep. 55% of the children demonstrated all the three signs of breathing problems.

After the exclusion of other factors influencing social adjustment, the researchers found that the likelihood of behavioral problems in children with sleep disorders ranged from 40% to 100%. The more the symptoms of respiratory failure manifested themselves, the higher was the risk of such problems as hyperactivity, aggression, unwillingness to follow the rules, anxiety, depression, and difficulties with socialization among peers.

The researchers recommend that more attention should be paid to children’s nighttime recreation, providing all the factors of healthy sleep (mode, ventilation, quiet games). It is extremely important since breathing problems can affect the child’s behavior and disrupt the balance in various body systems in the long term.

The researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health have conducted a study, which showed that the effectiveness of vaccines (diphtheria, tetanus) is greatly reduced for children, whose blood contains higher concentrations of perfluorinated compounds (PFC). So, seven-year-old children, whose concentration of PFC in the blood was twice exceeding the norm, had the reduction of the number of antibodies by 49%. Accordingly, the likelihood of being infected with diphtheria and tetanus was 4(!) times higher in some cases.

When the concentration of PFC in the body increases, the immune system becomes more sluggish and less capable of supporting protection mechanisms to combat pathogens. Thus, the children, who participated in the study and showed a high concentration of the PFC in the blood, had a smaller number of tetanus and diphtheria antibodies. The consequences of this failure may be the child’s having development problems, impaired reproductive function, as well as other health problems.

Perfluorinated compounds is a group of widely used fluorinated organic compounds that may be contained in repellents for the treatment of clothing, footwear and carpets, in a package for popcorn, which can be cooked at home in a microwave oven, as well as the packaging of child care cosmetics.

DNA analysis of a small group of children showed that the tested male infants had a certain mutation of the enzyme, which could interfere with the ability of proper breathing during sleep. However, this mutation was not found in girls.

The author of the study, Dr. Michael Klintschar, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Medical University of Hannover, explains that his team tried to take into account the previous studies, which proved that the deviation in the brain stem, regulating breath and other basic body functions, led to SIDS. The doctor adds that the causes of these disorders remain unclear, but some scientists believe that genes inherited from parents may be one of several factors leading to SIDS.

German scientists point out that parents can reduce the risk of SIDS by 50%, avoiding to lay the baby on its stomach. In addition, this risk reduces the use of pacifiers. Among other risk factors, scientists indicate parental smoking right next to the child, excessive wrapping of the child, or sleeping in a hot unventilated room.

Since 2006, HPV vaccine is used in the U.S. to vaccinate girls and young women. It is considered very effective in preventing cervical cancer. From the moment this initiative of the Academy of Pediatrics was approved by the medical community, the number of types of cancer, caused by HPV, has increased. It has been found that the sad list includes cancer of the rectum, and some types of head and neck tumors.

Initially, when the positive effect of the HPV vaccine was confirmed, it was assumed that it could be effective in preventing cervical cancer and genital warts. Dr. Michael Brady, chairman of the Academy’s committee on infectious diseases says it is clear today that vaccination should take place among the teenagers, including both young men and women. The current approach is ineffective in terms of public health, since men are also involved in the transmission of human papillomavirus. If the vaccination involves both girls and boys, perhaps, the number of cases of HPV will decrease.

The new guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics were published on February 27 in the Pediatrics journal.

Almost every child under the age of 3 years experiences from 1 to 2 cases of acute otitis media. 70-80% of children, seeking medical help and addressing the otolaryngologist, are already at the advanced stage of the disease.

It is not only impossible – it is needless to fully protect the children from respiratory virus infections, because it is experienced cases of SARS that gradually form a child’s immune system and its insensitivity to the same, but perhaps more serious, viral infections in the future. However, it is essential that these episodes of the disease should be relatively light, without complications and not too frequent.

With the proper treatment of respiratory viral infections, the recovery occurs after an average of 7-10 days, and the allowable frequency of the disease is limited to 5-6 episodes per year for preschoolers and 3 episodes of SARS for school children. Longer or more frequent illnesses already have the risk of complications.

Cough, runny nose (rhinitis, sinusitis), hoarseness (laryngitis) are all symptoms of SARS, and their treatment should be supervised by a therapist or pediatrician, depending on the patient’s age. Aggravated runny nose or cough can cause serious complications.

The study was conducted in Scotland, and its results were published in “Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health“. The research involved 850 people aged 15, 35, and 55 years. Their habits, health indicators and lifestyles had been studied during 20 years. One in five people, who participated in the study, had lived in the same place during the childhood, 59% had moved once or twice, and about 21% had moved at least three times. Children in single-parent families or living with a stepfather were proved to move across the country or the world more often than others. The families with two or three children were also more likely to move than families with four or more children.

In general, those who had moved more often than others, demonstrated health problems, they were weaker than their peers, and got sick more often. They also had frequent psychological stress, drinking and smoking problems in the adolescent age and later, when these children became adults.

Virginia Loup, the author of the study, explains that it is associated with an increased content of hormones. The risk of cancer is also caused by the speed of a girl’s maturation. If breasts begin to grow too rapidly, the predisposition to cancer evolves, as well.

Medical Express reports that breast cancer remains a genetic condition, but other factors also have influence – for example, the age when a woman gives birth to her first child and the number of children.

The study is published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

The physicians believe the problem is that today’s children do not want to drink plain water – the most useful drink on the planet. They do not drink it even as they grow a little older. They do not have this culture, and their parents are guilty of it, since they offer their children juices, smoothies, cocoa and other sweetened natural substitutes from an early age, instead of giving their children the most natural liquid for a human being, plain water.

Britain’s leading dentist Catherine Hurley explains that fruit juices and cocktails, as a rule, are very acidic, and their pH levels range from two to three. And every time the environment in the mouth is more acidic than pH 5,5, the teeth get vulnerable to “acid attacks”. Parents, of course, understand that their child’s uncontrolled use of sweets can lead to tooth decay, but they do not know anything about acidity. Propaganda is certainly to be blamed for this, since it makes an emphasis on the harm of sweets, and juices are declared healthy drinks. According to Hurley, the most interesting thing is that the terrible picture of the “deterioration” of children’s teeth is observed more frequently in affluent families where parents do not spare money on healthy eating: fruit juices, smoothies, milkshakes…

So if Hurley’s message is heard, in the near future the manufacturers may be obliged to warn about the harm caused by fruit and sugary drinks, rather than tell about their health benefits. In the meantime, a good way is to offer your kids a straw if they are so fond of drinking juice instead of water. In addition, if the juice is drunk together with food, its negative impact on the teeth is greatly reduced. And this is the doctors’ second recommendation. It will also be good if you drink some plain water after juice, or rinse your mouth with water.

Laura Glynn, a psychologist from Chapman University in California, has held a number of studies that prove the idea that pregnant women do suffer from short-term memory loss, and the brain as if focuses on the needs of the child, while everything else is in the background.

Especially if it is not the first pregnancy, expectant mothers know that it is this temporary happy condition which makes them extremely forgetful. They can fail to remember what they have been doing, where they have put the car keys, what day of the week it is. But it does not matter, and neither the pregnant woman, nor the people around her should be scared by it. Be sure the “brain will get back in its place” exactly at the moment when the baby is born. One will need extreme concentration, good reaction and endurance, so the body is prepared in advance by accumulating energy.

Dr. Glynn explains that these changes make a woman absent-minded, forgetful and extremely sensitive. They can be caused by hormonal changes in her body, by the moving of the fetal cells into the mother’s bloodstream (the scientists believe that these cells are attracted to certain brain areas), and the movements of the fetus. And even if the child moves almost imperceptibly, any change in the position of its body increases the heart rate of the expecting mother. In addition, pregnancy is a critical period for the development of the central nervous system of the woman, but, unfortunately, the scientists do not know practically anything about it. The only thing we can say for sure is that all these components taken together affect the pregnant woman’s brain, making it so… “absent-minded”.

What Causes Heartburn in Pregnant Women?

Heartburn during the period of early pregnancy is associated with the gastrin hormone, which controls gastric secretion and has special receptors in the cerebral cortex. Elevated level of the gastrin hormone in the body is a person’s genetic feature. During pregnancy, gastric secretion may be increased, and heartburn will be the result of it.

Another reason is that mother and fetus are connected with an umbilical cord. The fetus produces gastrin, which makes the pregnant woman increase the production of gastric secretion. In this case, there also appears heartburn.

When having heartburn, it is necessary to:

• maintain frequent split meals
• avoid such foods as onions, garlic, sauces, fatty and spicy foods
• change the heat treatment of foods that cause heartburn.

Foods Causing Heartburn

Heartburn may also appear after eating such innocuous products as meat, chicken broth, and cabbage. At the same time, lemon is not the cause of heartburn.

Heartburn Treatment

To treat heartburn, antacid medicine is used. But the medication should be prescribed by a doctor. Therefore, if the fit of heartburn is very strong, you should ask for professional help.

Some medicines may contain the substances that are potentially hazardous to the embryo development. The doctors advise to limit the use of a wide range of medicines during pregnancy. Over-the-counter drugs may contain up to six components that relieve the symptoms of cough, a runny nose, a headache, etc. Choose the drugs that contain the ingredients which remove only your specific symptom.

Also here are some tips for pregnant women about how to cure the common cold:

• Avoid decongestants in early pregnancy (oral taking). They are associated with the increased risk of abdominal wall defects in the fetus. Isotonic solutions in the form of a nasal spray are a good alternative.
• Some medicines contain herbal ingredients that have not undergone testing for use during pregnancy. Study the composition of the medicine carefully and address your physician for advice.
• Do not get too involved in taking the sprays that relieve pain in the throat. They often contain much sugar. Candies may contain zinc and vitamin C, but pregnant women are allowed to take only limited daily doses (80-100 mg of vitamin C and 11 mg of zinc).
• Ensure that cough syrup does not contain alcohol.

Since 1991, the researchers have been studying 1364 mothers from the moment of birth and to the period when their children became 10 years old. The scholars were interested to know the impact of the career on the mothers’ welfare (the experiment involved the mothers, who worked full time or part-time and who were housewives).

The verdict is as follows: the mothers, who work, have the best health and psychological balance. There is no much difference, whether the mother works full-time or part-time.

The mothers, who work part-time, also showed the best resistance to depression, and the mothers, staying at home, were more prone to depressive states.

The mothers, working part-time, pay more attention to the raising of their children, while the mothers, working full-time, and housewives have little or no opportunity to participate in their children’s education (the children of pre-school age are taken into account).

So, we are right, when we demand more lenient working conditions, but at the same time do not abandon the job altogether.

This is the conclusion made by Australian researchers from the Ramsay Health Care medical center after conducting a special study published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology journal.

As recommended by the US Institute of Medicine, the women with normal body weight should gain 11-15 kg during the period of pregnancy, the women with excess weight – 7-11 kg, and obese women – 9.5 kg.

However, for many pregnant women with evident signs of obesity it is useful to get rid of extra pounds rather than to gain weight during this period. This will not harm their health and the health of the child and will also reduce the risk of possible complications during pregnancy, such as diabetes and hypertension, associated with overweight.

The researchers have analyzed the data from four randomized clinical trials in which 537 pregnant women received advice on healthy eating and were told to keep daily records and count their calories. It was found that the pregnant women, who took care of their diet and controlled body weight, gained 6.4 kg less weight on average, compared with those, who did not. Also it has been revealed that a decrease in body weight during pregnancy causes no harm to the health of children.

According to Dr. Raul Artal, head of the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and women’s health at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, women with obesity can maintain body weight during pregnancy, or even lose up to 4 kg, without any damage to their health and that of a child.

The scientists do not advise pregnant women to have a strict diet. Instead, they recommend to consult a doctor and find the right diet and physical activity level.

Pregnancy is the perfect time to start a healthy lifestyle and approach healthy weight!

Podiatrists are unanimous: there should be a resolute ‘no’ to the heels! From the first day of diagnosed pregnancy, one should choose “orthopedic” types of shoes, such as sneakers with comfortable shock-absorbing soles, which smooth the way the body shakes while walking. High heels have a negative impact on the joints of the legs, the spine, and the uterus! Walking on high heels certainly increases the risk of edema, varicose veins, and leg pain. Moreover, irreversible changes in the joints can appear because of the sharply increasing weight during the second half of pregnancy. The pregnancy will be over, while the back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee will remain.

You will not be able to control the change of the center of gravity, when the belly will increase greatly, and the confidence in your stability will be reduced. At the same time, the likelihood of falls will increase even in the shoes without heels. You still cannot not feel all these inconveniences, simply because you have not gained much weight, and your figure has not changed much. Soon you will feel it all, so you’d better take care of your health in advance.

Finally, the main purpose of high heels – a beautiful silhouette and gait – becomes something unattainable at the later stages of pregnancy, and this advantage becomes totally perverted. Imagine a waddling “duck” walk of a pregnant woman with her back sharply drawn backwards to keep the center of gravity… and she is wearing high heels.

Vicki could not resist wearing studded heels even during the fourth pregnancy. The result was severe pain in her back, because of which she had to reduce her activity. After the birth of her daughter, she could not even stand during the first few weeks. However, two months later the incorrigible Vicki put on her studded shoes, took the newborn in her arms and went shopping.

The main problem is in the fact that many pregnant women might find this tendency very attractive. All the stars are doing it, after all! We hope that the unhealthy trend will come to naught.

Why Do Children Get Sick So Often?

The reason why children are very often ill is explained by the typical of their age imperfect immune and anatomical and physiological mechanisms which should protect the child’s body from respiratory viruses. Secondly, it is children that bring flu viruses from kindergarten or school. The incidence of flu in children is 5-7 times higher than in the case of adults. The standard scheme of getting infection looks as follows – parents get infected from their ill child, and then they are followed by grandparents. If at least one link in the family is protected from the flu, the incidence decreases significantly.

How Often Can a Kid Get Sick?

Still, colds in children are inevitable. According to pediatricians, a kid may be ill with various colds 6-8 times a year, and it will be within normal limits. Another issue is that prevention and strengthening of children’s organism should make illnesses not too frequent and as mild as possible.

5 Flu and Cold Prevention Tips

1. Observe the rules of hygiene. Contrary to a popular belief, the flu, SARS, etc. are not only airborne, but are also transmitted via handshaking or a towel.
2. Lead a healthy lifestyle. Everyone knows what that means, but not all follow this rule. Meanwhile, the conditions and way of life in 55% of cases determine our health, and genetic factors are only responsible for 5-10%.
3. Strengthen the immune system. In autumn and winter, you should regularly take multivitamin complexes.
4. Take preventive measures. Many doctors recommend vaccination as a kind of protection. If, for some reason, you are not going to get the vaccine, you must use non-specific measures: folk remedies and immunostimulants.
5. Demonstrate awareness. If you do get sick, reduce your contacts to a minimum and get your treatment at home. Thus you will not infect your colleagues and neighbors, and the complications will not be so likely to occur.

Source of the image: Photl.

The experts rated the cartoons after they had spent 200 hours watching the broadcasts of children‘s channels. During the analysis they tried to calculate how often physical activity was exhibited.

The cartoon characters were estimated for their activity and their positive behavior (walking and sports). According to the plot, the characters of the “Scooby-Doo” cartoon series were running away from monsters, so they did not experience any lack of physical activity.

But the “Tom and Jerry” cartoon did not even enter the top five list. It is followed by “Dasha the Pathfinder”, “Looney Tunes,”and “Sponge Bob” whereas the popular cartoon “The Simpsons” did not even reach the “golden ten”.

Anne Milton, Minister for Health, is convinced that it is important to eat right and move a lot in order to be healthy. This is especially true for children. The government has already decided to use the power of cartoon characters in order to change the lifestyle of many children.

Together with the LazyTown program, it has launched a campaign called Change4Life. There is a character called Spartacus who is constantly in motion and whose diet includes healthy foods. According to the experts, Spartacus will be an excellent role model.

Source of the image: Deepinmummymatters.

The cherished dream of the parents of school children is to see their child adapted to the new conditions as soon as possible. And the rules postulated by the doctors will help to protect the child from seasonal colds and to foster the love of healthy living.

1. Healthy and Tasty Food

It is believed that kids love fast food. In fact, they just like to eat. Think about why your child prefers pizza to dinner at home? Maybe he/she likes cheese and tomatoes, so cook vegetable stew or French saute that the child will surely enjoy. If your child is a sweet tooth and loves pastries, replace cakes and cookies with useful fruits and nuts. Explain why potato chips, sweet soda water and hamburgers are harmful.

Home cooking seems dull to a child? Cook a dish of Italian and French cuisine together – vegetable pasta or minestrone soup – it will be useful and very tasty. Life without Coke may seem too boring. Replace it with fruit or vegetable juices. And instead of a dessert you can offer a beautifully served plate with fruit.

But what is a real must in the children’s diet? Pay attention to the pumpkin, red peppers, carrots, lemon, and cranberry – these foods contain vitamins A, E, PP, F and C. Calcium is very important for the teeth and bones, and there is a lot of it in cheese, cottage cheese, and sesame. A lot of useful microelements can be found in nuts, seeds and legumes. Keep in mind dairy products and vegetable probiotics (onion, garlic).

2. Morning Fitness against the Cold

Love for sports is instilled from childhood. Explain to your child that fitness helps to wake up, to finally get rid of sleepiness and lethargy. It is desirable to do the exercises at the same time and before breakfast. The minimum program includes arms swinging, bending, squatting, jumping in place, push-ups.

If your child does not go in for sports, be sure to arrange an active weekend: horseback riding, a swimming pool, a skating-rink, an outdoor festival and playing with a dog – ask the child what he/she likes.

3. Respiratory Gymnastics Helps to Avoid Health Conditions

For the child not to catch a cold, the doctors recommend breathing exercises. Here are two most useful exercises to prevent colds and the flu.

• The child should put the hands on the ribs on both sides of the chest and imagine that he/she is smelling a scenty flower. A slow inhale through the nose (the ribs should move), and an exhale. The stomach and shoulders should remain stationary, and the ribs and hands should move. Repeat 3-4 times.
• It is done standing, with the feet together, and the arms stretched along the body. As the child hears “one”, he/she raises the hands sides up, then the child inhales, holds the breath and slowly puts the hands down with the continuous exhaling sound “ph-h-h ‘. Repeat 2 times.

4. Day Regimen Stops the Flu

A clear and thoughtful daily regimen not only helps with the discipline and teaches us not to have a time trouble, but also protects against colds, if managed correctly. Discuss daily routine with the child and hang the schedule in the best visible place in the room. Remember that sleeping should take at least 9-10 hours. And be sure to include daily walks and exercises (at least 2-3 hours).

5.Massage to Prevent Catching a Cold

One should not necessarily go to a specialist (unless, of course, there is medical evidence). Self-massage will also be useful. Walking on massage mats stimulates the reflex zones of feet. Massage of ears is a great way to wake up as soon as possible: grasp the ear tips with the thumb and forefinger and pull them down a few times.

A vibratory massage of the chest is good for the respiratory system and prevents illness and cold. It is quite easy to tap your chest with a fist as you exhale, pronouncing vowel sounds.

6. Drawing, Constructing, Modelling

These lessons develop fine motor skills and thus help to quickly learn to write beautifully and stimulate the development of intellectual abilities.

7. Speaking to Parents

Share your experiences at dinner, ask about the child’s relationship with peers, his/her thoughts and wishes. Do not speak badly about his abilities and try to criticize less. On the contrary, strengthen the child’s confidence in his/her abilities and encourage progress. It is important not only to take care and be close, but also to teach a child to be independent and to learn to express his/her own opinion.

Source of the image: Photl.

A number of researches established that the whole lifespan of a person – especially in terms of health – is determined by the conditions he or she was exposed to during the first 1,000 days of life, that is, the fetus period plus two first years.

Practically all the factors related to the body and its function, like weight, life expectancy, the chances of developing cancer or cardiovascular diseases, seem to stem from those 1,000 days – this is the basic idea of a decade-long research conducted by a team of scientists from Southampton University led by Professor David Barker.

According to their theory, a child’s development passes through a number of phases each having its critical period; any problem or irregularity that crop up within these periods can bring on grave health issues later in life.

Womb development, as Professor Barker found, is the period when the child is most vulnerable to influences that have the most impact on the health of the adult. The nutrition stipulates the work of the placenta and the fetus’s weight, and the mother’s every intake of drugs or alcohol, every cigarette and period of stress digs into the well-being of the unborn baby.

The weight at the birth, for example, is in direct correlation with the risk of developing a heart disease at a mature age. The findings show that a baby who weighed under 5 lb 7 oz at birth has two times higher risk of dying from a heart attack than a baby who made 9 lb and over.

Further discoveries show that if there is not enough food in the womb it goes to the brain with the heart left underdeveloped. The way of the pancreatic cells that generate insulin are coming along when in the womb have to do with the future development of diabetes. The state of the uterus is linked with the person’s weight through the life.

All those influences, Professor Barker is sure, cannot be corrected by later care and medication. And the main factor, in his opinion, is proper eating habits not only during pregnancy, but all the time. It is the question of “building a body that the baby can live off,” he said. One cannot expect a baby to thrive on snacks and tidbits.

The professor called the results of the research “a window of opportunity where we can make better people.”

In what ways can a mom ensure that she will have a child whose health will never be a cause of worry for her?

• avoid drinking, especially during the first trimester
• avoid smoking, and tell your hubby that you are not to inhale the fumes from his smoking
• avoid stressful situations
• avoid overeating and eating sugary food, but take care to feed well
• before you set about getting pregnant try and slim down to lightest comfortable weight
• take folic acid every day when you begin planning for a family.

Source of the image: Photl.

Having found an unexpectedly great amount of bacteria teeming in infants’ mouths, scientists concluded that babies’ toothless gums need washing and cleaning which will help escape development of dental cavities at a later age.

Boffins from the University of Illinois carried out research of infants before they have started growing teeth and compared the findings with the results of studies of babies and children who had their teeth treated for cavities. They employed DNA research technologies to explore the mouth and were surprised to find an enormous and active bacteria population that could easily lead to earlier formation of cavities.

Lead researcher Professor Kelly Swanson accentuated that most diseases, including teeth diseases, occur due to a diverse community of bacteria and not just one special kind of bacteria, and the discovery of a large amount of those poses a definite threat to oncoming teeth. If scientists dated the “window of infectivity” at the age from 19 to 33 months before, they are now forced to conclude that this potentially dangerous period may begin much earlier. It is reported that in the US 40% of little ones have cavities in their teeth by the age of three.

It ought to be mentioned that babies who are breastfed on a regular basis are much less threatened because antibodies and antitoxins in breast milk keep down the bacteria population.

More sugary kinds of infant formulas as well as drinks and snack food containing fermentable sugars, on the other hand, increase the risk of teeth decay, therefore The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry urges mothers to clean their toothless babies’ gums.

Dental experts in Britain offer no such advice. Janet Clarke, a spokeswoman for the British Dental Association, while recognizing the scientific value of the study, said that it requires further research to furnish a conclusive proof of the veracity of the findings. For the time being the Brits believe keeping the baby off sugary drinks and snacks after the baby has been weaned is a more important factor for teeth health.

The worst situation for teeth, Ms. Clarke pointed out, is when babies keep sucking and sipping at sugary drinks and foods from a carton for a period of time, because teeth suffer most when they are exposed to a frequent or long-time contact with sugar. Each suchlike contact results in about half-hour’s process when acid issues forth in the mouth causing teeth decay.

It is better to have a one-time drink from a cup or a glass – while the best bet for healthy gums and teeth remains to have drinks and foods with no sugar additives.

Source of the image: Photl.

Attention, young mothers! It is better not to give cow milk to babies till the age of 12 months! In comparison, the content of salt in breast milk is 15 mg per 100 ml, while cow milk has 55 mg per 100 ml. If your infant drinks about 750 ml of cow milk a day, it will receive 385 mg of salt, and that is almost half the maximum daily salt intake recommended for the infants under one year.

Accordingly, the researchers advise to reduce the amount of salt in other foods for the infants that drink cow milk instead of breastfeeding.

In general, the nutritionists from Bristol University, who have discovered how salty cow milk formula is, claim that consuming too much salt can lead to health problems in children. A large amount of salt in the diet increases blood pressure and causes kidney disorders.

The scientists advise mothers to give their children breast milk or special mixtures, but not cow milk!

Source of the image: Photl.