Children Healthy Care

Healthy Eating:
“Less fried foods, more veggies, and gentleness with restraint”

1. “Like father, like son,” Children watch and do what they see adults do, beware of “Preaching morality in his underpants”
2. Breastfeeding in infancy, and skim milk after age 2
3. Drink plenty of water (instead of juices and juice drinks)
4. Breakfast daily
5. Bake, broil, boil, or steam or microwave instead of frying
6. Cooking recipes by changing the nutrient content increasing
7. Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily
8. Eat low-fat, and less meat, cream, cheese, and sweet
9. Reducing soft drinks, sweets and sugary cereals
10. Healthier food choices when eating fast food and machinery
11. Serve portions by age and size of the child
12. Provide young children 5 or 6 small meals at fixed times
13. Avoid using food as a reward or as punishment for children
14. Avoid forcing children to eat everything served to them
15. Consult pediatrician or nutritionist if family history of obesity

Causes:

• Biological predisposition (genetic, hormonal), psychological (depressed mood, anxiety, bulimia), environmental (examples, lifestyles, food and elements that surround the child in the home and school) and socioeconomic (low-income families tend to more junk food consumption given the high cost of healthier foods.)
• Excessive consumption of foods high in fat and sugars (junk food).
• Sedentary lifestyle (too much time with TV, computer, video games).

Prevention:

• Understand and respond to biological predispositions, psychological, environmental and socioeconomic.
• Reduce consumption of foods high in fat and sugars (junk food) and replace them with nutritious food.
• Replace sedentary lifestyle (time with TV, computer, video games) for a more active.

Intervention:

Physical Activity

1. Physical activity to the point of sweating for at least 1 hour a day
2. Changes daily-walk and use stairs instead of elevator car and
3. Taking dance classes or martial arts
4. Join a sports team or commit to exercising with friends
5. Reduce TV time, computer and video games

The word derives from the Latin obesus obesity which means “too much fat.” Obesity is defined as excessive accumulation of body fat weight reflected in a 20% higher than recommended by age, height, and sex of the person. That is , although of course a baby 25 pounds, and obese if he weighs 30, a child who should weigh 50 pounds, it would be obese if it exceeds 60, and a teenager whose ideal weight is 100 pounds is considered obese if he weighs 120.

Obesity is the disease that is growing faster and more threatening in the U.S.. All children in America are the most obese in the world, and 24% are Latino children. In California, almost 30% of children and adolescents are obese. These figures have more than doubled in the last ten years. Latino children are more likely to develop obesity than Anglo children, even as early as kindergarten. Half of obese adults were obese before age two, and most of the other half starts to show obesity in puberty and adolescence. 70% of overweight adolescents will be obese adults, and the figure rises to 80% if your mother or father are obese.

Consequences:

* Physical Consequences: fatigue easily, probably cardiovascular disease, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, bone and joint problems, arthritis, sleep apnea, early sexual maturity, increased risks of cancer.
* Psychological Consequences: insecurity, low self-esteem, school discrimination, social exclusion, depression, eating disorders (bulimia, binge eating).

• Laxatives: There are several such as bisacodyl, sodium picosulfato, lactulose, milk of magnesia, petrolatums. Only use them for medical indication and momentarily. No use for a long time unless your doctor tells you how important it is to know what caused the problem or change eating patterns.

• OF GLYCERIN SUPPOSITORIES: Your use must not be frequent.

• Enema: Are preparations containing electrolytes or irritating solution has an osmotic effect on the intestine ( “pull” water into the gut) allowing the deposition to soften. Also, its use should be indicated by the physician and should be employed temporarily.

• FIBER PLANT: is contained in vegetables and fruit that are eaten raw and without blending. Also in the grain shell so it is important to accustom the child to the consumption of bread and crackers. There are preparations such as wheat bran, tamarind or dried fruit (plums, cherries, figs, ossicles) that can be employed.

• CHANGE OF FEEDING HABITS AND AGING: the child should be accustomed from childhood to

Eat or drink plenty of fluids after his solid foods (boiled water, soft drinks, juices).
Eat a daily or unpeeled fruit or two.
Consume daily or raw vegetables in salads or pickled.
Do not hold the urge to defecate. Use potty or go to the bathroom every day and have no desire to defecate.
or daily physical activity (sports, jogging, aerobics). The work mainly abdominal muscle, favors the increase of bowel movements evacuation.

• It is the presence of stool of hard consistency and appearance of “balls” that produce discomfort or pain in children and may be accompanied by surface features of blood ( “trickles”) because of the difficulty to defecate. The frequency of bowel movements is not conclusive as there are children who defecate every two or three days but the stools appear normal: in pieces or strands, consistency “pasty”.

• The newborn breast takes just do not experience constipation because it can take up to five days in stool and stool consistency are “pasty” or even slurry ( “like mashed).

• The bottle using newborn may suffer from constipation have stools with a consistency of “plasticine” that retain their form when you open the diaper.

• There are two types of constipation in children older than six months:

1. Primary or functional constipation. There is no organic disease as a cause.
2. Constipation secondary. There is an organic disease of substance.

Control Urination and Defecation

• 90% of newborns at term (not premature) have their first stool on the first day of life and the remaining 10% occur in the second day. This deposition is one aspect of a “mash” or “slurry” of dark green or black and is called meconium.
• If a newborn does not defecate within 48 hours of life must be ruled out congenital anomalies, some very dangerous and need for surgery (intestinal atresia, stenosis dudodenal, meconium ileus). There are other causes of delayed onset (hypothyroidism, anal stenosis, aganglionic megacolon).
• The anal sphincter (deposition), we begin to control after six months and the bladder (urine) from 16 months. Within two years most children and can be controlled properly both sphincters and therefore should be able to “tell”.
• The best way to promote sphincter control is through the stimulation and gratification. From the year and a half to put the child is sitting on a potty at the same time every day for about ten minutes “and nothing happens.
• Over time, coincidentally, will occur spontaneous defecation or urination in the potty. This moment must be celebrated (hugging, love, adoption, candy or gift) for the child to appreciate the joy that this behavior arises from their parents. Gradually, the event will be repeated and become a routine.
• After three years most children no longer “wets the bed.” If this situation continues is called enuresis.
• After three years most children advised to defecate and do it in appropriate places (potty, bathroom, toilet, toilet). If not called encopresis.

Parents should stay calm and carefully observe the child. To prevent accidental injury, place the child in a protected area such as the floor or ground. The child should not be endured or restricted during the seizure. To prevent choking, the child should be placed on its side or stomach. If possible, one parent must carefully remove any object in the child’s mouth. Parents should never put any object into the child’s mouth during a seizure. Objects placed in the mouth can break off and obstruct the respiratory passage of the child. If the seizure lasts longer than 10 minutes, the child should be taken immediately to the nearest medical facility for treatment. After the seizure, the child should be taken to your doctor to determine the source of the fever. This is especially urgent if the child shows symptoms of stiff neck, extreme lethargy or severe vomiting.

Febrile seizures in infants or young children are seizures caused by fever. During febrile seizures, children often lose consciousness and extremecen, moving limbs on both sides. Less commonly, the child becomes rigid or has twitches in only one body part, such as an arm or leg, or left or right side only. Most febrile seizures last a minute or two, although some can be as short as a few seconds and others last for more than 15 minutes.

Most children with febrile seizures have rectal temperatures over 102 degrees F. Most febrile seizures occur during the first day of fever in children.

It is considered that children prone to febrile seizures have epilepsy, since epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures that are precipitated by fever.

Treatment

The essential thing is the parental support, emotional encouragement and motivation to overcome this situation. Avoid punishments and reprimands aggravating the problem.

Parents should take an attitude of understanding and patience but at the same time, firmly. Must be maintained at all costs, a sleep onset time which must be fulfilled irreversibly allowing few modifications.

Parents should keep the child sleep in their bed but may make the granting of sleep, in bed with one of his brothers, for example. It can accept sleep with a light on or open door.

Avoid TV programs which have any degree of violence.
It can offer a night swim, a weak light or a previous moment of conversation before sleep. In some children does start reading a story making it easier to put sleepy.

Only your doctor can authorize the use of diphenhydramine or diazepam in a few cases.

SLEEP DISORDERS

The experiences that most influence whether the child has sleep disorders are:
Accidents
Sickness.
Separation or absence of the mother (labor, travel, etc).
Maternal Depression.
Sleeping in bed with parents.
Ambivalent or contradictory maternal attitude in child rearing.

Many of these children during the day or annoying irritable temperament. Sleeping problems may occur as an expression of family difficulties or as a product of family anxiety.
Older children may have, temporarily, fear or anxiety about the possible presence of noise at night, thieves, kidnappers. I do not always expressed openly, sometimes employing delaying tactics to go in initiating sleep. They expect parents to be asleep to just go to his room.
Children may feel that bedtime is a time when they are away from the love and care from their parents.
Separation anxiety and fear to initiate sleep often is triggered after the child has been placed in a nursery or a school starting. This situation may be exacerbated if there is marital conflict or separation.
As more children have greater awareness of what is death and fear may appear that at night, if only he could die. This situation is exacerbated if a relative has died recently.
Sleep problems can sometimes show the difficulties of the child in their performance at school.
5% of children older than 5 years has nightmares. This is more common in girls.