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Softy
Corner - Food for Thought
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SOME CHILD REARING MYTHS
All the registered parents have received
these updates already. In case you want a specific Update again
-please e mail the request. In case you wish to delist from these
updates, you may e mail accordingly.
This Update shall touch upon some myths and misconceptions that lie in
our practice of bringing up our child.
You may not make out any specific pattern in the issues addressed. The
reason is that I have punched in the matter as it has come to my mind.
In a day of our Clinic practice there is a delectable variety of
parental concerns, parental misconceptions and confusions in the minds
of the care givers of the child.
I have drawn from this amazing variety and hence shall be brief to
each point.
One interesting ( allow me the liberty ) feature that I have observed
over the years is that those families where there is the parents AND
the grandparents - the following WILL happen ( and this happens in the
best of educated families too) :
The child WILL not eat : there will be so much pressure from so
many people that he shall get rebellious. Please leave him to himself
and give him some space !
THE MOTHER HAS NO IDEA ABOUT HOW TO RAISE THE CHILD :
There will be frequent comparisons between the times then and the
times now. You shall have to strike a balance yourself. Nobody can
come to your rescue !
WHY DOES THE MOTHER RUSH THE CHILD TO THE PEDIATRICIAN
SO OFTEN ?: Here there is a significant experience of the
grandmother and it shall help you to listen to her. Allow some home
made remedies, have some patience - most minor disorders in infants
and children do get okay on their own or with small home made recipes.
MILK WILL BE A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE - THE MORE THE BETTER :
I am addressing this issue as the first one below.
MORE MILK - BETTER :
The general notion is that the more milk the child takes, the better.
Milk is a natural source of Calcium and is thus important. However it
contains almost no Vitamin D - the vitamin needed for assimilation of
Calcium. Too much milk shall eat into the tummy space of the poor
child - lead to smaller solid feeds and be counter-productive.
As a general rule of thumb , after the age of say 5-6 months,
something like 600- 700 ml of milk a day is enough.
DELAY THE WEANING PROCESS - LIVER GETS AFFECTED OTHERWISE :
Weaning ( introduction of semi solids in the earlier exclusive milk
based intake) is ideally begun around 4 months of age. There is
absolutely no scientific rationale behind the fear that early weaning
ill affects the Liver.
LATER THE TEETHING THE BETTER - IT SHOULD START AFTER STARTS
WALKING:
Teething should ideally begin around 6-7 months of age. The belief
that delayed teething ( especially that it best begins after the child
starts walking ) again has no scientific basis. Walking usually shall
start sometime around 1 year of age. That is too too late for
teething. It may actually be an indicator of Vitamin D deficiency and
you may need to get to your Pediatrician regarding this.
POTTY BEFORE GOING TO SCHOOL :
Theoretically a very good thing - an ideal goal to achieve. But it
shall simply frustrate you and him. Please do not insist on it beyond
a certain limit.
What with the early morning rush of getting up from bed fast, getting
ready fast, gobbling the breakfast fast.....being able to pass his
early morning stool is difficult indeed. It is perfectly okay if he
does no soon after getting back from school, or else he may, on his
own fit into a fairly consistent time pattern - support him please.
TEETHING TROUBLE:
Let me admit, we Pediatricians do not actually know what exactly
teething trouble is !
We often take shelter under this nebulous entity when we ourselves do
not know what is going wrong.
All that we know ( and this is not any different from what you also
have experienced) is that some vague diarrheas/tummy upsets/colds etc
happen around 6-8 months. Why they happen, are they really and
scientifically related to teething, what we can do about these
symptoms - SORRY !
MULTIVITAMINS ARE GOOD :
There are very select scientific situations when a specific vitamin is
needed. They are identifiable by your Pediatrician and he would
prescribe that specific vitamin.
The market is flooded with lovely multivitamin preparations - they
have no scientific role and you may best avoid them.
REFILLING PAST PRESCRIPTIONS :
It is common for parents to get a repeat round of drugs from a Chemist
for similar appearing symptoms. Agreed it saves you the time of having
to go to your Pediatrician, agreed it may work well enough this time
too , agreed it saves you some money too !
However, in principle it is not a very safe thing to be doing. What
may appear to you to be a 'similar' illness may be something else in
the Pediatrician's view. There are horror stories hidden in every
Pediatrician's closet of how an erroneous perception of 'similar
illness' got complicated limitlessly.
In case you still wish to refill your prescription , please do pick up
the phone and ratify with your Pediatrician.
ANTS ON URINE - DIABETES ?
It is common for ants to get attracted to a child's urine ( that may
have got spilled on the floor).
Do not panic - do not think Diabetes straight. Report to your
Pediatrician - he shall order a simple urine test for sugar ( for your
satisfaction ).
EXPECTING A MEDICATION FOR EVERY AILMENT :
Please do not fall in this trap. Every ailment does not need
medication - there is no medicine for every ailment - medicines are
medicines , they can cause ailments too !
Trust nature and use some patience - your Pediatrician is always
available when these two fail.
EMOLIENT CREAMS ( SKIN SOFTENER) - COCONUT OIL BEST :
Keeping the skin soft , especially in winters is quite a problem.
There are several creams with tall claims- try them out.
Please also try good old coconut oil.
The only trick is that you should apply the coconut oil on a moist
skin. After his bath dab your child with a towel and apply coconut oil
just before the skin is totally dry. It works well.
TONGUE TIE - INTERFERING WITH SPEECH :
A rather common notion.
It has no scientific basis.
Family pressure may force you to visit your Pediatrician and he shall
rightly advise you NOT to get it removed. Please listen to him and do
not insist on a surgery he does not want to advise.
YOUR DOCTOR CAN ALWAYS HELP YOU ON PHONE :
As a very basic issue , it is never in your interest to solicit
medication on telephone. There is no substitute to a Doctor first
examining the child and then deciding, first ,whether to medicate at
all , second - if to medicate , what to offer. There might be a
symptom you may miss out on telling on the phone - this symptom may be
really critical.
Yes, clarifications are usually made well on the phone - things like
poorly understood dosage, minor modifications in dosage, alternatives
for non-availability and so on.
Please also understand that it does embarrass your Pediatrician when
he insists on your visiting him before he prescribes. Kindly
understand his position. He is watching your interest.
INHALER THERAPY IN ASTHMA - STRONG MEDICINE AND THE LAST RESORT :
The diagnosis of Asthma comes as a bolt from the blue. Your
Pediatrician understands your concerns and shall usually try and
explain the whole issue well and relieve your anxiety as best as he
can.
He may offer you inhaler therapy in preference to conventional oral
medication. Do not get alarmed.
There is established data and global consensus that inhaler therapy is
the best for Asthma.
Please make good use of it.
It is understandable that you shall feel this is the last resort,
there is nothing beyond this, the child shall get ' hooked to it for a
lifetime' , inhalers are known to be used in adults only and so on.
The actuality is just the reverse. It is the lightest medication that
can be used. You may follow that oral medication has to get circulated
throughout the body for a fraction of it to reach the lungs ( the
target organ ).
What if someone offers a medicine that bypasses the whole body and
reaches the lungs directly. What if only a small percentage of
medicine thus has to be delivered. What if the side effects on other
organs of the body are bypassed.
This is your friend - Inhaler. Please take it happily if your
Pediatrician suggests so.
HOMEOPATHIC / AYURVEDIC LIGHTER THAN ALLOPATHIC :
Diagnosis is perhaps made best by the Allopathic system of medicine
due to its refined diagnostic modalities.
Please get your diagnosis done properly - follow any system that suits
you. The idea is to get relief and satisfaction - the system that
delivers it is the best for you.
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