There are some principles of child health care that may sound very familiar, but in fact, you can do the “opposite” without causing any harm.
As parents, everyone wants their children to eat well, grow quickly and be healthy. Because of that, many parents have strictly followed all the advice and health care principles that people often think are correct, such as bathing their children every day, brushing their teeth after each meal and giving them vitamin supplements. However, are these things really necessary? Let’s continue reading the following shares.
1. Children need to take a nap every day
The truth is that according to experts, it is quite normal for children to not take a nap sometimes. Some children even go through a period of “resisting” naps, while others give up this habit completely when they are 3-4 years old.
However, if they do not take a nap, they may feel too tired and have difficulty sleeping at night. Therefore, try to maintain this habit for your child. If your child does not want to, you do not have to force them, but give them some quiet time to relax. In addition, if your child does not take a nap, put them to bed 30 to 60 minutes earlier than their usual bedtime in the evening.
2. Brush your teeth after every meal
In theory, you need to brush your teeth after every meal. However, in reality, we often do not have much time to spend on this. Therefore, you should only try to get your child into the habit of brushing their teeth twice a day (morning and evening) and encourage them to rinse their mouth with water regularly. Brushing their teeth before going to bed is especially important. Therefore, if your child is young, help them brush their teeth because otherwise food and bacteria that accumulate throughout the day can cause tooth decay.
3. Children must be given medicine when they are sick
Every time you see your child sick, you are extremely worried, “impatient” and reflexively go to the pharmacy to buy medicine for your child. However, giving your child medicine is not always necessary. For example, common cold medicines only have the effect of temporarily reducing symptoms but cannot speed up recovery time or reduce the severity of the disease. Not only that, some medicines can interfere with the body’s natural resistance to eliminating bacteria or viruses. Therefore, when you see signs of unwellness in your child, take him or her to the doctor for diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
4. You need to bathe your baby every day
Bathing is necessary to remove dirt and harmful agents from the body. In particular, young children like to run and jump, often sweat, if you do not clean them, they will be at risk of prickly heat or skin diseases, dermatitis.
However, every time the weather turns cold, the baby’s body is very weak, so you do not necessarily have to bathe your baby every day to avoid catching a cold. Not only that, if you bathe your baby too often, it can cause the natural moisturizing layer on the skin to be lost, making the skin easily irritated. Therefore, the principle of health care is that instead of bathing, every day, you only need to clean the hands, face, feet and parts with many folds, easy to accumulate dirt such as the neck, genitals and armpits for the baby.
Before bathing, you can massage your baby’s whole body, talk to him/her, then wrap him/her in a towel and wait for the bath.
5. Children need to take supplements
According to medical experts, children do not need to take any vitamin supplements if they are fed a scientific, nutritious diet. If your child is not lacking in nutrients and you still provide them, the body will not absorb them. Even if your child has a poor appetite for a few days, it is okay because the body will adjust itself to increase the ability to absorb vitamins and minerals from food.
However, if your child is really anorexic and malnourished, you can give your child additional vitamin and mineral supplements. Before giving your child supplements, you should take your child to see a doctor to avoid overdose, which can cause more harm than good.
6. Don’t let your child snack
Children often run and play, so their daily calorie needs are also very large. Therefore, you will see your child hungry often.
According to experts, in addition to three main meals, you should give your child 5-6 snacks a day. Healthy snacks not only provide calories for your child’s body but also help supplement necessary nutrients. For example, you can give your child yogurt and fruit to supplement calcium and fiber. In addition, this also helps children learn to recognize the feeling of hunger and fullness of the body to avoid problems related to weight when they grow up.
7. Don’t let your child go out with wet hair
In fact, it is the infection of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, dirt, etc. that causes children to get sick. Both the flu and the common cold are spread through person-to-person contact, such as holding hands or sharing a glass with an infected person.
There is no evidence that temperature or wet hair affects the onset of the disease. However, you should try to dry your child’s hair or, if you have time, blow-dry your child’s hair before letting them go out to play. The reason is that wet hair can not only make your child feel cold and uncomfortable, but also be unsightly.
8. Don’t sit too close to the TV
According to pediatric ophthalmologists, young children’s eyes have a higher ability to focus when looking at nearby objects. Therefore, sitting close will help children concentrate easily and not get tired eyes. Don’t worry about radiation because according to many studies, this factor is not dangerous.
However, you should avoid letting your children watch TV or play on tablets or phones for too long because this can cause many harmful effects. In addition, in some cases, children sitting close to the TV can be a warning sign of vision problems in young children that you need to pay attention to.
