"Curious kids need to be tough inside"
I have a daughter named Alya Zahra. She will be 1 year old come this January and she's very active and really curious with all things surrounding her. She can't really walk yet but she really can climb! Hahah...
With all these curiosity, comes a danger. She can hurt herself. Already once or twice she had hit her head to the floor or fall down awkwardly thus hurting her body. So someone need to monitor her while she feeds her curiosity. Dangerous items need to be hidden from her and we also put thick cloth below where she's at so that when she fall down, it can soften the impact.
All this we can monitor since all these are external and we as parents can see it . How about her internals? what protects them? This is where the immune system comes in play. We can try to cure it if she comes sick but as always, prevention is better than cure... and this we need the immune system.
The key to a healthy child is a strong immune system. All children are constantly exposed to disease producing organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites but this doesn't mean they will get sick. A strong immune system provides a child with the natural defenses to fight off diseases.
Alya as in any other children have lower immunity to infections than us adults do, and tend to stay sick longer. To boost her toughness inside, this is what I as a parent tried to do...
With all these curiosity, comes a danger. She can hurt herself. Already once or twice she had hit her head to the floor or fall down awkwardly thus hurting her body. So someone need to monitor her while she feeds her curiosity. Dangerous items need to be hidden from her and we also put thick cloth below where she's at so that when she fall down, it can soften the impact.
All this we can monitor since all these are external and we as parents can see it . How about her internals? what protects them? This is where the immune system comes in play. We can try to cure it if she comes sick but as always, prevention is better than cure... and this we need the immune system.
The key to a healthy child is a strong immune system. All children are constantly exposed to disease producing organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites but this doesn't mean they will get sick. A strong immune system provides a child with the natural defenses to fight off diseases.
Alya as in any other children have lower immunity to infections than us adults do, and tend to stay sick longer. To boost her toughness inside, this is what I as a parent tried to do...
1. Tried to get A.Z enough sleep. Alya is very active but it is very hard to make her go to sleep. We tried to make her as comfortable as possible at her bed so that she can sleep well. An enough sleep help her body to regenerates, repairs and renews itself . Lack of sleep has bad effects to the immune system. making her more susceptible to illness due to reduced natural killer cells (NK Cells)/ immune-system weapons. NK Cells helps to fight off tumors and any other cells infected by Viruses. We tried to make her go to sleep at least 10 hours a day so that her immune system can always be strong to fight this.
2. Drink plenty of fluid. We also tried to make her drinks a lot of fluids like water and 100% fruit juices while avoiding sugary drinks. Enough fluids helps to relieve her of constipation. She also get the fluids from her porridge whcih her mummy made for her every morning. She loves it so much!3. Eat m
ore fruits and vegetables: While Alya is watching TV on her walker, we give her fresh fruits. Vegetables are also added to her porridge. vegetables are the absolute best source of vitamins and minerals that you can give not only to our kids but to us adults also. We tried to make Alya to eat five servings of fruits and veggies a day with the help of her teacher at the nursery off-course!4. Less Sugar and Sweeten
ers. The fewer sugary foods you can give your kids, the better. Ohh... and Alya will be hyperactive and very hard to go to sleep if she just ate sugary or sweeteners before her sleep time. We maybe guilty of giving her sweets but it's just to feed her curiosity ;-)
5. E
xercise and play. Not only us adults need exercises but a baby like Alya need too! It can boost her immunity, apart from relieving stress (yes! baby do get stressed out), which itself is an important cause of the immunity going down. Once in a while, we bring Alya outside to play (with proper supervision!)
6. Breastfeeding Alya. For the first 6 months, Alya also breastfeeds apart from the usual formula milk. Now, she doesn't breastfeed anymore due to mummy struggling to produce milk for her. Breast feeding actually prevents unwanted germs and organisms from entering the child's gut, and apart from nutrition, also contains plenty of antibodies, lymphocytes, and other immune chemicals. Now mummy gave Alya brown rice milk which is also a healthy alternative. Hopefully this can also helps to increase her immune system.7. Vitamins. Alya get her vitamins
from those vegetables she ate and also from her formula milk. Friso Gold also have important vitamins in their products. When Alya is 1 year we plan to give that a try.Vitamins B and C are two of the most important ones when it comes to boosting the immune system.8. Try not to use Antibiotic unless necessary. Antibiotics are good
but too much of a good thing can be bad. We as parents tried not to give her antibiotics for normal fever unless her pediatricians ask us to which usually depends on what causes her the fever. The overuse of such antibiotics has developed strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. As you can see here it can result to serious consequences.
9. Keeping the surrounding clean, smoke-free and stress-free. Stress, can lead to immune depression. We avoid to go to a too crowded places since this can really stress Alya or any other baby i might say. Similarly, sleep deprivation or sleep lag also results in depressed immunity. Alya's daddy doesn't smoke so that helps too!
10. Home Full of Love. "All you need is Love!!" It is a wonderful way to boost immunity. We as parents try to create a loving environment for her so that she can feel more secure and happy.We love to give her hugs, massages (especially after her bath), touches and kisses. Studies show that laughter and positive thinking help to strengthen immunity too. The more children laugh and enjoy life, the better their immune function.
11. Daily Routine. We have a schedule for Alya for her daily
routine. This is also important so that her body clock can be stable and increase her immunity over time.12. Enjoy Nature. Once in a while, We bring alya outside (with fres
h air laa...) in the park or near the lake near our house. Hopefully this will develop her immune system and also will help her relieve her stress. We show her birds, and other fauna. These moving objects will also help her train her eye coordination.
i'm calling for mommies and daddies out there... let's all join this event... with a simple blog entry.... "Curious kids need to be tough inside".... and you will get a chance to go to Nuffnang Friso Gold Family Day Out.... Just click HERE to know more about this...
Friso® Gold contains Frisoshield ™ with P2 Dual System™ is a combination of key nutrients together with prebiotics and healthy live bacteria.
Prebiotics helps increase intestinal bifidobacteria and maintain good intestinal environment.
Friso® Gold also contains DHA, AA, SA and other essential nutrients that aid a growing child's overall development.
We've checked Friso Gold at the hypermarket and compared it with our current milk formula . It is comparable in terms of its nutrients but cheaper. Already asked for a free trial from Friso's website so Alya can try. Hopefully she likes it!
Friso® Gold contains Frisoshield ™ with P2 Dual System™ is a combination of key nutrients together with prebiotics and healthy live bacteria.
Prebiotics helps increase intestinal bifidobacteria and maintain good intestinal environment.
Friso® Gold also contains DHA, AA, SA and other essential nutrients that aid a growing child's overall development.
We've checked Friso Gold at the hypermarket and compared it with our current milk formula . It is comparable in terms of its nutrients but cheaper. Already asked for a free trial from Friso's website so Alya can try. Hopefully she likes it!
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