Air pollution is known to take a toll on the lungs of even the healthiest adults. So, it comes as no surprise that the effects of this pollution on the lungs of children is deemed as a grave situation, full of health hazards including the onset of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorders and conditions like asthma and other lung disorders. Read on to find out more about the link between air pollution and its effect on the lungs of children.

Children's Lungs: Mostly, all the organs of a child's body are considered delicate and not fully matured until the child reaches a certain age. The main and largest part of the child's lungs will usually grow only after the child is born, much like the arms and legs. In fact, it is a medically proven fact that about 80% of the tiniest of air sacs grow after the child's birth, these are called the alveoli and they facilitate the transfer of the oxygen into the bloodstream with a life-sustaining function that is built into our lungs. These alveoli continue to grow until the child becomes an adult. 

Immunity and Infections: Like the lungs of the child, the immunity of the child is also still in its growth phase, and is very much, unlike the immunity that an adult enjoys. This makes the child more susceptible to infections that are usually carried by air pollution in today's day and age of urban living when myriad pollutants are sent into the air every single day. Also, since children play outdoors more often and spend more time breathing in this air, they are more prone to these infections and lung or respiratory ailments due to this reason. Various studies and tests have shown inflammation in the respiratory passages caused by deposits of carbon dioxide emissions in the lungs of children.

Symptoms: Usually, the very first symptoms that show that air pollution is affecting your child's lungs can be seen when persistent coughing and wheezing sets in, without any proper reason. Also, when the child faces bronchial infections time and time again, all these are indicators of hazardous effects of air pollution in children.

Respiratory problems: Apart from respiratory problems, which can lead to asthmatic attacks, hay fever and allergies as well as other COPD ailments, there are other related dangers as well. These can happen when constant choking and obstruction of oxygen due to pollution becomes a regular affair. These include stroke and brain damage which can eventually also lead to a higher risk of dementia. 

How can you protect your child during such times?

Restrict outdoor activity for the time being, especially during the early morning and evening
Make sure that your child wears a face mask when outside, preferably N95 or 99
Use air purifiers at home 
Go green and use indoor plants that can remove indoor toxins
Boost your child's immunity
Lastly, keep a track of air quality index in your locality

Pollution - How It Can Affect Your Child's Lungs?

Typhoid is an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on the chest and abdomen and severe intestinal irritation, brought about by the Salmonella typhi bacteria. It can also be brought about by Salmonella paratyphi, a related bacterium that generally causes a less extreme sickness. The bacteria are stored in water or in the food by a human carrier and are then spread to other individuals around them.

Multiple Ways to Prevent Typhoid Fever

Vaccination: Take one dose of the vaccine one week before travelling. The other is given orally in four cases, with one container to be taken every alternate day. Neither one of the vaccines is 100% effective. Both require repetitive immunisation since the effect of vaccines diminishes over time.
Washing your hands: Frequently washing your hands in hot, soapy water is the most ideal approach to control contamination. Wash before eating or cooking food and after using the toilet. Use a hand sanitiser in cases where water isn't accessible.
Drinking clean water: There are a few ways in which you can avoid getting typhoid fever spread by contaminated water.
Abstain from drinking untreated water.
Contaminated drinking water is a specific issue in areas where typhoid fever is endemic. Thus, drink only boiled or filtered water, or canned or packaged carbonated drinks.
Carbonated filtered water is more secure than non-carbonated filtered water.
Request drinks without ice.
Use filtered water to brush your teeth and try not to swallow water in the shower.
Clean water can get contaminated again in case it is not put away securely.
Store the clean drinking water in a container with a little opening and use it within four hours.
Staying away from raw fruits and vegetables: Maintain a strategic distance from crude foods grown in the ground. Since crude produce may have been washed away in water, maintain distance from products of the soil that you cannot peel, particularly lettuce. To be totally protected, you might need to stay away from street food completely.
Cooking: Pick hot foods. Keep away from food that is put away or served at room temperature. Steaming hot nourishments are ideal. Also, in spite of all precautions, there is no assurance that the food served at the finest restaurants is safe for your health. It is best to stay away from foods served by street side vendors. Completely cook all meats, fish and vegetables. Eat them while they are still hot.
Washing: Wash your dishes and utensils with proper dish washing soap and water. Wash your cutting board particularly well with a cleanser and water.
Peeling: Peeling fruits and vegetables protects you from typhoid. Eat natural products that have been freshly washed and peeled, for example, oranges and bananas.

Typhoid Fever - Follow These Steps and Prevent It!

Coughing during the night can really wreak havoc for your sleep and cause inexplicable discomfort in the throat and chest region. Thankfully, you can manage it by soothing your tickling throat as well as sensitive airways before you go to bed at night. 

Drink herbal tea: A mugful of non-caffeinated tea mixed with a teaspoon of honey before going to bed can help you to a considerable extent. This is because any warm liquid has the power to break down the formation of mucus in the throat region and with a bit of honey, the herbal tea becomes even more powerful.
Try to sleep in an inclining position: Gravity is your greatest enemy while combating night-time cough. When you lie down flat on your back at night, all the mucus and dust particles, which you have swallowed all through the day, would accumulate in the throat area and aggravate it making more cough. But you can easily defy gravitational force by piling up some pillows and prop yourself on them while sleeping. You may also keep a wooden block of 4 inches height under your head, which would keep the acids in the stomach so that they don t come up to irritate your throat.
Make sure you use the steam cautiously: When your airways are dry, it can make you cough harder. Therefore, you may find relief if you take a warm shower or a bath before going to bed. But you have to be sure that you don t have asthma as steam can prove harmful for you.
Check the level of humidity: Humidifiers are known to soothe the problem of persistent coughing when the surrounding air is dry. But too much of moisture during the night can also make you cough. This is because dust mites, mold and other allergens thrive well in the damp air and they could conspire to make your cough even worse. So, pick up a cheap hygrometer from a hardware store and see that the humidity level stays within 40 to 50 percent.
Equip yourself at night: Keep all the things from drops to water to cough syrup or anything that soothes coughing at your bedside so that you can help yourself in case you wake up in the middle of the night and start coughing.
By following these few tips every day, you can manage the night time cough and have a good night s sleep without any interruptions.

Night Time Cough - 5 Tips to Manage it

Immunity building or having good immunity is the prime need of parents for children of today's generation. Due to hectic lifestyles, inadequate nutrition, exposure to pollution and physical and mental stress children easily fall prey to recurrent infections. It takes a toll on both their physical, mental health and development leading to absence from school for longer durations.

Common health issues faced by children:

Lack of concentration and memory.

Loss of appetite

Irritability

Infections like chronic cough and cold, influenza, digestive problems taking place in a recurrent manner.

Recurrent allergies

Physical and mental stress

Headaches and lack of sleep

Recurrent use of higher doses of medicines makes their immunity further weak and they get caught in the vicious circle of illness and medicine.

Is there any answer to the above problems?  Definitely yes - It is Suvarnaprashan!

What is Suvarnprashan?

Suvarnprashan refers to a unique Ayurvedic remedy, which has been clinically tested and proven to give a boost in immunity and intellect among children. This is usually given to children who are aged between 0-16 years in the form of drops.

Benefits

There are numerous benefits of Suvarnprashan, which help children to lead a healthy and productive life.

It helps to increase immunity

It assists in the promotion of good physical and mental health.

Improves digestion and physical strength.

Intake of Suvarnprashan helps to improve attention span among children, their memory along with the ability to learn.

Irritability, temper tantrums, attention deficits, and psychosomatic problems 

Prevents recurrent infections

Helpful in children who have delayed milestones of growth

Helps to stimulate a child s overall development If given regularly, Suvarnaprashan prevents the occurrence of recurrent diseases in children by boosting their physical & mental immunity which is the need of the hour as we all would agree to the fact that  Prevention is better than cure .

Suvarnprashan - A Boon For Children's Immunity!

Breastfeeding is best for the baby and its benefits extend well beyond the paradigm of basic nutrition. Breast milk contains all the vital vitamins and nutrients, which a baby needs in the first six months of life. It is fully loaded with disease fighting substances, which protect baby from illness. Many international paediatric organisation recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and recent research reports have proven that breastfeeding is good for both mother and the baby.

Breastfeeding protects the baby from a long list of illnesses, such as ear infections, lower respiratory illnesses, stomach disorder and meningitis and are less severe when they do happen. Breast milk adapts as the baby grows to meet the changing needs. Breastfeeding builds a strong emotional bond between the mother and the baby and it has long term benefits lasting right into adulthood.

The first milk of the mother contains high concentrations of secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA), which guards against invading germs by forming a protective layer on the mucous membranes in baby's intestines, nose, and throat. Mother's body responds to pathogens (virus and bacteria) that are in her body and makes secretory IgA, which is specific to those pathogens, creating protection for the baby based on to whatever mother is exposed. 

The antibodies in breast milk gives a baby's immune system a boost and also helps children avoid type 1 and type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and inflammatory bowel disease that strike later in life. Babies who were not breastfed run the risk of developing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Breastfeeding boosts child's intelligence. Surveys have shown that premature infants with extremely low birth weight who receive breast milk shortly after birth improved their scores of mental development at eighteen months when compared with premature infants who weren't given breast milk. The emotional bonding happening during breastfeeding contributes to some of the brainpower benefits. Breastfeeding lowers the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). It reduces a child's risk of becoming obese as a teen or adult as the breast milk contains less insulin, which stimulates creation of fat. The high content of leptin in the milk regulates appetite and fat.

Breastfeeding triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin that promotes relaxation and nurturing. Oxytocin released while nursing also helps your uterus contract after birth, resulting in less postpartum bleeding. It reduces stress level and the risk of postpartum depression. Research studies show that breastfeeding results in changes in breast tissue and lactation reduces the production of oestrogen, which reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. It also reduces the risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

Benefits of Breastfeeding for Baby & Mother

Epilepsy is a form of chronic disorder and it is characterized by recurrent seizures. The episodes of epileptic seizures may differ from person to person. These seizures could be a result of genetic disorder or a result of trauma or stroke. During a seizure, a patient may also experience symptoms of neurological disorders and sometimes lose consciousness.

Medical help for epilepsy
Epilepsy itself cannot be cured using medication, but proper medicines help in eliminating recurrent seizures. These medicines stabilize the electrical activity within the brain preventing seizures.

How effective is the medication for epilepsy?
The success of controlling seizures using medicines depends on the type and severity of the epilepsy. Medicines for epilepsy are usually very effective and may fully keep seizures under control. However, controlling seizures caused due to brain problems may be more difficult. Usually, epilepsy medicines can control seizures for a long period of time when they are taken regularly.

When is medical help needed?
The decision about when to start medicines for epilepsy is a tricky one. This is because a first seizure cannot confirm whether a person has an on-going epilepsy problem. A second seizure may occur after many years or may not happen at all. Prediction of seizures is also quite difficult.

The severity of seizures also indicates when to start medicines for treatment. In case a first seizure is quite severe, medication should be started at once. Some people have very mild seizures even though they may be recurring in nature, and medication can be avoided in this situation.

All the pros and cons must be thought over before starting medications for the treatment of epilepsy. It is advisable to wait for a second seizure and then start medications for treatment. In most cases, medication is started after a second seizure occurs, twelve months within the first seizure. You should always consult a doctor to know when you need to start taking medicines to treat the condition.

For making the most out of the medicines to control seizures, you should follow certain steps:
1. You must take medications exactly as your doctor has prescribed.
2. Before switching to generic versions of your medicines or before taking other prescribed medicines, you must consult your doctor.
3. You should never stop taking the medicines.
4. In case you experience enhanced depression, mood swings and suicidal thoughts, you should talk to your doctor immediately.
5. In case you have migraine, you should let your doctor know so that he can prescribe you anti-epileptic medicines, which also prevent migraines.

Medicines cannot treat the underlying cause of epilepsy, but these help in controlling seizures and this is the most common symptom of epilepsy. Medication should be started at a proper time and must be continued without stopping.

When to Seek Medical Help for Epilepsy

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