For a child, the first visit to the dentist can be panicky. This is because they don't realize what's in store. Children get a better idea about dentists after getting some information about the visit. We, as grown ups, must be set up to answer the inquiries and instruct our children in the most ideal way. The following are some valuable tips on the best way to set up a child for the first dentist appointment.

1. Guardians regularly ask when they ought to take their child for the first ever dental visit. The best time to begin taking children for a dental checkup is either when their first tooth pops out, or right around their first birthday. Expert dentists are capable of instantly recognizing any potential issues with the development and advancement of the jaw and delicate palate. Children's teeth are more porous and defenseless to decay than grown-up's teeth; so early mediation is a basic to guarantee those small teeth staying sound. It is also recommended that guardians begin brushing their child's teeth when they start coming out, utilizing a delicate toothbrush and plain water. Brushing should be started as early as possible.

2. It's never too early to begin acquainting your kids with tooth brushing and knowledge of oral health. The best time to begin is before your kid's first dental visit. Youngsters love to find out about their bodies, and love to grin, touch, and investigate new things. There are many fun ways to impart oral health education to children. The more agreeable they are with their mouth and teeth, the less demanding your youngster's first dental visit will be.

3. Tooth brushing is an essential piece of our everyday self-care, and it is our habit. A child, after being introduced to a brush and a toothbrush will take a certain time period to make daily brushing a habit. Guardians and the kids can brush their teeth" together. It is essential to note that toothbrushes are apparatuses, not toys, and that infants and babies ought to be firmly directed.

4. Little children, are extremely insightful and touchy to the states of mind of people around them. Children regularly reflect our conduct. When we are casual and upbeat, children will probably be loose, as well. Children are additionally more casual when they are prepared for or taught something. Invest energy conversing with children about going to the dentist. You can also discuss what the dentist will do, emphatically.

5. Always choose the most trustworthy dentist who is friendly and knows how to handle a child on his first dentist visit.

A child's first dentist appointment is a special one, and you should prepare him accordingly.

Tips to Prepare Your Child For First Dental Visit

Is your child refusing to grab anything other than chicken nuggets? When your child s nutrition is an aching subject to deal with in your household, remember you are not the only one. Many parents are actually worried about the fussiness of their children over food. But your child s food preferences would also mature with age. Until then, you can consider trying out these following tips to avoid any kind of mealtime hassles.


Respect your child's appetite or lack of one: Respect your child s level of appetite and never force a meal, if your child is not hungry. Rather, serve small portions to give them an opportunity to ask for more, on their own.
Stick to the routine: Maintain a routine and serve snacks and meals at about the same time every day. Also, keep a check on the number of times you serve those mid meal snacks and try to stick to that count.
Be patient with new foods: Have patience with new food. Take time in introducing it to your child by talking about the food s shape, color, aroma and texture, if not the taste.
Make it fun: Try out innovative ways of garnishing your food so as to make the whole eating experience a fun and a thrilling one for your child.
Recruit your child's help: At the grocery store, ask your child to help you select vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods. But keep off those foods which you would not want you child to eat.
Set an example: Set an example by yourself by eating all kinds of nutritious and healthy foods, in order to set that perfect example for your child.
Cut Distractions: Make sure to switch off from any sort of a distraction, such as the television or the washing machine and other electronic gadgets while feeding your child.
Don't offer dessert as a reward: Do not reward your child with desserts at the end of the meal as this sends them an indication that the dessert is the best dish among all.
Do not cook a separate meal: Do not cook a separate meal for your child after he/she has refused the original one as this might encourage picky eating even more.

How To Deal With Picky Eaters (Children)?

Being a mother is the greatest gift to womankind. With the most amazing feeling of being a mother, comes big challenges and responsibilities. The first and foremost being, keeping the baby safe and healthy. Providing babies their best start begins with breastfeeding. Doctors around the world recommend exclusive breastfeeding to begin within the first hour of a baby s life and continue until six months.

A mother s milk has no substitute. It is packed with amazing nutritional benefits, the absence of which can lead children at risk of malnutrition and various diseases. Breast milk is often being termed as complete food with added antibodies, enzymes, hormones and fatty acids extremely vital for a delicate immune system of an infant. Babies build their immunity in the first few years of their life and breast milk is critical to developing immunity.
UNICEF working on child s rights and well-being world over promotes breastfeeding schemes across many countries. 

According to UNICEF reports, a non-breast fed child is 14 times likely to die within first six months than an exclusively breastfed child. An estimated 8,20,000 children under the age of five could be saved each year with increased breastfeeding. However, Only 38% of infants globally are breastfed. Looking at India s state, Malnutrition continues to be one of the greatest challenges. One cost effective, safe and smart intervention to curb malnutrition and decrease infant mortality is breastfeeding.

Let s now look at the benefits of breast milk for infants and mothers:

Breast milk is found to reduce the risk of respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, asthma, food allergies, leukemia, diabetes and celiac disease.
Psychologists have long established the positive effects of mother s touch in the emotional development of babies. In addition to this, breastfeed has positive effects on child s cognitive development.
Breastfeeding has amazing benefits for mothers. It is found to aid weight loss post pregnancy. It promotes better uterus shrinkage and delays menstruation. Lactating mothers naturally avoid pregnancy till they breastfeed. It reduces the risk of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis later in life.
Considering the benefits of this super natural milk, many countries have now adopted an international code of marketing of breast-milk substitutes. The code promotes breastfeeding and restricts marketing of infant formula milk. India along with many other countries signed it.
India has also begun with a baby friendly hospital initiative where hospitals educate new mothers regarding breast feeding and strictly discourage infant formulas wherever possible. The myth of feeding newborn babies with honey, water, sugar does more harm than good. Thus, it is vital to exclusively breastfeed the baby at least for six months before introducing other foods. 

Ensure your child s right to a healthy life through breastfeeding!

Breastfeeding - Its Benefits for both Mother and Baby

Our teeth are most definitely, vital for our living. Our everyday choices, pertaining to our lifestyle would call for changes, adjustments and lots of sacrifices without them. Though, a number of replacement options are available for the people with missing teeth, the most recommended are dental implants. Ask why?

They are simply the ideal solution due to their look and feel, which is similar to the natural teeth.

What happens if replacement is not considered?
To prevent the nasty repercussions from occurring, it is necessary that any missing teeth are replaced in time. Though, the symptoms of problems due to missing teeth only appear to be superficial in the early stages, the long term effects may certainly prove to be quite severe.

Some of the short term consequences of missing teeth are as follows
People with missing teeth tend to feel self-conscious or even embarrassed at times, while they talk to others or smile.
Problem in speech is a common issue that may arise due to tooth loss.
When teeth are missing, people find it difficult to consume some certain food types. These may include ones which contain some essential nutrients, hence leading to possible malnutrition.
Increased wear or stress can also lead to the weakening of the teeth that are remaining.
People with tooth loss find it difficult to chew the food properly.
When teeth are missing, there is movement of the teeth that remain, to compensate for the gap places created. This leads to ugly looking gap teeth.

Though, these were the short term issues, the major consequence of not getting any lost teeth replaced is the gradual bone loss. Our teeth are firmly embedded in the jaw bone. Chewing and biting are the constant uses, which are required by the jaw bone to remain hale and hearty as well as active. You may believe it or not, be it at the beginning or at the end; the major focus is not on the teeth, but on the bones.

Maintaining form as well as density of the bone requires regular stimulation, coming from the teeth, as mentioned above. The contact with teeth causes small stresses, which the periodontal ligament transmits to the bone and prompts its continual rebuilding as well as remodelling. When any missing teeth are not replaced, it leads to the gradual deterioration in the jaw bones, over time. This not only results in facial shape changes but also will eventually burn a huge hole in your pockets, as increased complications will also lead to increased costs required for rectifying the problems.

So, now it's up to you. Choose healthy and wise. Go for teeth replacement at the earliest, if and when, need arises.

Consequences of Unreplaced Missing Teeth

Your hearing is one of the most important function your body carries out and sometimes you realize that you are losing your sense of hearing, when it is too late to get it back. There are two main reasons for this. One of the reason is age  and the other is when the inner ear's hair cells break down and do not pick up sound well. Here are 7 ways to safeguard your hearing.

1. Try to avoid loud places
It is not advisable to go to places where you have to shout to be heard, such as in a street, a concert or a construction site.

2. Buy low noise rating equipment
The equipments in your house will make sound that you hear the most. Try to avoid these equipments by buying appliances with a low noise rating.

3. Wear hearing protection at loud places
However, it is true that it is not always possible to avoid loud noises. This is when you need to get hearing protection. Earplugs and earmuffs are two of the best ways to make sure that even when you are in a loud place, your hearing does not get affected. Earplugs and earmuffs generally reduce sound by 15 to 30 decibels, which may be crucial to make sure that later in your life, you do not lose your hearing.

4. Avoid smoke
Smoking raises your chance of hearing loss. Second hand smoke does the same thing. Therefore, try to avoid, both smoking and secondhand smoking. 

5. Remove earwax properly
Earwax cannot be removed properly using a cotton swab. Instead, you should use an irrigation kit. Remember this as otherwise; the earwax could muffle your hearing.

6. Avoid medications which reduce hearing
Certain medications increase hearing loss. Therefore, double check with your doctor to make sure your medicines will not make you lose your hearing.

7. Get your hearing tested
Finally, get your hearing tested as identifying the problem early on can help stop worsen the situation.

7 Tips to Safeguard Your Hearing

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?

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