Iron is an essential nutrient and mineral that is required by adults and children alike. Iron helps move oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and helps muscles store and use oxygen. It is especially important for children because it aids development and prevents anaemia. Untreated iron deficiency in children can cause physical and mental delays. It can lead to less healthy red blood cells in the child's blood stream which will cause a delay in the growth of physical and mental faculties.

Risk factors for iron deficiency in children

Infants and children at highest risk of iron deficiency include:

Babies who are born prematurely or have a low birth weight
Babies who drink cow's milk before age 1
Breast-fed babies who aren't given complementary foods containing iron after age 6 months
Babies who drink formula that isn't fortified with iron
Children ages 1 to 5 who drink more than 24 ounces (710 milliliters) of cow's milk, goat's milk or soy milk a day
Children who have certain health conditions, such as chronic infections or restricted diets
Children ages 1 to 5 who have been exposed to lead
Adolescent girls also are at higher risk of iron deficiency because their bodies lose iron during menstruation.
Symptoms of iron deficiency anaemia

The signs and symptoms of iron deficiency anaemia in children may include:

Pale skin
Fatigue or weakness
Slow cognitive and social development
Inflammation of the tongue
Difficulty maintaining body temperature
Increased likelihood of infections
Unusual cravings for non-nutritive substances, such as ice, dirt or pure starch
Prevent iron deficiency in children

Take steps to prevent iron deficiency in your child by paying attention to his or her diet. For example:

Breast-feed or use iron-fortified formula. Breast-feeding until your child is age 1 is recommended. If you don't breast-feed, use iron-fortified infant formula.
Encourage a balanced diet. When you begin serving your baby solids, typically between ages 4 months and 6 months, feed him or her foods with added iron, such as iron-fortified baby cereal. For older children, good sources of iron include red meat, chicken, fish, beans and dark green leafy vegetables. Between ages 1 and 5, don't allow your child to drink more than 24 ounces (710 milliliters) of milk a day.
Enhance absorption. Vitamin C helps promote the absorption of dietary iron. You can help your child absorb iron by offering foods rich in vitamin C, such as melon, strawberries, kiwi, broccoli, tomatoes and potatoes.
Consider iron supplements. If your baby was born prematurely or with a low birth weight or you're breast-feeding a baby older than 4 months and he or she isn't eating two or more servings a day of iron-rich foods, talk to your child's doctor about oral iron supplements.
Make sure that you watch out for the tell tale signs of iron deficiency and take the necessary precautions to avoid the same. If you wish to discuss about any specific child related problem, you can consult a specilized pediatrician and ask a free question.

Iron Deficiency In Children

Measles or rubeola as it is also known is one of the leading causes of children s death around the world. This viral infection is communicable through the air and spreads through contact with infected saliva and mucus. Thus sharing cutlery or glassware with an infected person can increase a person s risk of suffering from this disease. Thankfully measles can be prevented through vaccination known as MMR. This vaccination is given to infants and also protects them against mumps, rubella and chickenpox. The first dose of MMR vaccination is given when the child is about 1 year old and a booster dose is repeated when the child is 4-6 years old.

One of the most characteristic symptoms of measles is a reddish rash that begins inside the mouth and later erupts all over the body. This is usually preceded by a high fever, cold, cough, sore throat and swelling of the lymph nodes. Fatigue, diarrhoea and redness of the eyes are other symptoms of this disease. Measles symptoms are not apparent the moment a person is exposed to the virus. It can take 7 to 18 days for symptoms to become visible after catching the infection, this is known as the incubation period. Measles affects adults is a more severe way than children.

Children and adults with a weak immune system are highly susceptible to complications associated with measles. In some cases, it can lead to life threatening conditions, such as pneumonia and encephalitis or inflammation of the brain. Other complications associated with measles include ear infections, bronchitis, blindness and a sharp fall in platelet count. A pregnant woman suffering from measles also has a high risk of miscarrying the baby or preterm labour.

There is no definitive form of treating measles and doctors typically address the symptoms while prescribing medication. In most cases, the symptoms and the virus should disappear in two to three weeks. Some of the common forms of medicine prescribed to deal with measles are:

Medication to relieve fever
Antibiotics to prevent or treat accompanying bacterial infections
Vitamin A supplements to reduce the severity of measles symptoms
Pain relievers to deal with muscle pains
In addition, the patient needs plenty of rest and fluids to strengthen the immune system. The use of a humidifier can also help treat a sore throat and cough. Bright lights can aggravate headaches and irritation and hence should be avoided. Hence, avoid watching television and activities like reading.

Measles - How They Affect You? + Treatment

Infantile spasm is a seizure-related disorder that is witnessed among infants and young children. The average age for getting affected with infantile spasm is four months, but some kids might experience this disorder within a month of the birth. This disease can have a subtle appearance, and as such it is difficult to recognize as a serious condition. While a full seizure in an adult is scary, the one observed among infants can be as little as a minor head drop, along with minor body shakes. This might appear to be that serious, but infantile spasm is more serious as compared to a full body convulsion in adults. Unfortunately, an infant suffering from infantile spasm is at great risk of developmental disability, if the condition is not detected and treated early.

Anticonvulsant Medication:
There are very few medicines that are approved by the FDA for treating infantile spasms. The two medicines that are widely used by doctors include Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and Vigabatrin.

ACTH: This is the oldest approved medicine by the FDA that was first discovered in the year 1958. This injection needs to be pushed twice in a day. Children tend to gain weight and feel hungry when this injection is injected.
Vigabatrin: Vigabatrin is very well tolerated by young kids and has a successful track record of treating infantile spasms. Studies have proven that Vigabatrin can tackle tuberous sclerosis and plays an important role in improving developmental outcome.
Second line therapies:

Pyridoxine: Dependency on Pyridoxine as a cause of infantile spasm is very rare. High dosage of oral administration of pyridoxine has fetched good results for patients, who do not suffer from pyridoxine related seizures.
Valproic acid: Valproic acid has the best anecdotal rate of success. However, doctors do not recommend this medicine for kids less than 2 years of age because of possible complications.
Clonazepam: This is one of the earliest non-steroid medicine for the treatment of infantile spasm. Some of the popular medicines used are nitrazepam, benzodiazepines, and clonazepam.
Ketogenic Diet: This is a decade old practice that has come back to popularity again. Studies have shown that ketogenic diet can help 20-35 % patients of infantile spasm to keep the condition under control.
IVIG: High dosage of IVIG has been reported to be very helpful in tackling infantile spasms. The dosage ranges from 100-200 mg/kg/dose ranging for about 2-3 weeks at stretch.
Surgery: The final part of the therapy includes a surgery that removes the abnormal part of the brain. It should only be considered for patients who have not responded to therapies including Vigabatrin and ACTH. It should also be investigated whether the patient has any structural abnormalities of the brain.


Infantile Spasms - How They Can Be Treated?

The early childhood period is considered to be the most important developmental phase throughout the lifespan.  This period focuses on the physical, social/emotional and language/cognitive domains of development of a child, which have direct effects on their overall development as an adult in the future.
Physical Development
Physical developments of a child are associated with the motor skills and physical growth of the child. As a child grows and his or her nervous system become more mature, the child becomes more capable of performing increasingly complex actions such as walking, running, balance, and coordination which involve the larger muscles like arms and legs, as well as, some more intricate skills such as drawing, writing, grasping objects, throwing, waving, and catching, involving the smaller muscles in the fingers, toes, eyes, and other areas. Physical growth follows a directional pattern, such as the body's core, legs and arms develop before the small muscles in the fingers and hands.  The muscles in the center of the body become stronger and develop before those in the feet and hands. Development goes from the head to the toes. 
Cognitive Development
Cognitive abilities are associated with memory, reasoning, problem-solving and thinking that continue to emerge throughout childhood. There are four Stages of Cognitive Development:
Stage
Age Period Between
Milestones
Sensorimotor Stage
Birth to age 2
Respond to sensory stimuli by simple motor skills.
Preoperational Stage
Age 2 to 6
Learn to use language, but do not understand logic or mentally manipulate information and understand others' point of view.
Concrete Operational Stage
Age 7 to 11
Begin to think logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
Formal Operational Stage
Age 12 to adulthood
Able to think about abstract concepts and develop skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning.
 
Language Development
It is the most remarkable development in children. According to several researches, it is found that language development begins at fetal level, as the fetus is able to identify the speech and sound patterns of the mother's voice and by the age of four months, a child can distinguish between sounds and read lips. Infants are able to differentiate between speech sounds from all languages; however, around the age of 10 months they lose this ability and begin to recognize their native language only.

What Is Early Childhood Development?

The tooth may look a tiny structure, but is a very complicated one. Structurally, it has very high concentrations of minerals and vitamins, all essential for optimal dental health. Reduced or increased amounts of these substances can lead to obvious defects in the teeth, which may impair aesthetics and sometimes even the functioning of the tooth.
While calcium is one mineral that would immediately come to mind, there are a lot of other vitamins and minerals too which play a significant role both in tooth formation and in optimal dental health. Listed below are some of these, along with their role in dental health.

Vitamins:

Vitamin a: often associated with vision, vitamin a is essential for production of good amount of saliva which maintains healthy mucous membranes. Reduced saliva increases predisposition to decay and gum disease and also increases bad breath.

Vitamin d: needless to say, with the strength of the jaw bones, a good amount of calcium is required to boost bone mineral density.

Vitamin c: the gums have connective tissue fibers which help bind the tooth to the jaw bone. For good strength of the connective tissue, vitamin c is important. Therefore, vitamin c deficiency can lead to tooth mobility and even tooth loss in severe cases.

Vitamin b complex: there are too many people who would have popped a multivitamin to ward off mouth sores. Niacin and riboflavin especially are essential for optimal mucosal health and reduce inflammation.

Vitamin k: this has multiple roles to play. It helps in improving the body's healing process, blocks substances that break down bone, promotes bone strength, and reduces bleeding disorders.

Minerals: there is a long list of minerals that are essential for optimal dental health, as below:
Calcium: from strong enamel to jaw bone, calcium is extremely important for the tooth to be fully formed. Calcium deficiency can result in hypoplastic teeth that are more prone for chipping and decay.

Potassium: needed to improve bone mineral density. It also works in conjunction with magnesium and prevents from the blood turning too acidic. Acidic blood can suck out calcium from teeth and bones.

Fluoride: proven to be the anti-decay magic medicine, fluoride reduces the incidence of tooth decay. Fluoride gels are applied for children to promote remineralization of enamel which may have initial caries.

Phosphorus: provides support to calcium and potassium in bone formation.

Iron: required for keeping red blood cell count at a good level and fighting infections.

Iodine: this trace mineral is required for absorption of calcium and potassium that is essential for tooth formation.

Zinc: naturally found in saliva, it fights against plaque formation and subsequent infections.

For optimal dental function, ensure your diet has these essential nutrients.

The Best Vitamins & Minerals For Your Teeth

Choosing a career is a serious concern for students soon after completing 10th standard when one is required to make a choice of subjects for 11th grade. While still very young, many of us hardly know what is good for us and which field is best. For most of us, choosing a career is not a serious affair until 12th grade. However, once a student is done with 12th, he rethinks -  Did I make the right choice of subjects in class XIth?  I had always wanted to go in this field after school, but nobody guided me about subjects required for it in class XIth and XIIth. So, after completing school one feels very sad and frustrated that interest lay in A field but wasted 2 school years doing B-Field, a totally different course of study.

Therefore, when selecting subjects in XIth, it is very necessary to have a career goal in place keeping the market in mind. In addition to this, selecting the right education institution in XIth is equally important. Eg.  I am interested in Fine Arts but my school offers only Science and Commerce.  So, the child takes one of these only and loses track of what he wants, sowing the seeds for future distress in the field thrust upon him. Unfortunately, not many students are able to discover their potentials and interests at this stage and end up making wrong choices.

In this scenario, seeking the help of an experienced and qualified career counselor becomes absolutely necessary who can assist in discovering your potential and aptitude and accordingly suggest the right course. Career counselor usually employs testing of three factors   aptitude, interest and personality. These aspects help the counselors in deciding the right career path for a student. With an increase in the number of opportunities in the market, the importance of career counseling has also increased manifold. People have begun to realize the fact that not all can become engineers or doctors and started exploring other fields depending on their talent and interest in alternate domains.

Sound guidance will depend on the qualifications, training and experience of the professional. It is always a good idea to first know about the professional expertise of the counsellor/psychologist on whom you depend for making a life-long career choice. Generally speaking, school counsellors are post-graduates with about 9 months diploma in counselling and guidance with a focus on school children. They may or may not have done M.Phil, or Ph.D to qualify as a doctor. Similarly, anybody with just a graduation degree in Psychology can self-proclaim as a Counsellor/Psychologist and offer guidance and counselling, charging much less a fees. For any professional you choose, the higher the educational qualifications, more the number of practical trainings from reputed institutes, and the greater the professional experience, more dependable will be the advice given by them.

Vocational guidance for students and adults is one of the best ways to choose the right career path. With a plethora of career choices out there, sound career counselling plays a pivotal role in ensuring that right career choices are made. This is rewarding, considering that an individual can choose the right career path as per the strengths and talents he possesses. Right counselling not only helps the person to grow in the job quickly but gives ample room to learn in his desired field.

Here is a list of some major benefits of vocational guidance and career counselling:

Right assessment of weakness and strength: Career counselling is typically conducted by expert professionals with years of experience behind their back. They assess a candidate based on various aptitude tests. The test results rightly portray the strength and weaknesses of a candidate. This information plays a key role in determining the right career choice for a candidate. A person can ensure that he refrain from choosing a wrong career that leads to frustration and low work satisfaction.
Right goal setting leads to better choice: A counsellor can help a candidate choose the right goal and help him to outline the process of achieving it. Furthermore, an experienced counsellor can help a candidate lay down a plan to reach the goal. A step by step blueprint of reaching the goal in a realistic manner helps a candidate to achieve his dream career faster. With right goal setting, a person can attend career success over a very short period of time.
Explore various career choices: There are vast career choices that a person can explore that are available within the scope of a person s expertise. A career counsellor can throw light on these choices and help a person focus on the right option. This ensures that a person saves a lot of time and energy while figuring out the best possible career choice that is out there. This is particularly true in cases where a person is trying to make a mid-career switch. 
The right guidance and support: An experienced career counsellor can guide a candidate to get hold of the right set of skills and expertise that may be required to achieve a particular career. This ensures that a candidate is adequately prepared before the big opportunity knocks on the door. Right guidance not only cut down the preparation time, it increases the chances of success as well. 
Search Support: While the job search is on, a good counsellor can help a candidate prepare in terms of resume preparation, cover letter, video introduction etc. They can also help a candidate with the right kind of networking to land that dream job.
To conclude, the crux of career counselling is to get the necessary guidance from a qualified professional that would help the student/adult in making the right choice regarding his career. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Psychologist.

Vocational Guidance & Career Counseling Benefits For Students & Adults

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