A mother s milk is said to be the most nutritious food for a new born baby. It contains the perfect balance of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals needed for your baby and changes to keep up with your baby s growing needs. However, the benefits of breastfeeding extend way beyond nutritional value. Breastfeeding is beneficial for both you and your baby. Ideally, a baby should be breastfed for at least the first six months. 

Here are 5 major benefits of breastfeeding.

Stronger immunity: Mother s milk is rich in antibodies and a number of unique compounds that help the newborn child s body fight bacterial and viral infections. No other form of baby food is as rich in these antibodies. Babies who have been breastfed have a lower risk of suffering from ailments such as ear infection, stomach upsets and respiratory problems. The first milk expressed by a woman s breasts after giving birth is known as colostrums. This milk coats the baby s digestive system and prevents the growth of harmful bacteria.
Fewer allergies: Breast milk is easier to digest than formula or cow s milk. This protects the gastrointestinal passages from inflammation and prevents undigested food from triggering allergic reactions. Being breastfed can also reduce the number of allergies a child may suffer from in their later years.
Healthy body weight: Breastfeeding makes a child less likely to suffer from obesity in their later childhood and adult years. This is because breast milk contains less insulin and more hormones as compared to formula. This helps regulate fat absorption. On an average, babied fed on formula put on weight quickly and are more likely to overeat in their later years.
Stronger bones: Breastfeeding is beneficial for both the child and the mother. When a woman is breastfeeding her child, her body s ability to absorb calcium increases. This helps increase bone density, especially as pregnancy can make bones weak.
Builds a strong mother-child bond: After 9 months of carrying a child to term, giving birth may lead to post partum depression and a mother may feel the connection between her and the child severed. Breastfeeding helps nurture this connection and provides emotional relief to both the mother and child. For the mother, this experience releases hormones that reduce stress and relax the body. For the baby, close physical contact is very important and this process provides the perfect opportunity to do so.

Breastfeeding - 5 Benefits of It!

Speech therapists are known by different names but most commonly, they are referred by people as speech therapists, who make children undertake different speech therapies to make them recover from their problem in talking or in their attempt to express their thoughts. These therapists work with children having a range of disorders and delays from minor articulation delays to more complex kind of disorders such as hearing impairment, motor speech disorders and other developmental delays.

We will now look at some of the ways through which speech therapy can help in the better development of a particular child:

Articulation skills and speech intelligibility: The physical ability to get the tongues, lips, jaws and palate moving in order to produce sounds of speech individually, which people call as phonemes. For instance, in order to articulate the /b/ sound, one needs to inhale, then at the time of exhaling, one has to turn their voice on by bringing the slightly tensed lips together to pause and build the airflow up, then finally release the airflow by getting the lips parted.

Intelligibility is all about how well people can understand a child s speech. A speech therapist can work along with the child to teach them on ways to produce particular speech sounds or certain patterns, he or she is having difficulty with, which in turn is affecting his overall speech intelligibility.

Expressive language skills: On one hand, where speech requires physical motor ability for talking, language refers to a symbol or a definite rule-governed system used for conveying a message. In the English language, the symbols could be in the form of words, either spoken or in written form. There are also certain symbols in the form of gestures like shrugging of shoulders to give the impression that he doesn t know a certain thing or a wave to indicate bye-bye or getting their eyebrows raised to indicate that one is surprised by an event or by hearing something.

So, basically expressive language is referred to something which a child says through signs and gestures. Speech therapists can let a child learn new words and teach them how to put the words together and hence form phrases and sentences, hence allowing them to communicate with others.

Receptive language or development of listening skills: Receptive language is nothing but a child s ability to listen and understand a particular language. Often, children tend to have stronger skills for receptive language than the skills required for expressive language. Hence, understanding becomes easier for them than their ability to express whatever they have understood. A speech therapist can help in teaching a child new words and the way they should be used to follow particular directions, reply to questions and thus take part in simple conversations with peers and other people.

Speech fluency: Speech fluency is affected by stuttering, which refers to the breaks in the flow of speech. This hampers one s ability to talk freely. Through speech therapy, a child can come across different strategies on how to control this behavioral pattern and lead to an increase in speech fluency.

How Speech Therapy Can Help Develop Your Child Better?

Dealing with Migraine through Homeopathy

A migraine is a headache that causes a distinct pulsating pain, usually in one side of the head. It is different from normal headaches in the sense that the pain is much more intense and it may be accompanied by nausea or vomiting as well. Some patients have also complained about light sensitivity while others have also complained about pain in all areas of the head.

Some of the factors that separate a migraine from a normal headache are as follows:

While a headache may last at best a day, migraines may last longer, sometimes even up to 3 days.

- Feelings of nausea or actual vomiting
- Sensitivity to light
- Extreme sensitivity to changes in sound

Causes Behind Migraines

Some of the common and known causes, which may trigger migraines in people are:

- Hormonal changes in the body that may have adverse effects
- Dehydration is also known to trigger migraines
- Patients with hypoglycemia may also face migraines if the blood sugar level drops within their body
- Change in air pressure due to change in altitude may also cause migraines to appear
- Lack of sleep
- Stress
- Lifestyle issues such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.

Remedies for Migraine in Homeopathy

Migraine is treated in homeopathy by attacking the root causes that may trigger them. Rather than temporarily alleviating pain, homeopathic treatments aim at curing the problem completely.

Some of the medicines that are known to be effective are:

Natrum Mur: This provides great relief from migraines, which may have been caused by stress. Also, if a proper dosage is taken, it can help cure it as well.

Belladonna: This had been known to be a great provider of relief for people who regularly face throbbing headaches.

Glonoine: For people who frequently have migraines due to congestion of the sinuses, this medicine has been known to be very effective.

Spigelia: To treat migraines in the left side of the head.

Sanguinaria: Is highly effective for situations where the migraine is on the right side of the head.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

Dealing with Migraine through Homeopathy

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder that results in higher level of blood sugar in the body. It is assuming epidemic proportions and India has become the new diabetic capital with more than 50 million diabetic people. The main problem with diabetes is that it does not completely go away and there is a whole myriad of issues that it brings along with it. Heart attack, stroke, eyesight problems, delayed wound healing, nerve damage and impotence. Therefore, diabetes and by that we mainly mean blood sugar level has to be managed so that there is a delay in onset of the associated conditions and/or reduced in severity.

Ayurveda refers to diabetes as Prameha (excessive urination) and Madhumeha (sugary urine) and has identified close to 20 forms of the disease. According to Ayurvedic belief, each disease is caused due to imbalance in kapha, pitta, and vata doshas and diabetes is caused by all these, predominantly by kapha. With any stream of medicine, management of diabetes involves two tracks   one is lifestyle changes and the second is medications.

Lifestyle changes include the following:

    Diet: Reduce the amount of rice, sugar, potato, sweet fruits, maida, deep fried foods, and red meat. Protein-rich foods like lentils, soya, green leafy vegetables and fish should be increased. Diet plan should change to small, frequent meals instead of binge eating.

    Exercise: Include 30 minutes of regular exercise into your daily routine if you have a diabetic predisposition.

    Others: Avoid smoking and alcohol, ensure sufficient sleep, avoid sleeping during day time, improved foot and eye care, periodically check sugar levels and manage stress levels.

Medication

Ayurveda has a whole lot of home remedies which have proven to be very effective against diabetes:

    Jambhul: Eugenia Jambolana whether eaten raw or juice extract has been shown to have beneficial effects in managing sugar levels and cholesterol.

    Gymnema sylvestre: Used to manage diabetes for over 2000 years, it reduces sugar cravings and is being touted as the future for diabetes treatment.

    Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia): It has 3 components that give it strong antidiabetic properties. The charantin reduces blood sugar levels; the polypeptide has insulin-like effects; and lectin that again has hypoglycemic effects.

    Bel (Aegle marmelos): Also known as wood apple, leaves of the plant are shown to have antidiabetic properties. 5 to 10 leaves can be chewed on a daily basis to help control blood sugar levels.

    Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum): Consuming 10 g of fenugreek seeds soaked in water increases the amount of insulin produced, thereby increasing sugar breakdown.

    Neem: Chewing about 4 to 5 leaves in the morning on an empty stomach helps to control blood sugar levels. Alternately, neem leaves powder is available which can be dissolved in water and consumed.


Diabetes - 6 Natural Remedies that Will Help You Manage it

This is a very common condition seen in toddlers. When the legs are brought together then there is a gap at the level of the knee. It happens because of inward bowing of thigh bone or tibia. The deformity may appear to increase on standing.

Daily requirement of calcium

The optimal primary nutritional source during the first year of life is human milk. Premature infants have higher calcium requirements than full-term infants while in the nursery. These may be met by using human milk fortified with additional minerals or with specially designed formulas for premature infants. Around 6 months of age when weaning foods are started, food items rich in calcium should be added. Readymade formulas are fortified with calcium but one must remember that the bioavailability of calcium from human milk is greater than that from infant formulas or cow's milk. Hence breastfeeding should be encouraged. In children age 2-8 years the daily requirement is around 800 mg/d. In children 9- to 18-year-olds the daily requirement is 1,200-1,500 mg/day.

Some of the common items that are rich in calcium are.

Food Item	Quantity	Amount of Calcium in each serving
Milk	1 cup (240 ml)	300 mg
Cheddar cheese
1.5 oz (42 g)	300 mg
Spinach cooked	1/2 cup (90 g)	120 mg
Sardines or salmon with bones	20 Sardines (240 g)	50 mg
Sweet potatoes	1/2 cup (160 g)	44 mg
Vitamin D:

Babies younger than 1-year-old need 400 IU of vitamin D a day. Kids older than 1 year need 600 IU or more of vitamin D a day. Our bodies make vitamin D when our skin is exposed to the sun. The recommended exposure to sunlight is at least 30 min every day. There are various fortified food items that have vitamin D. Also medicines are available which can provide the daily requirement of Vitamin D

Physiological genu varus. In most of the toddlers, the legs are curved inwards. They should improve over a period of time. The legs should straighten by 2 yrs. The child should be investigated if the deformity is severe; the deformity is only in one leg, if the child complains of pain and if the child appears unusually short.

Bow Legs - Why Do Children Suffer From Them?

Benefits of breastfeeding 

Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients for your baby. Breast milk is easier to digest than is commercial formula.
The antibodies in breast milk boost your baby's immune system. Breastfed babies get fewer colds and sinus and ear infections. They also have less diarrhea and constipation and a decreased chance of having allergies.
Helps to increase the bonding with your baby
Helps to reduce the risk of breast cancer in the mother
No frantic runs to the store. No bottle cleanup. Many moms just roll over (especially if their baby is in a co-sleeper) and nurse in a sleepy state. Breast milk is instantly available and delivered warm.
If you mostly breastfeed, you save money on formula
Breast-feeding might even help you lose weight after the baby is born.
Its tough in the begining
Consider a breastfeeding class while you're pregnant. Getting baby to latch on may not feel natural. Ask for help in the hospital. Those first days, you might feel what experts call extreme tenderness -- and what we call pain. But once your baby is properly latched, discomfort should diminish during each nursing session and go away completely with time. Don't ignore shooting pain; a knot in the breast accompanied by soreness and redness could be a plugged milk duct, which can lead to mastitis, a nasty infection that requires antibiotics.

Start by getting comfortable. Support yourself with pillows if needed. Then cradle your baby close to your breast rather than learning forward to bring your breast to your baby. Support the baby's head with one hand and support your breast with the other hand. Tickle your baby's lower lip with your nipple to encourage your baby's mouth to open wide. Look and listen for a rhythmic sucking and swallowing pattern.

If you need to remove the baby from your breast, first release the suction by inserting your finger into the corner of your baby's mouth. If your baby consistently nurses on only one breast at a feeding during the first few weeks, pump the other breast to relieve pressure and protect your milk supply.

You're the food supply, so mother yourself

The nutrient needs of a woman are at an alltime high during breastfeeding. Keep taking prenatal vitamins, get ample calcium. By weight, 88% of breast milk is water. Breast milk volume increases from as little as 50 ml on the first day, to as much as 750 ml a day, when breastfeeding is well established. So, the most critical nutrient needed for the production of ample breastmilk to meet a suckling baby s demand, is water. Aim to drink at least 1.5- 2 litres/day.

You'll also need to learn to relax, however you can -- stress might affect letdown (the start of your milk flow). Take a warm shower, sink into a chair, and remember to breathe as you help your squirmy baby latch on. 

Select wholesome food such as wholegrains, fruit, vegetables, low fat dairy products, lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, nuts and seeds to maximise the overall nutrient quality of your diet.If you need medication (for anything from a cold to a chronic condition), check with your doctor. Most meds -- but not all -- are fine in breast milk. 

Breastfeeding - Why Is It Advocated & Tips For Moms

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