Water for Babies

Lot of parents concerned about how much water a baby or toddler should drink. So lets discuss about such things here.

In general it is not good to feed water to the babies before 6 months. Breast milk and formula provides all the fluids they need. After the introduction of solid foods, water can be added to your baby's diet.

A child between the ages of one and three needs about 1.3 litres of fluids a day. This includes milk, juices, soups, water and other fluid items. Active toddlers need a lot of water to replace the fluid they lose, especially during warm or humid weather.

It is not a good idea to give your child more than the recommended amount of fluids per day. If you do so, it may cut his appetite for solid foods.

Hemoglobin

When we take our child to pediatrician for general health check up, they do hemoglobin test. If the hemoglobin count is lower than normal, then the child can develop iron deficiency anemia.

What is Hemoglobin?

Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Every red blood cell in the body contains iron in its hemoglobin, the pigment that carries oxygen to the tissues from the lungs. The body needs iron to make hemoglobin. If there is not enough iron, hemoglobin production is limited, which in turn affects the production of red blood cells.

Iron deficiency anemia is caused by insufficient iron intake. To be healthy, growing children need a constant supply of iron.

Food Sources:

Iron is found in many plant and animal food sources. Iron from animal sources is called heme iron which can be absorbed by our body very easily. Iron from plant sources is called non-heme iron which is difficult to absorb. Our bodies can absorb non-heme iron when we eat it with foods that contain vitamin C (such as orange juice, citrus fruit) or when we eat it with sources of heme iron.

Breast milk contains enough iron to prevent anemia for the first 4 to 6 months of life. After this, babies need other sources of iron in their diet, such as iron fortified cereal, lentils, peas and beans.

Children and toddlers who drink a lot of milk or juice are at risk of iron deficiency anemia. Limit milk intake to 2 cups (450 ml), everyday.

Some tips that can help toddlers iron intake:

Chicken with broccoli,
Add dried peas or beans to soups.
Adding raisins to lunches, hot cereal.
Using whole-wheat or enriched breads and cereals.
Offering water for thirst in between meals and snacks.

Steamed Veggies

Steamed vegetables are good for health rather than eating cooked vegetables. Cooking vegetables in large amount of boiling water loss all the nutrients especially water soluble compounds that are easily damaged by heat. Steaming softens vegetables while maintaining most of their nutrients.

When the babies are ready to have solid foods, we can made a puree of steamed vegetables and feed to them. Once they are ready to chew and eat, we can serve them as it is. Almost all the vegetables, carrots, broccoli, spinach, green beans can be given to children since they are rich in both vitamin A and C.

Steaming can be done in a steamer, or in a microwave, or it can be done in a pan with a small amount of water. Add a very little amount of water in a pan. Clean and cut the vegetables and then add it in the pan with a little amount of salt. Allow it to steam for less than 5 mins by covering the pan with a lid. Then serve it with cheese or butter for children.

Turmeric Milk for Kids

For the past few days... very busy in packing all the things...  Really it is a tough job to move from one place to another with a kid.. Finally moved from California to Pittsburgh before one week. But my son got cold and cough due to the climatic changes. He had sore throat and i remembered about the turmeric milk. I gave this milk to him. Now he is ok..:)

We all know that turmeric has been used as a spice in Indian recipes. It has antibacterial properties and is also used to heal wounds. Combined with milk, turmeric is used as a drink, lotion or even a face mask.

Milk strengthens bones. Turmeric milk provides additional benefits to bone health. It is known to help people suffering from joint pains.

One of the biggest benefit of turmeric milk to me personally is during cough and cold. It strengthens the immune system and reduces the symptoms of asthma. Taking turmeric milk also helps in blood purification.

There are so many benefits of turmeric milk. Here is a simple recipe:

Ingredients:

Whole milk - 1 cup

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Pepper corns- 1 or 2

Heat the milk with the spices for 2 to 3 mins. Let it cool down until its warm. Strain and serve. 

 

First Aid Care for Minor Scrapes and Cuts

Children often get scrapes on their elbows and knees. Scrapes usually don't bleed  very much but can get infected. So it is necessary to give first aid for such kind of scrapes to avoid infection.

Here are some tips:

• Stop bleeding by pressing the wound with sterile dressing or clean, dry cloth.
• If bleeding is from an arm or leg, raise the arm or leg while pressing on the wound. Don't raise an arm or leg that is broken.
• Wash the wound with clean, running water. Carefully wash the area around the wound with soap and a soft wash cloth. Try to keep soap out of the wound to avoid irritation.
• Apply a bandage.
• If the scrape or cut is very dirty, your child may need a tetanus booster shot. Check with a medical provider if your child's last tetanus shot was more than 5 years ago.

Carbohydrates

When we talk about carbohydrates in the diet, we're usually talking about foods that are rich in starch, and that is complex carbohydrate. And it is also known as polysaccharide. The name comes from the fact that
starchy foods are made up of many sugars. Poly meaning many and saccharide is another chemical name for sugars. And those sugars are linked together by chemical bonds.

Dietary carbohydrates are simple carbs, or simple sugars. The simplest simple sugars are called glucose.
Another kind of sugar is called fructose which is found in fruits. And the next one is galactose. These three are called monosaccharides,mono meaning one, and saccharide meaning sugar, so these are single sugars.

When glucose and fructose combined, or linked together, they form another kind of sugar called sucrose which is known as table sugar. Too much of this kind of sugar is not good for health.The other two unit sugar that you may have heard of is called lactose. And it's a combination of glucose and galactose. It's the sugar found in milk. And some people have a hard time digesting it.

These two sugars, sucrose and lactose, are examples of disaccharides or two unit sugars. Both of these types of carbohydrates give us energy. Now there's another type of carbohydrate, also a type of complex carbohydrate, that gives us no energy, because our bodies can't break it down. But it's important and it's called dietary fiber. There are two kinds of dietary fiber. They are soluble fiber and insoluble fiber.

Soluble fiber, you might've guessed it from the name, it dissolves in water. It's believed to support the health of the intestinal walls and it helps to regulate cholesterol levels. Insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve in water, but instead it absorbs water,like a sponge. Since it absorbs water, it acts as a stool softener. It prevents us from getting constipated. By the way, fiber is also a polysaccharide. But our bodies can't break these bonds, so
it doesn't give us any energy.

Now, both types of fiber are found in fruits and veggies. When we choose things like brown rice over white
rice, or when we choose whole grain bread over white bread, we're basically making a choice that increases
the amount of fiber that's connected to our starchy carbohydrates. And this is better for our health, and will also prevent us from getting hungry again too quickly. So it's a good thing to do. Go for the foods that are rich in fiber.

Proteins

Proteins are really important part of a balanced diet, because they form, the building blocks of children's growing bodies. Proteins make up a large portion of the muscle in our children's bodies. But proteins also play a whole bunch of other important roles in our bodies and our children's bodies. For example, when we get sick, our immune system is activated. Proteins are a very important part of that whole immune system. Proteins act as transporters in a variety of different roles in the body.

Proteins also help us maintain the right fluid distribution in our bodies. So the fluid stays where it should be
because of the fact that the proteins keep it where it should be. So if we're thinking of proteins as the building blocks of our children's bodies, then we can think of amino acids as the building blocks of the proteins. There are 20 different kinds of amino acids. And we can actually make a lot of them. But there are 9 of them we call essential, because we have to get these 9 from the foods that we eat.

Things like eggs, chicken, red meat and fish are good animal source of protein. Dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt are also a good source of protein. There are also many vegetable source of protein. And those are things like tofu, nuts, beans and other legumes like lentils. The important thing to note is that the
animal sources of protein tend to be complete. That means that they contain all of the 9 essential amino
acids in sufficient amounts to support growth, repair and maintenance of our children's bodies. Whereas the non-meat sources, for example, the dairy and the vegetarian sources of protein, tend to be incomplete.
So they might contain all of the essential amino acids, but usually not in sufficient amounts to support growth.

If you combine vegetarian sources of protein with other foods, then you can end up with a meal that provides
a complete set of amino acids.And some of these dishes are actually the traditional foods like Indian dal and rice. These foods naturally complement each other and provide you with a complete set of amino acids.
As with all diets, variety is the key to a healthy vegetarian diet.