Adopting Play & Fitness as a Way of Life for Kids

Most children are not ready to play organized sports until they turn 6. Until that age, encourage your young ones to be active with free play—like running, climbing, and leaping!

More than just a chance to have fun, play is serious business when it comes to a child's health and development. To help keep play a key part of childhood, pediatricians may begin writing a "prescription for play" at every well-child visit through age 2.

Learning is best fueled by tapping into a child's natural urge to play, rather than just outside factors like test scores.

Play is also a great stress buster. In one study, 3- to 4-year-old children, anxious about entering preschool, were two times more likely to feel less stressed when allowed to play for 15 minutes, compared to classmates who listened to a story.

Giving your child plenty of opportunities to play is one of the best ways to help them grow into curious, creative, healthy, and happy adults equipped with the skills they need today.

Some examples of ways to do this:

Sugary Drinks

Our kids drink too much sugar, with the school year starting, let's rethink their drinks! 

Are you aware that fruit drinks, sport drinks, sweetened waters and teas, energy drinks, and sodas are the primary source of added sugars in Canadian diets. In fact, sugary drinks are a huge contributing factor to the rise of childhood obesity in Canada. 

Fortunately, health groups and physicians across North America are working with policy makers to encourage educational campaigns and other initiatives to help parents make informed decisions about their kids' diets. 

The World Health Organization is urging all nations to implement a sugar tax. Many countries and US states have already begun to do so. The result has been very impressive with sugar consumption precipitously decline. 

Additionally, there's been a concerted effort to use money generated from the sugar tax to fund public health campaigns encouraging children and adults to choose healthier drink alternatives, like water, milk, plant and nut milks, and 100% juice with no added sugars or artificial sweeteners. 

Through sugar taxes, cities and states across North America and other parts of the world are working to decrease diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. The revenue used from the sugar tax can also be used to support clean drinking water programs in schools, walking trails and bike paths, and many other health-promoting initiatives. 

Access to healthy drinks is crucial to helping kids grow up at a healthy weight and avoid diabetes and heart disease. Who doesn’t want that? 

The staff at Gingerbread House Daycare are committed to supporting parents and the government with initiatives that improve the health and welfare of children everywhere!

Kids Need Water Not Fruit Juice

Fruit juice may taste great to your child, but it's loaded with sugars that can contribute to adverse health conditions like obesity, tooth decay, and overall poor nutrition. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recent recommendations state that fruit juice should not be given to infants under 12 months of age because it offers no nutritional benefit to them. Water and breast milk should be the preferred drink. 

After 12 months of age, the AAP sates that infants can be given limited amounts of juice each day but advices that for all age groups:

• Fruit juice offers no nutritional benefits over whole fruits. Whole fruits and vegetables have nutrients and fiber while fruit juice is loaded with quick processing sugars (this includes fruit juices that have no sugar added).
• Children should not be given fruit juice at bedtime or as a treatment or management for diarrhea.
• For children ages one through 6 years of age it's still recommended to limit fruit juice to no more than 4 ounces per day. Read the label and make sure it is 100% fruit juice, a lot of juices are loaded with sugar and have very little 'real' juice if any. It should also be pasteurized for safety and don't give juice in a sippy cup or bottle, this is very important for preventing cavities.

These are guidelines — and with any guideline, there may be exceptions (if your child is on an iron supplement, for example, your doctor may want you to give it with orange juice). If you have questions about this recommendation, or anything else about what your child should eat or drink, talk to your pediatrician.

Here is the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on fruit juice: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/139/6/e20170967

Parents, How Much Do You Know About Antibiotics?

There's an effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help make sure that we use antibiotics wisely. In the U.S. 1 in 5 of children visits to health care practitioners result in a prescription of antibiotics. This amounts to over 50 million prescriptions annually! Of which 10 million are for respiratory illnesses that antibiotics aren't helpful for. 

Antibiotics are of course very important and life saving when they are needed, however, their use does not come without risks including the killing off of natural bacteria that grow in our bodies and that we rely upon for forging a healthy immune system to fight off disease and infections. Antibiotic resistance is another concern of indiscriminate prescribing. 

Here's a helpful quick quiz published in Harvard Health Publications to help families make informed decisions about antibiotic use. 

Take this quick quiz to check your antibiotic smarts

Question: (True or false) Any time the doctor says your child has an ear infection, you should leave the office with a prescription for antibiotics.

Answer: False. Turns out that most ear infections get better without antibiotics. In some circumstances, such as in young infants, severe infections, or children with immune system problems, antibiotics are necessary. But for most healthy children, all that is really needed is some acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain, some time, and some TLC.

Question:  Which of the following set of symptoms means your child has sinusitis?

A. A cough for a week, with fever at the beginning and not since

B. Green nasal discharge and cough for four days, fever to 101

C. Both of the above

D. None of the above

Answer: D. The common cold, caused by a virus, can give you cough, fever, and green nasal discharge — and antibiotics are not only unnecessary, they won’t do a thing. Antibiotics should only be considered if:

• There is nasal congestion and cough, preferably with fever, that has lasted for 10 days or more (it still may be a cold, your doctor needs to examine and be sure)
• There is new fever, congestion, and cough after a cold seemed to be getting better
• There is high fever (103 F or more) and severe congestion and cough for three days

Question: Your child has a bad sore throat and fever. You take your child to the doctor, who says that the throat is very red and has pus, but doesn’t find anything else that worries her. What should happen?

A. You should get antibiotics, because pus means there must be a bacteria

B. You should get a strep test and antibiotics

C. You should get a strep test, but no antibiotics unless the rapid strep test or culture comes back positive.

Answer: C. Turns out that pus doesn’t necessarily mean there are bacteria. Some of the nastiest throat infections are caused by viruses — which, again, antibiotics don’t treat.

Question: (True or False) Since sometimes colds can lead to ear infections or sinusitis or pneumonia, it’s a good idea to take an antibiotic to prevent that from happening.

Answer: False. While it’s really understandable to want to “be on the safe side” and ward off a bacterial infection, most colds don’t lead to bacterial infections — and if you are in touch with your doctor, you should be able to pick up the signs of anything that needs to be treated by antibiotics.

To learn more about smart use of antibiotics, check out these resources from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Let Them Eat Dirt" - Book suggestion

"Let Them Eat Dirt" by Drs Marie-Clair Arrieta and Brett Finlay is a must read for parents, educators and health professionals. It's about the importance of gut bugs to a child's developing immune system and the authors explain how to give kids the best immune boost starting early in life.

Microbiome refers to all the microbes that cover our skin and inhabit our intestines. We now realize these trillions of microbes are really important for our kids' health,  for their brain, gut, and immune development. 

The authors of "Let Them Eat Dirt" explain in their book that the microbes that colonize the gut in the first 100 days help determine whether children will become obese, suffer from allergies or asthma, and essentially how well they will be able to fight off infections and disease. 

It's a compelling read with practical suggestions and answers to important questions about what influences childhood development and how microbes influence a child's susceptibility to obesity, diabetes, asthma, allergies, eczema, and other chronic conditions. The authors extrapolate the latest scientific literature to help empower parents to give their kids the healthiest start in life possible. 

Here are some of the best ways to raise your kids with a healthy dose of microbes: 

There are many things families can do to help ensure their children have a healthy microbiome, ultimately, feeding kids a diverse whole food diet that is low in sugar and high in fiber is key. Avoiding antibiotics and antiseptics unless absolutely necessary and letting your children play in dirt and go barefoot in grass are other helpful tips.

A columnist for one of the online papers made a great suggestion for picky eaters that don't love vegetables. She suggests telling kids that they have little critters living inside them and their survival is dependent on them eating vegetables. When faced with the knowledge that their little pets will die without vegetables, kids most often will opt for broccoli over fries. Might be worth a try?! 

To our kids' health! 

Prenatal Vitamins May Make Your Children Cleverer

A new study led by a research team at Harvard University has reported that taking multivitamins during pregnancy can "add the equivalent of up to a full year of schooling to a child's cognitive abilities." 

The results also found that early life factors including a nurturing environment was very important for a child's intellectual development including educational achievement and fine motor dexterity. 

The multivitamins studied contained iron, folic acid, retinol, vitamin D, vitamin E, ascorbic acid, vitamin B, niacin, zinc, copper, selenium and iodine. Maternal supplementation aided children's procedural memory by an additional 1/2 year of schooling and for anemic mothers, the effect equalled one year of extra schooling. 

In conclusion, the most impactful factors on a child's cognitive ability that trump biological factors include: nurturing home environment, parental happiness, parental education, socio-economic status. 

The research was published in the journal The Lancet Global Health. 

Drinking Water Improves Your Child's Brain Function

Children need to drink more water than adults. The effects of dehydration on a child's ability to think has been well studied and researched.

Research shows that dehydration is a common occurrence and even mild dehydration can impact a child's mental functioning. The good news is when given just a cup of water (300ml), a child's memory recall is significantly improved. 

Another study showed that children who drank additional water performed better on attention tests compared to those who didn't. 

So drinking water can have a positive impact on your child's mental performance and wile we can't make any definitive claims on increasing IQ it seems that like a good health measure to ensure your child is adequately hydrated as developing healthy hydration habits while children are young is a smart thing to do!

How Much Water Should Your Kids Be Drinking?

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academics has the following recommendation for kids:

• Infants:  breast milk is enough
• Children  1-3 yrs: 4 cups per day
• Boys and girls 4-8 yrs: 5 cups per day
• Girls 9-13 yrs: 7 cups per day
• Boys 9-13 yrs: 8 cups per day
• Girls 14-18 yrs: 8 cups per day
• Boys 14-18 yrs: 11 cups per day

(I cup = 250ml = 8 fluid ounces)

Tips to Encourage Kids to Drink More Water:

• Total water intake comes from all sources: drinking water, beverages, food with lots of water content. Offer fruits and veggies with a high water content such as apples, cabbage, cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, grapes, pears, sweet peppers, watermelon, zucchini. A side of soup with meals can be an easy way to increase water count.
• Encourage your children to drink water regularly throughout the day and be a good example by drinking regularly yourself!
• Use fun drinking straws, special drinking cups and colorful water bottles. Stainless steel or BPA free are the best containers. 
• During physical activity, kids need more water, especially in hot weather. Encourage another 1/2 cup for every 20mins of activity.
• It's helpful for kids to make drinking water a part of their daily routine. Encourage 1/2 to a full glass on waking, offer water with meals, snacks, and when they arrive from school, and again before they brush their teeth.
• If your child says they aren't thirsty, encourage them to have a few sips of water. Generally this will encourage them to drink more on their own. Younger kids may need to try water about a dozen times over a two week period before they start to develop a taste for it. You can infuse water with sliced lemons, limes, berries, cucumbers or sprigs of fresh mint. For older kids, you can freeze berries or sliced fruit in ice-cubes, and add these to water for a hint of flavor.
• Consider a reward system to motivate younger kids to drink such as posting stickers on a daily water log which can help (and you) track their consumption amounts. Even consider doing something special to celebrate their new healthy habit, like a trip to the water park or lake perhaps?

Turmeric and Sweet Potato Soup

Turmeric and Sweet Potato Soup

This is a delicious soup chalk full of healthy nutrients to keep the kids at their best vitality this winter season. It's easy and our go-to for a hearty, warm meal. Let us know how it turns out and if you have any recipes to share, please pass them on! By the way, turmeric is an excellent anti-oxidant and has strong anti-viral properties, a sure immune booster if you're feeling a cold coming on. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion (chopped)

1 sweet potato, skin on, diced into pieces the size of a penny

1 red bell pepper

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp paprika (optional version for adults)

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 can (15oz) no or low sodium diced tomatoes with their juices

5 cups vegetable broth

1 cup macaroni, stars, letters, orzo, or other small pasta

1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

2 cups chopped kale

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large soup pot, warm up the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute it around until it starts to look translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the sweet potato and bell pepper and cook them all around for another 4 minutes. Add the turmeric, basil, paprika (if using it), ginger, cinnamon, and soy sauce and keep stirring so that everything gets coasted and the spices get a chance to warm up, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and broth, cover, and let simmer until the sweet potatoes are almost tender, about 8 minutes. 

2. Add the pasta, uncovered, for about another 8 minutes, until cooked. Fold in the chickpeas, kale, and lemon juice, and simmer away until the kale wilts and the chickpeas are warm, about 4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!

Which Milk is Best for Kids' Health

Recently a New York Times article weighed in on the different milk options available to us. So what is the best nutritional option for your children?

Dairy milk seems to come out in front as far as protein content and absorbable form of calcium. However, all the milk substitutes - Rice, Almond, Soy, Coconut, etc - contain 30% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for calcium. However, this type of supplemental calcium may not be as absorbable as the calcium naturally occurring in dairy milk.

An important factor to consider if your family drinks dairy milk is to purchase milk that is organic or at the very least, derived from grass-fed cows. In the U.S. cows are given hormones and these hormones are present in the milk supplied. A number of studies have reported hormonal changes in girls and boys due to the hormones in the dairy cattle.

The dairy industry in Canada prohibits hormones from being given to cattle, however, their feed may contain many undesirable chemicals and be of poorer nutrition. What's more, cattle can be given antibiotics and all these substances will be passed on to the milk supply. 

Dairy milk may also not be suitable for your child if s/he has an allergy to lactose or casein, both of which are found in milk. Also, pediatricians tend to advise against dairy milk form cattle if the child has any of the atopic triad conditions: asthma, eczema, allergies. Goat's milk or one of the milk substitutes (rice, almond, cashew etc) may be a more appropriate substitute. Best to speak with your child's physician regarding this.

Another note about the dairy industry is the climate impact from the methane gas released. Climate change has a big impact on global health and every consumer choice has a powerful impact. So try and support your local farmer and sustainable farming practices.

To our global health!

Here's the link to the NYTimes article for your reference: Which Milk is Most Nutritious: Soy, Cashew, Almond or Coconut?