Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘baby food’

Once babies are prepared to take solid foods, parents often become worried about food allergies. Food allergy is an allergic reaction to some specific food. Today’s all parents are concerned about food allergies of their children. In recent year we have seen an increase in the susceptibility of allergies. About 4 out of 100 children have a food allergy. Statistic reports that, approximately 6%t of young children and 3 to 4% of adults in the United States have a food allergy.

How to detect it?
The development of any allergic reaction occurs when the body mistakes something like a food or pollen as a harmful and dangerous attacker. If your kids appears upset for no obvious cause or has unexplained areas of itchiness to the skin, then possibly the baby has a food allergy. A true baby food allergy can only be diagnosed by a medical professional, such as your child’s doctor or specialists. This is done by performing a skin test or blood test.

What foods are responsible for baby allergic reaction?
It’s possible to be allergic to any food, but there are some specific foods which have high priority to occur allergic reaction to baby’s skin.

Most common food allergens:

• Cow’s milk
• Egg whites
• Fish (such as tuna, cod, and salmon)
• Shellfish (such as shrimp, lobster and crab)
• Citrus Fruits
• Wheat
• Tree nuts
• Chocolate
• Tomatoes

Least common allergenic foods

• Yeast
• Barley
• Carrots
• Berries
• Plums
• Squash
• Apricots
• Apples

What Are the Symptoms?
So from home how do you know if your baby is having a food allergy or intolerance after starting a new baby food? Skin reactions are the most common signs of a food allergy. Here are also some common signs of an allergic reaction of baby bay food:

• Diarrhea
• Hives (itchy, red bumps on the skin)
• Vomiting
• Swelling of the face or arms
• Stomach cramps
• Possible blood in stools
• Itchy skin
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Trouble breathing
• Stuffy or runny nose
• Pain in the belly
• Nausea or vomiting
• Watery or red eyes

Danger Signs:
Sometimes baby with food allergies develop long-term disease such as Asthma. Others, for the baby food allergy anaphylaxis comes on and can be life threatening.

How to treat baby food allergies?
You can easily safe your child from baby food allergies. Here are some valuable suggestions to avoid baby food allergy:

• Try to delay giving solids until your baby is 6 months old. Breast-feed your infant for at least one year.
• Start with less allergenic foods when starting solid foods.
• Try to find the foods which develop allergic reaction to your baby. And avoid the food that causes the allergic reaction.
• If your child has a severe food allergy, his health care provider may give you special pens. If your child has an anaphylactic reaction, you can use a pen to quickly give him medicine.
• When children have food allergies, try to confer with your baby doctor. Health care providers will recommend some certain medicines such as inhalers or liquids or pills. But with the doctors prescribe follow the above rules.
• Others one most important suggestion to the mom that, avoid certain foods in pregnancy which may be the cause of food allergies of children.

Medical research is continuing about food allergies. They are trying to find particular permanent solution for it. And we hope, with in a very near time we will be able to see that types of solution.

The main desire of all parents is a strong and healthy child. But, unfortunately, young children are particularly susceptible to various diseases because their immune system is still evolving. However, there are a number of ailments, which the child can avoid, if the parents in time will take care of their prevention. Indeed, to prevent illness is always easier than curing it and then deal with complications.

Catching a cold

This term is often called infectious viral disease. It is clear that you can’t fully protect your child from development of many of these ailments, but there are simple rules, the compliance with which sometimes gives surprising results.

First of all, from birth it is necessary to strengthen the child protective forces of body. And the best assistance in this is providing basic tempering – contrasting pouring. You need gradually to teach your child to this procedure: first, water body after bathing with water of room temperature and again with hot water, and then the warm portion can be rotated with cool water and increase the number of approaches to the 5-7 pair of pouring.

And, of course, there are some basic precautions. Avoid overcrowded places during epidemics of influenza and other ARI. If you need to take your child to the doctor, put on a gauze bandage. In the case when someone in the family is sick, put a plate with hot water in the child’s room, in which you should add a few drops of geranium oil or fir – which kill bacteria and prevent them from causing harm to child.

Rickets

One of the reasons of this disease is a violation of the metabolism of vitamin D in your baby’s body. It requires competent and timely prophylaxis.
What do the parents need to know? You must worry about it even before the child’s birth. Future mother must eat properly; take vitamins complexes and spend more time in the open air.

To avoid it you must walk with the baby and let him/her stay in the sun, of course, within reasonable limits, it is recommended to conduct the child courses (15-20 treatments) of UV exposure twice a year.

Colic

This disease has been long known to mankind – the vast majority of affected are babies. The painful intestinal cramps cause serious sufferings to baby. But there are tools that can protect the child from this problem. For example, if during the first weeks of life you give the child fennel – plants, beneficial for digestion – colic is quite possible to be avoided or alleviated. For example, natural product Plantex contains essential oil and extract of fennel fruit, which normalizes digestion, improves bowel, reducing gas and the frequency and severity of colic, and serves as a prevention of its appearance.
In addition, you can prevent the development of colic with the help of massage. Many mothers and fathers underestimate the importance of this procedure, but the simple stroking of baby’s tummy clockwise in the intervals between feeding, and alternating flexion-extension legs several times a day – it’s easy to massage, which stimulates the digestive processes well and prevent the disease.

Diathesis

This is a very common ailment which belongs to the category of allergic reactions. Of course, children can have allergy to any substances, enzymes, etc. But it mainly arises while using “human” food instead of Mother’s milk. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor the slightest reaction to the new baby food, and if there is the slightest suspicion of diathesis, for some time abandon the introduction of complementary foods.

The best way is to start with the least allergenic foods such as zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and green apples, pears, etc. Later on, try small gourmet carrots, whole cow’s milk, eggs, fish, etc.

Let’s start with an advice: Do not feel guilty if you decide to switch to bottle-feeding. It always requires a large excerpts from the mother and courage, so if you are unsure of your decision, please follow the maternal instinct and do not be afraid of the condemnation of others.

In some cases, artificial feeding is more appropriate for the child than breastfeeding, especially if the mother smokes, drinks or takes harmful drugs (certain drugs, alcohol and nicotine can be transferred to the child with the mother’s milk). In addition, bottle-feeding is the only acceptable solution for women living with HIV or suffering from other serious diseases, such as anemia, tuberculosis, or kidney disease. Also, switch to bottle-feeding is recommended for mothers taking certain medications.

Milk for the artificial feeding will provide your child with all necessary vitamins and minerals, and its nutritious properties are close to the properties of breast milk. Typically, milk for replacement feeding is an ordinary cow’s milk, only it has received special treatment and is easy to digest.

However, today one can find an alternative to this milk. For example, soy milk is specially designed for infants who are not carrying lactose, or kids with allergies to milk. However do not get involved in new developments: use a standard milk formula, if the doctor had not recommended otherwise.

When making milk for replacement feeding, it is important to accurately follow the instructions on the package. Feeding from a bottle can cause cramps, if you cook too weak or heavily concentrated milk or feed baby milk, heated to the wrong temperature.

Ready milk packaged in cardboard boxes or bottles will help you on the trip, but it is almost twice the price of conventional milk powder for artificial feeding.

You can keep the milk with a margin of 24 hours, leave it in the refrigerator and use as needed. However, after 24 hours from the time of preparation any unused milk should be discarded. Never reuse the remaining milk – it is popular place for breeding bacteria!

The temperature to which you need to heat the artificial milk to feed baby is individual – some kids love milk, heated to room temperature, and some like warm milk. To warm up the milk put the bottle in a pot with boiling water for a few seconds and then check the readiness of milk for feeding, dropping a few drops on your wrist.

If your baby swallows the milk too quickly, find the dummy smaller, and vice versa – if the child is not in a hurry to swallow, look for big dummy.

Every mother understands the importance of protecting their baby from the harmful effects of viruses and bacteria, especially with the approach of a warm summer, when microbial activity increases many times. And every careful mom seeks to minimize the risk of infection by the daily disinfection of children’s bottles, pacifiers, dummy, and accessories for baby food by using steam sterilizer, or normal boiled water.
However, in everyday life there are cases where conventional methods of sterilization with steam or disinfectants solutions are impossible or difficult. Steam sterilizer can not be usually taken for a walk, on holiday or on a picnic, it can not be used in airplane and car.
But even regular comforter on the net floor, is a serious threat to the health of your child, if it appears in the mouth of a child without sterilization. There are «caring» moms who solve this problem by «sterilization» with their own mouths,and pass with the baby all the bacteria, which can be very dangerous for the child. What to do?
And what if the baby is constantly pulling everything into the mouth trying their teeth?
Belgian company “Ultra clean Technology CV” came to help caring, active and responsible parents by developing portable ultraviolet sterilizers BabyBoss, which allows disinfecting any surface, without boiling, steam and electricity.
These simple and secure devices using dual technology kill bacteria: ultraviolet radiation wavelength of 253.7 nm and ozone, which quickly and effectively kill bacteria and viruses. The efficiency of destruction of bacteria and viruses is up to 99-100%. You can sterilize any surface: children’s bottles and pacifiers, toys, all accessories for personal hygiene (toothbrushes, eyeglasses, etc.), dishes, fruits, any items found in public places, touching which may lead to infectious effect.