Preparations you need to make before your child starts school

Mid-August means school preparations for families. Especially for school-age children, September can be considered a month of transition and order. Before your child starts school, it is absolutely necessary to have annual eye, dental and pediatric examinations. Underlining that the risk of infection, especially Covid-19, increases in closed environments such as classrooms, Child Health and Diseases Specialist Dr. Nisa Pekcan Bölükbaşı “We must take the necessary measures to increase immunity.” she says.

SO WHAT SHALL WE DO?

With the Covid-19 infection, the unconscious use of vitamins and supplements has increased a lot, but as with everything, too much of vitamins is harmful. For example, unconsciously consumed vitamin D can accumulate in the body and cause vitamin D poisoning. Dr. Bölükbaşı says, “For this reason, please do not go to the pharmacy without a doctor’s advice and start taking medication.” Instead, make sure that your children are analyzed and their deficiencies are determined before they start school. In this direction, first determine the diet. If necessary, plan to replace the missing vitamins and minerals with medication with your doctor.

HOW TO CORRECT CHILDREN’S SUMMER SLEEP ORDERED?

Child Health and Diseases Specialist Dr. Nisa Pekcan Bölükbaşı says, “If your child’s sleep pattern is disturbed during the summer vacation, it’s time to go to bed and schedule the bedtime.” Since growth hormone is secreted most during deep sleep at night, your child should be in bed by 21:00 at the latest. Since it will take time for this order to settle, you need to create a sleep routine 2 weeks before the start of schools and take the time of sleep a little bit forward every day.

HOW SHOULD CHILDREN HAVE SCREEN TIME?

Although it is difficult for us to keep children away from the screen in the digital age, screen time should be limited to 20-30 minutes for children aged 3-6, 1 hour for children aged 6-9, and 2-4 hours for children aged 9-12.

In order to reduce this time, you can decide on an activity such as sports and music with your child, and visit the courses together beforehand and register for the activity that best suits his/her abilities and personality.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO IMPROVE IMMUNITY IN SCHOOL CHILDREN?

If your vitamin D level is low, you should take vitamin D supplements at the dose recommended by your doctor. Recommending products such as D3K2, which has vitamin K, while taking vitamin D, Dr. Bolukbasi; “When you take vitamin K together with vitamin D, the benefit of vitamin D is maximized.” and explains the problems caused by Vitamin D deficiency as follows.

“Anemia due to iron deficiency is a very big problem in our country. While the amount of meat per capita in Turkey is 32/kg per year, it is 100/kg in the USA (2019). Iron deficiency in a growing child brings along many problems: low immune system, Concentration disorder, loss of appetite, and even studies have shown that children with anemia due to iron deficiency have low IQ levels.

HOW CAN WE INCREASE THE IRON IN OUR BODY?

In our body, the absorption of iron in foods is higher in animal products (meat, chicken, fish, liver, eggs, etc.) and vegetable products (dried beans, lentils, spinach, peas) contribute to our iron storage even though the absorption is less.

• When consuming iron-containing products, add a product containing vitamin C to your plate to increase absorption.
• For example, if you eat meat, consume vegetables with tomatoes, lemons and green leaves.
• Our priority is always to put the deficiency with nutrients, but if necessary, your doctor will start you on iron therapy.

HOW IS WEIGHT CONTROL GIVEN IN CHILDREN?

Ice creams and snacks eaten every day in summer bring unbalanced nutrition and unhealthy weights. If there is no organic cause of anorexia in children (vitamin and mineral deficiency, etc.), the biggest reason is that their tiny stomachs, which are filled with high-calorie, non-nutritive junk food, do not have room and appetite for healthy foods.

HOW SHOULD CHILDREN’S DAILY NUTRITION BE?

If the daily calorie requirement of a 4-year-old child is 1400 kcal, when he eats 2 packs of ice cream per day, he will receive approximately 500-600 kcal. This corresponds to approximately half of the daily calorie requirement. This is the simplest answer to why your child no longer eats table food.

However, the prohibition method on foods is wrong. Since prohibited things will attract more attention to the child, explain what kind of health problems they cause in the future, inform him about the harms instead of prohibiting them. At the same time, arrange the food program so that he can get enough vitamins and minerals.

• Provide adequate and balanced, rainbow-type, nutrition.
• Consume white meat alternatives such as red meat/chicken/turkey, at least twice a week, and fish every other day. Include quality protein in your diet every day.
• Ensure that pulses are consumed at least 3 days a week.
• Have 2-3 servings of fermented milk products (kefir, yogurt, cheese, etc.) in your child’s meal every day.
• Again, 1 egg a day is important for child development.
• In addition, every day, your child’s handful of cookies, 2-3 servings of different colors green, purple, yellow, red, etc. should consume fruits and vegetables.

This type of nutrition ensures that your child is fed adequately and balancedly and at the same time, his immunity is supported naturally.