It’s good to view nature, but mind children’s diet
Majority of the families prefer going on tours during holidays. Parents go with their children to explore new places, shake off stress from school and working environment. But it’s surprising, that some parents resort to snacks while on tour, thus risking their children’s health.
Let children tour but with a healthy diet
Let’s explore a few healthy tips to ensure that your children on trips:
Pack home made juice with regulated sugars instead of processed drinks like soda.
Use food flasks to pack home food, once it’s warm children can eat at any time of the journey.
Carry with you foods that can be eaten even if cold: boiled eggs, roasted ground nuts, maize among others.
Add fruits in your bags. Fruits are rich with vitamins and thus good for children. Once you think of fruits consider each child’s priority.
Let children see the wild animals but with a healthy meal
It’s good to have snacks, but let them be a supplement but not the only option for children to survive on during tours.
Having moments on tour is very nice, children learn a lot, but let the tour be memorable not only because of the huge animals seen but all also that special meal that children can remember.
Breastfeeding also known as nursing is the feeding of babies and young children with milk from a woman’s breast. It is recommended for mothers to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour after birth. The baby is placed on the mother and feeding starts as soon as the baby shows interest. During the first few weeks of life, babies may nurse roughly every two to three hours, and the duration is always 10 to 15 fifteen minutes on each breast.
After the introduction of foods at six months of age, recommendations include continued breastfeeding until one to two years of age or even more. Mothers may pump milk so that it can be used later when breastfeeding is not possible especially for working mothers.
Research carried out however shows that women in Uganda do not breastfeed their children to the required standards set by the World Health Organisation.
Breastfeeding decreases the risk of respiratory tract infections and diarrhea,asthma and food allergies among babies.
Improves cognitive development and decreases the risk of obesity in adulthood.
It decreases the risk of breast cancer among mothers.
Breastfeeding decreases postpartum depression and delays the return of menstruation.
A breastfeeding mother gets regular time and money to relax quietly with your new born as you bond.
It saves time and money which a mother would have spent either to buy formula or treating illnesses that babies who have not been breastfed suffer.
A song on breastfeeding
Breastfeeding positions
Cradle Position. A mother rests the baby’s head in the crook of her elbow with his whole body facing her. The other arm can wrap around to support the baby’s neck.
Football position. The baby is lined back along the mother’s forearm to hold him like a football, supporting his head and neck in her palm. This works best with newborns and small babies.
Side-lying position. This position is great for night breastfeeding in bed. A pillow is placed under a mother’s head to get comfortable.
Side-lying position of breastfeedingSide-lying position of breastfeeding
A moman breastfeeding in a cradle position
Finally, always remember the ABCs of breastfeeding;
A-Awareness; watch for your baby’s signs of hunger and breastfeed whenever your baby is hungry. Hungry infants move their hands towards their mouth, make sucking noise or mouth movement.
B-Be patient; Breastfeed as long as your baby wants to nurse each time. Don’t hurry your infants, typically breastfeed for 10 to 20 minutes on each breast.
C-Comfort; Relax while breastfeeding, and your milk is more likely to let down and flow. Get yourself with pillows to support head, neck and a footrest to support you’d feet and legs before you begin to breastfeed.
A healthy baby is every mother’s desire, to achieve it, begin the journey of the infant’s life with breastfeeding.
Disnovia Ahesibwe founder of Health Baby, Bachelor of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University, 2021
So excited to meet you all at Healthy Baby.My name is Ahesibwe Disnovia. I hold a bachelors degree in Journalism and Communication, Makerere University, Kampala
I am the owner and founder of Healthy Baby which I started in 2020.
The website entirely covers matters of child care from conception up to the age of five. It covers information, concerning breast feeding, immunization, feeding, antenatal care among others.
During my third year of study, Department of Journalism and Communication (DJCO) organized a symposium with in the Main Building of Makerere University. It was about Science Communication. Among the key note speakers was Professor Dandarua from Nasarawa State University in Nigeria. He highlighted the need for Communication Practioners as well as Journalists to break down the complex terms used by scientists into a language that can be understood by everyone. It’s then that I drew motivation and thus I decided to start my website Healthy Baby.
In a module studied in my final year of study at Makerere University, I was introduced to Multimedia Production. It was with in this module that I created my personal website, Health Baby. Initially I was supervised by Dr Sara Namusoga a lecturer of the course in question. After studies, I continued to post but now I share the links with friends . As luck would have it, Dr Sara gave me chance to run any topic of interest on my website, and so I chose child care.
I hope that this simple personal website will enrich you with information on child care. I have tried to simplify the health terms to a language that can be understood by everyone. That is the beauty of Science Communication; that is breaking down the scientific language used by Medical Practioners into words that can be understood by everyone.
I am glad that what begun as a simple website known to Dr Sara and a few course mates at the University, is now viewed by some other people outside the African Continent. I pray that God continues to take Healthy Baby further.
Enjoy your stay at Health Baby and please do share the links with your friends and family.
