Thursday, March 11, 2010

Child Care And Disease

Let's face it. There are more germs in this world than we know what to do with and none of us lives in a bubble. So the threat of disease is always there no matter where we go. Unfortunately, this is an even worse problem at a daycare center for a number of reasons.

To start with, the number of things a child can run into at a daycare center are astronomical. A short list includes diarrhea, diphtheria, foodborne diseases, mumps, measles, chicken pox, and the list goes on and on. Just pick up a medical dictionary. At a daycare center your child has a good chance of getting it.

The question is why?

The answer is compounded by several factors. For starters, most children who go to daycare come from 'not so rich' families where both parents have to work, or even single parent homes. These families don't have the funds or the medical coverage to get their children properly immunized against certain childhood diseases. Others simply don't have the money or time to take their child to the doctor when they catch a cold. Left untreated, these mild problems soon become more serious problems. With all these children exposed to each other, the chance of someone passing along a nasty bug to your kid is pretty great. Many times you will hear of epidemics breaking out in these centers because of this very problem.

Another factor is that most children who go to daycare don't get the proper nutrition that they need. This lowers their resistance to disease because their immune systems aren't as strong as they should be. Again, this all goes back to the parent not having the funds needed to properly feed their child.

And finally, the last factor is the daycare center itself. Many are poorly heated because of funding problems. Also, because of low salaries it is hard to find qualified caregivers. Most of these people are working for minimum wage and need the money. So if they get sick, because many of these places don't have benefits, they have to come to work or they don't get paid. These workers end up passing along whatever it is they have to your child.

Unfortunately, there is not really a lot you can do to protect your child against getting sick while in the care of a daycare center. The best advice anyone can give is common sense advice. Feed your child as well as possible given your budget. Make sure your child at least has had all the standard vaccinations. If your child gets sick, bring him to the doctor right away. Don't wait until things get worse.

As far as the daycare center itself, try to find one that has a good track record. Ones that are sufficiently funded have a better chance of keeping your child well because their workers will have sick benefits and won't have to come in when not well and the environment itself will be better since most likely it will at least be properly heated.

No, we don't live in a bubble. But by taking some common sense measures we can at least give our child the best chance of not coming home from daycare with some terrible illness.

my 2 cents...

Tips to save on child care costs

Child care costs are one of the most expensive costs associated with going back to work. Finding ways to cut down on child care costs without sacrificing quality child care is a top priority for all working parents. Here are a few ideas that can help trim your child care costs without sacrificing child care quality:

1. See if your employer has a child care flexible spending account. As for government servant with monthly combined monthly income less than RM2750.00 are eligible to get additional money/allowance. Some goes to certain private company in Malaysia eg. CIMB. You also can ask your employer to take out a certain amount of money each month from your paycheck and you can use this money tax free for child care related expenses.

2. Inquire if your company has partnerships or offers discounts for certain child care provider services. Some larger companies will sometimes negotiate discount plans with local child care providers to help offset child care costs.

3. See if your public school district offers a half day pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds. These programs are usually free and by signing-up your child, it will reduce your child care needs to a half day from a full day.

4. Check to see if your employer would be open to flex hours, job sharing or telecommuting. If so, you may be able to use these to juggle your schedule and cut your child care costs.

5. If both you and your spouse work, see if it's possible to arrange your work schedules so they overlap as little as possible. This will allow you to reduce the number of hours your child has to spend at child care.

6. See if there is a relative or good friend that can help with child care.

7. Consider hiring a babysitter and sharing the cost of child care with a few good friends. This will allow you to pay less individually for child care costs and the babysitter will make more money overall.

8. Hiring maid…but now, not from Indonesia..their government freeze it...:)

Choosing The Best Child Care

Choosing where to place your child and with whom can be one of the most difficult choices for a parent.Almost every week, we read/heard a lot about child abuse in newspaper, TV, internet etc..etc.. It was unthinkable if we let anything bad hapend to our children..so here is the question you should ask yourself whenever you want to make a choice..about the best child care center/ babysitter….

• How many staff members are there and are there enough to adequately supervise the children?

• Are the staff members CPR and First Aid certified? What other qualifications do the staff members have?

• If this is a child care home, are there any other adults or children in the home during the hours of operation?

• Is the area clean and safe with clear exits in case of emergency? Is there a clearly posted emergency exit plan or can the staff member sufficiently demonstrate the exit strategy?

• Are first aid supplies and fire extinguishers readily available?

• What kind of discipline philosophy is followed at the child care facility (verbal warnings, time-out)?

• Are there stairs? Are the stairs gated to prevent accidents and falls?

• Are precautions taken to maximize safety such as covering outlets, putting latches on drawers and cabinets where chemicals or medications are stored?

• Are toys, games, and lay areas clean and how often are they cleaned? What chemicals or method of cleaning is used to clean the toys, games, and play areas?

• Are toys appropriate for the age of the child and are the toys separated by age so that younger children do not have access to small objects that can cause a choking hazard?

• Are there any weapons on the premises and where are they stored?

• If this is a child care home, are there any pets? If so, will children have contact with the pets? Are the pets current on rabies and vaccinations?

• Do children have access to clean toilets? Is there an area for handwashing with soap and individual paper towels for drying hands?

• If there is a pool, does the homeowner have a fence around the pool, a self-latching gate? What precautions are taken to ensure that a child cannot gain access to the pool?

• Playground equipment must be anchored and surrounded by a shock absorbing material.

• What types of meals and snacks are served? Are they nutritious? Does the child care center participate in the child care food program?

• What types of activities will your child be participating in? Are they educational and allow for playtime indoors and outdoors during the day? Do they go on any field trips, walks to a park, swimming and what precautions are taken to ensure safety if they do?

• Can the program adequately accommodate special needs and how so?

Childrens is God amazing gift and they should be protected and cherish with LOVE..Also check out my psoting about How to Save Child Care Cost.

Till then...

Tips about how to take care baby

Who would have thought that a small little creature the size of a package could have the ability to cause so much distress in an adult human at least ten times its weight? Looking after a baby can be overwhelming.

As such, i’ve put together some simple everyday tips to help you remain sane to help you cope:

Use Toys During Changing Time:

It’s common for babies from 4 months to be extremely fidgety during nappy changes. Try distracting them by putting a mobile over the changing mat or get your partner to hang a bright-coloured object over the changing mat so that the baby can coo coo over it and give you the precious seconds you need to complete the nappy-changing exercise!

Provide stimulation:

Providing visual and auditory stimulation will help increase cognitive development in your babies. For example, choose colourful and noisy toys for young babies and encourage them to fiddle with it. Or, if you don’t have a ready-made mobile, make one of your own by using brightly-coloured objects. Suspend them from a frame made out of clothes hangers and of course, in this case, keep them out of baby’s reach.

Babies Love Massages:

Babies can be soothed with gentle touches. Lie your baby on a soft surface in a quiet room, preferably with soothing music playing in the background. Using a little baby oil, move your palms slowly and softly along his arms, legs and back.

Say No To Flowers:

For a newborn baby, it is just being to get used to breathing in air. Don’t make it more difficult for him by having the air in the house heavy with pollen, which is a well-known allergen. If you like your house looking cheery, make do with artificial plants for now.

Open a Bank Account For Your Baby:

It’s a good idea to do so because you can deposit monetary gifts from family and friends there and it’ll help you stay organized. Also, you will be setting an excellent example for your child in future on the importance of saving.

Breast Feed Or Bottle Feed...

The decision to breastfeed or bottle feed your baby is a very personal one and should be based on your comfort level as well as your lifestyle. Breastfeeding (or nursing) can be a wonderful experience for both mother and baby as it provides a special bonding experience, however, breastfeeding may not be possible or preferable for all women.

I want to play devil's advocate and give you differing views on both methods so that you can make your own decision on how you want to feed your baby. Please understand that you and only you can make this very personal decision.

Mrs. Bottle: "I don't want to breastfeed because it is embarrassing to breastfeed baby in public."

Mrs. Breast: "If you wear the right clothes you can breastfeed without exposing your breasts, in fact nobody will even notice that you are breastfeeding."

Mrs. Bottle: "Putting the baby on the breasts will cause engorged breasts and sore nipples. Most times baby sucks non stop all day long which can be very tiring for the mother."

Mrs. Breast: "You will have engorged breasts even without breast feeding as nature is preparing you to breast feed. With adequate support and practice, most moms are able to get baby to latch on properly without having sore nipples. I know breast feeding can be very tiring in the early days but once baby knows how to latch on it is so easy. In fact I can do other things like caressing baby or eating whilst my baby is feeding as one hand is free, so sometimes we actually have our meals together. You cannot do this with bottle feeding because you need to hold baby with one hand and the bottle with the other."

Mrs. Breast: "Breast milk is the perfect food for baby as the components - lactose, protein (whey and casein), and fat - are easily digested by a newborn's immature system."

Mrs. Bottle: "Nowadays most infant formula have been modified to resemble breast milk as closely as possible with the correct amount of protein, fats, vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals and other nutrients that babies need."

Mrs. Breast: "Breast milk is more easily digested so breastfed babies have fewer incidences of diarrhea or constipation"

Mrs. Bottle: "If you eat the wrong food your baby can have diarrhea and a lot of wind too and, if the feeds are made up hygienically, the risk of diarrhea is reduced and constipation can be prevented by giving extra water."

Mrs. Breast: "A nursing mother passes antibodies to her baby to protect or lower the occurrence of many conditions such as ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory infections and meningitis. Antibodies cannot be added to formula milk"

Mrs. Bottle: "I have passed antibodies to my baby via the placenta during pregnancy so my baby has some immunity for about 6 months."

Mrs. Breast: "Those antibodies are for infection that you have been exposed to before your baby was born. Breast feeding will give your baby new antibodies against infection that you are exposed to now." "It also protect baby against allergies, asthma, diabetes, obesity and SIDS."

Mrs. Bottle: "In that case, I can give my baby expressed breast milk."

Mrs. Breast: "Yes, but why create extra work for yourself? If you give your baby expressed breast milk, you will have to spend money buying feeding bottles, sterilisers etc and think of the time spent washing and sterilising them when you can just let the baby suck directly from the breast."

Mrs. Bottle: "If I use bottle feeding my husband or someone else can feed the baby while I rest and it will help my husband to bond with baby."

Mrs. Breast: "Daddy can still bond with baby without actually feeding the baby. I understand that if daddy changes diapers and bathe the baby it will also help them bond."

Mrs. Bottle: "Mothers can leave baby at home with daddy or another care taker and go out shopping or run errands on her own without having to bring baby along or rushing back to breastfeed."

Mrs. Breast: "It's also easy for breastfeeding mothers to be active and go out with their babies knowing that they'll have instant food available whenever their little one is hungry and they don't have to carry an extra bag of bottle feeding paraphernalia. There will be times when you need to go out on an urgent matter and if there is no-one available, you will have to take baby with you."

Mrs. Bottle: It is easier to determine when baby needs feeding so mothers can work out some sort of feeding schedule and plan her day around this schedule.

Mrs. Breast: "There's no question that breastfeeding does require a substantial time commitment from mothers like many things in parenting, but with a little organization and time management, it is easy to work out a schedule to breastfeed. The skin-to-skin contact enhances the emotional connection between mother and infant and many nursing mothers enjoy the experience of bonding so closely with their babies."

Mrs. Bottle: "With bottle feeding I can get someone else to feed baby in the night therefore I don't have to get up at all."

Mrs. Breast: "Breast milk is always fresh and available and at the right temperature, so there's no need to warm up bottles in the middle of the night. It is fantastic because I can nurse baby lying down so there is minimal interruption to my sleep."

Mrs. Bottle: "I am going back to work after 2 months leave and I would rather start feeding with a bottle so that it will be easier when the time comes."

Mrs. Breast: "You need to let baby suckle on the breast to stimulate the let down reflex. Milk production will diminish if baby does not suckle. You can start offering the bottle when baby is 6 weeks old. That should give you 2 weeks to adjust to bottle feeding."

Mrs. Bottle: "What if my baby does not want to take the bottle by that time?"

Mrs. Breast: "Don't worry all babies will suck on anything if they are really hungry."

Mrs. Bottle: "I was told that I have to eat more in order to make milk. Won't that make me put on more weight?"

Mrs. Breast "A nursing mother needs extra 500 calories per day to produce breast milk but breastfeeding also burns calories and helps shrink the uterus, so nursing moms are able to return to their pre-pregnancy shape and weight quicker. You need to eat a wide variety of well-balanced foods as this introduces breastfed babies to different tastes through the breast milk which will have different flavors depending on what their mothers have eaten."

Mrs. Bottle: "What other benefits are there to breastfeeding?

Mrs. Breast: "Recent studies indicate that breastfeeding might help prevent childhood and adult obesity. According to the National Women's Health Information Center, babies who are breastfed tend to gain less unnecessary weight, which may help them be less overweight later."

"Recent studies suggest that children who were exclusively breastfed for 6 months have IQs 5 to 10 points higher than children who were formula fed."

"The ability to nourish a baby totally can also help a new mother feel confident in her ability to care for her baby. In addition, studies show that breastfeeding helps lower the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer and also may help decrease the risk of uterine and ovarian cancer."

So there you are! I hope that the above debate has helped you to make the choice between breast and bottle feeding...:)

Child Nutrition

Like an adult, every child needs appropriate amounts of calories, proteins, minerals, and vitamins to grow. The new Food Guide Pyramid Guidelines outline the amount of grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and meats or beans people should eat daily.

Children between the ages of four and six can usually have serving sizes recommended for adults, while younger children, who have smaller stomachs and lower nutritional needs, need smaller amounts of food. But apart from consuming the right quantity, parents should keep in mind that exposure to a wide variety of healthful foods early in a child's life can set the stage for more variety later. Since children are often reluctant to try new foods and would be happy eating the same foods every day, the role of the parent is that of a guide towards a healthy and nutritional food lifestyle.

First of all, it is important for growing children to get the full range of important nutrients, especially protein, iron, calcium, and vitamin A. Although appetite variations are considered by experts as normal and might increase during times of rapid growth, or diminish during periods of slow growth, the general rule of thumb is that a 3 year old needs not more than 1,300 calories daily, a 10 year old around 2,000 and an adolescent may require as many as 2,800 depending on the height, weight and daily activity level.

- Fruits and Vegetables: Have always available in the fridge, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables that your kids can chew in case they are suddenly hungry or in-between lunches. Remember to keep fruit juice on one service daily since the sugar this drink contains has a lot of ‘hidden' calories. Broccoli, carrots, and vegetables with bright colors, usually attract children's attention and help them fill their stomachs with something healthy instead of a bag of fried potato chips.

- Dairy products: Foods that are rich in calcium are essential for children and adults helping them build and maintain strong bones. Low fat milk and fat-free dairy products should be served daily and kids have to eat cheeses with 2-6 grams of fat per ounce. The needed calcium can also enter your child's organism if he or she consumes orange juice and eats yogurt. Treats made with frozen yogurt and fruits, or milkshakes made with low-fat milk are always welcomed and provide the necessary sweet taste children usually crave.

- Grains: In fact, your child's diet should be based on grains and starches. Whole grain products also contain iron that kids need and whole-wheat bread or pasta can give them the necessary grains for their bodies to function properly.

- Liquids: Remember to serve your child plenty of water and low-fat milk. Avoid sugary sodas and high-fat ice-cream milkshakes.

- Portions: Always serve appropriate portions and weight your kids often. Sugary foods or those containing high-fat ingredients should be generally avoided. Offer healthy snacks, like vegetables, fruits or a ball of whole-grain cereal and allow them to eat crackers with cheese and low-fat chocolate milk.


Finally, you have to check if your child is gaining the normal amount of weight as it grows up and that it exercises often. Outdoor activities and a healthy diet plan are enough to provide your kids with the necessary amount of energy they need and build strong bodies.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Ubati Cekam kuku

Kuku yang terkena cekam boleh mendatangkan akibat yang lebih buruk andai diabaikan.Bagi mengatasinya,petua ini boleh dicuba.Pertama,sediakan beras pulut dan ibu kunyit yang telah dibasuh.Kemudian tumbuk kedua-dua bahan ini sehingga lumut.Setelah itu,tempek di bahagian kuku yang terkena cekam.Praktikkan selama seminggu.Inai juga boleh digunakan untuk mengubati cekam,caranya sama seperti memakai inai dikuku.

Mengecilkan Paha Besar

Jintan boleh dijadikan penawar dalam melangsingkan tubuh badan seperti perut dan juga paha.Caranya rebus jintan,biarkan mendidih seketika barulah diangkat.Tunggu air rebusan jintan itu sejuk dan setelah itu boleh diminum.Bagi melihatkan hasil yang positif,amalkan meminumnya sebanyak 2 hingga 3 kali sehari.

Menghilangkan Tanda Mata Hitam

Kewujudan tanda hitam di bawah mata menjadikan penampilan kurang bermaya.Bagi mengembalikan keadaan normal,anda boleh mencuba petua ini.Mula-mula,sediakan perahan air lemon dan campurkan dengan air suam.Sapukan ke bahagian bawah mata dua kali sehari.Cara lain pula ialah dengan menyapu sedikit minyak sapi.Biarkan ia 10 hingga 15 minit sebelum membilasnya.Seelok-eloknya petua ini dilakukan pada sebelah malam sebelum masuk tidur.

Kurangkan Kulit Berkedut

Wanita akan mula rasa tertekan jika melihat kedutan di wajah.Petua yang disediakan ini mungkin dapat mengurangkan masalah yang dihadapi.Caranya ialah parut sebatang lobak merah kemudian campurkan dengan kuning telur dan satu camca tepung jagung.Kacau kesemua bahan-bahan itu sehingga sebati.Lumurkan pada wajah dan amalkannya sekali dalam sehari.Sebelum tidur,bilas wajah dengan air suam.

Otak sihat dan cerdas dengan KISMIS

Amalan memekan kismis membantu seseorang itu mendapat bekalan oksigen yang secukupnya.Kandungan zat besinya sangat diperlukan untuk membina darah bagi memastikan bekalan oksigen yang mencukupi disalurkan ke bahagian otak.Kekurangan oksigen pada bahagian otak boleh menyebabkan seseorang itu merasa mengantuk,pelupa serta lemah fikiran.

Kacang Buncis Kawal Kencing Manis

Kandungan zat yanag terdapat di dalam kacang buncis lebih terpelihara jika dimakan mentah.Jika dimasak khasiatnya akan berkurangan.Kajian mendapati jika kacang buncis dimakan secara teratur kadar gula dalam darah akan menurun.100 gram ekstrak kacang buncis mengandungi kira-kira 7.81% karbohidrat,0.28% lemak dan 1.77% protein.Kajian juga mendapati di dalam kacang buncis terkandungnya zat B-sitisteroldan stigmasterol yang mampu mempertingkatkan pengeluaran insulin.

Minuman Berkarbonat

Minuman berkarbonat memang sedap dinikmati,anak saya yang baru 2thn setengah pun suka.Kita sedia maklum minuman ini memang banyak mengandungi gula dan ia tidak sihat terutamanya kanak-kanak yang semakin meningkat dewasa.
Tahukah anda Minuman ini mengandungi Natrium Benzoat E211 yang digunakan untuk mencegah minuman ringan dari berkulat.Ia juga menyebabkan kanser apabila bercampur dengan vitamin C akan membentuk bahan yang menyebabkan kanser.Ia boleh merosakkan bahagian penting asid deosiribonukleik(DNA) dalam badan dan melumpuhkan kekuatan sel DNA.