Sophie Okolo, MPH

All parents want the best for their children. It’s completely natural. One thing that all parents need to keep on top of is their child’s health. Just like with adults, when it comes to a child’s health, any mistakes have the potential to last a lifetime for them. As no parent wants to negatively affect the growth and development of their child. While it’s true that parenting is far from easy, there are some ways to make the parenting job a little easier on yourself, even if you’re a first-time parent. It all comes down to regularly keep track of your child and their health. These are some very helpful tips to ensure that your child will have a very healthy well-being. 

Get regular checkups for your child

One of the most important things that any parent should do would be to have their child get checkups regularly. This includes everything from the routine checkups that your child will get with their pediatrician, but this also includes their dentist, eye doctor, and even a hearing health doctor such as an audiologist. There may be signs that your child may need a test, such as a hearing test, so it’s best to learn more about that. But overall, it’s best to regularly have doctor visits for your child as this is going to be the best way to identify and address any potential health problems. Locating these potential health problems soon will lead to better treatment and less stress. 

Getting your child the needed immunizations

While your child must be taken to regular doctor visits, they must have the right vaccinations as well. Having your child stay updated with the right vaccinations will help them in avoiding any deadly illnesses and diseases. You’ll want to make sure that you keep track of all of this and ensure that they’re up to date. 

Getting a sufficient amount of sleep and a regular sleeping pattern

Depending on the age of your child will depend on how much sleep that they’re going to need. It’s vital that they get a sufficient amount of sleep each night, but it’s also very important that their sleeping pattern is regulated as well. The growth hormone for a child is released during sleep. This is also the time that the child processes the information that they’ve learned throughout the day. Sleep is significant to your child’s growth and development which is why this is something that should not be looked over. 

Provide a healthy environment

The environment for any developing person is important as this is connected to health. As older adults tend to have a healthier living in cities, the environment at home must be calm, stable, and full of love. Children need love and support from their families. This is apparent in their first few years of life. This includes providing them with positive communication such as playing with them, showing them love, and teaching them. The more you interact with your child, the more your child’s communication skills will be good as they age. So you’ll want to have a happy and positive environment at home and interact with your kids a lot. 

Keep your children physically active

Children have a lot of energy and this energy needs to be exerted by doing activities. Some of the activities can include playing, running, sports, but there are so many other options as well. Your child should be physically active for at least one hour a day. This will ensure that your child remains happy and healthy. Having regular physical activities is going to lead to having a good heart rate, good breathing, and heart health, but this will also improve their bones and muscles too. There are plenty of ways to ensure that your child will get daily exercise while having fun. You can work out with them, buy them an exercise video game, or even get your child into sports. 

Ensure that your child has a healthy diet

For your child to be a strong healthy adult, they need to start eating healthy as a kid. Children need to eat healthy foods that are full of vitamins, minerals and are completely rich in nutrients. This is going to allow them to get strong bones, grow taller, give them energy, mental clarity, and it’s also going to help the immune system fight diseases. You’ll want to make healthy meals for your child that they’re going to enjoy. But you should also encourage your child to choose the healthy meals that they’re going to like as well. If your child loves fruit, be sure to have that in it.