Do you feel like you are doing everything to keep your child healthy? Taking your child to the doctor when they fall ill is not enough. More parents continue to realize this, and besides following the recommended American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) well-child exams, they look for more ways to improve preventative health care regimens. Bastrop well child exams are at the heart of effective preventative care. The child-wellness visits parents and kids in many ways, including:
- Developing a better relationship with the doctors
- Keeping immunization up to date
- Early diseases detection and intervention
- Education to help improve a child’s development, to mention a few
Besides the visits, other straightforward preventative measures to include in your child’s healthcare regimen include:
1. Proper nutrition
Your food choices determine the nutritional value the child gets. It helps if you stick to foods high in nutrients, ensuring the child’s development is not derailed by deficiencies. Children need a daily intake to meet their growth needs, facilitating healthier development. Observing the portion size also counts, especially as your child can easily overeat. This can lead to childhood obesity, affecting their health and development.
2. Exercise
Your child seems busy throughout the day, but are they exercising as much as they should? Your child can easily get bored, emphasizing the need to devise many activities they can alternate and stay physically active. Exercise helps the child develop stronger bones, muscles, lungs, and heart. It also facilitates improvements in posture, balance, coordination, and flexibility. With adequate exercise, the child can keep their weight at healthy levels. This helps lower risks of concerns like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, to mention a few.
3. Oral health
Oral health impacts your child’s general health. You might be focused on the teeth, but oral health goes beyond them, emphasizing the need for proper hygiene and checks during well-child visits. Brushing and flossing from an early age is essential, helping your child adopt healthier dental care. Don’t assume that the teeth will fall out and do not need good care. If primary teeth are unhealthy, they affect the developing permanent teeth beneath. Unhealthy milk teeth affect the shape and structure of permanent teeth, which can impact dental health in many ways.
4. Healthier routine
Good hygiene is among the easily overlooked yet critical preventative healthcare measures. Simple measures like regular hand washing can help prevent spreading germs. Other unhealthy habits like lack of enough sleep also should be considered from an early age. Sleep routine makes it easier for the child to adopt a healthier habit. Quality sleep helps the child get the required rest for the body to recover from wear and tear experienced throughout the day.
The measures you adopt to improve your child’s healthcare have a significant impact since they impact their long-term care. Once they adopt the habits, they can easily stick with them for the rest of their lives, making it easier to lead a happier, longer, and healthier life. Preventative health care is easier than you might expect yet delivers more benefits than waiting for your child to fall ill to address the problem. Call Pompeyo C Chavez, MD, today for well-child exams and learn more about preventative health care.
