Children’s Health
Banking Your New Born Baby Cord Blood? Why Not!
So you are currently expecting your new born baby? If you do, you must faced by so many significant decisions relating to what best to the future of your kids, right? Those important decisions can include the very basic of the coming of your kids such as the good name of your baby, to which pediatrician you will go to, and many more. However, what is most discussed today among modern parents is the decision to bank their new born baby’s Cord Blood.
To be sure, today’s parents are encouraged to understand about the possibility having their new born baby’s cord blood banked in any of trustworthy cord blood bank. There are so many good reasons why this is so, however, the most understandable reason is that new born cord blood has so many health beneficial both for the baby and even for other relatives that have same blood type and tissues.
Based on the medical research, cord blood is the central resource for the hematopoietic stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells itself are able to produce red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets that are very important to save the life of human. Therefore, in the future, if your baby or any other relatives occurred to be in need of healthy stem cells due to certain diseases, you and your family will not have to worry to find the perfect match of the stem cells.
Passive smoking, linked to poor mental health in children
The evidence is indicating that parents who smoke should really quit, or at least not to smoke at home. A study published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine suggests that children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to have mental problems, especially hyperactivity and poor behavior.
While the findings add to the urgency to encourage parents to quit, at least within the home, still leaves doubt as to whether snuff smoke really hurts the brains of children or if something else comes into play, said researchers led by Mark Hamer of University College London.
“We know that exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with many physical problems in children, but the cost of mental health has not been explored,” Hamer told Reuters Health.
In the U.S., two of every three children between 3 and 11 years are exposed to secondhand smoke secondhand. Meanwhile, one in five children aged 9 to 17 years has been diagnosed with any mental or addictive disorder, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hamer and his colleagues studied 901 non-smoking British children between 4 and 8 years. Measured their levels of a byproduct of cigarette smoke in saliva for assessing exposure and had their parents complete a questionnaire on emotional, behavioral and social.
On average, the higher the child’s exposure to secondhand smoke, the worse mental health, particularly conduct disorder and hyperactivity, “the study said.
The problem remained even after the experts took into account other factors that could affect mental health such as asthma, physical activity and income and family situations. However, they indicated that other factors can not be excluded. Read the rest of this entry »
The importance of sleep
Psychologists, pediatricians and specialists agree that the health and growth of children are closely linked to their biological rhythms.
Many problems of fatigue, lack of intellectual performance and even running late growth can be explained by a mismatch with the so-called biological clock that governs our nervous system.
The health and growth of children are linked to their sleeping patterns. It is believed that the dream has two forms:
1. Slow sleep (not REM).
2. Sleep with rapid eye movement (REM).
Sleep deprivation may result in the child behaviors of isolation, anxiety and aggressive attitudes. While sleeping, the body also increases production of substances that regulate and increase the immune response. Read the rest of this entry »