Everything you need to know to raise a physically active and mentally healthy little one.
A parent's guide to establishing the foundation for a lifetime of well-being. With these tips, you may be able to start early and help your toddler stay consistent in their healthy routines.
The early years of a child's life are a crucial period of growth and development. Toddlerhood, spanning from ages one to three, is a time of rapid change and exploration. As parents and caregivers, your priorities are focused on ensuring the overall well-being of your toddlers. This comprehensive toddler health information category page aims at providing valuable insights and information backed by credible sources. This key toddler health advice may be helpful for you to equip yourself with handling your toddler’s explorative phase better.
A number of developmental milestones characterize toddlerhood, from weaning off of breast milk to toilet training to learning to walk. Thus, this phase is also the most vulnerable phase, where a toddler becomes susceptible to several illnesses. These may include skin infections, allergies, dental issues, common colds or flu, fever rashes, respiratory ailments, digestive issues, and ear infections. Along with physiological development, this is also the phase of intellectual, social, and emotional development. Thus as parents, you must also learn to prioritize toddler mental health in order to prevent and manage behavioral and developmental disorders better (1 ).
Prevention of physiological, psychological, and developmental ailments requires you, as a parent or caregiver, to be keenly aware of your toddler’s developmental activities and milestones. You must also be able to tell how your toddler behaves when he/she is healthy versus unhealthy. An unhealthy toddler may generally be very fussy or irritable, disinterested in playing or eating, and unusually quiet. The toddler may also, at times, look flushed, show up with visible skin rashes, may feel hot to the touch, look dehydrated, and complain of diarrhea, feeling tired, cold, stuffy, or achy in certain parts of their body (2). On the other hand, you may also notice that your toddler has a fever but no other symptoms or that the toddler is throwing up with no fever. These cases require you to be alert and aware. While some may be quite harmless, others may require immediate medical assistance. Thus it is best to ensure your toddler has regular healthcare visits and timely vaccinations as per their immunization schedule. Another crucial prevention measure is taking care of the gut and oral health of your toddler from the moment they begin weaning. Maintaining toddler gut health requires you to provide them with balanced nutrition such as whole grains, proteins, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens (3). This, along with adequate water intake and ensuring adequate spacing between meals and snacks, can help in maintaining good gut health in toddlers. Moreover, maintaining a regular routine of brushing twice daily and opting for routine dental checkups may help you ensure good toddler oral health. Additionally, ensuring that your toddler consumes less greasy, fried, and sugary foods or juices may not just prevent dental issues but also reduce their likelihood of childhood obesity. Ensuring that the toddler engages in at least three hours of physical activity can also aid the toddler’s growth and development (4).
Apart from this, you may also ensure your toddler has a healthy immune system through general precautions. These may include taking a bath, regularly changing diapers, and washing hands before every meal. These precautions may also reduce the risk of skin infections and flu in toddlers. In addition, family time during play and meals reduces their defiant behaviors, conduct issues, and picky eating. When a toddler explores new foods, active attention and praise from family may help them associate meals with relaxation and happiness (5). Family time activities can also assist in reducing screen time, ensuring that your toddler has good mental, physical, social, and emotional health.
Parental understanding and redressal of various aspects of toddler health require adequate awareness and attention to the health aspects of toddlerhood. This knowledge is integral to nurturing their growth and development. By focusing on gut health, oral hygiene, general physical and mental well-being, routine medical check-ups, vaccinations, and preventive measures, caregivers can provide a strong foundation for their toddlers' overall health. However, it is vital for you to note that medical advice and information may change over time. It's recommended to consult healthcare professionals for personalized guidance and up-to-date information.
