How To Protect Your Child’s Health This Monsoon?

“Rain, rain you have been such a respite from the heat pangs of summer”. These are your exact thoughts as you watch the beautiful gloomy cloud cover, feel the cool breeze, hear the pitter-patter of the raindrops and smell the petrichor from the freshly wet earth. Sitting there in your balcony watching the rain wash over the street, you are nostalgically reminded of the childhood relationship you had with the rain-gods. You are taken back to a time where you ran cheerfully in the drizzles, jumped in mud puddles and floated paper boats in water-logged areas.

But you are a parent now and you are aware that the monsoon season no matter how enticing, does pose as a potent threat to your child’s health. Well the good news is that you no longer have to feel guilty about preventing your child from enjoying the rain and building his/her own childhood memories. All you need to do is take these simple preventive measures to protect your child’s health this monsoon without letting them miss out on the joys monsoon brings in their precious lives:

1. Freshly Cooked Food: Typhoid is quite rampant during monsoon. It mainly affects children and occurs due to consumption of contaminated food or water. Thus to protect your child’s health this monsoon from contracting such ailments, ensure that they only eat freshly cooked food. Also, avoid street food along with meals in restaurants and hotels as there is no guarantee on how hygienic the food is.

2. Follow a Healthy Diet: Boost your child’s immunity. Ensure that their diet is balanced and rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants as it provides a lot of protective and nutritional value to the body. Avoid raw foods like salad and raw eggs as these can get contaminated fast. Also, thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables in clean water before using and avoid feeding your child leftover food unless it is re-heated properly.

3. Encourage Your Child To Drink Plenty of Water: A well hydrated body is better equipped to fight off flu and cold. Drinking enough water helps cleanse the system and flushes out toxins like germs and bacteria from your child’s body. However, note that consuming contaminated water is one of the main reasons why children contract typhoid during monsoon. So ward off water-borne diseases by only drinking water that is clean, boiled or filtered.

4. Use Appropriate Clothes and Footwear: Apart from raincoats and umbrellas, dress you child in loose clothes made of light cotton. This allows the skin to breathe. Since, children love jumping in every mud puddle they find; gumboots are a must to protect their tiny feet from infections caused by rain water.

5. Make Your Home Mosquito-Proof: Monsoon brings along with it water-logging. This is the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes that cause dengue and malaria to grow and multiple. So to protect your child’s health this monsoon ensure that there is no water stagnation in and around your home by regularly draining vases and coolers. Use a mosquito net or keep all doors and windows of your home closed in the evenings. You can also apply repellents that agree with your child’s skin to prevent him/her from mosquito bites.

6. Nail Biting: This is the perfect time to put a stop to this nasty habit in your child. Nails if not cut properly, accumulates dirt and bacteria. On biting it, this dirt makes its way to the stomach causing several gastric diseases. To discourage children from biting their nails, just apply neem or bitter gourd juice on their nails and leave it to dry. When they bite their nail again, the bitter taste will compel them to remove their finger from their mouth.

7. Maintain Personal Hygiene: As mentioned earlier, the wet weather of monsoon brings along with it festering of bacteria, germs and viruses that when contracted by your child can lead to serious illnesses. To protect your child’s health this monsoon, ensure that you keep them and yourself dry and clean all the time. Sanitize your hands before you start cooking and do the same with your child’s hands before they touch their meal. Also, give them a shower after they get wet or play in the rain.

So parents just follow these simple tips and protect your child’s health this monsoon without holding them back from enjoying the rain and all the other bliss this season has to offer.