DIET & HEIGHT FOR THE CHILD
The following suggestions are given simply as a guide to an infantile diet, but each infant/child’s requirements differ. Hence there is no need to firmly stick to the given pattern.
I Month—Only Milk
II Month—Milk, a TSP of Mousambi/orange juice, or curd.
III Month—Rice and curd, milk, soup of pulse (Moong only), crushed banana, pomegranate juice or apple. But do not mix up the juices of two fruits, milk.
IV & V Month—Chapati mashed in dal, green-cooked vegetables (without ghee, butter, or spices).
VI Month—Thin gruel of Khichri, Kheer of Sooji or Saboodana. Milk 2-3 times.
VII & IX Month—Chapati mashed in dal, soup of vegetables, curd, paneer (homemade, milk (twice only).
Note: During summer, give lemon juice, honey or sugar mixed water, to which some salt also may be added to give Lassi, Curd
HEIGHT
Height generally depends on the standard of food, the opportunity for mental and physical growth, physical activity or games. It is believed that height does not grow after 18-20 years. Generally, height must be commensurate with weight and age. Hormonal secretions play a major role in containing or increasing height. The following data will simply give a general view on height (From birth to 2nd year).
Do not get anxious if your child does not measure up to the indication given above. Some children grow suddenly, while others may grow gradually or in phases.
TEETH
Usually, a child’s (regular) teeth-cutting process is as follows:
Teeth cutting is the most troublesome period for the baby and his mother, but if proper safeguards are taken well, most ( if not all) of the complications can be countered. Children first cut ‘milk teeth’ or temporary teeth, which automatically fall off by 7-8th years of age, after which permanent teeth appear. If Biochemic compound ( Homeopathic compound) No. 21 is given to a child, most of the problems relating to the teething period will be offset—if given from the 3rd or 4th month. Some people use Calcarea Phos only but prefer the said combination as it has Ferrum Phos also.
COMPLICATIONS DURING THE TEETHING PERIOD
Most of children suffer from the following disorders—
• Pain in the head that they cannot express.
• Loose motions which are of variable colours.
• Pain in the abdomen.
• Grinding and gnashing of teeth and pressing the lips between jaws.
• May have some fever also.
• Agitated mood and snobbish behaviour.
• Lesser intake of milk and other liquids.
• General lowering of body’s resistance.
As for treatment, fever, pain in the body, and headache can be treated by giving ¼-½ TSP of Paediatric drops of paracetamol or by giving 1-2 tablets of Biochemic combination No. 6 and No. 21 for various other complications (1-2 tablets dissolved in water—4 times daily), the latter to be given daily.
Give 1-2 tablets of combination No. 8 3-4 times daily for loose motions until stools normalise. If the child has dysentery (though not very common), give biochemical combination No. 9 dose as advised in other cases. If more than one medicine is to be given, consult your doctor.
For pain in the stomach, wind, gastralgia, Spasmindon (Paediatric drops) 5-10 drops may be given as and when required or as advised by the physician or biochemical combination ( For colic) No. 3, 1-2 tablets dissolved in water—may be repeated if there is no relief.
It is repeated that headache, fever and colic cause abnormal discomfort to the child; hence control these symptoms first. But if diarrhoea also persists and the frequency of stools passed is too great, give electoral powder dissolved in water (boiled and then cooled down) so that sodium-glucose-water levels stay within normal limits. As for Allopathic drugs to control diarrhoea, consult a physician for proper medicine, dosage and frequency—above all, the side effects of many.
Ayurvedic physicians recommend massage of honey and borax ( Suhaga) powder—500 mg of Suhaga to 2 tsp of honey. If given too quickly or in large quantity, this compound will spill over to the stomach and cause loose motions. But a thick compound is said to remove constipation when the child has constipation.
In summer, the child should be given plenty of oral fluids and protected from heat, hot winds and exposure. In winter, keep the feet, abdomen and chest covered with woollen garments and do not expose him to cold winds. All these measures are meant to be observed routinely, but when the child is cutting teeth, his danger of exposure to changing thermic conditions should be fully guarded.