The Hill – Chia-Yi Hou
Screen time among teens doubled during the pandemic and was associated with poorer mental health and greater stress. Screen time has also been associated with binge eating and disruptive behavior disorders. A new study finds an association between certain types of screen time and a higher risk for obsessive compulsive disorder.
BBC – Chris Baraniuk
As child after child gasping for air was admitted to the hospital, Rabia Agha gritted her teeth. In her role as director of the paediatric infectious diseases division at Maimonides Children’s Hospital in New York, she had seen this before. An outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a winter virus that can feel like a common cold in adults, but which can be dangerous for some young children.
Read More: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221206-why-are-some-childhood-illnesses-spiking
Healthy Shots – Mugdha Pradhan
Children’s food habits have become concerning for many now. With an increased number of tasty treats available at the snap of their fingers, their intake of nutrients has reduced considerably. As parents, try to ensure they avoid junk food in their diet as far as possible.
The Hindustan Times – Staff Writer
Parents need to learn to manage the food intake of the child with type 1 diabetes while keeping their condition in mind without making the kid feel restricted with food choices and train her/him for the same. Here are nutritional recommendations by experts for managing type 1 diabetes in children.
The Conversation – Chrissie Jones, Anastasia Theodosiou, and Elizabeth Whittaker
There has been a significant increase in the number of children with strep A infections in the UK over the past month compared with the same period in previous years. Sadly, nine children have died as a result of complications of this bacterial infection.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a statement about what parents can look out for as signs of illness, and an alert notifying doctors about the rise in cases.
Group A streptococcus (also called GAS or strep A) is a type of bacteria that can live in the back of the throat or on the skin, especially in children. It can spread between people through close contact or coughing and sneezing.
Read More: https://theconversation.com/strep-a-three-doctors-explain-what-you-need-to-look-out-for-195972
The Conversation – Nicola Piratsu
Many scientists believe this is because cheap junk food has filled supermarket shelves and fast food takeaways. This food is high in calories and other not so healthy ingredients such as saturated fats, simple sugars, and salt. But it’s designed to taste delicious. Taste is a dealbreaker when it comes to deciding what to eat, diet plans or not. Yet our understanding of what makes food taste good is limited.
Read More: https://theconversation.com/picky-eater-research-shows-it-could-be-in-your-dna-189810
Psychology Today – Staff Writer
It’s well known that experiencing adverse events in childhood (such as maltreatment, domestic violence, or parental substance abuse) is associated with mental health problems. But, despite decades of research, we still don’t know the extent to which these adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) cause mental health problems.
Stanford Children – Davia Gray
As a parent and caregiver, you play an important role in making healthy choices for your children and in teaching them to make healthy choices on their own. With so many mixed messages surrounding nutrition, it’s a task that can feel overwhelming. Venus Kalami, MNSP, RD, CSP, a clinical pediatric dietitian and nutritionist at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, breaks down some simple things you can do to help your family establish healthy eating habits.
The Hindustan Times – Staff Writer
We tend to overlook certain things in a child simply because they are growing and changing every day. However, this also increases chance of ignoring tell-tale signs of a neurological or psychological disorder. ADHD or Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one such common neurodevelopmental condition in kids which could continue till adulthood and make the person impulsive, disorganised, with poor time management skills and restless. A child suffering from ADHD is typically inattentive, hyperactive, impulsive, easily distracted, forgetful, poor study skills, irritable. Because of ADHD, kids are not able to pay attention, control their emotions, and it is difficult to manage them in general.
Seattle Children’s Hospital – Ashley Speller and Heather Cooper
Winter can be a blue time of year for people of all ages, particularly as the days get shorter, darker and colder. These ‘winter blues’ can include feeling seasonally sad, irritable or fatigued, and can sometimes cause a decline in mood and motivation.
While it’s normal for all children to experience emotional ups and downs, including the winter blues, at least one in five kids will have a diagnosable mental health problem that needs treatment.