Traditional Knowledge - Natural Growth for Children

I am writing this post for the sake of my one and a half year old son who is taking his first steps in life. Be it learning to walk, mumbling few words, developing tastes, doing naughty acts or being playful, he is the center of all our attention. I have realized that in this early stage of my kid’s growth and development there are many external factors that have a great impact and I will touch upon them as I move ahead. To write this post I did some research on internet, read few research papers and tried understanding our parenting methodology in the light of the new information that I collected.

Child’s Growth and Development

Right from the infant stage to the early years of life the kid undergoes rapid changes and understanding child development is very important. These changes can be broadly classified in physical, cognitive, and emotional development stages. Good nutrition and healthy habits have a long standing effect on all the above stages of a child’s development be it overall health, brain development, growth, muscle mass, analytical thinking, socializing and their capacity to adapt to change. Also learning basic concepts, coordination, acquiring reading and writing skills, balance, agility, learning to express themselves creatively and be socially adaptive are also some gains of good health. Good nutrition is also critical in avoiding and surviving childhood diseases.

We all want to provide the best for our children and to do so we need to be aware of the contents of the products that we use daily on our children. Not being aware of toxic chemicals used in synthetic products can be severely dangerous for children as they are much more vulnerable to these chemicals than adults are. Their immune systems are not fully developed and their bodies can’t fight the toxic chemicals as good as adults . We can, however, reduce our exposure by becoming knowledgeable and making educated, informed decisions for our children and shopping more consciously.

Natural versus Synthetic

Natural chemicals are produced by nature without any human intervention. Synthetic chemicals are made by humans through industry processes and these chemical structures may or may not be found in nature. Synthetic chemicals can be made from natural product and they will also claim to serve the same purpose. To illustrate Vitamin C can be naturally obtained from orange in the form of ascorbic acid whereas same ascorbic acid can be made from Glucose. Another example could be alcohol derived from natural fermentation whereas artificially this can be prepared from ethane and steam.

Ayurveda follows Nature’s way

Ayurveda is a Sanskrit term, made up of the words “ayus” and “veda.” “Ayus” means life and “Veda” means knowledge or science. The term “ayurveda” thus means ‘the knowledge of life’ or ‘the science of life’. Ayurveda can strengthen the immune system and support the health of children of all ages in a safe and holistic manner using the efficacy of natural remedies. Ayurveda with its use of medicinal herbs and spices offers effective health care and disease prevention for children through diet and lifestyle. Some of the means are:

• Oil massage plays an important role in baby’s growth. Massage with oils of herbs like Country Mallow (Bala) and Sesame (Tila) can protect baby’s skin against topical infections, open the pores of the skin, increase circulation, relax muscles, and aide the movement of lymph throughout the body. For e.g. Dabur Lal Tail is an Ayurvedic Baby massage oil that helps in strengthening baby's bones and muscles and facilitates better overall physical growth of babies.
• Herbal solutions in Ayurveda aid mental development of a child enhance a child’s concentration ability and intelligence. Health supplements like Dabur Chyavanaprasha(we use it), which contains Amla, Ashwagandha, Pippali, Guduchi, Kesar, Karkatsringi and Satavari Bala / Vidarikand are indeed beneficial in improving memory and learning abilities.
• Ayurvedic medicines with a diverse range of products for fever, cough, cold, abdominal pain etc. contains therapeutic ingredients that very effectively help in combating illness internally in children.

Home Remedies for Common Illness that we have used at home for our kid

Abdominal Pain

• Warm Heeng (Asafoetida) rubbed over navel region.
• A drink of the powder of jeera (cumin) and rock salt dissolved in water.

Cough & Common Cold

• Juice of tulsi leaves and ginger given two to three times with honey.

Constipation

• A tea spoon of ghee mixed in a cup of warm milk given at bed time.

During Teething

• Rubbing of honey on the swollen gums facilitates teething.

There is a sea of variety and usefulness of Ayurvedic herbs and home remedies for children. Most herbs are safe and do not have any side effects when used skillfully and in right doses. Promoting healthy habits and strengthening immunity in early childhood can set the foundation for growth and development, not only in short term but also serves good for a entire lifetime.

This post is for the blogging contest ' Traditional Knowledge - Natural Growth' by Dabur. More details on Dabur's Ayurvedic products can be accessed through this link .