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Introduction

Hi my noble friends in @steemkids community and all Steemians in general. I am highly elated to be participating in this mental excrecise. I must pause to appreciate @prolee for coming up with these series of expository and eye-opening contest topics.

My lovely and healthy kids

Last week Contest centered more on what enhances the mental health/well-being of a child-

How To Make Your Kid Think Faster And Smarter

This week again is another contest topic that has more to do with the physical health/well-being of a kid. Its my pleasure to drop my input on this topic;

Unleash The Secret For The Cause Of A Healthy Child.

In this contest I will be using the word child(kid) and children interchangeably. I invite you to journey with me.

Permit to begin this contest by using this medium to drive home this important fact that God created humans as a multidimensional being, possessing a Body, a Spirit and Soul. Meaning that man is a Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual being. Therefore whatever affects one of the dimensions affects the rest either directly or indirectly. That is to say a child who is physically sick cannot perform well mentally and emotionally. So I will talk about a Healthy Child in this contest wholistically.

Premarital Factors

The healthiness of a child is predetermined by the premarital precautions taken by the parents before marriage. Because of space and time I will buttress only one of these precautions which is Genotype. It is advisable that before marriage intending couple should subject themselves to medical laboratory test to ascertain the compatibility of their genotype which could have a telling effect on their offsprings. Here is a practical representation of what I mean.
Genotype And It's Appropriate Suitors/Matches

Genotype And It's Appropriate Suitors/Matches

Genotype	Remark
AA + AA	EXCELLENT
AA + AS	GOOD
AA + SS	FAIR
AS + AS	BAD
AS + SS	VERY BAD
SS + SS	EXTREMELY BAD

At this juncture I will advice that you know your Genotype before you say "yes I do" to that handsome guy or beautiful lady with whom youv wish to spend the rest of your life together and raise children. Otherwise you will live in perpetual agony and live to regret the marriage, and regret the specie of kids you will reproduce. So one of the secret of a health child is the Genotype of the parents.
All things being equal, a healthy parents make a healthy child.

Prenatal/Antenatal Precautions And Care

This pertains to the period between a woman's last mentrual period and the birth of a child normally a period of 40weeks or 280days. What a woman does within this stipulated period matters a lot in terms of the health of the child . The foods she talks, her medications, physical activities etc. For instance a woman who didn't complete her Antenatal appointment such as her Antitetanus dosages is likely to expose her child to Neonatal Tetanus when he is born. Or a woman who is anaemic because of refusal or negligence to take her Antenatal routine drugs will give birth to an anaemic and malnourished child. A pregnant mother who refused to sleep under a mosquito net and exposes herself thereby getting infected with Malaria will also pass on the malaria parasites and trophozytes
to the unborn child through the umbilical cord and a child will be born already infected with Malaria from the womb. Also the kind of drugs an expectant mother takes during pregnancy matters a lot. For instance, certain antibiotics are highly contraindicated in pregnancy because of their potential effects on the baby. Drugs such as tetracycline, Doxycycline, oxytetracycline and other quinolones affects the teeth, limbs and other parts of the baby. This accounts to why kids are born with a physical deformities. Also the mother's lifestyle such as smoking and excess consumption of alcohol can have a benumbing effect on the baby. So a pregnant mother who is ignorant of these facts will end up jeopardizing the development and health of her child.
Lest I forget this salient point, the attention, love and care a pregnant mother receives from her husband affects the child in the womb. Because the mother's mood is transferred to that of the baby in the woman. Pregnant women should eats foods rich in micro and macro nutrients so as to give birth to a healthy child.

Post-Natal Care

This refers to the early weeks after delivery mostly a period of 6weks or more as the case may be. In this instance, the way a baby is bathed at that fragile stage matters a lot, care of the navel, the genitals (if a male , circumcision ought to be carried out and well cared for, if a female the private part ought to be well managed). Then immunization appointments should not be missed as this may predispose the child to health challenges such as poliomyelitis, measles, convulsions and lots more.

The bbaby at the hospital for immunization

The baby should be protected from contacts with mosquitoes to prevent malaria and if contacts is suspected, prophylaxis should be administered immediately before it escalates.

Most often, at this early stage, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended and advocated. But if the mother can maintain proper hygiene, water and other baby foods should be given.

Consciousness Of Your Child's Nutrition

You Are What You Eat.

Is a common saying.

Another one says:

Take your food as medicine otherwise you will take your medicines as food.

What your child eats, how he eats it and when he eats it matters when it comes to health. To ensure the health of your child constantly regularly place him on a balance diet. It is said that:

The Best Health insurance one can opt for is A Balance Diet.

As parents you need to be more proficient when it comes to the proper food combinations for your child to ensure that he is not malnourished. Also overfeeding a child can be as bad as underfeeding him.

Consciousness Of Their Hygiene

Baby hygiene is highly advocated for and that is one of the major reasons why medical experts tend to prescribe the practice of Exclusive Breast feeding for a period ranging from 6months to 1year to 1year six months. Because at that fragile stage the my highly vulnerable and susceptible to so many bacteria and diseases that can be resistible in adults.

Consciousness of Your Child's Medicare

Proper and timely medication should be given to the child at the manifestation of the slighted symptoms. Parents should not wait until the situation escalates or the health conditions deteriorates before they could act. Like malaria if not treated earlier in infant can result to convulsion.

Know also the appropriate drugs for your child at every stage of development and growth and endeavor to administer the proper dosage as recommend by your physician.

Have A Paediatric Healthcare provider For your Child .

Though this might be optional and conditional but it ought to be put into consideration because I am speaking from experiential point of view.

Keep Your Child Away From Harmful Objects Even Their Medicines

In my years of practice as a healthcare provider, I have frequently handled cases of a child drinking Snipper or Otapiapia, jik, hypo and so on. There are also case where a child fell into fire, pot of boiling water. Children not be allowed to play with electrical appliances
like, pressingg iron, heater/warmer, socket also cooking gases should kept at a secluded corner out of the seen and reach of children. All these factors pose traits and of course could have hazardous effect on the health of the child if left unchecked.

Parents Should Spend Quality Time With Their Children

As a father of two, I have come to realize that a child emotional state can't be detached from his physical Health. Each time I travel out to spend two to three days my kids always feel bad and at time fall sick. Playing with your kids, cuddling, caring for them makes them feel good and loved. You can't compare the health condition emotionally and otherwise of a child who is neglected and less cared for with that of a child who has a loving, caring and enthusiastic parents. This makes me to flash back to my secondary school days. On visitation days when other student's parents would come visiting, there was this lady that her parents seldom come to visit, so this lady would look expectantly for the parents to come but at the end they would not show up. This lady would be depressed, dispirited, Moody and at the end lost concentration in the class. As a child grows and matures his emotional needs as well as physical needs changes.

Two Parents Are most Preferable

I feel, from paediatric and psychiatric point of view, that, if possible, it is preferable for children to live with both parents, ( even if it's a stepparent), if the parents love and respect each other. The children will know both sexes realistically as well as idealistically, and will have a healthy pattern that will guide them as they grow. Also when health issues that are perculiar to the female arise the mother will be there for the child and when that of the male arises the father will be there too.
Additionally, parents that are always quarreling and boxing themselves or unleashing physical assaults on each other or bullying of any sort can not have a healthy children. Because A Healthy atmosphere in the home makes a healthy child.

Parental Prayers

There is no gainsaying the fact that there are seen and unseen forces that tends to wage war against children as innocent as they are. So having taken all the aforementioned mentioned precautions, parents should back up everything with fervent prayers for the child. Pray for your child in the morning, in the evening and in the midnight hours when forces and principalities are at work with humans.

Conclusion

To have a healthy child is herculean task that must be accomplished. Because if your child is not in good health condition you too will not be asleep. One musician in his song titledSWEET MOTHER said, As a child,

If I no sleep, my mother no go sleep,
If I no chop, my mother no go chop.

This implies if he is sick , his mother will be sick too.
There are 8 Natural Health Insurance Factors(NHIF) namely:
1• Nutrition.
2• Exercise.
3• Water.
4• Sunshine
5• Temperance/Moderation.
6• Air
7• Rest/Sleep
8• Trust In God

Esteemed Regards
@pato84