Healthcare Access To Women And Children Across All Age Groups

Author: Dr. Madhushree Vijayakumar MBBS, MRCOG, FRCOG, DGO
Consultant: Obstetrician & Gynecologist at Motherhood Hospital Hebbal Bangalore

Motherhood Hospitals is a leading name in the women and children healthcare space in the country. In a single year, we have over 3,00,000 women and children visit our hospital network across the country for their healthcare needs. Our team has some of the top gynaecologists in India, safely delivering over 1000 babies a month.

During these challenging times, Motherhood Hospitals followed over 860 infection control protocols and delivered comprehensive services under the management of some of the region’s best and experienced clinicians. They are ably supported round-the-clock by best-in-class medical technologies, a Level III Neonatal ICU (NICU) with highly trained neonatologists, anaesthetists, and a qualified nursing staff in a supportive, patient-friendly ambience.

Being renowned for providing compassionate and efficient care to enhance all aspects of a woman’s life, we also pride ourselves as a leading integrated brand providing holistic care for children of all age groups in a home-like environment. Our expert gynaecologists and paediatricians are always available at every hospital-be it an any kind of emergency. Motherhood Hospitals have always been. customer-centric ensuring accessible clinical expertise 24/7, 365 days a year, along with virtual consultations.

At Motherhood Hospitals we have a team of experienced supers specialists backed by the latest infrastructure and facilities. We have the best gynaecologist in Hebbal, Bangalore. We are experts in handling complex deliveries, gynaecological, and other surgeries, including various laparoscopic surgeries. 

Do make an appointment with the best maternity hospital in Hebbal, Bangalore at a centre closest to you. Meet with our doctors, who will carry out the required investigations, diagnose the issue and recommend the most appropriate treatment, enabling you to lead an active life. 

If you wish to get in touch with Dr.Madhushree Vijayakumar, please book your appointment here.

Teenage Nutrition: How Can Parents Help?

Good Food Habits for teens

Teenage is a time of tremendous changes – emotional, functional, and intellectual growth backed by a sense of independence. But teenage growth isn’t just confined to emotional needs. It demands more nutrition. Nurturing good food habits during the teenage years goes a long way in keeping an individual healthy. Here’s how parents can ensure that their teen is having the right set of food as per the needs of the body.

Teenage Nutrition: Nurturing Good Food Habits

The essentials include a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, no-fat or low-fat milk products, beans, eggs, fish, nuts, lean meats, and more. All in all, a varied diet is the need of the hour.

Fruits and vegetables:

A 2000-calorie diet bag around 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables. Anything less than that isn’t good. Make sure that your teen consumes an adequate amount of fruits and vegetables.

Calcium:

Around 1300 milligrams of calcium could help you get adequate nutrition. Calcium is excellent for the bones and thus necessary for bone growth.

Proteins:

Who could forget proteins? Especially when we are talking about growth. Meat, poultry, and fish are highly recommended for a protein-rich diet. Estimates suggest that a teen must consume around five and a half ounces of protein daily.

The Importance of Whole Grains, Proteins, Fruits, and Vegetables

Energy is the driving force of teenagers. Who would miss out on whole grains? Your teen will need an adequate amount of whole grains for energy. Experts suggest six ounces per day. Whole-grain bread, brown rice, or whole-grain breakfast cereals could be given for better results.

Apart from these, iron-rich foods like spinach are recommended. It is seen that boys tend to double their lean body mass between the ages of 10 and 17 while girls need to recover the iron loss they undergo during menstrual cycles. Lastly, it would be smart to cut on fats. One must pick unsaturated fats like olives, canola, sunflower corn, and soybean.

For Parents: 6 Tips To Enhance Your Teen’s Personality

tips for parenting of teens

Teenage is identified by several social, emotional, and physical changes. From body growth to cognitive development, teenagers go through a lot. Parents must take care that the transitioning doesn’t turn out to be destructive for their teens. Utilizing teenage energy constructively becomes quite challenging, the same being guided by several factors. Channelizing the teenage thrill is not a cakewalk.

Tips for Enhancing Your Teen’s Personality and Future

Prefer discussions over commands. A teenager will not like being commanded. Indulge in consequence-oriented talks. It helps with decision-making. Teenagers don’t like being ordered. They develop rebellious behavior if they find out that they are being bossed.

Importance of Patience and Communication in Parenting Teenagers

Let them know that you have their back and they can count on you when in trouble. Maintain open communications with the teen. This could help you win their confidence.Try to engage them in social and extracurricular activities. This could channel their energy to some constructive stuff. The rush of thrill has to be managed effectively.

Encouraging a Healthy and Safe Lifestyle for Teenagers

Encourage their ability to resolve conflicts independently. Exercise giving advice rather than passing on judgments.Try to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Teach them to manage junk food and make use of digital media with safe limits.

Indulge in safety talks but in a way that doesn’t sound like a lecture. Instill the values of responsibility and safe driving.Teenagers have to be dealt with patiently. You can’t just scold them. It takes a great deal of patience to deal with them and shape their future constructively. The social acceptance that they seek during these years determines their personality to a large extent. It must therefore be taken into consideration that whatever you tell them shouldn’t interfere with their social image.

Sex Education for your Teen

Sex Education for Teenagers

Adolescence is recognized by rapidly changing hormones that cause physical changes, particularly in the sex organs. This makes them more curious to explore these changes. They might indulge in the wrong sources of information which are very harmful. It is, therefore, necessary to impart sex education to teens. Teenagers have a constant focus on the sex arena and therefore it is the right time to educate them.

The need to impart sex education to teens:

To help them get the right information rather than misinformation.
To help them gain information and skills that could aid decision-making in relationships.
To impart the knowledge of good sexual health
For the development of social and emotional skills that impart the qualities to become caring and empathetic adults.

Sex education is also found to be effective to tackle growing health issues in this age group. It is believed that sex education could go a long way to help control AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, pelvic inflammatory diseases, and syphilis.

The teens will be better equipped to understand the repercussions of teenage pregnancy on their health. Moreover, it stresses the role of abstinence and contraceptive methods including the use of condoms.

Consequences of sex education:

Appreciation of sexual diversity
Intimate partner violation prevention
Development of healthy relationships
Prevention of child sex abuse
Make healthy relationships
Make informed decisions about sex
Think critically about the world

Topics Covered in Sex Education for Teenagers

Sex education covers a wide range of topics beginning from body image, abstinence, contraception, gender human reproduction, human anatomy, pregnancy, and safe sex to sharing knowledge about birth control methods, sexual attitudes, sexual orientation, and sexually transmitted diseases.

It is important to impart sex education to teens as it helps them gain the right knowledge about sexuality. It is generally found that teens gather information from several sources which have a negative impact.

Respect The Privacy Of Your Teen During A Doctor’s Visit

teenager privacy at motherhood india hospital near me

With the advancing age, the child undergoes an ocean change in emotions. You can observe this in the behavior of your teen or track the change in communication. Until now, you were the one to play a key role in all the activities beginning from taking the teen to the pediatrician and talking about his/her health. But now, your teen speaks more with the doctor and finds it embarrassing to discuss topics like hygiene and sexual activity. It is therefore recommended that the teen doctor talks be encouraged while respecting privacy.

Why Teens Need Privacy During Doctor Visits

Teens might find it embarrassing to have discussions on hygiene or other sensual topics like sex in front of parents. Your presence might hinder an open conversation. They fear being judged or are scared of what will you say once they are home. This leads to dishonest talk. Your presence would make your child feel guilty. There is no fear of perceived repercussions when the talk is private. The teen is more comfortable in such a setting.

Benefits of Private Talks with the Doctor for Teens

Private talks with the doctor could teach the teen to advocate for their health and well-being. They get the opportunity to speak independently which encourages positive behavior. There is no fear of judgment and punishment – the conversation becomes open and frank. The doctor will be able to review the behavior of your child well.

Having one on one talks with the doctor would encourage positive choices. Conversations that surround topics like sexual identity, body image, peer pressure, mental health, and substance abuse end up in positive choices. The doctor could guide the teen well on the consequences of substance abuse if the teen is comfortable enough.

All in all, respecting the teen’s privacy with the doctor could create wonders for your teen’s mental health and influence him/her in making positive decisions.

Importance Of Teens Talking To The Doctor Privately

Doctor listening to a teen's concerns at motherhood hospital

A lot has to be taken care of while fostering a teen’s health and well-being. From managing the emotional upsurge to other behavioural changes, driven by ,hormonal changes, teens go through a lot. Not just teens, parents undergo a crucial phase where they have to behave patiently for their teen’s well-being. Private talks between the teen and the doctor form a significant part of this process.

Creating a Safe and Open Environment for Teens

Your teen undergoes a series of new experiences day in and day out. He/she might not discuss everything with you. Be it any sort of peer pressure or another incident, the teen might feel shy in front of you. They often find it embarrassing to discuss “such things” with their parents.

Providing Objective Analysis and Education on Sexual Health

Here’s how private talks with the doctor could foster the well-being of your child.

Private discussion with the doctor accounts for a safe and open environment. The teen feels safe with the doctor to ask about any health-related issue or share an experience out of curiosity to know its consequences.

Such an environment enables the doctor to objectively analyze and educate your teen on sexual health. Such talks end up implanting good ideas in their heads. Teens gather all sorts of knowledge from the internet but have the least knowledge of using it or end up misinterpreting it. These talks could help with the better utilization of such knowledge. Teens love these talks. The doctor makes it more life centric unlike the normal talks at home that are individual-centric. They find it comfortable to discuss this way. This could end up in teen awareness regarding the risks of substance use. They learn more about the consequences of alcohol, drugs, and other substances.

In a nutshell, you and your pediatrician share a common end goal – ensuring the child’s health ,and well-being. You can communicate with your teen at home. But that communication becomes too individual-centric. In the hands of a professional who deals with several teens daily, the communication becomes open-ended which is loved by the teenagers and is excellent for their mental health.

Questions To Ask The Doctor At A Wellness Teen Check-Up

doctor performing a wellness check-up, at motherhood india hospital

Teenage is a period of change. Marked by hormonal changes, the period caters to several physical and mental changes in a teen. They go through a lot in these phases. Thus, a wellness checkup is a necessary part of their well-being.

Why Wellness Check-Ups Are Important for Teens

How frequently should a teen go for a wellness checkup? Doctors recommend that a teenager must visit every 1-2 years at ages 12 – 18.

The need :

  • A wellness checkup ensures that the teen is healthy inside out.
  • Helps detect and prevent potential health problems
  • They can now seek guidance for physical, emotional, and sexual health issues
  • This instills a sense of responsibility for his/her health.
  • The information that the teens seek during these checkups is tailored around specific needs.

Top Questions to Ask Your Teen’s Doctor During a Check-Up

While a wellness checkup for the teen encompasses the physical examination and screening tests to ensure physical well-being, parents must take care of specific information necessary for the well-being of their kids.

Tips for Preparing Your Teen for a Wellness Check-Up

Conversations surrounding puberty: parents must be well-equipped to educate their teens on puberty. They can inquire about the ways of doing so. This could help the teens with self-acceptance. Try to know if it’s the right time to get the teen tested for sexually transmitted disease. You can report about the school’s performance, especially if it is going down. Having discussions about child behaviour at home could enrich you with the knowledge to handle them efficiently. Get insights on handling risky behaviour. Know more about substance abuse and ways of preventing it in teens. Discussions on a healthy diet as per the physical test are a must. Have discussions on sexual health. This will help you guide your teen.

All in all, parents must discuss all the aspects of behavioural changes with the doctor openly. This could enhance the development process.

 

How Parents Influence Teen Driving: Being A Positive Influence.

Parental Influence on Teen Driving, pediatrition near me

Importance of Parental Influence on Teen Driving Behavior

The New driving report from the Allstate foundation highlights that teens consider their parents the biggest influence on their behavior. The survey has concluded that 84% of parents indulge in speeding and 79% of teens have admitted that their parents exceeded the speed limit while driving. While 88% of parents acknowledge using cell phones while driving, 87%teens indulge in the same. Thus, be it directly or indirectly parents influence teen driving to a large extent. Parents must therefore try to be a positive influence.

Practical Tips for Parents to Promote Safe Teen Driving

Give constant and consistent feedback – newly driving teens expect feedback. But make sure not to be bossy or make fun. Allow a few months of independent driving. This makes room for confidence while driving Even after your teen is licensed, continue to give corrections. Your approach to driving instruction shouldn’t be bossy. Be calm and patient. This way, teens will be more receptive. To navigate conversations, discuss the rules together. Indulge in practice sessions. Make sure not to show them your bad habits while driving. Supervise them during rain, fog, dusk times, and on rural roads. Try to expose them to different driving situations.

Practice sessions must be fun instead of looking like a boring journey. Indulge in positive talks and teach them to handle it efficiently. Make a memorable journey while teaching them the basic do’s and don’ts.

The Role of Leading by Example in Instilling Safe Driving Habits

Teens learn more by example. Try to make use of all correct rules while driving. From seatbelt to avoiding phone calls, you must be cautious. Teenage is marked by hormonal changes that instil the rush of thrill. A majority of motor vehicle crashes account for the death of teenagers. Rash driving is quite common among teens. The center for disease Control and prevention highlights that six teens 16 – 19 age, are killed in motor vehicle crash every day while the insurance institute for highway Safety says that lack of maturity and experience elevate the crash rate among teen drivers.

 

It’s Time To Break The Taboo! – Teach The Younger Minds About Puberty.

empowering minds - Motherhood India Hospital

Teenage is all about the raging hormones and the rush of thrill that it invites. It brings several mental and physical challenges for the teenagers as well as the parents. One such challenge is puberty.

Understanding Physical Changes During Puberty

Puberty is the time when one becomes sexually mature. Both of them end up with new body traits. But depending on the body type and health, the timings are somewhat different in each teen. This invites several challenges.

Teenage is reflected by a keen interest in such topics. With the advancing technology, teens already learn a lot through the internet. But all these sources aren’t reliable. This is the need of the hour to break the taboo and educate the younger minds on puberty so that take can accept themselves in a better way.

It’s Time To Break The Taboo! – Teach The Younger Minds About Puberty

Most teenagers have a habit of comparing themselves. They end up losing their self-esteem in the process as they enter adolescence way before their friends.The constant urge of teenagers to be normal often stresses them out.Most of them are embarrassed that everyone has gone through it except themThey get loads of information through the internet on sex and relationships and there are high chances of misinterpretationThey shy away from the topic. They don’t know whether they are supposed to bring it up or not.They associate embarrassment and shame with sharing body knowledge.Puberty has therefore become a taboo subject. There is a dire need to educate teens on puberty so that we can prepare them mentally to accept their body changes positively.

Support and Resources for Puberty Education

Here’s how we can mentally prepare teens:

  • Normalizing the conversation
  • Eliminating the embarrassment and shame
  • Let them a question.
  • Make them aware of the changes beforehand
  • Teach them about periods
  • Let them know that acne, mood changes, and growth spurts are all a part of growing up.

Things To Remember While Raising Teens.

Raising a teen isn’t a cakewalk. Torn between the dilemma of giving independence and keeping an eye on the teens, many parents end up with the wrong approach. 

Things To Remember While Raising Teens

Here are a few pointers that could help you with raising teens:

Set boundaries but don’t be restrictive: The key to having a healthy relationship with your teen is to set boundaries but not impose them. You can tell them or rather suggest that they shouldn’t cross them.

Brainstorm together: While having discussions on any problem or situation, you must try to take their opinion and reflect on it positively. This allows you to stay connected with them while giving them the choice to give opinions. They feel good when their opinions are discussed.

Try to teach life lessons but it shouldn’t sound like a lecture: Indulge them into money handling talks. Let them know about the ways you manage. This will teach them some basic life lessons.

Establish household guidelines together:  This will avoid situations where they feel that rules are being unreasonably forced.
Respect their boundaries – let them know that you care.

Building a Strong Relationship with Your Teen

Communicate honestly about sex, drugs, alcohol, and other things. This will instill a sense of independence and awareness
Be a good role model instead of giving boring lectures. Let them learn by example.Avoid forcing personal conformity. This could lead to rebellious behavior.Offer as much independence as your teen is capable of handling. Go for consequence-oriented talks.

Establish clear rules on behavior along with the consequences. This could help with raising well-rounded children who will do well in all spheres of life.Keep in mind that they aren’t toddlers. Avoid being strict.Parents must know that their teens are undergoing changes on both physical and mental levels and therefore they must avoid being too harsh or too lenient.