It’s easy to disregard family health issues completely. After all, if you’re bombarded every day with new reports of what could harm your child, you’re going to think it’s nonsense. Imagine for a moment that you were told that you shouldn’t pick your child up by their arms. Something parents commonly do when they are playing with their children. But, this warning is understandable. You can see how picking a child up by their arms could potentially hurt them. Now imagine that the next day a new report claims you shouldn’t pick your child up at all. At that point, it starts to sound ridiculous, and you could ignore both warnings. The issue is that one might be correct while the other is rubbish. If you disregard both, you will still be putting your child in danger. This is why it’s not always wise to ignore family health issues. No matter how silly you might think that they are. Here are some of the health worries you should think about as a parent.
Genetic Conditions
Genetic conditions are something that you do need to consider when you’re a parent. Particularly, if you have a condition that you wouldn’t want to see your child develop. Or, if there is a condition in your family. In this case, we’re talking about conditions that have proven to be genetic. So, while many people believe alcoholism runs in the family, there’s no proof of this. On the other hand, both Down’s Syndrome and Hemophilia can be caused by a genetic condition. The child is born with it due to a defect in the chromosomes. You might wonder why this should be a worry or concern. At the point of conception, there is a little a parent can do to change this condition. But, that’s not quite true. Due to new technology, it is possible to complete genome editing.
In simplistic terms genome editing involves the modification of the genes in the body. This means that scientists can reduce the chances of a child developing a genetic condition. This medical solution is still being tested currently but learn about genome editing here. That way, you will be able to understand whether it’s a possibility you would consider for your child.
Mental Health Conditions
Parents may also be worried about their children developing mental health disorders. In this case, we will look at Autism. It’s worth new parents learning as much as they can about this condition. The reason for this is that Autism is very rarely diagnosed at an early stage in a child’s life. Diagnosis are often given far later after a child should have received treatment for the condition. Autism isn’t a curable condition but with the right active treatment, it can be managed. Typically, this is done through stimulus rather than medicine. By learning about conditions like this now, parents will be able to catch the signs early. For instance, a common trait of autism is the inability by the child to make eye contact. Unlike other genetic disorders, Autism can not yet be treated through genome editing. Although scientists are constantly researching what gene might be the cause of autism.
That said, many researchers believe the Autistic condition is caused by nurture rather than nature. Some have claimed that the actions of the parent could have an impact. Such as how much social interaction the child receives when they are younger.
Healthy Eating Issues
How important is healthy eating in children? Some people will claim that when you’re young healthy eating isn’t as important. This is because your body is less susceptible to different types of food. Even food that could be considered bad for you. That said, as can be seen by the high levels of child obesity in the world today, these people are misguided. It is important that your children eat healthily, even at an early age.
Luckily, both supermarkets and the government are making it easy to get your children eating healthy meals. It isn’t just about cutting out sugars and fats anymore. Typically, meals and foods are labelled with all the information you need to know. As well as this most of the foods that have proven to be bad for children have been banned. You may have noticed that stores have stopped selling certain cereals or that sweets taste different. This is because they are no longer produce, or their ingredients have changed.
One of the latest fears for people who want their children to eat healthily is processed meats. You may have heard that processed meats have now been linked with certain types of cancer. However, you should remember that at some point everything has been linked to cancer including soaking your feet in hot water. Therefore, you have to take these reports with a pinch of salt. However at the same time, they should not be entirely ignored. While it’s probably not as simple as it sounds you may still want to reduce the amount of processed meat in your child’s diet.
Cancer
Lastly, we know a lot of parents might not have completely disregarded the worry of cancer. Truth be told, the issue is more the fact that parents worry too much about this issue. If they say a lump on their child, they immediately think the worst. That said, you can’t go too far the other way. You should be checking on a regular basis for any changes to your body. At a certain age, you should encourage your children to do the same for theirs.
An example would be testicular cancer. Testicular cancer is one of the easiest forms of the disease to treat. It’s also one of the rarest, but people still die from this condition. The reason is that they have ignored the sign that there is an issue. If you find a lump on your body or your child finds one on theirs, wait two weeks. If it does not go away, consult a doctor. In most cases it will be nothing. But it’s better safe than sorry.