17-month-old children: Nutrition and oral care

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Doctor of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital.
For a 17-month-old child, it is very difficult for parents to keep the baby sitting in one place. Because the need to learn about the world, wanting to discover the world on their own keeps the baby in constant motion. Your baby's language and communication skills also continue to develop. This is also the period when the baby is especially developing in language, parents should talk a lot with the baby to increase vocabulary and reflexes in the baby.

1. Development of 17-month-old children

The 17-month-old baby is a month marking a new turning point in the child's development. Children's motor skills are much more mature than before. The child walks more firmly than before and rarely falls.
Children are learning to run, so they love to run and when running, their feet often touch the ground. Children often run slantly, without a clear purpose, but you should not worry because give your child some alone time to become more confident and steady.

Children's thinking ability has also improved markedly. Children are now able to recognize familiar people even from quite a distance. Children already understand the concepts of more and less, hot and cold. When you talk with your child, you may discover how well the applicability between reality and books is.
For example, if you show your child a book with a picture of a bird and teach them the name of this animal, you will be really surprised when in the zoo the child screams with joy because he realizes this animal is a bird like in the book...
Children's emotional expression has also improved compared to previous months. Children can now wave, point or rejoice when they recognize familiar people. Children may be upset or upset when their diapers are dirty or wet and signal to their mother to change them, they may tell their mothers when they need to sit on the potty through facial expressions, beeps or noises. even the act of going to the potty by yourself.
You must be quite familiar with the lovely babbling of children. Although you still can't speak fluently, you can already understand some of the child's language. Most children this age still slurred and lost their first consonant.

2. Dental care for children in the 17th month

Dental disease is one of the most common diseases in children. Teeth play an important role in chewing function, learning to speak, creating the development of facial structure and maintaining the necessary distance on the dental arch.
There are many problems related to the mouth such as thrush, gingivitis, mouth ulcers, glossitis, tooth decay, pulpitis ... Oral diseases have very dangerous complications, have a direct impact. to the intestinal tract. If the disease is severe and long-term, it can lead to intestinal infection in the child or the potential for other diseases to form and develop.
Ways to prevent oral diseases for children mainly focus on regular oral hygiene, twice a day, regular dental check-up every 6 months and having a nutritious diet to ensure the health of children. formation and development of teeth.

3. Necessary nutrition for the 17th month baby

This is the period when children develop rapidly both physically and intellectually, so it is necessary to pay attention to the nurturing and care of children, to prevent children from malnourishment. In addition to maintaining breastfeeding (3-4 times/day), children have been used to solid foods, also known as weaning foods, from 6 months of age.
Because the child's teeth are quite numerous and sturdy, at the same time, the child has a chewing reflex, so he can eat pasty cooked rice. Children eat 3 main meals and 2 to 3 snacks a day. What should a 17-month-old child eat? The main meals still have to ensure the main nutrients such as starch, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. In addition, add green vegetables and fruits to help children digest better.
17-month-old anorexic, so to help children eat more deliciously, mothers should regularly refer to more new dishes with high nutritional ingredients. However, for new seafood-based foods, care should be taken when feeding them to children to see if they have food allergies. Creating a happy eating space and time also helps children eat more, more appetizing.

4. Parents should do

The 17th month is the month that babies tend to have rapid brain development. Therefore, parents need a balanced and nutritious diet to help children develop comprehensively. In addition, children can also play some games to stimulate language, speaking and listening abilities such as naming objects, animals, naming different colors.
You can also expose your child to children of the same age so that they learn to share toys and establish friendships. This is also an opportunity for you to have a little more time to share with other mothers about raising children well.
The 17-month-old stage is one of the important developmental stages in the first years of a child's life, so in this period it is necessary to have a reasonable diet as well as appropriate oral care to help for children to have good health and comprehensive development. During this period, if they notice unusual problems in the child, parents should take the child to a medical facility to be consulted and examined by a dentist.
Counseling & examination of oral diseases in children is being carried out at Vinmec. As a key area of ​​Vinmec Health System, Pediatrics always brings satisfaction to customers and is highly appreciated by industry experts. With modern equipment, the space is clean and airy, minimizing the impact as well as the risk of disease spread. Along with that is the dedication from the doctors with professional experience with pediatric patients, making the examination no longer a concern of the parents.
In addition, parents should also apply some methods of changing habits and improving nutrition to support the child's teeth to develop better.
Besides, parents also need to supplement their children with essential micro-minerals such as zinc, lysine, chromium, selenium, vitamin B1, ... to fully meet the nutritional needs of children. The addition of these essential vitamins also supports digestion, enhances nutrient absorption, improves anorexia, and helps children eat well. Parents can simultaneously apply dietary supplements and functional foods derived from nature for easy absorption. The most important thing is that improving your baby's symptoms often takes a long time. Combining many types of functional foods at the same time or changing many types in a short time can make the baby's digestive system unable to adapt and completely not good. Therefore, parents must be really patient with their children and regularly visit the website vimec.com to update useful baby care information.