Holistic Pediatricians

Dr. Chheda – 🏊 You may have heard a lot about dry drowning. Dry drowning is prevalent in social media, especially in the summertime. Now what happens? Your child is swimming in the pool, ocean, lake. They swallow a little bit of water, they choke on it, but then they’re able to get that water back out, and then they’re perfectly fine.

Now they might have a little bit of water that has gone into their lung tissue, and now it’s irritating the lungs. And so they end up with what could be a mild pneumonia. They have a little bit of cough, they have a fever, they’re just not feeling right. They might complain that their chest hurts.

You know when your child just isn’t feeling right, and at that time, you just want to get your child checked out. And that’s okay. Go ahead and get them checked out and get them treated. Whatever the evaluation is, you can get treatment for it.

You don’t have to worry about dry drowning. It’s not a mysterious diagnosis. It’s not a diagnosis at all. But if you have any concerns, make sure you get your child evaluated and then treated.

Come give us a shout, say hi, come on by. But dry drowning is not a real medical diagnosis, and if you’re in the area in Atlanta.

Dr. Chheda – 🌱 At the heart of holistic pediatric care, we treat the child as a whole – holistic, not just a tummy, not just a tantrum. We want to make sure we’re treating the entire child.

And that means with nutrition, we also have to make sure that it is completely nourishing their body and their nervous system – not just calories, not just food groups.

For example, you need fats for brain development. You need iron and zinc for growth and immunity. You need protein for cellular repair. You need fiber and water for gut digestion.

So we need to make sure that all the nutrients are available for your toddler to eat.

Dr. Chheda – 🥦 Being a mom in today’s world is a full-time job. Being a mom of a picky eater is a full contact sport.

If you’ve ever had to negotiate with your child to take one bite of broccoli, we see you. If you’ve had your toddler throw an organic chicken nugget across the room and a full Michelin starred food critic meltdown, you’re not alone.

This guide will help you decode picky eating with compassion, science, and a holistic mindset.

Dr. Chheda – Summer break is here and then what do you do? What does your child do? They’re on their screens all day long. They’re on their tablet, they’re on the TV, they’re on their phones, they’re scrolling.

A little bit of screen time is okay, but you don’t want them on the screens all day long.

Now a good rule of thumb is for every hour on the screen, you need to be playing – physically playing outside for 30 minutes. And then that way you get a good balance. You know, your child gets their screen time, but they also get their physical activity time. You don’t want to neglect that at all.

And having a good routine, even for the summer – it doesn’t have to be the same routine that you have during the school year, getting up at 6:00 AM. But you know, getting up at around the same time – 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM – and then going to sleep at the same time. Just it helps keep their body more regular.

And make sure you continue to have meal times with the family, and you have that family time.

If you have any questions or if you want to learn more about what to do with your child during the summertime, come on over harmonypeeds.com.

Dr. Chheda – 🏊 Summertime, you’ve got the pool – it’s wonderful, it’s great, but you do want to be careful near the water. Kids can drown even in just an inch of water.

For your older kids and teens, make sure they’re always swimming with a swim buddy. For your younger kids and toddlers, always, always adult supervision. That is the best way to prevent it. If you have on a blue swimsuit, it might be hidden underneath the water, so more brighter swim clothes will help you find your child better inside the water.

Make sure there’s no running near the pool. Pool surfaces can be very slippery. You don’t want them falling into the pool accidentally. No head first. Make sure they’re always jumping in feet first. You don’t know how deep or how shallow the pool might be. You don’t want them hitting their head on the concrete floor of the pool. So make sure they’re always jumping in feet first.

No running around the pool and constant, constant adult supervision. And have a wonderful time at the pool this summer, and make sure that you’re actually watching your kid. More brighter swim clothes can be seen better in the water.

Dr. Chheda – 🏊 You may have heard a lot about dry drowning. Dry drowning is prevalent in social media, especially in the summertime. Now what happens? Your child is swimming in the pool, ocean, lake. They swallow a little bit of water, they choke on it, but then they’re able to get that water back out, and then they’re perfectly fine. Now they might have a little bit of water that has gone into their lung tissue, and now it’s irritating the lungs. And so they end up with what could be a mild pneumonia. They have a little bit of cough, they have a fever, they’re just not feeling right. They might complain that their chest hurts.

You know when your child just isn’t feeling right, and at that time, you just want to get your child checked out. And that’s okay. Go ahead and get them checked out and get them treated. Whatever the evaluation is, you can get treatment for it.

You don’t have to worry about dry drowning. It’s not a mysterious diagnosis. It’s not a diagnosis at all. But if you have any concerns, make sure you get your child evaluated and then treated.

Come give us a shout, say hi, come on by. But dry drowning is not a real medical diagnosis, and if you’re in the area in Atlanta.

Is your child having difficulty sleeping? It’s a common concern that we address during well visits, and there are some tips and tricks that you can do to help your child sleep better.

The first one is no screen time an hour before you sleep. So really that should be unwinding time. That should be meditation, maybe journaling, drawing, reading, yoga – absolutely.

The second is to make sure that you are physically active earlier in the day. When your body is physically tired, it will help you sleep better, but don’t exercise right before you sleep in that one hour. The third, for our older kids, they could drink a little bit of chamomile tea, and that will help kind of calm them. They can also take magnesium. Teenagers can take 200 mg of magnesium to help them sleep. And side note: it also helps with some anxiety. Lastly, make sure that the temperature is just right – not too cold, not too hot.

Hope your child sleeps better tonight!

Dr. Chheda – There’s a lot of talk about sunscreens going on right now. EWG, Environmental Working Group, has said that there are several ingredients in sunscreen that can be absorbed into the bloodstream and become hormone disruptors. That can happen. And so if you’re really concerned about toxins and chemicals in your child’s skin, you want to look for sunscreens that have zinc oxide or titanium oxide – more of a mineral component rather than a chemical component that can protect your child from sunburns. Now why is sunscreen so important? It is the amount of sun that a child’s skin sees that can turn into skin cancer later on in life. As children, you want to protect your skin from sunburns, from intermittent sun exposure, because every sunburn that a child gets can then cause melanoma or basal cell cancer as an adult. So we want to try to prevent it as a child.

So you do want to use some sort of barrier on the skin to prevent all that intermittent sun exposure and to prevent sunburns. Plus, sunburns are really, really painful. You just don’t want to go through that, and your child is gonna really scream. So you do want to use some sort of barrier – whether it’s gonna be clothing, whether it’s going to be sitting in the shade, whether it’s a mineral sunscreen like zinc oxide or titanium oxide. You do want to use sunscreen.

Now what about vitamin D? Because vitamin D does come from the sun – natural vitamin D. That’s about the only place you can get it. Any other foods, it’s fortified with vitamin D. But it only takes 10 minutes of sun exposure to get the vitamin D that you need for the day.

So you go outside, you put on your sunscreen, and it takes 10 minutes for the sunscreens to start working. So during that 10-minute time frame, you’re also absorbing the vitamin D that you need. Now you’ve got your vitamin D and you’re preventing sunburns and skin cancer later on in life. The best of both worlds.

Dr. Chheda – When your baby reaches 6 months old and you’re advancing to solids, they can eat almost everything – with just two important exceptions:

No honey. No whole milk (though whole milk products like yogurt and cheese are okay).

These restrictions apply until they’re a year old. But beyond that, the world of food opens up! Your baby can have: all fruits, all vegetables, all meats, all spices, pizza, pasta, sushi, Indian food, Chinese food. Important preparation notes: Everything must still be mashed up. Food should be soft enough to swallow. No raw carrots. No whole grapes.

Why introduce diverse foods early? Helps prevent your child from becoming a picky eater later (we don’t want a “mac and cheese kid” at age five). Helps prevent food allergies later in life. Introduces varied flavors and textures early.

Allergy Note: If there is a documented food allergy in the family, please talk to your physician first. But for a normal, developing child with no medical conditions, everything except honey and whole milk is okay at 6 months of age.

Dr. Chheda – Babies control their appetite by volume.

When you feed your baby milk and their stomach is full, they will stop eating. They will close their mouth, and you won’t be able to get anything else in them— and that’s perfectly fine!

🍼 Newborns only need breast milk or formula. 🚫 Giving them anything else, such as water or sugar water, fills up their stomach without providing calories or nutrition. This can be unhealthy because:

❌ Water has no calories.

❌ Water has no nutrition.

✅ Breast milk and formula already have the hydration babies need! After 6 months, babies can start drinking small amounts of water. You can always consult your pediatrician when introducing it. For the first 4 months—ONLY milk!