Nutrition

Dr. Chheda – Why am I always harping on the vegetables? Vegetables are great, but what about protein? What about carbs? What about all the other things?

Yes, in a typical diet, you will get plenty of protein without even having to think about it. You only need to increase your protein at certain stages of your life if you’re actively exercising and trying to build muscle. But the typical diet will give you plenty of protein. That’s why I harp on the vegetables, because nobody’s eating their vegetables! What do vegetables have? Vegetables have lots of vitamins that help your body grow and function the way it’s supposed to. Vegetables have lots of fiber. That fiber helps you have a clean bowel, so it prevents colon cancer risks later on in life. Then, because of the fiber, it also makes you feel full, so you don’t tend to eat as much afterwards. Vegetables don’t have as many calories. It’s all in the way that you prepare them, and you can spice it up—it’s perfectly fine.

But yes, I harp on the vegetables because nobody in this country really is eating enough vegetables.

Dr. Chheda – Let’s talk about a crucial developmental milestone that every parent should know about: the emergence of logical thinking in children. Here’s the key fact: logical reasoning typically begins around age 5. Before this age, trying to use logic with your child is like talking to a wall – it goes in one ear and out the other.

At age 5, something magical happens. You’ll start to notice your child actually processing information. While they might not always obey, you can literally see the gears turning in their mind as they consider what you’re saying.

Word of caution: If you’re trying to reason with a 2 or 3-year-old, prepare for frustration. Their brains simply aren’t ready for logical processing yet.

A candid conversation about the link between technology and rising anxiety in children, featuring insights from “The Anxious Generation” and practical recommendations for parents:

The 2012 iPhone correlation

Age recommendations for smartphones and social media

The importance of unsupervised play

School phone policies

Dr. Chheda – At 9 months of age, my favourite kitchen utensil is a pizza cutter! Nine months is when most babies start developing their pincer grasp. When babies can do this, that’s when I know that their muscles in their throat are developed adequately enough that they can tolerate finger foods.

So finger foods are anything that’s smaller than the size of a raisin. So you want whatever you make for dinner, just use that pizza cutter and cut it up into small little pieces so it’s smaller than the size of a raisin, and then give one or two to your baby and see if they’ll pick it up and put in their mouth. You can put it in their mouth as well too. But I know that they can tolerate it, they have this grasp, and it’s just so easy with the pizza cutter just to cut up the food for them.

Dr. Chheda – A quote that I came across recently is “Find friends that define weirdness as something to be celebrated and encouraged.” Isn’t this great? If we all had friends that supported us no matter how weird we were!

There is no such thing as perfect. We all have our little quirks, we all have our little “hmm, I don’t know about that person,” but we’re all individuals. And if you can find a group of friends that help you celebrate you as you are, that is the best friend you could have for life.

So that’s what you want. You wanna have friends around your children who help them be them, who celebrate them, who encourage them, and there’s no such thing as weird, perfect, normal. You just want friends around your child that celebrate them, and you wanna make sure that your child also celebrates others in their own uniqueness. ✨

Dr. Chheda – Understanding how teens think can transform your communication with them. Let’s break down the key insights:

Teen Thinking Patterns:

Focus on immediate rewards

Concrete vs. abstract thinking

Present-focused mindset

Similarity to toddler thinking patterns

Communication Strategy:

Focus on immediate consequences

Use relevant, current examples

Connect to their personal motivations

Keep messages in the “here and now”

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 – Six months is when you can finally start putting sunscreen or insect repellent on your baby. Before then, their skin is very thin and they can absorb some harsh chemicals, so you don’t wanna put sunscreen or bug spray on your infants.

You wanna make sure that if you are out in the sun, that they’re shaded. You might wanna put a hat on. If you’re going to the beach, try to get some sort of canopy so that they’re in the shade, or stay indoors.

Most insects come out in the evening time, so just try not to go in the evening time to prevent bug bites. But after six months of age, you can start putting sunscreen (anyone with SPF of at least 30) and bug spray on them. ☀️

Dr. Chheda – How can you teach your kids resilience? Well, one of the first ways is when your child is, you know, about 15 months old, 15 to 18 months old. They’re starting to walk, they’re starting to fall down, they’re getting lots of bumps and bruises.

So instead of saying “Oh my poor sweetie, you got hurt! Oh let me pick you up, let me give you lots of hugs and kisses,” what you can say is “Oh no, you got hurt. Get up, brush it off, brush it off. You’ll be fine.”

That can teach your child from a very early age that falls happen, mistakes happen. It’s okay, you can get up and you can try again, and I will always be here to support you.

If your child is really sick, crying in pain, broken bone, lots of blood, please don’t tell them to just brush it off. That’s something that definitely needs attention. But for those minor “Oh I plopped on my butt and nothing really hurts, but I wanna cry cause it startled me,” it’s okay. “Brush it off, brush it off.” And then they’ll learn that you will always be there to support them, but it’s okay to get back up and try again. 💪

Dr. Chheda – 🌸 Teenage girls and their moms are very, very concerned about periods. “When is my period coming? Is my period coming? Is my period every month?” It just makes them seem like they’re very regular if the period is gonna be coming every month.

It makes you feel like you’re on a good schedule, it makes you feel like your body is normal if you have a period every month. But do you really need a period every month? Not according to Mother Nature. According to Mother Nature, if you have a period, you essentially failed what Mother Nature wanted you to do, which was to get pregnant. Now I don’t want all my 12 year olds getting pregnant, for my 16 year olds you know wait – that’s how society is now.

But it is okay if you don’t have a period every month. It is okay to manage it so that you don’t have a period every month, and it’s perfectly fine for the body because that’s the way the body was set up.

Please talk to your pediatrician if you have more questions about periods. 🌸