Video

Dr. Chheda – At around 18 months of age, kids become grazers. They take a bite, run off and play, take a bite, run off and play. I tell my parents, for the next two years, between 18 months to three and a half, don’t even think about taking your toddler to a restaurant because they’re not gonna sit down. They’re going to be running all over the place. But if you think about how children naturally eat and how they grow up, we used to live in extended families. And what would happen is that the toddler would come up to the mom, take a bite, run off and go up to grandma, take a bite, go off to uncle, take a bite. So this is natural for toddlers to do this, to take a bite and run off and take a bite and run off. So grazing during the toddler period is very normal. Just make sure they’re eating lots of nutritious things when they are grazing. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – Parent-teacher conferences are coming up, and a lot of you may hear, “I wish I had 20 Johnnys in my classroom.” And you’re thinking to yourself, “This is not the same child that the teacher is talking about.” But no, it is. And what happens is that kids are really good, and they can hold it together. But when they hold it together, it’s almost like shaking a soda bottle. Where they hold it together, they hold it together, they hold it together so well, then they come home and they explode. Home is their safe place. They’re allowed to be a little bit more free here. Think about what you do when you go to work. You hold it all together, you don’t curse out the boss, and then you come home and you vent. That’s what kids do as well too. Give them their safe space. They’re going to be a little bit more rambunctious when they get home than they are at school. But the fact that they can hold it together at school means that they’re completely normal. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – You know, there’s some days when you just feel bloated or constipated and you’re just off. Well, think about if you are a child, especially if you are a nonverbal child. If they seem to be a little bit more challenging that day, they’re just not in a good mood, they might be constipated. And there are several natural ways to get rid of constipation. You know, water, fiber, apple juice, prune juice. And you know, sometimes you might need something a little bit extra. Talk to your pediatrician and just realize that your challenging child might just be having a bad poop day. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – The country of Japan noticed that their obesity rates were going up. So what did they do? They started teaching, in the early elementary school age, how to control your appetite. What they did is they said, “Eat until you’re 80% full.” They’re teaching their kids this, and the kids will learn this, and then they will grow up and they will only eat until they’re 80% full. And that’s okay. You don’t have to eat till you’re 100% full. Then you’re all bloated and you actually ate too much. So try to learn from the Japanese: eat until you’re 80% full, and see how that helps you control your appetite. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – Why is Disney World the most magical place on earth? It’s not about the cartoons, the animation. It’s all about innocence. As kids, you know, we wanna grow up and we wanna be an adult. We wanna have all the things that an adult can do. But as an adult, we wanna revert back to our childhood. Yes, you know, it’s nice to get rid of responsibilities, but it’s also about regaining that innocence, that purity, the wholesomeness, where you don’t have to worry about the tears and the fears of the real world. That’s what makes Disney World and other imagination creative places so enticing. Is we wanna hold on to our innocence for as long as possible. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – Your infant and toddler has appetite control. So up until the age of 2, when they’re hungry, they will eat and they’ll let you know they’re hungry. And when they’re full, they will keep their mouth clamped, and you can’t get anything in them. And that’s fine. After 2, we all lose our appetite control. After 2, we eat because we’re bored, emotional eating, we’re tired, it tastes good, somebody else is eating it so I wanna eat it. When your toddler, your 18-month-old, is telling you they’re not hungry, listen to them. Don’t fall into the guilt trap of, “Oh, you didn’t eat today. Let me at least give you something to eat because I know you’re gonna eat this cookie.” No, don’t do it. Your toddler is listening to his body. Let them learn how to listen to their stomach when they’re actually hungry. And then you don’t have to worry about eating problems later on. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – The other day I was purging my house, and I came across a digital calculator and a digital voice recorder. My son asked me, “What is that?” And I said, “These were all the things that we needed to have. We needed to have a separate calculator, a separate camera, a separate voice recorder for lectures.” Now everything is all combined into a smartphone. You just need one phone to do all of these activities. Technology is great; technology is not all bad. You know, we have been able to condense a lot of this, a lot of these items that we use, a lot of the information that we use in this small handheld device. So technology sometimes can be great. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – There are several medical conditions that children have that can cause them to put themselves into dangerous situations. Autism is one of these medical conditions. Some children with autism don’t recognize dangerous situations. One of these phenomena is called elopement, when kids just leave a secure environment. They walk out of the classroom. They walk out of their house into traffic without realizing the danger that they put themselves into. This is not safe for the child, and it is very traumatic for parents. The National Autism Association has recognized this and offers a kit called the Big Red Safety Box. The Big Red Safety Box has lots of educational information and some items that might help keep your child safe. So if you think your child is in danger of elopement, please look for the Big Red Safety Box. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – Now that school is back in session, kids are not outside anymore, which means that they’re probably not getting enough sunshine to absorb vitamin D. Make sure your kids are on vitamin D. Even though it’s a vitamin, it has been noted that almost every cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor. Which means vitamin D works in multiple ways on multiple parts of the body. It’s not just for your bone health. Yes, it will make your bones stronger, but it also helps prevent signs of anxiety and depression. It can also help prevent asthma, and it can help prevent COVID infections. So make sure your child is taking the full amount of vitamin D that they need for their age. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – First semester third grade is almost always when I see a lot of consults coming in for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Why is this? Well, there are a number of reasons. Essentially, in kindergarten, first, and second grade, kids are allowed to mature a little bit. The teachers kind of push them along. They’re learning more in a pod style, so there’s three or four kids at centers and they’re learning. Third grade – all of that changes. Third grade is all about individual work, and it’s more about long-term projects. So if there were any learning difficulties that either may not have been noticed or just kind of pushed along, now in 3rd grade, those kids can’t be pushed along anymore. And they will really show up. So be aware: first semester 3rd grade is usually when the teachers will start saying, “You need to have a talk with your pediatrician.” That’s just code – the teachers cannot diagnose. Come in, we’ll see what’s going on, if there truly is a diagnosis ability, or if there might be something else. But learning difficulties usually come to the attention of parents first semester 3rd grade. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate