You may have heard this a number of times already but no one worries more in the household when it comes to kids’ overall health and well-being but the mother.  That worrier but warrior is ME. 

I fight my worries by making sure my kids eat healthy and are protected. But I can only do so much because there are things beyond my control. For example, I can’t always monitor if my kids touch or rolled on the floor during play then accidentally put their fingers inside their mouth. Another thing, kids in school sometimes share their baon with each other but being the protective mom that I am, I can’t help think what if the food or water or any liquid he takes from others are contaminated? Naku, lalo na my very active toddler who likes exploring and eating (at the same time!)  I worry that his stomach’s immune system may not be strong enough that he’ll get tummy aches due to various bacteria and viruses on surfaces he touches.

I’ve rounded up three simple and easy ways to protect our children’s digestive health and boost their immune systems.

• WASH. Proper washing of hands — teach your kids by being a good example.  It’s not enough to just say, as parents, we should also do — walk the talk.  Washing of hands is important before and after eating, after using the restroom, and especially when our hands get soiled from touching dirty surfaces. Bacteria and viruses breed in surfaces everywhere that when our children come into contact with, easily multiply and make our children sick. Putting their unwashed fingers in their mouth when eating could lead to serious tummy aches.  Next, the restroom is one of the most unsanitary rooms one could find, especially in public areas. It’s best to always wash hands as often as possible.

• WASH AND COOK FOOD THOROUGHLY. Fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed and meat should be cooked all the way through. Washing our fruits and vegetables helps remove bacteria, especially E.coli. Peeling and cooking them will also help get rid of some bacteria which may cause stomach illnesses.  When it comes to meat, cook it all the way through. Rare meat may not suit the sensitive tummies of our kids. Cooking kills the bacteria in raw meats which sometimes cause food poisoning. Let’s always do best practices when it comes to preparing and cooking food for our family, especially our kids.

• GIVE ERCEFLORA PROBIBEARS.  I read that to protect our kids’ digestive health, we have to give our kids some good bacteria. That’s why I give them Erceflora ProbiBears every day.  

What is it?  It is a probiotic food supplement that contains 2 bacteria strains: Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis — in an enjoyable and sugar-free bear.  Both my two younger kids love it because it’s vanilla-flavored and it looks cute! They take this without knowing it’s a food supplement. 

When my grade-schooler first tried it a few years ago, he thought it was one of his yummy rewards for being a good boy.  We used to have health challenges with him especially when he was younger.  He used to complain about his tummy.  We asked a pediatrician friend about it and she recommended Erceflora ProbiBears to us. Then I also learned about it from my mom friends online, so I said, we should give it a try.  Since then, he hasn’t complained of any tummy concerns.

Now the little one also enjoys it as much as his Kuya does.  It’s safe to use from age 3 up to 12.  Taking Erceflora ProbiBears every day protects our children’s tummies.

But remember that even if this is such a powerful supplement, it’s still best to practice basic measures of preventing stomach illness mentioned above.

Try Erceflora ProbiBears too for happy tummies of our kids.  It’s available in leading pharmacies nationwide.  For more information, visit www.ercefloraprobibears.com.

I am a mother of three boys and all these boys come from different childhood stages - a teenager, a young child, and a toddler.  I would never ever claim to be an expert mom because there's always something new to learn about motherhood and parenting each day and each transition of my children to the next childhood level.

My children have big gaps like 7 and 6 years apart so each already belong to different generations and parenting styles differ from each other. If there are a few items constant in parenting my children, it's always praying that we'll be able to give the best to them in all areas of their lives.

Last week, I had a privilege together with other mom bloggers, to attend a parenting talk given by Dr. Rita Paz Rowena A. De Guzman.  Dr. Rita is a well-known Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician.  I was all ears during her parenting talk because sometimes I thought I'm doing it right, but actually I am not in some areas.  Not that I see myself as not enough, but I am all for continuous learning and developing as an individual, as a wife, as a professional, and as parent.

Dr. Rita Paz Rowena A. De Guzman, Development and Behavioral Pediatrician

With Berlin Domingo of momiberlin

ANG SARAP MAGING KID DAHIL:

1.  Malaki Ulo, Pero Hindi Mayabang - children when they are about to come out of this world is normally in cephalic position, head down, because it's the heaviest part of the baby's body.  Why?  Its brain is filled with neurons (50B neurons grabe) which are double in number than what we have now and significant part is still developing.  So as parents we have to take advantage of this time to teach them new and of course good things.  It matters that we spend time with our children and talk to them as often as we could for them to pick up new words each day, for them to have faster motor skills development, and for them.

2.  Maraming Connections (or Synaptic Connections) - this just means, that the growth of the brain neurons connections should be maximized until the age of three or pre-school age because, at that time, our child have developed half of the brain connections that will be made in one's lifetime.  So as parents, we really have to take advantage of this time.  This made me quite guilty because I was working  most of my second child's preschool years.

3. Mabilis Pumick-Up - at an early stage our children learns fast and develops their fine motor skills, language, cognitive, and social skills as well.  But each child is unique so their development differs from one another even if let's say, same age.  Let's not compare our children from other children's developments.  For example, on walking, all my kids started walking by 10 months, if yours still isn't walking by 10 months, it's perfectly fine.  The average age of babies start to walk by 13 months.  Children also learn about their surroundings and how to interact through play.  So apart from guided play, I learned that they should be given a solitary play so they could discover things on their own.

4. Lumalaki, Tumatangkad/ Tulog nang Tulog- Do you remember when our parents or guardians used to say we should sleep in the afternoon para lalong tumangkad?  It's not a myth, it's scientifically true.  Our growth hormones are activated or released when sleep.  So sleep at night and nap time in the afternoon are important.  Here's a table of the recommended hours of sleep for our children. 
Also here are some tips to help them sleep better at night (works for adults too):
- No games or exposure to screens 6 hours before bedtime.
- No TV, not even the standby mode (red small light emitted even when TV is off)  When there are no TV our Melatonin hormones are released hence make us fall asleep well.
- Make room conducice to sleep, has to be well-ventilated, clean space and beddings too.

5. Matigas Ang Buto, Malakas Ang Tuhod - We all want our children to be tall right?  Height comes from first genes, next could be improved with good sleep, and third comes from the growth of the bones.  But environmental factors particularly nutrition may contribute to 20 - 40% of our children's weight.  I also learned that closure of growth plate for boys is until age 22 and for girls it's until age 18. 

6. Masaya, Masigla, Malambing - Kids who throw tantrums should be understood better by their parents.  They throw tantrums because sometimes they can't put their emotions into words to make their parents understand them.  They get frustrated.  Have you experienced this with your child?  What do you do?  I learned that when our child throws tantrums, we should ignore him, let him settle down, and don't give in to his wants.  When he is settled, it's best to embrace the child and let him know he is loved.

OUR KIDS NEED LOVE AND PROTECTION
Since they are kids, they are also prone to sickness and some other nutritional issues such as:
1. Sickness - Top 10 diseases from the ward discharges from 27 PPS-HAB accredited hospitals as of March 2018 are:
 - Pneumonia
- Diarrheoea
- Asthma
- Urirary system disorders
- Viral Infection of unspecified site
- Convulsions
- Volume depletion
- Lymphoid Leukemia
- Acute Respiratory Infections

2. Underweight - the poorest in the urban areas in our country suffers from this.

3. Stunt in growth - the poorest in the rural areas in our country are stunt in growth among children.

So given these facts, we were also taught about the right parenting styles and nutrition to be given to our kids.

MAKE THIS A BETTER WORLD FOR THE CHILDREN
DO WHAT'S TAMA FOR KIDS:
1. Quality Time vs Quantity Time?  Should be both! You can't offer quality time if time isn't enough.  It's important that when we are with our children, we engage with them and not just stick to our mobile phones or any gadget.  Let's read to them, sing to them, play with them, talk to them, and teach them good things.

2. 30,000 Words Per Day - Surprisingly, that's what our children need a day.  Woah, ako talaga I was like, is this even possible?  Well, according to Dr. Rita, Dr. Seus' Cat In The Hat book already has 1,626 words so if you read this 18x that makes 29,268 words.  But we don't want to do that.  We can fill this in by talking to them, singing to them, and just engaging with them because the average IQ of a child at age 3 was correlated to levels of daily talk to the child during the first three years of life.  So if child is almost 3 and has fewer than 25 words and can't combine them in a simple 2-word sentence, a consultation with a specialist is needed.

3. No screen time as much as possible for children under 2 years of age. - handheld scree time linked with speech delays in young children. 

4.  Play time recommended - for toddlers 1 - 3 years old, at least 60 minutes to several hours per day of physical activity plus at least 30 minutes of structured play.  For children 3-5 years old, at least 60 minutes of unstructured physical activity and at least 60 minutes of structured play.  They shouldn't be sedentary for greater than 60 minutes, except when sleeping.

5.  Good nutrition through food/food supplement intake - plate should have a combination of fruits, vegetables, meat, and grains/dairy.  They also have a recommended vitamin intake per day, see tables below.
But most of the time, because of child's food preference or mood, we can't give them the full nutritional requirement to ensure that they grow up healthy.  We need food supplements to give them the required vitamins and minerals which they cannot completely get from food.  An example of which is FERN Kiddimin, from the makers of FERN-C.

ABOUT FERN KIDDIMIN
FERN Kiddimin is a food supplement which has essential vitamins and amino acids to make them Magana, Matangkad, and Matalino which kids will love because of its orange flavor.

• Vitamin B Complex and Lysine - help our kids have good appetite
• Vitamin D3 and Chlorella - assist in keeping their bones strong
• Vitgamin A and Taurine - help promote mental sharpness

FERN Kiddimin is available in 60ml (P88.00 SRP) and 120ml (P158.00 SRP) bottles and available in drugstores, supermarkets, and FERN kiosks nationwide.

To be a parent isn't easy because it takes a village to raise a child well.  Good to know that we can rely on others like our husbands, our family, friends, pediatrician and of course a good food supplement such as FERN Kiddimin to ensure our children will have a healthy and memorable childhood. 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!
I want to share this and let you experience it as well.  If you want to bring home 2 bottles of FERN Kiddimin and a kiddie backpack, just comment below some parenting or nutritional tips that has been working with you and your child/children so that others who read this may learn from you as well.  Sharing is caring!

All tips will be given a random number which will be drawn via randomizer.org on May 12.  God bless everyone! 

Happy Parenting!  And Advance Happy Mother's Day!!! :)