Diet

“The five grains act as nourishment; the five fruits from the trees serve to augment; the five domestic animals provide additional benefit; the five vegetables serve to complete the nourishment.” Nei  Jing Chapter 22

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, children’s digestive systems are not yet fully developed. It is therefore very easy for a child’s digestion to become out of kilter. Sometimes, just small changes in a child’s diet can make an enormous difference to their health and well-being. Based on an individual and thorough diagnosis of your child’s constitution, I may make some suggestions of foods that would either particularly suit your child or, conversely, may be hard for your child to digest.

For more information on dietary principles according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, please see the attached document: Chinese Dietary Wisdom

Rest and Activity

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, babies and young children can be put into two broad categories which describe their constitutional energy. The first category is  ‘full’ children, and the second is  empty’ children. Neither category is better or worse than the other, but knowing which category your child falls into can be enormously helpful in knowing what kind of lifestyle will best suit them. The ‘full’ children are ones with red rosy cheeks, lots of energy, big appetites and loud voices. The ’empty’ children are the ones who tend to be pale faced, picky eaters, enjoy snuggling up to mum and don’t make so much noise.

‘Full’ Children need lots of time running around outside and sometimes need to be encouraged to eat a bit less as their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. ‘Empty’ children need really regular rests, peaceful playtimes and encouragement to eat as wide a variety of foods as possible.

There are so many wonderful activities and sources of stimulation for babies and children today. Understanding what kind of constitution your child has can be helpful in guiding you towards creating a lifestyle in which your child will grow and thrive.

Screentime and social media

Managing a child’s screentime and encouraging a healthy attitude towards social media can be enormously stressful for parents.  Unfortunately, for some children, their digital media habits can be a cause of imbalance.  For example, being on a screen for too long encourages a child’s qi to rise up to their head which can be a contributory factor in symptoms such as insomnia, headaches or hyperactivity.

Please see my blogpost on this topic for more information.

Supporting a child through an illness

Please click here for some suggestions of how to support a child through a fever or similar illness.