4 ways to keep your child healthy and your mother happy during Tet

Nutritionist Anh Nguyen (Member of the British Association of Clinical Nutrition, Department of Pediatric Nutrition, University of Worcester) shares about children's nutrition and psychology during the holidays.

On New Year’s Day, adults are often busy entertaining guests and preparing family meals, with little time to pay attention to children’s meals. Therefore, children are at risk of not receiving enough energy and essential micronutrients.

Parents should prepare their children's favorite food for themselves, such as eggs. Prepare this dish in a special way, such as egg rolls or shrimp egg rolls, so that children know that Tet is also special to them. This will help them concentrate better at the table.

You can limit your child's intake of soft drinks by replacing them with milk, providing more energy. During Tet, meals tend to be rich in protein and fat, children may have many digestive problems such as bloating and indigestion. Therefore, you should give your child more milk to supplement vitamins and minerals.

Children are very excited during Tet because there are many people and games. However, you need to put your child to bed on time or compromise: "You can only play for 30 more minutes today!". However, the next day you must put your child to bed at the usual time.

When traveling, your child may have difficulty sleeping because of a strange bed. You should take your child back to the room 20 minutes earlier than bedtime at home to get used to the new place.

Drinking enough water will help your child's body function well and avoid dehydration. Mothers should keep a few bottles of boiled water in the refrigerator instead of soft drinks. In addition, meals should have soup to provide more water.

When you go to a relative's house, you should also bring a water bottle so that when the child needs a drink, you can suggest: "Where is your water bottle?". The child believes that the mother preparing the water bottle is for him and of course he will be responsible for drinking water when needed.

Children may vomit if the meal is not hygienic. Rehydrate after vomiting has stopped for about 15 minutes.

According to the research team of Dr. Birch L., Pennsylvania State University, USA, too much candy and jam can affect the quality of children's meals. This reduces appetite and affects the provision of adequate nutrients in children's meals. Moreover, some children may have tooth decay after Tet because they eat too much sugar. Parents should look for candy with low sugar content, limit to no more than 20 grams/day.

Older children can replace jam and candy with foods rich in fiber, good fats and vitamins such as cashews, pumpkin seeds, and almonds, but care must be taken to prevent choking.

When a child chokes, parents should give first aid by:

- Your two arms hug the baby's chest, one hand clenched, the other hand grasps the wrist of the clenched hand, and places it on the baby's abdomen above the navel, below the sternum.

- Jerk the body from bottom to top, aiming to push the diaphragm to expel air from the lungs, trachea, and bronchi so that the foreign object can pop up into the mouth.

- Each movement needs to be strong and decisive, repeated 10 times. You need to monitor the child's mouth, if a foreign object appears, quickly remove it.

Maintaining a complete and balanced diet for children during Tet is very important. Even though they are busy, parents need to ensure a balanced diet and sleep to help children have a reasonable source of nutrition, stay healthy, prevent diseases, avoid malnutrition or excessive weight gain.