Healthy Routines for Kids
This is the third and final article in a series looking at recent recommendations on the Rourke baby record, an evidence-based tool used by primary care practitioners in Canada. In this article, we will look at the guidance around development and healthy routines.
The following are some updated recommendations:
- Read, speak and sing to your infant and child. This promotes language development and early literacy skills. This also helps to develop socio-emotional skills and the development of healthy relationships. London libraries can be a resource as they provide a book bag as a starter reading kit, and host many Books for Babies groups.
- Decrease sedentary pastimes and encourage daily physical activity. Parents can be good role models of an active lifestyle.
- Minimize screen time and ensure that any content on screen is good content.
- Milestones for development often include areas of gross motor (things like walking, crawling, stairs, etc.), fine motor (things like holding a pencil or using two fingers for finger food), communication (verbal and also signed gestures), cognitive (reasoning and thinking) and socio-emotional (engaging with others, play). It can be helpful to take stock of some of these domains before your visit to the primary care provider. If you are not certain of what to look for, the Nippissing development scales are widely available online. These are simple checklists of developmental milestones that will help you to communicate these milestones to your provider. Do not be alarmed if your child does not meet some of the milestones. Not all children develop all skills at the same time!
Our children are our future and having tools like the Rourke baby record updated helps us to provide the best and most up to date recommendations to help them thrive.
Dr. Bhooma Bhayana is a family physician in London and the mother of two young men and proud grandmother of three! She continues to find wonder and enjoyment in family practice despite more than 30 years on the job!
