Keeping your baby healthy is a top priority. But do you need more help to do it?
Free vitamins and more health visitors are just some of the recommendations for inspiring the health of UK children, in a report released by the Chief Medical Officer. Recent figures show UK kids are unhealthier than some of our European cousins, which is why experts are now calling for more help to make sure your baby gets the care he needs.
Currently, children aged six months to four years are offered free vitamin supplements A, C and D, if there are from low-income families. But, CMO Prof. Dame Sally Davies suggests these vitamins should be available to all children under five across the UK.
‘Children have a dietary requirement for vitamin D,’ says Jessica Williams, the Chairman of the British Dietetic Association Paediatric Group. ‘But, it’s difficult for young children to receive sufficient vitamin D in the food they eat so we support the recommendation for universal supplementation.’
By 2015, the government plan to increase health visitors by 4,200. The CMO is also urging more nurses to be available in schools and children with long-term conditions to be assigned a local GP to help manage their condition.
Figures show 13 per cent of toddlers are obese in the UK today, which is estimated to cost £700 million each year. So the CMO is encouraging public health services to work closely with local authorities and schools to increase physical activity and make local facilities, like gyms and sports centres available to young kids.
What help would you like to keep your child healthy? Leave your comments below…