chatwithketch

Okay people….

Live on Amazon! For everyone outside of Nigeria, you can now get a copy of the book, Just For The Health Of It With Dr Ketch, on Amazon.

Just click on this link and off you go 😀

Q: Doctor I am in love with your page. Thank you for all the inspiring words that you use to nourish us daily. Thank you so much.

I have a baby of 3 weeks old, but my question is that I want to know the rightful age for a baby to be allowed to watch television. She will always stare at it but I want to know is she already seeing. Secondly, is it right to sit my baby at this stage. Thank you

A: Thank you so much for your kind words. It does make me happy and fulfilled to know that what I do on this page is useful. Some days when I am exhausted and only thinking about hitting my bed, the very fact that some people are waiting for my daily post, gives me the extra push to go ahead and post.
Now, to your questions…very interesting ones!

At birth, baby sees blurry images only and by the 1st month, he’s able to focus and indeed by 3 months, can recognize familiar faces. When should my child start watching TV? The jury is still out on this one. The American Academy of Paediatrics has a strict guideline that recommends no TV viewing (whether the child is actively watching and even when the child is not watching and TV is just background noise) for children less than 2 years old and after this age, TV viewing should be restricted to one or two hours daily. It is thought that the fleeting images and vibrancy of the colours, makes children expect same in real life and makes them have short attention span. Instead of TV, parents should spend time interacting with their children, reading to them and playing with them. This helps them develop better. On the other hand, some other paediatricians argue that not all TV programs are created equal and that there are some that actually help parents interact with their children. However, the time should be monitored and limited.

The worry about too much TV time is that it can lead to obesity as children go out to play less and perhaps, snack mindlessly in front of the TV. It also exposes children to violence, behavioural problems and poor academic performance.

So, practically speaking, how does this play out? Limit as much as possible, TV time. If you grew up during my days, this wasn’t even an issue as TV stations opened by 4pm and had little or nothing to offer children grin emoticon And so we had to learn to amuse ourselves constructively with building blocks/bricks, reading novels etc. You can do a mix of these with your baby. Let him interact with his world using bricks etc. If you choose to let your child watch some TV, look for educational programs and watch with your baby and talk him/her through it.

Should you put your 3 weeks old baby in a sitting position? No. Baby needs to achieve head and neck control before he can sit and generally, it’s ideal to leave your baby well alone and not put them into positions that they can’t get into or out of by themselves. This essentially means that baby’s development will progress, usually in a predictable manner, with absolutely no help from you! So, enjoy your baby and try not to put a timetable to his development. If any aspect of his development appears delayed, feel free to see his doctor but don’t develop an unrealistic calendar for him based on ‘in our family, that’s how we do it’ or ‘other kids his age are doing that’.

I hope this helps.

Have a great night, y’all grin emoticon

It’s International Women’s Day (IWD). Here’s wishing all the female followers of this page (60% of all the page followers!) a very Happy IWD! The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘make it happen!’ That theme thoroughly resonated in me.

Make it happen! Make what happen? Do you remember who you were before the world taught you who you should be? Do you remember the dreams you had before the world told you they couldn’t be achieved? Do you remember the plans you had, before the world told you it was impossible? What would you do differently if you had the chance?

I’ll share a bit of my own story. I was born into a family of doctors and it was always understood that I would be a doctor. I rebelled at some point and decided to apply for Marketing in the university (In my senior year in secondary school, I offered a combination of subjects that would have allowed me apply for medicine, marketing, law etc). Just before the exam, perhaps because my parents let me be, I decided I didn’t need to prove a point and went back to my first love, medicine. However, l felt medicine could be a bit more interesting than the 9 to 5 hospital routine. I will not bore you with the whole story and the whole journey I undertook to prove this 😀

Suffice it to say that in 2010, during a chance conversation with a friend, he mentioned talk show….and that was it! He wasn’t asking me to do a talk show, he was talking about a talk show he had watched but because I had been on a quest to find out what exactly I wanted to do with myself beyond just working’, immediately he said that, it resonated. And that was it! I was in that state of euphoria of ‘I now know exactly what to do with my gift and knowledge’ for about 2 weeks. And then, it hit me…..how do I make this happen? I was a regular medic, worked in a hospital for a while, went into health insurance etc. All my contacts were in these fields. How on earth would I move this dream from my head to the screen? Essentially, what would make it happen?

Well, that answer didn’t come easy. I checked the Internet for production companies, ended up making a couple of errors….scratch that, a lot of mistakes 😀 But I kept seeking…for sponsorship, for help, for advice, for every help I could get! And finally, in 2013 we went on air with our first show. By this time, most of my friends didn’t even know I was still pursuing this dream. But I stayed focused and prayerful and it happened.

So, what is it you want to do? What is it you’re wondering whether you can put together? Go out and make it happen. I came across a saying yesterday and it really resonated with me…Having a dream gets you started, having discipline keeps you going. That discipline is so important when it feels like nothing is happening, but you’re convinced that this is your place. So, dream and have the discipline to keep at it. This message is for women just as it’s also for men. We’ve got all it takes to do great things…we limit ourselves by reminding ourselves of all the reasons why our dreams can’t be achieved. Why not do the reverse and everyday, remind yourself of one new reason why your dream is a sure – banker?

The floor is now open…People, let’s make It happen!

PS: Just in case you wondered the wellness issue here, making your dream happen improves your emotional, mental, spiritual and even physical health 🙂

Q: Good morning ma’am, please I need an advice. After my monthly cycle, I always wet my panties for about one week and some days, with very bad odor. It usually takes up to one week and some days before the odor and the discharge stop; then everything will be normal. It normally starts dropping when my menstrual cycle is rounding up, and it also drops like, menstrual cycle that’s ending. This makes me sometimes think that it’s still part of my menstrual period. But it always stops after some days and then the next menstrual cycle comes up at the expected time.

A: Vaginal discharge is normal and generally helps to keep the vagina healthy. The quantity of discharge varies with menstrual cycle with the most amount of discharge being experienced around the time of ovulation. There is usually a slight odour associated with this discharge but it should not be offensive and should never cause problems like itching or burning sensations.
Generally, you should look out for changes in your vaginal discharge as some may indicate a problem. Examples include:

• Changes in colour eg greenish, brownish etc
• Changes in smell eg fishy smell
• Development of itching or burning sensation
• Increase in quantity of discharge
• Bleeding or spotting outside of menstrual period
• Change in texture eg cheese texture

In your case, the smell is worrisome…you haven’t really told me much about colour or texture. Please see your doctor for a proper evaluation and diagnosis.

Remember that keeping your vagina healthy involves wearing cotton underwear, not abusing antibiotics, not washing your vagina with scented soaps, cleaning from front to the back after using the toilet etc

For more on this topic, please click on the following links:

Daily Health Tips: Is Vaginal Discharge Normal?

Daily Health Tips: Is Vaginal Odour Normal?

Daily Health Tips: Can A Little Girl Have A Genital Discharge?

Daily Health Tips: Why Do I Have Candidiasis Around The Time Of My Menstrual Period?

Have a fabulous weekend people 😀