3 Ways To Keep Your Child With Cerebral Palsy Healthy
If you have a child with cerebral palsy, you may be interested to know that this is one of the most common disabilities for children. In fact, about 500,000 children in the United States under the age of 18 have cerebral palsy. Known as a neurological disorder, cerebral palsy is usually the result of not getting adequate amounts of oxygen either before, during, or shortly after birth.
This disability varies in severity from child to child. In the most severe cases, children with cerebral palsy have very limited mobility. Because children with cerebral palsy are more fragile than those without the disorder, it's very important to keep them as healthy as possible. Here are three ways to do just that.
1. Make Sure They Get the Recommended Immunizations
When a child with cerebral palsy gets sick, it can take them much longer than a healthy child to recover. A simple cold can easily turn into a respiratory infection or pneumonia. Influenza can also be detrimental to a child with cerebral palsy.
For these reasons, it's important for children with cerebral palsy to get the pneumonia and influenza vaccination, as well as all other recommended child immunizations.
2. Make Sure They Have a Healthy Diet
As with all children, it's important for children with cerebral palsy to have a healthy diet. While this sounds simple enough, some children with cerebral palsy have a feeding tube. Children with a feeding tube usually have a diet that mainly consists of a special type of formula. While these specialized formulas have an adequate number of calories, they are high in sugar.
A healthier alternative would be a blenderized diet so that they can get a wide variety of nutritious foods. Some recommended supplements for children with cerebral palsy include a daily multivitamin and probiotics.
3. Make Sure Other Conditions Are Being Treated
Many children with cerebral palsy have associative and secondary conditions including the following:
- Epilepsy
- Hearing and vision impairments
- Breathing difficulties
- Digestive issues
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Anxiety and/or depression
Because children with cerebral palsy often have other diagnoses, they often have a number of specialists they have to see. This can be overwhelming, but in order to keep these fragile children as healthy as possible, it's important that every medical issue is addressed and they are given the proper treatment for each condition. It's also important that they see their primary care provider on a regular basis.
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