A lesson from nature!

I have been following the evolution of the cashew nuts in our garden for the last six weeks. All the tender cashews were exposed to red ants, which fed by sucking on the sap! I felt concerned by this invasion of the ants. I refrained from using insecticides and waited to see what were to follow. 

I have noticed that the many cashew nuts could survive the invasion as shown in the following photographs. The survival instinct and endowed adaptability protected the nuts from being damaged.  

But the story of the following nuts is unfortunate. Even before they could develop they were harmed by the ants by stunting their development. Some of them look shrivelled and damaged. They succumbed to the damage to the pulp caused by the ants.  

Having been involved in Child Development specialty, by welcoming children who are developmentally challenged, I carry a concern about the foetal wellness during pregnancy. The  obstetric service and perinatal medicine have advanced to a commendable level of service that both mother and foetus receive considerable attention in most instances. 

Let me comment on three concerns. 

First, having found hundreds of infants and toddlers deficient in Vitamin D levels in blood with most of them showing signs of prominence of coronal sutures on the scalp, I wondered whether we pay enough attention to the maternal vitamin D status. The breast milk is supposed to be sufficient in vitamin D and is therefore a dependable source for infants as long as they are breast fed. Why is that even infants who are breast fed are deficient in vitamin D! Is it not because of the maternal deficiency of vitamin D! Why is that estimation of maternal vitamin D level is not part of the antenatal screening along with screening for all other parameters of wellness! If an expectant mother is deficient in vitamin in D, the foetus is at risk in several ways, bone formation, neuronogenesis, endocrine functions, etc!

Second, why is that women do not take Folic acid six months ahead of their conception! The outcome of foetal wellness might be better if women take Folic acid prophylactically for six months before conceiving!

Third, I feel alarmed that almost all the under five cards which parents bring with them have only the record of weight and not head size and height! The road to health charts which are in those charts are not filled to get a sense of the velocity of growth to take preventive steps if the growth trajectory is impaired!

At my work place, we have made an effort to respond to these issues. My colleagues and I have had opportunities to discuss these issues with professionals and parents to create an awareness about monitoring the vitamin D levels of pregnant and lactating mothers and to encourage women preparing for pregnancy to take folic acid supplementation. 

With regard to the developmental follow up of infants and toddlers, we published the following booklet for the use of parents. 

With a video link to this publication, parents can take the weight, height, mid arm circumference and head size measurements of children on their own. Instead of giving away that responsibility to professionals, this booklet enables parents to take charge of the developmental follow up of their infants and toddlers and get in touch with professionals with data of this booklet for conversation about the development of their child. Apart from these essentials, we have given attention to monitor the sleep, feeding pattern, play pattern and interactive environment at home in this booklet. We proposed to parents to create a child's corner at home and  offered video links to observe the process and outcome of play and activities that can be done at the child's corner. 

I feel that the theme that needs a lot of attention is wellness of a foetus! I wish married couples would consider how they can take every step to promote wellness of woman before and during  pregnancy, and after child birth that foetus and the new born receive protection for optimum development. 

The ants invade the cashew nuts and some of them got damaged. 

Let the message of foetal protection be a dominant consideration for parents and professionals. 

This year is the 40th anniversary of ASHIRVAD, a child development initiate, which has been involved in 'taking sides' of children!

Now at ASHIRVAD, we want to be inclusive of 'taking sides' of women preparing for pregnancy to ensure their wellness and that of their unborn baby!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)