2024-02-01 07:41:26
Pediatrician Lucía Galán, better known as Lucía, my pediatrician, debunks myths about the physical and mental health of babies, children and adolescents. She does not ignore bullying, depression or suicide and insists that children, in any case, should not have a mobile phone under 12 years of age. “Why do they need it if they have ludo”?
Lucía, my pediatrician is getting back into writing with “Viruses do not enter through the feet” (Ed. Planeta), a book that demolishes the false beliefs that are perpetuated from generation to generation about the health of minors and that clash with scientific evidence, according to an interview with EFEsalud.
Myths, myths and more myths
In the first part of the book ends “one myth after another” in a fun and agile tone about the physical health of minors and he insists in many aspects, such as the one that gives the title to his book, that viruses do not enter through the feet, so children do not catch colds from going barefoot.
But also many others such as tooth fever, onions on the bedside table, cough syrups, amber necklaces and so many widespread beliefs.
“I wanted to explain things a little as if I were explaining them to my children, because I have understood that this is how people really understand things that are really complicated in the world of science,” says Galán.
Among them, we must not forget, for example, the massive consumption of antibiotics, a public health problem as a consequence of bacterial resistance, and which must affect not only families, but also professionals.
“It is described as one of the main problems worldwide by the WHO, that in a few years, if we continue in this dynamic, resistance to antibiotics will kill more people than cancer itself, which is something of which the entire population has to be aware of, both consumers who are patients and professionals,” says Lucía, my pediatrician.
There are plenty of hands for the baby and not enough for the mother
And spend time on the importance of do not judge other people’s maternities and to help the new mother because “when a baby is born, there are plenty of hands for the newborn but none for the new mother.”
PHOTO EFEsalud/BPC
On this matter, it is abundant that a mother who has just had her baby is supposed to be happy and happy because everything has turned out well, but on many occasions she can feel alone, despite being surrounded by people, wanting to of crying, does not recognize himself in the mirror or begins to have conflicts with the partner he did not have before.
“She is terribly afraid, the weight of responsibility sometimes does not even let her breathe and all of this, if we do not explain it to her, is truly overwhelming for mothers and, sometimes, leads to postpartum depression. It is important to verbalize it, it is important normalize it,” he says.
Increase in mental health problems
In the second part of her latest work, Lucía Galán becomes “more serious” because the situation deserves it since she talks about all the myths that affect the mental health of minors, from bullying, anxiety, depression and suicide, among others.
“Now is when it is being put on the table that children and adolescents really have mental health disorders, they have mental illnesses because until now, until three decades ago, no one talked about this. There are many because more are being diagnosed” says Lucía, my pediatrician.
But regardless of that, he continues, there has been an increase in anxiety and depression disorders among minors and it is due to different causes, among which technologies at very early ages stand out, which affect self-esteem.
Bullying is not a child’s thing
“Cases of bullying have multiplied by seven in the last five years and the main cause of suicide in adolescents is bullying. When we suffered from it as children we had it at school and then you came home and it was your safe place , but now the children are constantly harassed 24 hours a day because of cell phones,” emphasizes Lucía, my pediatrician.
Bullying, he insists, is not a child’s thing, “it is ending the lives of our children”hence the importance of teachers being able to identify it early, that parents have tools and that victims know above all that they are not to blame, that their parents are going to support them in everything, that their way of being is great and that they don’t have to change anything because they are “wonderfully imperfect.”
Play without screens
For this reason, among other things, it is in favor of cell phones being prohibited in educational centers, both schools and institutes.
“Children do not need cell phones at school, I think it is a distracting element that encourages cyberbullying and disperses attention,” says Galán.
Outside of the centers, he specifies, there are many circumstances and he believes that under the age of 12 no child needs a device, because “it is counterproductive”, furthermore, “if they have a ludo or a park or a bicycle”, “why Do you need a cell phone?”
Lucía Galán’s book “Viruses do not enter through the feet.”
Above that age, if they have a cell phone, digital training is necessary, in their opinion: “We waste our lives educating them on healthy eating and we take all the courses in the world and we give them a cell phone without explaining to them what it is for.” abounds
In this sense, it emphasizes teaching good use of social networks, so that they do not accept strangers as contacts, nor meet up, nor publish photos and even less so if they are in a swimsuit, nor share photos of other people who arrive through WhatsApp: “They are very basic measures. I think we have to do digital education in technology and accompany them in the process,” he says.
Speak and educate against pornography
Regarding pornography and minors, he assures that there is no “real and efficient” legislation in this regard and insists along the same lines, on the need for sexual education from when they are little, talking about the differences in bodies at the time of They begin to ask questions, naturally and always adjusting the message to their age.
“The first thing is to remove all the complexes we have and the shields we have with this issue and address sexuality and pornography by sitting at the table and talking with our children about what it is, what it is not, the doubts they have. “says the pediatrician and communicator.
And everything, Lucía, my pediatrician, insists, because if we don’t give our children answers when they start asking us for them, they will look for them anywhere, from friends or on cell phones.
We have to talk to our childrenclear up their doubts and let them know that we will be with them no matter what happens and that they are not afraid of making mistakes either, “because sometimes we parents put ourselves in such a strict and rigid way that then they are afraid of letting us down”.
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