- My name is Dr. Truc Dinh,
I go by Dr. Truc like a fire truck.
I'm currently a pediatrician
at Ochsner Health Center Bluebonnet South.
Now that summer is coming on really fast
we want to encourage our children to go outside
and be active.
It is recommended that every child get at least 30 minutes
of playtime a day.
So if we can try to minimize the screen time
to no more than an hour a day
that would be a much healthier alternative for your child.
We want to make sure that 30 minutes
before they're going outside, especially if it's sunny
we wanna apply sunscreen on.
Now when choosing a sunscreen
we wanna make sure it's broad spectrum
so that it covers both the ultraviolet A and B rays,
and we want to make sure
that it's at least at SPF 30 and above,
and make sure that every two hours we are reapplying.
For our babies who are younger than six months
I do recommend kind of staying in the shade,
not using sunscreen, staying in the shades
long sleeve clothing, and maybe a little brim hat,
a little sun hats to kind of keep their skin covered.
If you're able to just touch your child's ear
and they complain of any type of pain
they most likely have swimmer's ears.
So just make sure that after the pool
when your child comes out, make sure we have a towel
we dry up and we make sure we dry the ears as well.
I don't recommend Q-tips just maybe using the towel,
beach towel and just wiping around the ears.
A lot of parents come to me
and one of the main questions they ask is how
do I get my child to sleep
or "Hey, Dr. Truc my child's not sleeping
until one to 2:00 a.m.
First of all, you wanna establish a routine.
Kids love routines, they work better that way.
If we keep doing the same thing every night
they will associate that with,
"Oh, hey I need to go sleep afterwards."
And just before sleeping
make sure we do not have any screen time.
Whether that's iPad, TVs, tablets,
about approximately an hour before bedtime.
The blue screen can kind of stimulate their minds
instead of helping them fall asleep.
(soft music)