Healthy Kidneys For Healthy Kids

Better kidney health for kids: What you should know!
Did you know that kidney diseases can start young? Literally. Unlike in the case of grown-ups, children can develop kidney diseases due to congenital defect, prematurity, or past hospitalization. "Also, children with a high-risk birth and early childhood history should be watched closely in order to help detect early signs of kidney disease in time to provide effective prevention or treatment. Needless to say that the sooner the issue is diagnosed, better can be the results," adds Dr Sidharth Kumar Sethi, Consultant, Pediatric Nephrology, Medanta, The Medicity, Gurgaon.

Early signs of kidney disease in kids
Early diagnose of kidney problem can help treat the ailment in time. Here are some signs that you should watch out for:

- Swelling around the eyes-face -feet- abdomen- whole body - Bed wetting (5 years or older) can be since birth or if the problem recurs after the child had stopped bed wetting for some time -Frequent urination - Crying during urination (in infants) - Painful urination (in older kids) - Unpleasant-smelling urine -Unexplained low-grade fever or recurrent fever episodes - Urine that is cloudy, bloody or dark brown - Persistent abdominal pain - Childhood renal stones - Frequent severe headaches - High blood pressure - Producing less urine -Producing more than 2 litre urine/ day -Poor appetite (in older children) - Poor eating habits, vomiting (in newborns & infants) - Slow growth or weight gain -Weak urinary stream, dribbling of urine stream - Weakness, excessive tiredness or loss of energy - Pale skin appearance

Protection plan
Have lots of water: To keep kidneys healthy, kids should stay hydrated- mostly by drinking water. Their pee should be pale in color, and they should drink more than usual when exercising especially under a hot sun. Kids should avoid nutrient-spiked drinks. Enough water is still the best and safest bet to meet their fluid needs.

Avoid sports drinks and processed: Today's diets are so extreme and unhealthy. Vitamin waters, sports or energy drinks, processed 'super-foods' are not nutritious and add to the risk of obesity in children.

Avoid too much protein: Protein intake should be in adequate amount. It is advisable to not make your kids indulge in too much protein.

Excess salt is bad: Too much sodium (in junk food, burgers, chips and street food) can contribute to high blood pressure. Eating more whole foods, choosing fewer processed foods- emphasizing those with made without added salt or sauce can help lower sodium intake. Cooking more at home can also help families slash sodium. Cut back on table salt and salty snacks.

Regular exercise: Increasing physical activity not only helps to reduce blood pressure, but it can help a child who is overweight reach and maintain a healthy weight. Sports and exercise programs at school may be good ways to increase the child's activity level.

Who should be screened?
Following children should be screened by a specialist for blood and urine test; growth and blood pressure:

Family history of kidney disease
Children born early or small-for-date
Obese children; or those not growing well
Abnormal antenatal ultrasound
History of urine infection
Abnormal urine examination
It is also extremely important for the health community to encourage pregnant females to undergo antenatal ultasonography. With the growing cases of kidney issues in children, it is crucial that we encourage and facilitate education, early detection and a healthy life style in children, starting at birth and continuing through to old age, to combat the increase of preventable kidney damage and to treat children early.