As children begin to return to nursery and school it is the perfect time to reflect on routines and set new ones in place. We are sharing top tips from some of our favourite professionals to help with nursery routines.
Immunisations During the Pandemic
Dr Lucy Brennan is a GP based in Glasgow, and also an honorary lecturer at the University of Glasgow. A mum to three girls (toddler and twin babies!) Lucy has a keen interest in child health, women’s health, public health and perinatal care. We are delighted to be able to receive expert advice from Dr Lucy on the importance of immunisation for your little ones.
Over the last few months we’ve all been through some extraordinarily challenging times. We’ve been spinning all sorts of plates, and trying to do anything and everything we can to get through. One of the things we’d usually prioritise is immunisations, but for various reasons these may have come off course. In some areas they may have been postponed; in others it may have been difficult to access the clinics. Some may have felt too afraid to go to a site that may be viewed as ‘high risk’. It is important to note that ‘Vaccines ARE continuing as normal.
Whatever the reason, if there has been a delay in immunisations it is so important to make this a priority now. Given our world is already going through a pandemic, we need to continue efforts to prevent outbreaks of other preventable diseases, particularly as children come back together. Returning to school and nursery is often a natural ‘new start’, maybe more so than the new year in ways. This is a great opportunity to reassess where we are with these ‘routine’ but important jobs.
If you have missed any immunisations for any reason, please get in touch with your health visitor and/or GP to arrange an appointment. For most of the children attending nursery, they will already have received the vaccines up until they were 13 months. After this, the key vaccines to ensure you have received are:
💉 3 yrs and 4 months – MMR (2nd dose) and the 4-in-1 pre-school booster (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio)
💉 2-10 yrs – the flu vaccine every year
How did you get on during the pandemic so far? Did you manage to continue with routine immunisations?
You can follow Dr Lucy on instagram @drlucybgp (opens in new tab) for more evidence based guidelines
for lots more top tips
Back to Nursery Sleep Routine
Rosey Davidson, Just Chill Mama Ltd, shares some practical tips when thinking about your little ones sleep routine
- Its a good idea to work out a regular feeding routine that fits around your little one’s daytime naps. All of us, and small children especially, thrive on routine and like to know what is coming next. If your baby or toddler gets too tired, there is a possibility that they will not want to eat, or display fussy eating tendencies. Speak to your childcare provider about routine – ask them to follow your sleep routine as closely as possible. However, do remember that children are very resilient – they may have a slightly different pattern at nursery
than at home and be perfectly fine.- Many parents worry that their little one’s won’t be able to nap at nursery, but are often pleasantly surprised. Those who are rocked or fed to sleep at home will in many cases create new sleep associations with their key worker, or nursery environment. If possible send a comforter or familiar object to nursery with them – this can help reassure and provide familiarity when they are tired. For many parents it can be a good time to think about working on independent sleep so that you can be confident your little one will be able to nap consistently at nursery.
- With the return to nursery coming up, it can really help to work on getting a settled night’s sleep so that your little one has the energy to cope with being in a stimulating environment, and being separated from parents. If you are having disturbed nights then coming up with a strategy to work on sleep can be beneficial for the whole family. You can check out Rosey’s online course for 19 months – 4 years here (opens in new tab).
You can follow Rosey on instagram @just_chill_mama (opens in new tab) for lots more top tips
Back to Nursery Tooth Brushing Routine
Dentist Dr Jemma Hook shares her top tips for fitting tooth brushing in to a busy daily routine.
- Introduce twice daily brushing sessions (morning & evening) from the beginning. It helps ingrain it for both you and your little one. And it can become a useful cue at bedtime!
- Brush before breakfast. This helps for 2 reasons; 1) most people go into the bathroom first thing in the morning so you are already in the right place and 2) it is ideal to wait for at least 30 minutes after eating before brushing and often there just isn’t this time in the morning when trying to leave the house.
- Keep a toothbrush & toothpaste downstairs. Alternatively to brushing upstairs lots of busy families tell me that keeping a brush within easy reach saves time and makes it less of a big deal to remember.
- Be consistent, if a child thinks that they can get away without having their teeth brushed then this may lead to them trying to dodge it. So whichever caregiver is in charge needs to encourage it to happen.
- Giving simple choices. If your child is less than enthusiastic than this can be a good positive interaction. So ask ‘would you like to brush teeth before or after bath/pyjamas/storytime?’
- Get nursery/school involved. If you are going through a patch of reluctant toothbrushing then often a favourite teacher or worker can help out with an extra daytime brush
You can follow Dr Hook on instagram @themummydentist (opens in new tab) for lots more top tips