On November 2, 2016 trainings on topics “Child’s Nutrition” and “Diagnostics and treatment of atopic dermatitis” were conducted for family doctors, nurses and parents in Chuguyiv. Andriy Penkov, member of Kharkiv expert group in medical reform, President of the Ukrainian-German Medical Association, pediatrician of the highest category, MD, shared his knowledge and experience with the audience.
The speaker explained the rules of child’s nutrition:
- Create positive associations with food and nutrition;
- Share the responsibility with the child: you offer some food, and child can eat it if wants or can refuse;
- Follow the main rule: never scolds your child for refusing to eat, never force or persuade. Your mission as parents is only to offer the food. Stay neutral whether your child eats certain foods or not. Put a small amount of food on the plate. Eventually, the gastronomic preferences will change;
- The child should pay all attention to the eating; you shouldn’t distract it with cartoons or other entertainment. Only in that way you will form in your child the ability to choose the right food, to feel its quantity and quality, and to choose the right time for eating.
In the second part of the training Andriy Penkov paid attention to the problem of over diagnosis of atopic dermatitis, and to the genetic origin of the disease. Moreover, Dr. Penkov pointed out that the atopic dermatitis could not be linked with food allergies. The speaker also talked about psychological characteristics of families with this problem, and rules for right skin care, which guarantee the 70% success in this disease treatment.
One of the participants of this training, whose child had atopic dermatitis, concluded: "It was the first time the topic of atopic dermatitis had been explained to me in such an accessible and understandable way. My son has this diagnosis from the birth, and now he is 21".
These lectures were conducted under the project "Transformation of primary health care in Chuguyiv", financed by the International Renaissance Foundation.
