Health briefing

A round-up of other health news in brief

A round-up of other health news in brief

Parents in danger of 'keeping children captive'

OUTDOOR PLAY has practically disappeared from our streets in a single generation and we are now in danger of holding our children captive indoors, parents were warned yesterday.

“Children thrive on the kinds of challenges that naturally occur when playing outside,” said Irene Gunning, chief executive of the Irish Preschool Playgroup Association (IPPA). “We can’t bubblewrap them – otherwise they can’t learn and figure out things for themselves.”

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The IPPA was launching a “play manifesto” ahead of this Sunday’s National Play Day, to encourage adults to get out with children this summer.

The drive to keep children safe by trying to eliminate risks is depriving them of outdoor play. Assessing risk is a critical skill children learn through play, points out the IPPA in its manifesto, which urges parents and carers to “take a chance on play”.

The biggest National Play Day event will be hosted by Dublin City Council in Merrion Square from 2pm-5pm. The activities, all free, will include parachute games, giant bubbles and dressing up.

“It’s all about ordinary, basic play that children love,” says the council’s play development officer, Anne O’Brien. “No expensive, fancy equipment and no sitting watching other people doing things. This is about active fun and games that everyone can take part in.”

For details of the National Play Day events, see nprrc.ie. A guide to organising play events in your community, Come On Out and Play, is available on dublincity.ie.

See and sign the IPPA play manifesto on ippa.ie

Swimmers to raise funds for renal unit

A GROUP of swimmers will brave the English Channel later this summer to raise funds for the renal unit at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. Eight swimmers from the North Dublin Winter Swimming Club plan to cross the channel in a sponsored relay in August. Funds raised will go towards equipment to help children with kidney problems. For more details, see swimmingthechannelfortemplestreet.com

HSE to introduce vitamin D supplementation for infants

THE HSE has developed a new policy of vitamin D supplementation for infants, which new and expectant mothers will be informed about in the autumn.

Studies have found that children and adults in Ireland have low levels of vitamin D, known as “the sunshine vitamin”, which can lead to weak bones and, in severe cases, to rickets.

Vitamin D deficiency has been recognised as a public health problem in the Republic where there has been an increase in the incidence of rickets diagnosed in children in recent years.

The HSE is to implement the recommendation of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) that all infants from birth to 12 months of age should be given a daily supplement of five micrograms of vitamin D.

The policy and support information is being distributed internally to HSE staff this month as well as to local GPs and pharmacists.

The Department of Health and Children, the FSAI and the HSE will conduct a joint public awareness campaign starting in September.

Sources of vitamin D include sunlight, which synthesises cholesterol in skin cells into the sunshine vitamin; foods such as oily fish, liver, egg yolk and fortified foods (eg margarine, breakfast cereal, milk); and supplements.

Community dietitian manager with the HSE, Emma Ball, said that vitamin D supplementation for infants was common practice in many other countries. “Recent research has shown that expectant mothers in Ireland are likely to have inadequate vitamin D stores,” she added.

Michelle McDonagh

Michelle McDonagh

Michelle McDonagh, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about health and family