The first day of school is just a few weeks’ away and like many parents, you’re probably looking for ways to help your ADHD child excel academically (or at the very least, meet the passing grade).  One of the biggest challenges parents face is keeping their kids attentive and focused long enough to get their homework done.  The average child often puts up a real struggle when it comes to schoolwork, but the symptoms of ADHD magnify the homework wars tenfold. Not only do they have problems with self-control, but their forgetful tendencies may keep them from taking note of the assignment and bringing home the things they need. Fortunately, researchers just developed a system that can reduce homework problems by half. At least, that’s what a new study just discovered.

Researchers from Monmouth University in New Jersey were able to address the homework issues ADHD kids face with a new system.  This was tested on 39 children between the ages 6 – 10, with the help of their teachers. All children were boys, had ADHD combined type, and had problems getting homework done.  They were then randomly assigned to a treatment group that implemented the homework system, and a comparison group with no interventions.

Those in the treatment group kept a homework notebook where they had to write all their assignments. They had to show this to their teacher before going home each day. As soon as they got home, they were allowed an hour of rest before settling down to accomplish the homework in a quiet place. The boys were not allowed to play video games or watch TV until they were done with the day’s work. As a consequence for forgetting to bring home the homework notebook or forgetting to bring the day’s assignments, the boys could not use the computer or watch TV for a day. In two to three weeks, the researchers evaluated the groups and noticed a dramatic improvement in the treatment group.  The boys who followed the system experienced at least a 50% reduction in homework problems, compared to the control group.

The homework system sounds easy enough to implement, especially if you can get your child’s teacher to cooperate with you.  Even if the teacher does not help, you can still use the homework system by implementing a study time and keeping your child away from distractions until everything is done. Perhaps the toughest challenge is making sure that parents follow through with the consequences.  But if you already have a good behavior management program in place, then you should not have a problem enforcing rules and motivating your child to get homework done on a daily basis.

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We’ve long suspected that the typical Western diet might be the reason why so many children are diagnosed with ADHD today.  The brain requires a healthy number of nutrients, essential fatty acids, and amino acids to release and regulate neurotransmitters (brain chemicals responsible for mood, attention, concentration, and impulse control).  Although these nutrients can be obtained from a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, the typical Western diet has little room for such healthy options.  Why? This type of diet prioritizes the convenience of cooking rather than nutritional value. Unfortunately, these fast food meals are high in fat, refined sugar, and sodium, and offer few nutrients in return. Can such a diet be responsible for the increase of ADHD epidemic among children and teens today?

An exciting new study from Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research may have just confirmed the link between ADHD and Western-style diets.  This study, which was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders, examined the dietary habits of 1,800 adolescents from the Raine Study, an ongoing long-term health research project. The Raine Study has been tracking the health and diet of these kids since they were born in the late 80s and early 90s.

The diets of the adolescents were classified into two groups. The “Healthy diet” group is characterized by high intakes of fresh vegetables and fruits, fish, and whole grains. This diet tends to be higher in fiber, folate, and omega-3 essential fatty acids.  The “Western-style diet” is characterized by fast food takeout, fried food, refined foods, and processed foods. This diet is higher in total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and refined sugar.  The dietary patterns were then compared to whether the individual received an ADHD diagnoses before the age of 14. In this study, 115 adolescents were diagnosed with ADHD – 24 girls and 91 boys.

After adjusting the data for other social influences, it seems that those in the Western diet group had double the risk of having an ADHD diagnosis compared to those who ate healthier foods. Lead researcher Dr. Wendy Oddy says, “When we looked at specific foods, having an ADHD diagnosis was associated with a diet high in takeaway foods, processed meats, red meat, high fat dairy products and confectionery.”  She also pointed out that the typical Western diet does not provide the essential micronutrients required for proper brain function, especially for tasks like concentration and attention. Not to mention that Western diets contain more artificial additives, flavors, and food dyes, which have been linked to the onset of ADHD in the past. Finally, Dr. Oddy suggests that impulsivity, a hallmark symptom of ADHD, may also lead to poor dietary choices like quick snacks.

Although the study was not able to determine a causal relationship (e.g. researchers are not sure if a poor diet leads to ADHD or if ADHD leads to poor dietary choices), there is definitely a link between ADHD and the typical Western diet.  Here’s a little experiment you can try: remove junk food, processed food, fast food, and fried food from your child’s diet for a week. Replace these with lots of green leafy vegetables, fresh fruits, and non-processed meats.  Are there any noticeable improvements in behavior and overall symptoms?

When we think of possible ADHD natural treatments for children, tonsil removal is hardly the first thing that comes to mind. After all, ADHD is caused by the interaction between genetics and the environment. What does removing tonsils have to do with reducing hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention?  The answer is more surprising than you think.

Tonsils (two clumps of tissue on both sides of the throat) and adenoids (a single clump of tissue behind the nose) are made up of lymphoid tissue, the same kind of tissue found in the gastrointestinal tract and the tongue’s base. This lymphoid tissue is made up of lymphocytes, which works with the immune system to produce antibodies – a type of protein that fight against germs and bacteria.  Antibody production is normally considered a good thing, but tonsils and adenoids are not designed to handle the sheer amount of viral infections children are exposed to.    And kids get exposed to at least five kinds of germs once school starts.

Normally, tonsils and adenoids swell when they prepare to neutralize germs. Once they’ve done their job, the tissue should shrink back to their normal size. In many cases, however, tonsils and/or the adenoids fail to do so and become large enough to impede breathing. The tissue blockage can be especially problematic at bedtime, when they block the air passages during sleep and cause snoring and overall poor sleep as a result. This interruption of the air flow during sleep is called sleep apnea, which literally means “without breathing”.  This is because the trachea’s entrance is completely blocked, cutting off the air flow to the lungs.

Lack of restful sleep produces daytime sleepiness in adults, but not in children – they become more hyperactive and inattentive as a result.  A study of the sleep habits of 5- and 7-year olds discovered that children with mild ADHD are more likely to snore than the general population. They also discovered that children who snore have lower scores on tests of attention, overall intelligence, and language ability than children without.

Hyperactive and aggressive children with enlarged tonsils seemed to benefit from getting their tonsils and/or adenoids removed via surgery (also called an adenotonsillectomy). After the procedure, they became noticeably more calm and behaved, especially when other treatment options failed to achieve these results.  Researchers from the University of Michigan observed that children who had their tonsils and adenoids removed had behavioral problems and sleep problems before their surgery. When their behavioral test scores were compared to another group of children with unrelated surgery, the researchers noted very little difference between the two groups.  Of the twenty-two children with ADHD from the adenotonsillectomy group, 11 no longer met the diagnostic criteria of the disorder one year after surgery.

This is why a comprehensive physical exam is an important component of the ADHD evaluation process. Detecting enlarged tonsils and adenoids at this stage can immediately narrow down your treatment options and get to the root of your child’s hyperactive symptoms.  If you notice that your hyperactive child snores during sleep or keeps getting up in the middle of the night, this is also a good time to get him or her checked for enlarged tonsils.

Are you tired of punishing your ADHD child for impulses that he or she cannot control? Most parents who have impulsive ADHD children are often at their wits’ end. Children with ADHD hyperactive/impulsive type are not only unable to learn from past mistakes; their tendency to act before they think often gets them into trouble or places themselves and others in dangerous situations.  Besides natural ADHD treatments like neurofeedback, what else can you do to teach their child control their impulsivity?

Some parents have been able to curb their children’s impulses with a simple game called Remote Control Impulse Control.  This card game aims to reduce impulsivity in children (grades 1 to 9) by imparting skills based on remote control symbols:

STOP what you’re doing and consider alternative actions
REWIND and learn from old mistakes
FAST FORWARD and consider the possible consequences before acting

During the game, the players pick a card and read out the true-to-life situation printed on it, which is based on case studies of actual impulsive children. For instance, one card reads, “You see yourself in the bathroom mirror and notice that a few strands of hair seem unruly. You have the impulse to cut them off.” Then, every player should to choose between one of the three impulse control strategies mentioned above.  If you choose “stop”, you should say what you would do instead of the impulsive behavior (e.g. get a haircut at the barbershop). If you choose “rewind”, you should share a similar impulse you gave into in the past, what happened afterwards, and what you learned from the experience (e.g. you cut a bald spot and had to have your head shaved completely, thus teaching you never to cut unruly hairs by yourself). If the “fast forward” option is picked, you should describe what might happen if the impulse is carried out.  Every player can take turns sharing their impulse control strategy and talk about how they might respond in any given situation.

Aside from better impulse control, the game aims to teach kids to learn from old mistakes, anticipate consequences, think before acting, work cooperatively with others, and improve problem-solving skills.  It’s also a great way for the kids to bond with the family. Together with other ADHD treatments, practicing these impulse control skills in a fun way may help your child make better choices in real life situations.

The Remote Control Impulse Control game can be purchased at Amazon and Toys R Us. Have you ever tried this game? How has it helped your child?

It’s alarming when you realize that many of the medications we take haven’t been tested for their long-term effects on our health. Take for instance the drug Labetalol, a medicine that is sometimes prescribed to women suffering from pregnancy-related hypertension or high blood pressure.  A preliminary study in The Netherlands reveals that Labetalol may increase a child’s chances of developing ADHD if his or her mother took the drug during pregnancy.

The study, which is published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, compared the effects of Labetalol with another anti-hypertensive medication called methyldopa.  These effects were determined by looking through the records of 4,000 women from 12 hospitals.  All the women were found to have high blood pressure, which was either aggravated by pregnancy or caused by the pregnancy. 202 children from these women aged 4 to 12 were tested for IQ, motor development, concentration level, and overall behavior.  It was found that children whose mothers took labetalol were twice more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria of ADHD than children whose mothers who took methyldopa.  Compared to the women who took no anti-hypertensive drugs but rested instead, the children in the labetalol group were four times more likely to develop childhood ADHD.

This does not mean that children whose mothers who took methyldopa were unaffected by the drug. Even if the methyldopa children were not hyperactive or inattentive, they were more likely to suffer from sleep problems than the labetalol children or those whose mothers were told to rest.

The children from all three groups did not have any significant differences in terms of other functional development.

The researchers intend to do more studies to confirm the effects of anti-hypertensive drugs on a baby’s development. But just to be on the safe side, try to stay avoid taking medications during pregnancy. Even if the medication is supposed to be safe for pregnant women, there’s no telling how it will affect your baby’s health in the long-term.

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Summer is no doubt a favorite season for kids of all ages.  There’s no school, there’s no homework, and there’s nothing to do but relax and have fun. You probably think that summer also means a break for you – after all, you don’t have to supervise the kid’s study hour or wake up early in the morning to help them get ready for school. Sounds like a good time to relax and take it easy! That is, until your ADHD kids start complaining that they’re bored or find potentially dangerous ways to amuse themselves.

During the school year, the routine of waking up, getting ready for school, and coming home to do homework keeps many ADHD symptoms in check.  But as soon as the kids are faced with long days of doing nothing, the hyperactive, impulsive, and inquisitive nature of children with ADHD can pose a few problems.  Since ADHD kids require constant stimulation to keep themselves entertained, your child might get bored easily and often.  He or she will probably be more demanding of your time and attention. And since it’s not possible for you to keep your child entertained 24/7, he or she may get into trouble for finding new ways to stay amused. For instance, there was this 8-year-old boy who tried to cut a large tree in the backyard with a hand saw because he wanted to find out the tree’s age.  Fortunately, he was unharmed, but his parents quickly realized that the rest of the summer cannot go by without some sort of plan.

Here are a few tips that will help you plan the perfect summer with your ADHD child.

Provide structure

Since children with ADHD cannot be left to their own devices, it’s important for them to have some sort of structure during the summer months.  Sit down with your kids and create a calendar filled with a healthy mix of summer activities, like family vacations, picnics at the park, or weekend trips to the museum or zoo.  For young children, you might want to talk to other parents and arrange play dates.

Of course, summer should allow time for relaxation, so try not to over-schedule activities. A day trip to the beach sounds great, but three or four consecutive days of activities may feel hectic and rushed.  Allow your children to experience some downtime, where he or she can do anything – or nothing at all. Just make sure that you or another adult will be around to keep an eye on them.

Consider summer camp

You can also send your children to a summer camp or day camp. Not only does summer camp have a similar structure to school, but it provides great opportunities for learning and friendships. The question is – should you send your child to a camp that caters specifically to kids with ADHD, or will your child be better off at a “regular” camp?  Some children, especially those with predominantly inattentive symptoms (i.e. daydreaming or being easily distracted), can easily get along with other children in non-academic settings.  If this sounds like your child, he or she can attend a mainstream camp and have no difficulty socializing with “normal” children.  On the other hand, children who are too hyperactive or have marked social difficulties will do better at specialized camps. These camps will not only do a great job of keeping your child entertained, but they will also teach the social skills required in forming and maintaining friendships.

If a summer camp is beyond your budget, consider summer lessons in art, music, or sports.  What’s important is that your child stays busy, happy, and creative throughout the summer.

Maintain bedtime and other household routines

Sometimes, having a fun-filled summer will keep your child from getting a good night’s sleep.  It doesn’t help that children with ADHD often have difficulties going to sleep or staying asleep.  As a result, they become tired and cranky the next day.  On week days, maintain the same bedtime you impose during the school year, even if your child doesn’t have to wake up early the next day.  This will prevent your child from engaging in activities (ie, playing video games) that make it harder for them to settle down and fall asleep.  Encourage some downtime an hour before bedtime.  Read your child a book, watch a relaxing movie, or tell stories to help your child transition into the sleep phase.

Just because it’s summer, it doesn’t mean your child is exempt from household chores. If anything, helping out with the chores is a great way to keep your child occupied.  Aside from making sure your child does his regular share of the household work, you can also ask your child to help out with extra tasks like spring cleaning or gardening. Make sure to provide small rewards to keep your child motivated.

Nothing damages a parent’s trust and creates tension more than habitual lying from their child.  It’s normal for kids to tell the occasional white lie, but compulsive lying is a habit that many children with ADHD can’t get away from.  Lying tends to come with ADHD symptoms, especially if the child has not learned to control them.  For instance, a child with ADHD might lie because his distractible nature made him abandon an important task; when asked about his progress, he quickly saves face with a lie.

However difficult it might be to deal with this behavior, try to understand that most ADHD kids who lie don’t mean to be dishonest.  All children (even those without ADHD) keep a few lies in their tool boxes of responses.  It’s just that children with ADHD (and related disorders) take longer to realize that lying is not a desirable trait for relationships and character building.  Disciplining your child for his or her untruths is one way to stop the habit, as is finding a way to treat the symptoms that triggered the lie in the first place. Meanwhile, here are a few tips that can help you get your child to tell the truth.

Learn the difference between lying and exaggeration

Children often exaggerate, and kids with ADHD are no exception – they have colorful minds and view the world differently from other children.  They are also more impulsive and spontaneous when they tell stories or explain situations.  Try not to confuse this with lying; a child’s embellished stories are a sign of a creative imagination rather than the inability to tell the truth.

Don’t call your child a liar

Lying is a frustrating habit to deal with, but try not to verbally or mentally brand your child a “liar”. A liar is part of a person’s essence – it is something a person is.  The occasional lie does not mean your child is a liar.  It is a response your child chose, but it is not a permanent part of who he or she is.

Show the consequences of lying

Take away privileges if you catch your child lying – and stay consistent. For instance, if your child loses two days worth of TV privileges for lying, make sure that he or she goes nowhere near the TV for exactly two days.  At the same time, don’t promise your child lighter consequences if he or she tells the truth. For instance, let’s say your child broke the window and owned up to it, but tries to wiggle his way out of punishment by pointing out that he told the truth.  This is a type of plea bargaining that confuses children. Praise your child for telling the truth, but he should be held accountable for breaking the window.

Be honest about your doubts

If you’re not sure whether or not your child broke the window, be honest. Say, “I don’t think that’s how it happened.” This way, you don’t accuse your child of lying outright; you are simply sharing what you think about the situation.

Don’t assume that your child is lying

It’s hard to trust a child who has lied more than once, but try not to assume that your child is lying every time.  Your child will lose the motivation to tell the truth; there’s no incentive for being honest if you’re going to assume that what he or she says is a lie.

Transforming behavior takes time

Lying is a habit that won’t disappear overnight, especially if your child is still adjusting to treatments.  Don’t focus on eliminating the habit; instead, look for small improvements in your child’s behavior. As your child’s symptoms improve, he or she will regain more control over behaviors and actions, and the lying will eventually diminish.

You’ve probably told your child to sit still and focus so that he or she can get homework done.  Anyone with ADHD is no stranger to well-meaning statements like, “If you try hard enough and concentrate, you can become whatever you want to be.”  However, relying on mind over matter can be frustrating and downright discouraging for someone with ADHD; after all, their distractible and inattentive brains aren’t exactly their biggest assets. But what if there was a way to use fidgeting as a means to improve focus?

Current research shows that fidgeting is actually beneficial for children with ADHD.  In her book ADHD and Education, Dr. Sydney Zentall observed that inattention increases when a task is repetitive, lengthy, and familiar. Basically, a child with ADHD tunes out when a task becomes boring.  According to her research, an activity that uses another sense besides the one required for the primary task – e.g. listening to music while reading a textbook – improves the academic performance of children with ADHD.  In other words, doing a secondary activity along with a primary one helps the brain focus on the latter. This secondary activity can be referred to as “distractions” or “fidgets”.

Fidgeting is a conscious, mindless activity you do while you work on a primary task.  Fidgeting does not necessarily refer to wriggling in one’s seat; it’s doodling while talking on the phone or pacing while studying for a test. In order to be effective and constructive, fidgeting has to be a deliberate act. At the same time, it shouldn’t take attention away from the task at hand; fidgeting has to be an activity you don’t even think about.

To help your child use fidgets to self-regulate their symptoms, you first need to accept that children require these sensory-motor activities to help them function well.  Don’t tell your child to “Sit still!” or “Look at me when I talk to you.” Acknowledge that these activities are not signs of disrespect, but a way for the child to adjust when they have difficulty sustaining their attention.

Explore different strategies and encourage your child to try new ways to fidget.  Here are some fidgets that might work

Talk while walking

If your child tends to tune out when you give instructions or try to have an important conversation, see if his or her attention improves if you walk while you talk.  Other non-strenuous activity like doing a puzzle together or playing catch will also work. This strategy will make it easier to talk about how your child’s day went or other important matters.

Encourage doodling

Tell your child to try doodling pictures or words while listening to a boring lecture in class.  Doodling is one of the best fidgets and least intrusive one for improved focus.

Buy fidget toys

Busying one’s hands also facilitates focus when a child is listening or thinking about how to answer a question. Fidget toys can be anything, really – a hand-sized plushie, a small rock, even mundane objects like paper clips.  Just make sure these fidgets are small enough to fit into your child’s pocket, allowing him or her to use them without distracting classmates.

Listen to music

Try playing music when your child does homework or chores – something with a steady beat that isn’t too loud or too fast.  Try BrainBalance Music, specialized music designed by Dr. Robert Melillo’s work on sound frequencies and brain function. According to his research, the two hemispheres of the brain become stimulated by certain sound types and frequencies, which is critical to overcome attention problems. For more information, visit i-waveonline.com.

Chew gum

Moving the mouth will help your child concentrate for an extended period of time. If your child’s teacher gets distracted by the sound of gum chewing, have your child suck on a hard candy instead.

Beat the time

Turn household work into a fun game! When doing chores, challenge your child by setting an alarm and racing to get the task done before the time is up.  To sweeten the deal, offer a small reward if your child finishes on time.

Do you find yourself changing your child’s sheets too often because of tiny “accidents” that happen at night?  While there is little scientific evidence to show that one causes the other, doctors and experts observe that ADHD and bedwetting (or enuresis) often occurs together.  Will bedwetting go away if the ADHD symptoms are treated? Or will it require its own interventions?

Every one of us has wet the bed at least once in our lives.  When a baby’s bladder gets filled, the muscles contract automatically and the baby urinates.  As the baby grows up and his nervous system matures, the circuits that connect the brain and the bladder helps a child realize when the bladder is full.  The child is now capable to delay urination until he reaches a proper place to void the bladder.  Often, children learn to control their bladder during the day before they can sleep through a dry night – it’s normal for night-time accidents to occur every now and then.  But when a child is still unable to control the bladder after the age of 5, he or she meets the diagnostic criteria for enuresis. There are four kinds of enuresis, but for now we are interested in nocturnal enuresis, or nighttime bedwetting.

The causes of nocturnal enuresis are not known, but it could be a combination of various factors – delayed neurological development, an over-production of urine at night, or small bladder capacity.  Sometimes, enuresis is caused by emotional trauma or anxiety.  Research shows that having ADHD is also a risk factor for enuresis.  A study in the Southern Medical Journal looks at a large group of 6-year-old children with ADHD to another group of 6-year-olds without the disorder. They found that the kids with ADHD are 4.5 times more likely to experience daytime enuresis and 2.7 times more likely to experience nocturnal enuresis.  Similar papers have observed higher rates of enuresis in children with ADHD.

Although enuresis tends to decline after age 5, some children may require separate interventions for the condition. Treating enuresis will involve evaluating the child’s current physical and emotional state.  From there, one of the following interventions will be done:

Behavior modification

Limit your child’s liquid intake at least two hours before bed time and remind your child to urinate before going to bed. Praise your child for sleeping through a night without bedwetting, but do not punish your child if an accident occurs.  When your child wets the bed, make him or her responsible for changing the sheets.

Hypnotherapy

Some therapists have had success using hypnotherapist to help children learn to control their bladder or cooperate with behavior modification techniques.

Neurofeedback

A therapy called neurofeedback can correct any deficits in the brain’s wave patterns, which will help your child control his or her bladder. This is useful not only for treating enuresis, but for ADHD symptoms as well.

Diet

Research shows that food allergies or the chemicals in food can cause ADHD symptoms, including bedwetting. Going on the Feingold Diet (or any ADHD diet that will eliminate the allergenic food) reduces incidences of bedwetting and ADHD symptoms.

Chiropractic care

Some cases of enuresis are caused by misalignments in the tailbone or sacrum. The tailbone starts out as five separate segments until the child reaches puberty, at which the fusion of the tailbone segments begins. It’s possible that a misalignment of the tailbone segments can irritate the nerves connected to the bladder, thereby sending mixed signals and causing uncontrolled urination.  Chiropractic care has been able to treat the spinal causes of bedwetting.  In fact, in the last decades, I have taken care of dozens of children with enuresis alone and children who had a combination of ADHD and enuresis.

My experience has shown that children who are suffering from both ADHD and enuresis respond better to our holistic approach than children with enuresis only. From my perspective, enuresis combined with ADHD are merely symptoms of underlying imbalances in the brain function- we call it a functional disconnection syndrome – that can be treated naturally with an approach such as the Unritalin Solution.

Since the world’s first IVF baby was born in 1978, thousands of children were conceived with the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF), an assisted reproductive technology where the sperm and egg are combined in a lab to form embryos. Although research and emerging technologies have improved the success rate of IVF, one lingering question remains – do children born through IVF grow up as healthy as those conceived the old-fashioned way?

A new study seems to have found an answer to this question.  Based on the data gathered, children conceived through IVF have similar and sometimes better health than others. They were just as productive, were able to from college and/or obtain stable jobs, and had above average physical performance.  However, the researchers also noted that these kids are at greater risk for several chronic diseases than traditionally-born children.  IVF babies are 11 times more likely to get diagnosed with life-long psychological disorders like depression and ADHD. This study, which can be found in Fertility and Sterility’s February 2010 issue, involved the participation of 173 young adults aged 18 – 26, who are also some of the first IVF-born babies in the United States.  All the participants were born between 1981 and 1990 at Eastern Virginia Medical School’s Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine, which is also where Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, was born.

Other highlights of the study include:

• Smoking was less likely in the IVF-born young adults, but the females reported more incidences of binge drinking (consuming at least five drinks within two hours)
• Two thirds of the IVF participants were diagnosed with a physical condition (vision problems, asthma, allergies), which were often connected with psychiatric conditions
• Over 33% of the participants were diagnosed with ADHD, which is higher than the 3-5% known to affect all children. The same was observed in the rate of depression, which was 16% compared to 13% of naturally-conceived adolescents.

Although the researchers could not establish why IVF seems to be a risk factor for ADHD, it’s possible that the depression, binge drinking, and behavioral problems are due to high levels of stress from the parents who went through the IVF procedure.  But don’t get discouraged from getting IVF if you or your spouse has ADHD and are afraid that you might pass it on to your child. A risk factor only means that there’s a higher chance that your child will get the disorder; it doesn’t guarantee the onset of the disorder.   Here are some tips that can protect your child from developing childhood ADHD.

Breastfeed your baby

Human breast milk is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which form the brain’s structure and the nerve endings of neurons.  According to a study by the American Sociological association, not being breastfed increases the risk of childhood ADHD.

Eat mostly organic foods

Toxins from the food we eat and the environment we live in can also trigger the onset of ADHD. Children and babies have weaker immune systems than adults and cannot fight off the brain-damaging effects of these toxins as well as adults. You don’t need to turn completely organic – just look for organic alternatives to the 12 most contaminated vegetables and fruits.

Restrict junk food

Junk food not only contributes to nutritional deficiencies; it’s also laden with artificial additives, which have been found to trigger ADHD symptoms.  You don’t have to forbid your child from eating junk, but limit this to an occasional treat. You might also want to watch out for artificial coloring, preservatives, and flavoring in food items like ketchup, mayonnaise, and chocolate.

Encourage exercise

Children today don’t get enough exercise, which is a shame. Exercise is the cheapest and easiest way to prevent ADHD or to reduce ADHD symptoms.  Encourage your child to spend more time playing outdoors, or bring up the possibility of taking up sports.