Otak Selalu Aktif-balita sehat ceria

Posted: 15 Apr 2012 07:20 PM PDT

Tahukah Anda bahwa otak adalah satu-satunya organ tubuh manusia yang tidak pernah berhenti beraktivitas, bahkan ketika Anda tidur lelap? Saat tubuh beristirahat, otak tetap bekerja dengan intensitas yang lebih kecil.

Golden years atau masa emas pertumbuhan otak anak terjadi di usia balita, terutama hingga usia 3 tahun. Pada masa ini, sel-sel otak anak mampu tumbuh dengan sangat pesat hingga lebih dari 70% berat otak orang dewasa. Oleh karena itu, Anda perlu menstimulasi serta memberikan nutrisi dengan cermat dan tepat kepada sang buah hati.

Proses pertumbuhan otak hanya berlangsung hingga usia 5 tahun. Setelah itu, proses pertumbuhan otak akan melambat. Manfaatkan waktu yang sangat terbatas tersebut dengan memberikan asupan gizi dan energi secara rutin. Dengan asupan gizi dan energi yang seimbang, otak akan menerima rangsangan yang baik untuk terus bekerja secara optimal, terutama untuk mengolah semua informasi yang diperoleh saat si kecil beraktivitas.

Perlu Anda ketahui, masih ada faktor-faktor lain yang mempengaruhi perkembangan otak dan tubuh anak, salah satunya adalah tidur di malam hari. Banyak orang tua yang mengira bahwa fungsi tidur hanya sekedar untuk beristirahat. Padahal, ketika tidur, sel-sel otak dan tubuh bekerja semalaman dalam proses metabolisme, yaitu proses pengolahan asupan menjadi energi. Proses metabolisme akan merangsang pertumbuhan tulang dan jaringan. Biasanya, pertumbuhan anak yang kurang tidur, tidak sebagus anak yang rutin tidur dengan nyenyak.

Tidur yang cukup dan berkualitas berperan penting dalam kinerja otak. Berikut adalah tips agar buah hati Anda bisa tidur dengan nyenyak:

• Pastikan anak tidur setelah makan secara cukup, tidak lebih atau kurang. Bila kelaparan, tidur akan menjadi tidak nyenyak dan besar kemungkinan anak akan terbangun.
• Berikan minum air putih atau susu hangat sebelum tidur.
• Hindari makanan dan minuman yang mengandung kafein, seperti cokelat dan teh. Kafein akan merangsang otak untuk aktif bekerja, sehingga anak akan terjaga.
• Walaupun anak belum mengantuk, tetap ajak ia untuk berbaring di tempat tidur.
• Bacakan dongeng atau perdengarkan musik yang tenang sebagai pengantar tidur.
• Redupkan atau matikan lampu kamar. Jangan tinggalkan TV atau musik dalam keadaan menyala karena suara akan mengalihkan fokus otak untuk bekerja dalam proses metabolisme tubuh.

Dengan nutrisi yang cukup, stimulasi yang tepat dan tidur yang berkualitas, perkembangan otak anak akan lebih optimal. Penuhi dan perhatikan semua kebutuhan sang buah hati agar ia tumbuh menjadi anak yang cerdas dan sehat.

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Yayasan Balita Sehat Newsletter - May 2002 - page 6

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 04:16 AM PDT

Spotlight on Asih - our Office Manager

My name is Asih Puji Rahayu, and my friends call me Asih. I was born in Purwokokerto, Central Java on 25th March 1974. I graduated form Saint Mary Secretarial Training Centre in South Jakarta in 1995.

When I first came to Yayasan Balita Sehat in January 2001, I worked as an Administrator. I love taking care of the Yayasan because I agree with its main aims.

The most experience I have gained by working in Yayasan Balita Sehat is how to interact with people from different nationalities and backgrounds, both expatriates and local people, so I can practice my English intensively. I have also learnt how to operate and manage the office, makes sure the programs run well and am responsible for the staff. It is totally different from my last job. It is very challenging!

The other reason that I like working at YBS is the flexible working hours, (so that I am still able to do my hobbies such as gardening and taking care of my favourite pets which are birds and fishes) and I also have the freedom to re decorate the office.

I would not be able to do my job well without all of the committee's kind help, passion and understanding. I very much appreciate it. Thank you so much for this precious opportunity and everything.

History of YBS & Kemang Well Baby Clinic

In March 1997 the original well baby clinic was set up from a house in Kemang. The idea was to provide a support system for English speaking mothers, (be they expatriate or Indonesian) on their discharge from hospital having just given birth.

Many women found that they just did not have the backup they needed to cope with a new baby. They wanted a place where they could get professional advice and meet other mothers with similar aged children. So the Kemang Baby Clinic was founded.

Nowadays, the Well Baby clinic is still being held, but instead of being based from a house, it is at YBS. One morning a week, volunteer nurses and midwives see mothers individually and speak to them on a variety of topics such as breastfeeding, weaning, and immunisations.

Their babies are weighed and measured and records are kept, both written and charted, of their baby's progress. If there are areas of concern, mothers are advised where to go for professional medical advice in Jakarta.

Prior to YBS opening, mothers were asked for a donation when they attended each clinic, and these donations were collected and used to start up a feeding programme at Cilandak puskesmas. Hence our long association with that puskesmas and its kaders. A nurse from the Kemang Baby clinic would go and monitor weighing of Indonesian babies each month and work closely with the Doctor in charge. Kaders would be given food, paid for by the Kemang Baby clinic, and they would in turn, cook each day for the underweight children. Family planning days were sponsored and through other fund raising events, various pieces of equipment were bought for the maternity wing of the puskesmas: an obstetric bed, cots and beds for the post natal ward, fans, sterilizers for the labour room, needles and syringes an so on.

Eventually, it was decided that a more permanent building was needed if larger numbers of malnourished children and their mothers were to be helped, and so the idea of setting up Yayasan Balita Sehat started.

We still ask for donations from the mothers, and these are put towards the running costs of the Yayasan. Currently we have volunteer nurses and midwives from the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and ante natal classes are also offered as well as the weekly baby clinic.