Babies have a natural sucking reflex which develops during the intra uterine life, persists during early infancy and facilitates breast feeding.

Interestingly thumb sucking behaviour is also found in chimpanzees and captive ring tailed lemurs. Thumb sucking is one of the most common habits of children but most of them stop thumb sucking on their own by the age of 2-4 years.

It has an incidence of about 25% in < 2 years and 15% under 5 years.

However if  thumb sucking behaviour persists beyond a certain age as a sort of self comforting ritual, it becomes a matter of concern for the parents.

A baby comes crying into this world. Crying is also an essential ways of communication by the child with his caregivers. But excessive / fussy crying may become a matter of distress for the baby ,parents and the family.

Baby colic or infantile colic is defined as episodes of crying for > 3 hours a day for >3 days a week for three weeks in an otherwise healthy child.

The episodes start suddenly usually in the evening. It may start at 2-3 weeks of age but peaks around 6 weeks and persists till 6 months. It is seen in about 25% of the normal newborns.

Associated symptoms include flushed face, clenched hands and legs pulled to the stomach.

Nocturnal Enuresis or Bed Wetting as is commonly called, is an involuntary urination during sleep in a child older than 5 years of age. However it may not just be only nocturnal, may be also present during the day (in 25% of children). Normally 90-95% of children are nearly completely dry during the day and 80-85% by night by 5 years of age. It is a cause of substantial psychological distress in children and even their families.

The prevalence is difficult to assess in the Indian scenario as it may be hidden by most of the parents due to social stigma attached to it or would be just brought up as a secondary problem when the child visits the pediatricians’ clinic.

We all have been gifted with a pair of eyes as sense organs of sight to enjoy the world around us and it is our duty to protect ourselves and our children from the overuse of the screen.

Today’s children and even adults are immersed in the well of digital media which has a powerful impact on the all round development of the child. Not only the blue light from our phones, ipads, laptops, tablets harm the eyes but also affect the other systems too.