The Stages project (Transversal Study on Personal Autonomy and Acquisition of Healthy Behaviors and Habits), is the first national study that observes the habits and behaviors of children's health in Spanish territory in children under seven years of age. This project demonstrates that Spanish parents should improve the habits of hygiene, evolutionary development, food, rest and safety of their children.
The study conducted by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics and Dodot, and recently presented, informs us in detail about many important values for both parents and the pediatric group. The president of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, Dr. Alfonso Delgado, said that the results of this research are “enormously important for knowing the habits of hygiene, development, food and physical activity that parents instill in children and, thus, treat to improve them ”.
The information generated is presented in three blocks, in the first one results of dietary, hygienic, rest, sphincter control, physical activities, leisure, sociability, communication and relationship between parents and children, safety and autonomy acquisition are achieved personal. The second block makes up the questions that parents ask the pediatrician more frequently and in the last one, the opinion of the pediatricians regarding health education that requires more effort from the parents.
The most outstanding data of this study show, in terms of hygiene, that only 53.5% of children between 2 and 7 years old, always wash their hands before eating, but the percentage is higher in the case of hygiene oral.
In the area of food, the results reveal that 3 out of 4 mothers prefer breastfeeding, although the majority stop breastfeeding at four months, only 25.7% continue with it beyond 6 months. They also show that the consumption of vegetables and fruits decreases when the child turns 3, of the four recommended daily rations, divided between fruits and vegetables, drops to 3 servings per week.
The dreaded television reveals what we already assume, children from 2 years old, watch TV an average of 2 hours a day, while children aged 6-7 spend more than four hours in front of the television.
This study also results in a collection of five books, “Stage Tips,” which will help answer the most frequent questions parents ask the pediatrician. They can be requested through the Dodot website, and the first book, "The Newborn" can be requested directly from the pediatrician.
