Strollerderby : health

Got a Sick Child? Go Online

JeanneSager — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:31:00 GMT

When I first read that more parents are going online after their kids get sick, I had thoughts of hundreds of graduates of Google University picking fights with the med. school grads trying to take care of their kids.

Good news: that's not what this story is about.

Not that parents can't find some good quality health information online. But there's enough fearmongering and misinformation online to make you never trust an MD again.

But a recent post over at the U.S. News and World Report parenting blog by Nancy Shute pointed to a phenomena that's been widely used, and yet widely overlooked: the online patient support group. Especially important for parents who don't want to leave their kids' hospital bedsides or have little time for nighttime support group meetings (and no money for a sitter when it's all going to the medical bills), online support groups offer not only a (virtual) shoulder to cry on but a go-to source for navigating the net full of all that fearmongering and misinformation.

They've read most of it and dissected it already. Plus, they've been where you are right now, and they can help you get to where they are. As Shute points out, they've also got a stake in finding the answers you want. Your doctors may be fantastic and incredibly intelligent, but they simply don't have the same kind of time to devote to your incessant quest for knowledge.

And online, we very often can find it - and in ways that we couldn't in our hometowns. Where there might be 100 kids with food allergies at your kid's elementary school, there are hundreds of thousands of parents dealing with them over at Kids With Food Allergies. Where only one in four thousand kids is born with cystic fibrosis across the entire U.S., hundreds of their moms and dads are blogging at CysticFibrosis.com.

Of course, you can't trust it all - read any blog (even Strollerderby), and there's a tendency for parents to post medical advice (here they leave it in comments), and for other parents to say, "oh, that's interesting, I didn't know that, I'll have to do that." Where people are quicker to discount the spoken word, a possible loon in an in-the-flesh support group, something about seeing the words written on a computer screen makes parents (people in general really) more trusting.

Would you prefer an in-the-flesh support group or are you all about online?

Image: OETSG

WATCH: Man Drinks Daughter's Breast Milk to Cure Cancer

Cole Gamble — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Tim Browne puts a little something extra in his corn flakes every morning, and he’s hoping it will save his life. Browne’s colon cancer spread to his liver and lymph nodes. His future looked grim. Then his daughter, Georgia, came up with a radical suggestion: drink her breast milk. She came up with the idea after seeing a TV show about the benefits of breast milk. Now after feeding her son Monty, she sets aside a few ounces for dad.

"I found the milk not unpleasant, but slightly pungent and oily, but once it was mixed with cow’s milk I couldn't taste it,” Browne said.

AND NOW HERE IS YOUR QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Browne continued, ““If I have a lactating daughter, why not take advantage of her? As long as Monty didn’t mind,” Browne said.

Browne admitted slight improvement in his cancer but cannot tell if it’s the milk or his chemotherapy regiment.

watch it here

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Who Really Cares if They Have Perfect Attendance?

JeanneSager — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:27:00 GMT

A perfect game only takes nine innings (seven in high school). But perfect attendance takes two thousand three hundred forty days.

That's one hundred eighty school days times thirteen years of school. Of this year's crop of seniors, guess how many have that kind of record? Not a whole heckuva lot.

But for all the kudos due Stefanie Zaner of Maryland for her thirteen years of showing up at school (hey, it earned her a feature in the Washington Post), there are plenty of reasons not to stress yourself out about your kid's not-so-perfect attendance.

As Zaner's teachers attest, she was an extraordinarily healthy kid. She wasn't the kid walking in the door with a high fever and a vomit bag to make it through the day. That's luck (and a hearty immune system). According to the CDC, the average kid gets anywhere from six to twelve illnesses a year (from the common cold to a major bout with a bug). Nearly twenty-two million school days are lost to the common cold alone.

And you know how you stop the spread of all those icky disease? By keeping your sick kid HOME. Hence all those school closures in the face of swine flu, folks.

It's also worth nothing that Zaner called the last two years of her life the most stressful, period. And it wasn't just being a kid looking at getting into college. She said the idea of being "perfect" weighed heavily on her. Credit goes to this incredible kid for not crumbling under the pressure, but if she hadn't grabbed this particular brass ring, would anyone really have thought any less of her? Colleges? Her parents? Her first boss?

If this is something your kid wants to do, and is up to doing, fine. But don't make it your goal Mom and Dad.

Image: Toombs

Is Your Kid a Victim of Mr. Bubble Down Under?

JeanneSager — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:01:00 GMT

I'm a grinch kind of Mommy when it comes to doling out the bubble bath. Once a week. No more. Less if we could get away with it.

Yes, I'm depriving my child . . . of a urinary tract infection.

Didn't know kids could end up with UTIs from bubble bath, did ya? A piece over at Jezebel this week actually referred to those of us born before the FDA started requiring the bubble bath manufacturers print labels warning of its risks as the "Mr. Bubble Generation."

As in, the generation who suffered crotch rot as kids that required heavy doses of cranberry juice and an antibiotic to cure. Doesn't have quite the same ring does it?

The piece cites doubts that the two are linked, alongside a study that claims the link is "plausible." Personally, I remember the bubblicious joys of sud-filled tubs, the bubble beards and the fluffy white "hair." But as long as they come linked to the threat of burning, itching and the sensation that you are peeing razor blades, it's just not worth it.

So I'm sticking to my "a little drop will do ya" method of doling out the bubbles. What about you?

Image: Jezebel

Kids are Suffering in Emergency Rooms Nationwide

JeanneSager — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

No one wants to spend a night with their child in the emergency room. But the numbers of kids spending hours in the nation's ERs waiting to be seen by doctors is on the rise.

The problem? It's the economy (duh).

Without health insurance to cover an expensive doctor's visit, parents are turning to the emergency room for their primary care. And they're bringing their kids.

Forty-four percent of children's hospitals in the U.S. have reported a spike in emergency room visits. That's just child-specific hospitals, but numbers are up at other hospitals too (where patients are both adults and kids). This comes on the heels of already growing numbers - even when the economy was steady, the CDC reported a decade-long hike in emergency room visits from 1996 to 2006. Of them, kids made up the largest number, followed by adults over the age of seventy-five.

The chief problem is health insurance, and one in nine kids is estimated to be without it (and of those kids, nine in ten has at least one working parent and is a U.S. citizen). Even folks who qualify for Medicaid often end up carting their kids to the ER because private doctors won't accept it.

But kids are waiting longer and longer periods of time before getting treatment. That's both in the ER (where more visits combined with fewer emergency rooms means longer waits) and out - where parents who worry about the hospital bill are delaying the trip to the hospital. A recent Kaiser survey found at least twenty-seven percent of Americans have actually delayed care because of the cost, And that's what has medical practitioners worried.

Kids' bodies are changing quickly and their immune systems are less developed. They're at greater risk than the average adult, and they need healthcare more desperately than the average adult. Which means parents have to make tough choices - as hard as it may be, and as many sacrifices as it might take, that emergency room visit might be the best option.

Have you suddenly found yourself in an emergency room when you'd never visited one before?

Image: CBS News

Children's Television Workaround

editors — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:45:00 GMT

Today on Babble:

by Dan Oko.

Our kid's TV-free, as long as online video doesn't count.

Read it here.

Some "Baby Food" Less Healthy Than a Cheeseburger

Shannon LC Cate — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:30:00 GMT

The Children's Food Campaign has released a new report analyzing the nutritional value of some of Britain's most popular baby and toddler foods, finding them worse for health than the average cheeseburger or chocolate cookie, claims the Guardian.

Of the foods surveyed, only half were found to be low in sugar, sodium and saturated fat--some even contained the dreaded transfat. But the worst culprit for unhealthy baby food was the Heinz company, of whose surveyed products, only one quarter were deemed to have sufficiently low amounts of sugar, sodium and fat.

Two Heinz products were singled out for headliner status. Farley's Husks, were higher in sugar than chocolate digestives, while mini cheese biscuits were found to have more fat than a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese. Both are foods aimed at beginning eaters and toddlers.

Okay, so these foods are unhealthy. Do they claim to be healthy? Do parents merely assume anything for a baby or toddler is healthy? I feel that while it would be nice to see the food industry regulated better in certain areas, determining what is a good diet for myself and my young children is my responsibility. In the line of this duty, I take nothing for granted. I read labels, determine what's in the processed food I give my children, then mete out such foods sparingly, focusing instead on whole foods in a nice variety.

Contrary to some opinion, this actually doesn't take a great deal of extra time or energy on my part. Washing and/or peeling and/or slicing a piece of fruit really isn't that much harder than opening a box of crackers and shaking a pile of them into a bowl. And even when the fruit is organic, it's usually cheaper. And it doesn't take a master's degree in nutrition to know it's healthier than the crackers.

So sure, shame on Heinz for marketing unhealthy food to parents. Shame on them for basically trying to get us to train our kids to expect food to taste sugary, salty, and fatty, so they'll have lifelong junk food customers. But ultimately? Shame on us for not taking the four extra seconds to read the back of a box before we throw it in the grocery cart. Really, it ain't that tough.

image: junkfoodnews.net

Judge’s Ruling: Parents Fearing Swine Flu Can’t Keep Kids Home

SunnyChanel — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:49:00 GMT

So you’re sitting at home totally freaking out about the Swine flu. One of the first things you want to do is protect your family, right? One way would be to keep your children out of the Petri dish that’s called school. But if you live in Montgomery Alabama, you’re out of luck. Even though you’re freaked out about the odds of one of your kids becoming victim of a pandemic, you still have to send them to school.

A mom and dad of two boys pleaded with a court judge to let them keep up with there school work from home rather than going to school each day, all because of the swine flu scare. The parents had asked that their 7 and 8 year-old son be excused until the end of the school year, which is May 21st. What was the judges verdict? He said no.

An attorney for the school said that allowing this would "create chaos…if the Blevins were allowed to do this, then why not let every parent take their children out of school?" The judge did give the family a couple of options like home schooling or enrolling them in private school, but otherwise they could face charges of violating truancy laws.

In a situation like this, where there is fear of a scary illness, do you think parents should have the option to keep their kids out of school?

Source

Hey Kid, You'll Soap Your Eye Out

JeanneSager — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

So much for good, clean fun. Officials at an Idaho middle school claim they had to remove soap from the boys bathrooms because of vandalism.

Apparently, it's better for the boys to enact germ warfare by not washing their hands than it is to have a little soap wars in the bathroom.

Parents have been protesting the removal, pointing to its incredibly poor timing in light of the swine flu pandemic and health officials EVERYWHERE reminding people to wash their hands to reduce the spread of the disease (not to mention a fair number of other contagious diseases).

The state's education department notes that all school lavatories are required to have soap provided for the kids. Sounds like a pretty common sense requirement to me (see above). So why would a school yank the soap?

I remember some of the bathroom pranks pulled in my school days (by classmates, natch!). Milk poured down the heating vents. Smoking in the stalls. TPing pretty much everything. The school responded with measures that kept us on our toes, including a lock on the door so only a staff member could let a kid in (and they'd do a thorough once-over before you left to make sure you hadn't gotten up to any mischief while you were supposed to be doing your business). Even in an understaffed, underfunded school like mine, they made it work.

But they didn't take the soap. Because soap is point zero when it comes to preventing disease - especially with kids, who are not exactly the most hygenic creatures on earth. Why else would we spend hours teaching them to sing the alphabet song while they scrub a dub dub as toddlers?

So why, oh why, would anyone ever imagine taking soap away from kids is a good idea?

Image:1stInHandwashing

5 Year Old Mexican Boy Could Be First To Have Swine Flu

Brett Singer — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:00:00 GMT

5-year-old Édgar Hernández of Mexico may have been the first person infected with the current version of swine flu, according to the New York Times.

It seems that the disease may have started in the Mexican village of La Gloria. Édgar might be the first kid to have it, although there were numerous other reported cases. Some say local officials did not react quickly enough, the officials said they did, the usual. Doesn't matter now, it's out and everyone is freaking out. (Well, I am. A little. Maybe a little more than a little.)

What I thought when I read this article was that I don't know if I would offer my child up for interviews if he might be the first one to have a disease. Who wants to be known as "flu boy"? Can you imagine the playground taunts? Unfair, yes, but kids have teased their peers for much less.

Would you let your child be interviewed if he or she were the first kid to have a disease that led to a national almost-pandemic?

Source: NY Times

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Swine Flu: What you need to know

editors — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:37:00 GMT

The CDC has confirmed 109 cases of Swine flu in the U.S. and states have reported several more, prompting the Department of Health and Human services to declare a Public Health Emergency. While government officials try to halt this outbreak, what do you need to know?

Check out CNN's extensive swine flu Q&A to learn about past swine flu outbreaks, why health officials are concerned, and the preventive measures you can take, plus more. Some quick facts:

Swine wine influenza, or flu, is a contagious respiratory disease that affects pigs. It is caused by a type-A influenza virus. Outbreaks in pigs occur year-round.
Humans aren't usually infected and researchers have yet to determine the cause behind this outbreak.
Symptoms are very similar to the common flu: fever, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, etc.
Swine flu is contracted the same way the flu is: If an infected person coughs or sneezes, the virus passes. Or if you touch something with the virus on it, then touch your eyes or mouth.
To prevent it: wash hands, avoid close contact with people that are sick and touching surfaces that may be dirty.

More info:

Bloomberg.com tackles similar questions, from flu vaccinations to how to tell if your child is sick.

Head to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for their key facts on swine flu.

The Plain Dealer asks the question on everyone's mind: Is this the next global flu epidemic?

What lessons we can learn from SARS and the bird flu.

Also check out Brett's post "Are You Worried About Your Kids?" and let us know how freaked out you think us parents should get over this.

You Are What Your Mother Didn't Eat

JeanneSager — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:34:00 GMT

My mother always told me I was made of spinach - because that's what she ate during her pregnancy. Constantly. To the point where my father threatened not to come home for dinner again, lest he be presented with yet another plate of green stuff coated in cream sauce or sauted in olive oil.

It turns out, I'm only partially right. A new study says the genes of a fetus can mutate in the womb, based on what a mother ISN'T eating.

We all knew pregorexia was bad for baby, but this study points out that it's more than a lack of development that's being caused but actual development in the wrong direction.

The study at the University of Utah looked at pregnant rats to find how a lack of certain nutrients in the womb can create risk factors for certain diseases down the line. A mother rat whose fetus did not get proper nutrition was born smaller than his counterparts but also primed for heart disease, diabetes and other diseases. The researchers hope that this study could hold the key to helping develop a regimen for mothers to prevent health problems down the road for their babies.

Some of this is pretty common sense - you have to pack in the nutrition when you're pregnant (and when you're breastfeeding, natch). But knowing which nutrients are most important could be a lifesaver for moms like me - the moms who threw up for seven months. Did you eat differently when you were pregnant?

Image: CafePress

Breastfeeding Debates: Just a Tempest in a Sippy Cup?

JeanneSager — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:23:00 GMT

Here's the thing about the breast is best debate. Do we really care what another mother does with her boobs?

No, really. You might say you care that she gets the best medical advice, that that precious little baby gets the best start to life. But when your kid and her kid sit side by side in kindergarten, holding hands, is it really going to matter who did what on day thirty-six of that baby's life?

Sometime Babble contributor Lynn Harris turned her often irreverant sense of humor to the oh so serious topic of breastfeeding on NPR this week, and though she treats the subject with all due respect (she is, after all, a mother), she pokes her fun where it's due. The breastfeeding debate, she says, is nothing but "a tempest in a sippy cup."

For MOST women, it isn't about whether or not they think breastfeeding is good for babies, or even whether they WANT to do it. Says Harris:

"Because we don't read the Journal of the American Medical Association to decide whether, or how long, to breast-feed. We consider our bodies: Are we physically able to nurse in the first place? Or are we plagued, as I was with my first child, by plugged ducts and serious mastitis? We consider the child: Did we, luck of the draw, get one who just says no to latching? We consider our workplace: How long is our maternity leave? Where can we pump when we go back?"

And that, my friends, is where the debate needs to take a hike. You want to breastfeed? You made it work? Woohoo! Fabulous! Really. I'm not being facetious here. I'm happy for you that you are able to nourish your child with your breastmilk, that you have got the latch down and find the appropriate place to pump if need be.

Not breastfeeding? Didn't want to? OK, well, that's your choice. Did want to, but couldn't? I'm sorry, is there anything we can do? Other than berating you and telling you you're feeding your child pure evil in liquid form and forcing you onto mega doses of Paxil to handle your postpartum depression caused by feelings of inadequacy?

Here's why everyone needs to read Harris' essay: she puts blame where blame is due. On the crappy advice in hospitals. On the crappy employers who don't give moms appropriate time for pumping. On the family medical leave act's lack of depth and the lack of paid leave time available for new mothers. On the public breastfeeding conundrum, especially for women who are shy and uncomfortable out in the public eye.

"Show me a lactation room at the Qwik Mart, and I'll show you a woman more willing to leave the maternity ward without her care package of free formula," Harris says (see, told you she was a bit irreverant).

Come on moms, let's look at who you're really mad at. It's not each other.

Image/Source: NPR

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It's NOT Baby Fat

JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:28:00 GMT

Think those chubby cheeks are sooo cute? Stop pinching and pull out the scale.

A new study says one in five American four-year-olds is obese. Not chunky. Not husky. Obese.

Sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics, the study shows a drastically higher problem in minority groups, with thirty-one percent of American Indian children who were obese, twenty-two percent of Hispanics and twenty-one percent of blacks.

By comparison, sixteen percent of white kids were dangerously overweight, and thirteen percent of Asian children were obese. Based on an analysis of nationally representative height and weight data on more than eight thousand preschoolers born in 2001, the study took into account where a child falls on the percentile chart. Those who fell in the ninety-fifth percentile or higher qualified as obese.

Unfortunately, the statistics are not that surprising when you break down the higher numbers of low income families in minority groups - especially living on reservations. Low income families have a pre-disposition toward obesity because of the quality of food they can afford, food that is often carbohydrate rich but lacking in nutritional value. A recent study showed parents in low-income families were also more likely to pass on a habit of over-eating to their children because they look to food as a form of comfort.

It's hard for parents of any income level to distinguish whether or not their kids are overweight, but it's scarier still for parents to face a child as young as four with a weight problem. They're supposed to still have boundless energy at this age, to burn off their food just running like a banshee through the house! And how to tell when a kid is still working off the baby fat?

Just another reason to march them in for the well visit and load them up on the scale.

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Your Kid's Mouth Stinks: Here's Why

JeanneSager — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:11:00 GMT

Stressed? Get out the toothbrush . . . and get it out on your kids' teeth. Because a new study says parents who are stressed are more likely to have kids with tooth decay.

Yes, you read that right - parents, our kids will have another thing to complain about in therapy. And at the dentist!

The study actually makes sense if you think about it. Stressed parents have less time to be paying attention to their kids' oral hygiene. Or maybe they're stressed because their kids throw up such a fit in the morning over brushing their teeth?

Either way, scientists at Ohio State University found that while a low income, little education and being single could all add to a parent's stress, those were also the parents whose kids were more likely to suffer from tooth decay. And getting their kids' teeth cleaned or cavities filled was likely to decrease parents' stress.

Which probably only lasts until they get the bill. . .

Image: StartingCavities

Do Your Kids Walk To School?

Brett Singer — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:10:00 GMT

You know the old joke about how your parents walked to school. Up hill. Both ways. In a snowstorm. (Even in summer.) While being chased by a tiger. A really hungry tiger. (I added the part about the tiger.)

Well, with child obesity rates on the rise, maybe it's time to pull that old chestnut out of mothballs.

What prompted all this? Well, April 8 is National Start! Walking Day, sponsored by the American Heart Association. (Oh, don't pretend like you didn't already know.)

Over at SuperEco, Frank Paynter says that while many of us old folks used to walk to school, our children are catching a ride. Frank points to an article on Yahoo! Green by Jeff Yeager that says only 30 percent of today's rug rats stroll their way to the hallowed halls of learning.

Frank wonders when the move from bikes to the minivan began: "Some people cite safety concerns, but the chance that a child will be injured in a car accident are astronomically higher than that he will encounter evil doers out to sell him into child slavery on a chocolate plantation or something." He's probably right, at least statistically. But parental fear is a very real thing, whether reasonable or not. There are plenty of things I did as a young'un that I have trouble letting my kid do, like go to corner store. Part of that is where we live (New York City), but part of it is simply that societal attitudes have changed.

As for walking to school, sometimes it simply isn't realistic. For example, I lived in the Bronx and went to school in Manhattan. Taking the subway (2 of them) took about an hour. Walking was not going to happen. My son is too young to walk, and we also live a little bit too far away from his school. So it’s a good idea, and I like talking about it, but he's going to have to get his exercise some other way.

Since The American Heart Association was kind enough to set the Start! Walking Day start date in the spring, I may join in. Not my son -- he takes the bus. But I'll start walking when I go to pick him up. Frankly, I need the exercise more than he does. At least he gets recess.

So let me ask you folks -- do your children walk to school? Did you?

Image/Source: SuperEco

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Breaking Bad on Plastics

JeanneSager — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:53:00 GMT

If only Benjamin Braddock knew then what we know now - plastics are a bummer for parents. Not to mention the environment.

But you don't have to be a graduate of anything to understand this helpful chart I picked up from the folks at Zo-Li, the baby product company that's managed to incorporate toxic-free plastics into all its goodies for kids.

Breaking down the different types of plastics, where you'll find them and what affect they'll have on your kids, the chart is a print and tack to the fridge if I've ever seen one. Because who wants to take a chance with their kids?

Their biggies to avoid:

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) - also known as Plastic #3 - Usually found in cling wrap, squeeze bottles, bigs, mattress covers, diaper changing mats, bottles for cooking oil, window cleaner, and detergents PVC poses risks to both human health and the environment. PVC needs additives and stabilizers such as lead for strength and phthalates for ﬂexibility. The manufacturing and disposal of PVC emits dioxins into the air which settles on grasslands and water impacting the meat and dairy products consumed by humans. Dioxin is a known carcinogen and hormone disruptor associated with learning and behavioral problems in children, decreased birth rate, and reduced immune functionality.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) - also known as Plastic #6 - Used in opaque plastic cutlery and Styrofoam disposable cups, carry-out containers and meat trays. Styrene can leach from Styrofoam containers and is a known carcinogen that is toxic to the brain and nervous system through prolonged exposure.

Polycarbonate - This is a catch-all of all plastics that don’t fall into any of the other six groups. Some of the new bio-plastics that are corn / rice / potato / tapioca-based plastics as well as the newer plastics labeled BPA-free are included in this group, but the type of plastic to avoid in this group is polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is commonly used in plastic baby bottles, reusable water
bottles, and some clear plastic cutlery. Bisphenol-A (BPA), found in polycarbonate is a hormone disruptor, which can leach into the foods and liquids in polycarbonate containers. BPA has been linked to several health issues including prostate and breast cancer, early onset of puberty, miscarriages, birth defects, behavioral issues such as hyperactivity, obesity, diabetes, and impaired immune function.

Want the whole chart to keep your kids safe? Click on the image below to print and save.

Images: BarSupply/Zo-Li Baby

They Say: Pool Water's Toxic for Baby

JeanneSager — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:21:00 GMT

Nobody wants to think of their kids taking in sips full of toxic water. But a new study says all the disinfectants we've been using to keep our drinking and swimming water clean may be doing just the opposite.

The ten-year study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency found that disinfectants mixing with organic matter in our water to create "disinfectant by-products" (DBP) with some pretty risky consequences.

"Some of these are toxic, some can cause birth defects, some are genotoxic, which damage DNA, and some we know are also carcinogenic," geneticist Michael Plewa said in HSDailyWire.com.

The scary part, as we head into summer, is the significant amount of DBPs found in swimming pools, where Plewa says body hair, urine (we all know kids pee in the pool) and other bits of human mix with the disinfectants in the pool. Because poolwater is generally recycled, Plewa says the concentration of DBPs in a swimming pool is tenfold what it is in drinking water. And babies, whose parents love to take them into the pool to escape the summer heat, are more susceptible than any of us to the damaging affects of DBPs.

So what can you do? Stay out of public pools - where people are doing all kinds of nasty. Stick your kids in fresh disinfectant-free water in a baby wading pool (and keep a VERY close eye on them), and wait until scientists come up with some new wonder product. . . which they'll find out twenty years down the line also causes cancer, but hey, what we don't know won't kills us. Right?

Image: ScienceDaily

Barack Obama Discusses Sasha’s Battle with Meningitis

SunnyChanel — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Barack Obama has made the battle of reforming health care personal. Last week, during the While House’s ‘Open for Questions’ town hall, Obama not only discussed medical insurance in regards to his mother’s battle with ovarian cancer, but he openly discussed his youngest daughter being stricken with meningitis.

"When Sasha, our little precious pea, she got meningitis when she was three months old," said Obama. "The doctors did a terrific job, but frankly, it was the nurses that were there with us when she had to get a spinal tap and all sorts of things that were just bringing me to tears. And we've got a problem in this country, which is we have a shortage of nurses."

This is not the first time Obama has publically discussed Sasha’s health scare. In his book, “Audacity of Hope,” Obama used the example of Sasha’s illness and hospitalization to illustrate the “need for affordable and universal health care.”

In the book he wrote, "I still shudder when I think of those three days; how my world narrowed to a single point, and how I was not interested in anything or anybody outside the four walls of that hospital room -- not my work, not my schedule, not my future.”

Do you think having a president who has first hand experience dealing with medical industry will help reform America’s health care system?

What You Look Like After Triplets

JeanneSager — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:01:00 GMT

This mom is BRAVE. And totally awesome.

A mom allowed herself to be photographed throughout the weeks of her pregnancy with triplets. Then she jumped forward to three months after delivery and struck the same pose - shirt pulled up to just below the boobs and everything hanging out.

Wow. The stretch marks are scary, but honestly, they're what to be expected for normal women who get stretchmarks (because, I'm sorry, but I have some intense loathing going on for you "Oh, I didn't get a mark" women - I fart in your general direction) and one carrying three babies at that. But look at that tummy tone! Go mama!

I love these kinds of pictures, honestly, because they remind me that my tummy will never be toned again . . . and that's OK. I don't need to look like Angelina, and my husband doesn't think I need to look like Angelina.

Because the picture at the very end of the long series of triplet pics says it all - it's the three "sweet peas" (her words) she got out of it all. Yeah, totally worth it.

Click here to see the entire series.

Image: ShapeofaMother

Musical SpongeBob Rectal Thermometer. Fun for Your Kid’s Butt?

Cole Gamble — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:30:00 GMT

Children do not like having rods shoved up their bumholes—especially when they are sick. For that matter, no human likes having rods shoved up their butts. So what’s a caring parent to do? Buy one of those convenient ear thermometers? Hell no! What you do is make the rectal temperature taking process more fun with your child’s most beloved cartoon character.

And so we come to the Musical SpongeBob Rectal Thermometer.

My mind has exploded. I really don’t know where to begin. I guess I’ll start with, is it truly fun to have SpongeBob up in there? How does SpongeBob feel about it? Who at Nickelodeon okayed this product?

And then we have the music. I must say the thought of SpongeBob singing jauntily deep into my bum is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever confronted.

Somebody please buy this product and write up a review. I 100% guarantee to post it.

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What We Can Learn from the Natasha Richardson Tragedy

SunnyChanel — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:58:00 GMT

When tragedy strikes a family in the public eye, one of the first things many of us think is “can that happen to me or someone I love?” Part empathy, part fear, part survival instincts, all those feelings combine and brings a public tragedy very much home. Case in point, the recent passing of actress Natasha Richardson.

While hitting the bunny slopes at a ski resort in Quebec, the 45-year-old actress had a tumble during a private lesson. She got up, laughed about it and reportedly refused medical aid. But about an hour later, she fell ill and was rushed to hospital, eventually succumbing to her injuries from the head trauma.

This is one of those stories that flashes a great big bright warning of “this can happen to you, or someone you love!!!” Especially if you have a clumsy or accident-prone kid around the house. Kids are is an experts at falling, tripping and bumping into this, that or the other. What do we generally do? Make sure there isn’t any blood, give the boo-boo a kiss and then basically brush it off. As the Today show medical expert said with kid’s head bumps, we all brush them off. Now, I for one, will be taking these knocks to the noggin more seriously.

Each year 50,000 people die from head injuries with over a million each year going to the hospital for treatment. Most commonly, with a head injury, the result is a minor concussion, which is generally a “brief or temporary disruption of the brain.” But in rare cases, like with Richardson, the head trauma can cause bleeding or swelling of the brain. Sadly, the symptoms aren’t immediately apparent and the person who fell may be totally lucid and may seem totally fine.

So what should you be on the look out for?

• After a fall make sure the person is coherent. Ask them questions like what is their name, what year is it and who the president is. But if your child is young perhaps ask them what their favorite toy is, what sound does a dog make or other tidbit that they might know.

• Warning signs after a fall - persistent headache, general ill feeling, lethargy, trouble focusing, feeling cloudy

• When in doubt immediately go to the hospital. There they can perform a CAT scan and see if the brain is swollen, has shifted or if there is a hematoma pressing the brain.

• Act fast if there is trauma - time is very important. Every minute counts.

But the best thing to do? Prevention. With this tragedy, there is new attention to the safety must that is wearing a helmet not just when on a bicycle but also when skiing. And now there is a renewed interest in making a helmet a requirement for all skiers.

Photo Source

SC Johnson Says Bye Bye to Phthalates

JeanneSager — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:24:00 GMT

It's like a tennis match with all the news breaking about chemicals and kids products lately. No more BPA in bottles. Yay! Carcinogens in bubble bath. Aaack.

We're back with some good news today - one of the biggest makers of household cleaners, SC Johnson (you know, the ones who call themselves "a family company") has promised to remove all phthalates from its scented products over the course of the next two years.

Score one for us!

Used to help make plastics soft and flexible, phthalates are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a "probable human carcinogen." Relying on its "family company" motto, SC Johnson CEO Fisk Johnson says the company wants to make sure today's families know they're safe when buying household cleaners and air fresheners. They've now got a site dedicated entirely to the make-up of its products (check it out here).

In other words? When your two-year-old gets ahold of the bottle of Glade (an SC Johnson line) air freshener and sprays out the whole bottle before you can make it to the bathroom to stop him, you'll know at least they won't be sucking down cancer-causing eau de cinnamon sticks.

Image: SC Johnson

School Kids Get Exercise Balls Instead of Chairs

JeanneSager — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Your kid could be getting an education - and a core workout - all at once.

Teachers at schools around the country have opted to pull chairs out of their classrooms in favor of workout balls – those giant rubber blobs that are the bane of out-of-shape mothers everywhere. Turns out, they're keeping kids focused - and not just on keeping their butts centered.

In a study published last month in the Chronicle of Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education, a college professor who switched out chairs for workout balls says the balls improved students' focus and their attention. For young kids who need to get the wiggles out, the balls give them a chance to bounce their behinds, something your average chair can't.

Of course there are drawbacks. Critics say without relief for leaning back, kids are putting pressure on their tail bone all day long - and teachers can't well be expected to roam the aisles correcting kids' posture. And posture is a big issue with kids - backpacks on wheels started flying off shelves a few years back when parents got the warning that their kids had "backpack syndrome" from carting packs that were more than ten percent of their body weight.

But teachers aren't currently strolling the aisles telling kids to stop slumping in their seats either (who has time for that?), and I'd dare so most kids have horrible posture in your standard chair. At least with the ball, they develop core muscles which, in turn, strengthen the back. Come to think of it, maybe I need to do this to finally get the aching back left over from the little girl who loosened up my abdominal muscles.

Some schools are asking parents to chip in for the "seats" for their kids. Would you?

Image: MSNBC

UPDATE: Bye Bye BPA: WHICH Bottles Will Go Bisphenol Free

JeanneSager — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:57:00 GMT

Checking for the BPA-free label when shopping for baby bottles may soon be a thing of the past. The six largest manufacturers of bottles in the United States have voluntarily agreed to go Bisphenol-A free.

We reported on this story over the weekend (see below), but thanks to our friends at SuperEco, we now have a list of who's involved in the manufacturer cave in.

Going toxin free are Gerber, Avent America (which stopped production back in December), Evenflo, Disney's First Years, Dr. Brown and Playtex.

Attorneys general in Connecticut and New Jersey put forward a request to the bottle makers, asking for the hormone-disrupting chemical to be removed from the manufacturing process. The request came on the heels of newer research that shows the affects of BPA are large even at low doses, doses lower than the FDA's current standards. Studies have linked BPA to everything from cancer and obesity to problems with brain function and mood disorders. They've also shown BPA is building up in the bloodstream. In a study of people age six and older, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found detectable levels of BPA in ninety-three percent of two thousand five hundred seventeen urine samples.

Of course, the big companies aren't exactly doing this all out of the goodness of their hearts. Babies R Us and a number of other retailers announced last year that they would phase out all sales of bottles with BPA in them. Canada has outright banned the substance.

But sometimes even the big companies make decisions that are good for parents.

Image: OhMyGov