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Spring Allergy Season

As flu season comes to an end, trees and grasses have now become the trigger for most kids' symptoms, as they go to their pediatrician with a runny nose, congestion, and sneezing.

Allergies

Pediatrics Spotlight10

Is Breast Feeding Best for your Baby?

Wednesday April 13, 2011

Is Breast Best? - Photo by Jared DelarimanThe 'Is Breast Best?' debate continues to come up for some reason.

There was even a recent book that claimed to 'take on the breastfeeding experts,' but I think it is hard to find any breastfeeding, pediatric or nutrition expert who wouldn't tell you that breastfeeding is best for babies.

The Bringing Up Britain show on the BBC network has an episode called 'Is Breast Best?' that will likely interest everyone who is breastfeeding, has breastfed, or had problems breastfeeding their baby.

In this breastfeeding documentary, Cherry Healey finds breastfeeding 'painful and traumatic' and eventually gives up and becomes 'plagued by feelings of guilt for not trying harder.' Parents who watch will hopefully come away knowing that there is help for those who have problems breastfeeding, including a lactation consultant, friends and family members who breastfed their babies, and your pediatrician.

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Measles Outbreak 2011

Wednesday April 13, 2011

The Utah measles outbreak continues to evolve.

Although many of the six suspected cases of measles ended up being false alarms, there are still a total of five confirmed cases of measles in Utah at this time.

It is now suspected that the cases are linked to a junior high school student who traveled to Poland with his family last month. Unvaccinated kids in four schools that may have had contact with these students remain at home, being voluntarily quarantined until April 25th.

Measles in Poland

It isn't surprising that the student in Utah got measles while traveling in Poland. International travel is a common source of measles cases and measles outbreaks in the United States. The World Health Organization reports just 115 cases of measles in Poland in 2009 though, but that seems low, considering they have a fairly high number of mumps (2,390) and rubella (7,586) cases.

As in the United States, measles cases in Poland are often linked to imported cases from other countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, which then spread among unvaccinated and incompletely vaccinated people.

Measles Vaccination

Because of the rise in worldwide measles cases and an increase in measles cases among travelers returning from trips out of the U.S., including these new cases in Utah, it is a good idea to review the latest measles vaccination recommendations before traveling out of the country.

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Escalator Accident

Wednesday April 13, 2011

The Consumer Product Safety Commission provided us all with some 'Steps to Safety When Using Escalators' a few years ago.

A recent story about an escalator accident involving a 2-year-old at the Glendale Galleria in California is a good reminder why parents should review these safety steps. The toddler fell on the escalator, and the moving escalator severed the tip of one of his fingers.

Unfortunately, even though emergency workers found the fingertip 30 minutes later, his finger was too badly damaged to allow it to reattached at the hospital.

Escalator Safety

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that there were about 11,000 injuries on escalators in 2007, mostly from falls. In addition, there have been at least 77 reports of entrapment -- when hands, feet, or shoes (mostly clogs and slide sandals) get trapped in the escalator -- since 2006.

Your kids can still ride the escalator, but be sure they do it safely. They should:

  • tie their shoelaces before getting on the escalator
  • stand in the center of the escalator, face forward, hold a parent's hand, and step off at the end
  • refrain from sitting or playing on the escalator -- it should not be treated as an amusement park ride

Perhaps most importantly, learn where the emergency shutoff button is so that you can turn off the escalator if someone gets entrapped while riding.

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Chocolate Milk School Controversy

Wednesday April 13, 2011

First it was the ban on homemade school lunches.

Now they are coming after chocolate milk.

Although some people see this as a government takeover of public education, others just see it as school districts trying to help kids make healthier choices, or when necessary, make those choices for them.

When they noticed that many kids were choosing chocolate milk instead of regular white milk, some school districts decided to ban chocolate milk altogether from their elementary schools. The only problem, is that while kids may got less sugar and calories in their diet, they also got less vitamin D and calcium in their diet.

So chocolate milk is back in the schools.

Instead of continuing to trying to micromanage what kids eat in school, to combat the childhood obesity epidemic, it would likely be better to work to get kids more active in schools though. A little more time in recess, PE, and maybe even  recreational sports for older kids who don't play competitive sports in middle school and high school would likely do more to keep kids healthy than trying to get them to drink white milk.

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