Safer Child Products

Everyone in my family has seasonal allergies, grass, trees, pollen, but it’s never been more serious than being itchy eyes and sneezing, until a few weeks ago.  My daughter was at an event and they got to sample different types of fruits.  She had a small piece of nectarine, which she’s had in the past, and her tongue got tingly, her ears got itchy. This is when I decided to take her to see an allergist. 

I was amazed to find out that there is such a thing as cross-reactions.  It’s actually called Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) or Pollen-Food Syndrome. According to an article by Melissa Schultz in Allergy and Asthma Today, “When people who are sensitized to a particular pollen consume fruits and vegetables in the same plant family, their body mistakes one protein for the other.  This protein cross-reaction can cause itching and swelling of the lips, moth or throat.  Most OAS reactions are local and mild, and disappear with a glass of water.  In very rare instances, however, asthma or anaphylactic shock may occur.”

Here are some examples of cross reaction.  If you (or your child) are allergic to Grass pollen, you may find you have a problem with Tomato, Melon, or Watermelon  and if you are allergic to Latex you should probably avoid banana, kiwi, chesnut, avocado, potato and papaya.

If you have any concerns or have experienced any symptoms or reactions as described above, you may want to consult an Allergist.

Safer Child Products

A friend called us on Friday night telling us that the neighborhood next to ours had a fire. Any fire is upsetting, but when it’s so close to home it’s even scarier.  That’s when I remembered that we are supposed to test our smoke alarms at the same time we are changing our clocks.  Well, the alarm off my kitchen goes off every time I broil, so I know that one works, and the one upstairs is hard wired to our electric system, so I never really worried about that.  However, I was reading a post from Safe Kids Worldwide and they pointed out that even when alarms are hard wired, they need back up batteries in case of a power outage and that the unit itself only lasts 8-10 years.  I know we have been in our house longer than that, so I think it’s time to change out our smoke alarms! 

I read that “having a working smoke alarm reduces a person’s chances of dying in a fire by half!” I say that’s worth the effort!  Make sure you have a smoke alarm on every level of your home and outside the sleeping areas. 

Safe Kids offers Fire Prevention Tips as well.  Check them out at http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/safety-resources-by-risk-area/fire-burn-and-scalds/fire-prevention-tips-1.html

Let’s keep our families safe!

Safer Child Products

As part of being a Child Passenger Safety Technician, I must stay up to date with new products and car seat technology. 

Last week I completed an online course, or webinar, that debunked many car seat myths and discussed many new car seats that were introduced in 2011.  It was fascinating to see the many new products.  Car seats that have Higher Harness Weights, often 65 or 70 pounds, and some booster seats which last as high as 110 or even 120 pounds.

Many car seats have newer, clearer lock off systems and color coded labels! 

I love that many companies are extending their expiration dates to make these combination and high harness weight seats viable for extended use, but think about it.  If you buy a 3 in 1 seat that can be used Rear Facing, Forward Facing and as a Belt Positioning Booster, but it expires in 6 years from date of Manufacture, will your child really get to maximize this seat? The seat may already be close to 1 year when you purchase it. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that we keep our children Rear Facing until at least age 2 and many car seat companies are increasing the RF weight limits for their new seats.  If you are able to keep your child rear facing until they reach the highest height and weight limit for the seat, perhaps they will be 2 ½ before you turn them forward facing.  With a 70 pound Forward Facing weight limit my 10 year old would still be in a harness!  Buy wait, you need to factor in height as well.  The top of a child’s ears must not be above the top of the car seat shell.  So granted, I may have gotten many years use out of the seat, but was it worth buying a 3 in 1 rather than a convertible that is only RF and FF? 

Did you know that Evenflo requires at least 1 ½ inches between the rear facing child car seat and the seat back of the front seat in front of it?  That is important to take into consideration when you are buying a seat to fit your car as well as your child.

It would be nearly impossible for me to impart all the knowledge I learned during my training.  Every car seat is different and ever car seat manufacturer has different requirements.  I encourage you to read your car seat manual and keep it in the car with your vehicle’s owner’s manual.  Use your vehicle’s owner’s manual as a reference tool to determine proper car seat placement in your vehicle, use of latch and seatbelt/ airbag requirements.

I hope this helps you to understand and appreciate the importance of Child Passenger Safety Technicians and getting your child’s car seat inspected. This allows you get 1:1 attention and information specific to your car seat and your child.

For information on a checkup or community safety event go to http://www.safekids.org/in-your-area/events/?event_type_category=community-event&submit.x=21&submit.y=8&submit=submit

Also, you can call your local Police or Fire Station to inquire if they provide this service.  DO NOT USE 911 FOR THIS.  ONLY CALL 911 IN AN EMERGENCY.

Let’s keep all our children safe!

Safer Child Products

Drowning is the one of the most frequent causes of death in young children. Teaching a toddler to swim does not necessarily solve the problem, because they do not know enough to stay away from or be afraid of the water.  According the American Academy of Pediatrics,  “Children are not developmentally ready for swimming lessons until after their 4^th birthday.” Children under age 4 may not truly comprehend how to stay safe in and around water. http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;105/4/868

Though there are many water acclimation and pre-swimming classes offered, I found an interesting program that appears to offer what others do not.  I have not tried this program with my kids, as they are past this age group now.  However, I have read their brochures and looked at their website www.infantswim.com .  This program is called ISR or Infant Swimming Resource.  What stood out to me was that they claim to be teaching 1:1 developmentally appropriate survival skills.  ISR recommends that you participate in these 1:1 lessons 10 minutes a day, 5 days/week, for 4-6 weeks.  For example, for children 6-12 mos old, they teach the child to hold their breath under water and to roll over onto their backs and wait to be rescued.  Along with instruction for the child, comes education for the parents as well.

I really liked that they include instruction when fully clothed, because “86% of children who fall into the pool are fully clothed.”  Even with all this, ISR still acknowledges that supervision is the key to safety and that swim lessons do NOT prevent drowning.

Never leave a child alone near a pool or any water, including bathtubs and buckets.  A child can drown in as little as 1 inch of water.  Loss of Consciousness happens 2 minutes after submersion, and permanent brain damage occurs within 4-6 minutes.

Be sure to put away all toys and flotation devices (from bathtub too) when you are done, so a young child does not yearn to reach over to get something in the pool, or bath, and risk falling in.

Let’s keep all our children safe!

Safer Child Products

Many parents look for options to give their babies and young children and opt for Juice. Is this wise?  Fruit Juice has a lot of sugar in it and the AAP says there is no nutritional benefit to babies less than 6 months of age.  As stated in http://kidshealth.org/parent/question/infants/babies_juice.html drinking too much juice can contribute to cavities, diarrhea, and obesity.

If you choose to give your baby juice, make sure it is 100% juice and limit their intake to about 4 oz. per day.  Even children aged 1-6 years should be limited to 4-6 oz. of juice per day.

Do not give your baby water.  According to Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, "Water can interfere with a young baby's ability to absorb the nutrients in breast milk or formula and, because it can make her feel full, it may prevent her from feeding as much as she should.

Giving water to an infant can also cause water intoxication, a serious condition that happens when too much water dilutes the concentration of sodium in the body, upsetting the electrolyte balance and causing tissues to swell. It's uncommon but serious, potentially causing seizures and even a coma."

So, stick to breast milk or formula for your infants, and if you have any questions or concerns, contact your child's doctor.  

Safer Child Products

My 8 y/o tends to be very moody and at times irritable at home, whereas at school she is a smiling joy!  As my husband and I tried to figure out what are we doing wrong, or differently than at school, one of the things we decided to try was getting her to bed earlier.  Being the younger sibling, it is difficult because she wants to stay up to watch TV with her sister, or just doesn’t want to go up because her sister doesn’t have to.  In my ideal world she would be asleep by 9pm and awake at 7am.  However in my reality, she’s been going to sleep closer to 9:30 or 10:00 and I can’t get her up at 7.  It got me thinking, how much sleep do children really need?  I know that even I need my 8 hours of sleep to be at my best.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, school aged children need 10 to 11 hours of sleep, whereas preschool aged children need more like 11-13 hours.  What’s interesting is that I can’t find much scientific evidence on how much sleep children require, but there does seem to be a trend of the recommendations decreasing as well as the amount of actual sleep.  As cited in an article in USA Today “children's daily sleep decreased about 75 minutes, while the recommendations for how much sleep children should get declined by 70 minutes. As the numbers keep pace, "experts have always recommended that children get about 40 minutes more sleep than they do, no matter how much sleep they get,"

Insufficient sleep can lead to difficulty paying attention in school, accidents and injuries, as well as obesity.  To read the rest of the article go to http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2012-02-13/No-science-just-expert-guesses-on-how-much-sleep-kids-need/53065594/1

In addition, http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sleep.html# can give you guidelines on sleep for children of all ages.  

Safer Child Products

Recently at Basketball practice, my daughter fell and scraped her knees; Better than getting a concussion for sure.  Then I was preparing food with a friend and she cut her finger.  My daughter seemed to have a reaction yesterday to some fruit she was eating, for the first time in 11 years!  

Before we know it spring will be here and there will be many more scrapes and bruises from outdoor play.  Do you keep a First Aid Kit with you?  Perhaps you should.  I always have Band-Aids in my purse, but I’ve often thought about how I could be better prepared for emergencies while we are on the go.  

When we are out and about, we are not always near running water and soap, so I try to   keep antibacterial hand gel in my purse and in my car.  However, that is not what I would use for cleaning a scrape.  I think I’ll put antiseptic wipes on the list.  And after the food reaction yesterday, I realized that I should keep anti-histamines on me too.  I never have something to help headaches when I need it, so perhaps I should include that.  I believe we have CPR masks in our cars, but would I have the courage to use it if I needed to?  I hope so; definitely include that in the kit, as well as rubber gloves.  But Band-Aids alone only do half the job.  We need to keep antibiotic ointment on hand for those scrapes and scratches as well. What else should we pack in our First Aid Kits?  How about Tweezers?  These come in handy when trying to remove a splinter or ticks. 

 For a more comprehensive list and more emergency preparedness go to http://pediatrics.about.com/od/firstaid/a/05_firstaid_kit.htm