Child Health & Safety News Roundup: 04-22-2013 to 04-28-2013

twitter thumbWelcome to Pediatric Safety’s weekly “Child Health & Safety News Roundup”- a recap of the past week’s child health and safety news headlines from around the world.

Each day we use Twitter to communicate relevant and timely health and safety information to the parents, medical professionals and other caregivers who follow us. Occasionally we may miss something, but we think overall we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping you informed. But for our friends and colleagues who are not on Twitter (or who are but may have missed something), we offer you a recap of the past week’s top 25 events & stories.

PedSafe Headline of the Week:

New teen and child health hazard: the Cinnamon Challenge http://t.co/R2x8KGJvN

April 30, 2013 | Filed Under Awareness | 4 Comments 

Top 3 Ways to Get Your Child to Choose Healthy Foods

Teach healthy food choicesI spend a lot of time in my family nutrition practice helping parents with their “picky eaters.” That could be the primary reason for their visit, or the picky eating could be complicated by a diagnosis that requires a child to go on a special diet in which their favorite foods are no longer on the menu. This adds layers to their nutrition issues and it is my job to peel the proverbial onion.

How do we transition our kids to the right path with minimal conflicts? What are the underlying issues associated with food battles? Every child is unique, and that cannot be understated. But there are some common denominators with them and hopefully this post will provide you with some ideas to chew on.

It is not a news flash to you that kids want to make their own choices. When parents force things on their children, the natural thing they do is push back. But does that mean we should give children all the decision-making when it comes to eating? Absolutely not. Parents often take this thought too far in allowing their children to make too many choices on their own. It’s all about guiding them. With food, provide acceptable choices from which they may choose. That is the main theme, and here are three of the most important ways in which you can implement them:

  1. Expose your children repeatedly. Expose your children to a variety of foods. This should start super early in your child’s life and continue as they grow older. Do not delete a food off your child’s menu because they reject it one time or even multiple times. Avoid saying statements such as, “He/she does not like (fill in the food).” A child’s body is growing and developing – and that includes their taste buds! Parents provide the healthy meals and the child gets to choose to eat them or not. If they don’t eat dinner because they don’t like how it looks, that’s OK! But don’t provide an alternate meal of their choice, and don’t allow them to have a snack after dinner of their own food preference. This will never encourage them to try new foods! Stay strong, Mom and Dad. If they are hungry later, you can tell them that you are more than happy to heat up their dinner plate. If you stick to your guns on this one and your kids see that throwing a tantrum does NOT get their way, they will eat the dinner. If you have this in place from the beginning, it’s less of a struggle. They don’t know any different. But if you have done this wrong in the past, communicate that this is the new way and we are not going back.
  2. Assess your home’s food environment. Each new year should involve going through the kitchen and doing a food balance assessment. When you look into your pantry and/or fridge, are 90% of the available foods healthy? If not, you may need to make some changes. We must fill our home with “always” foods and if there are any “sometimes” foods that are being over consumed, remove them from your home. Make healthy foods ready-to-eat so those snacks are as easy as grabbing a bag of chips.
  3. Involve your children. Your entire family must be a part of the entire feeding process. That includes planning, shopping (or growing!), preparing, eating and cleaning. The parents are in charge (and must stay in charge), but the children should be involved as helpers in age-appropriate ways. A toddler can help set the table while a teenager can be in charge of cooking one night. Involve your children in the “why’s” behind healthy eating as well. A family is a team and teams must work together to stay healthy so they can meet all their life’s goals. Food is literally the fuel for our precious bodies! Use the MyPlate visual as a guide to help plan meals, and have your children (school-age or older) make their own school lunches that include all the items. If they buy their lunch, go over the school menu and encourage them to use the MyPlate when choosing their lunch.

How ironic is it that being a parent is THE hardest job on the planet and there is no training manual? When it comes to raising healthy eaters, constantly be thinking about the behaviors around feeding children. Empower them to make the healthy choices so they will choose them on their own. That, my friends, is the key to raising a healthy adult.

April 29, 2013 | Filed Under Community | 2 Comments 

Child Health & Safety News Roundup: 04-15-2013 to 04-21-2013

twitter thumbWelcome to Pediatric Safety’s weekly “Child Health & Safety News Roundup”- a recap of the past week’s child health and safety news headlines from around the world.

Each day we use Twitter to communicate relevant and timely health and safety information to the parents, medical professionals and other caregivers who follow us. Occasionally we may miss something, but we think overall we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping you informed. But for our friends and colleagues who are not on Twitter (or who are but may have missed something), we offer you a recap of the past week’s top 20 events & stories.

PedSafe Headline of the Week:

Parents, consumer groups raise awareness of dangers of deadly furniture tip-overs http://t.co/hzi5lFTBsk

April 23, 2013 | Filed Under Awareness | Leave a Comment 

Personal WaterCraft & Kids: Can They Be Fast AND Safe??

Watercraft familySummer is fast approaching and that means that thousands of children will be hitting the water looking to go fast! Summer is the time to think about the beach and being outside and speeding around oceans, lakes or canals in (PWC) or personal watercrafts. PWC have steadily risen in ownership in the U.S to well over a million and with that increase in ownership come’s an increase in operators and injuries to the tune of over 12,000 documented injuries annually. Most injuries seem to occur when PWC collide—either with other vessels including other PWC or with fixed objects such as docks or tree stumps. Behavioral factors cited in 3 studies include operator inexperience (most operators had <20 hours of experience in boat operation), operator inattention, and excess speed or reckless operation. Some PWC can seat as many as 3 people and hit speeds of 60 mph. PWC are the only recreational boats for which the leading cause of death is not drowning; most fatalities result from blunt trauma.

The answer to the question of how to keep our children safe on the water seems to be the same as it has been for quite some time. Education and hands on practice. We need to educate our children and ourselves on water safety, both in and out of the water and both for operating and riding on a PWC. The Personal Watercraft Industry Association has the following recommendations:

RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. No one younger than 16 years should operate PWC.
  2. The operator and every passenger must wear a US Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device.
  3. Alcohol or other drug use should be avoided before and while operating PWC.
  4. Participation in a safe boater course with specific information about PWC should be required before operating PWC.
  5. Safe operating practices, such as no operation between sunset and sunrise, no wake jumping, and observing posted speed limits or no-wake zones, should be followed. (No-wake zone means the craft speed is slow enough that no wake is formed behind the craft as it crosses a specific area.)
  6. PWC should not be operated where swimmers are in the water.
  7. If a PWC is being used to tow another person on skis, knee boards, tubes, or other devices, a second person must face the rear to monitor the person being towed.
  8. All persons who rent PWC should be required to comply with these recommendations.
  9. Protective equipment such as wet suits, gloves, boots, eyewear, and helmets may be appropriate to wear.

When it comes to PWC, owning and operating a PWC is the same as owning and operating a car and should be treated with the same amount of respect. Would you hand over your car keys to your child who has little to no driver training? Of course not and the same should hold true when it comes to any PWC. The numbers don’t lie. Everyone needs PWC drivers Ed. Putting in the time before hand will save a lot of pain and suffering during what should be the most fun time of the year for kids.

Thank you and be safe

April 22, 2013 | Filed Under Community | 2 Comments 

Are Dental Sealants and Fillings Safe for Kids?

Are fillings safeA couple of weeks ago, I told you if you had any questions for health experts to ask away — and I’d see what I could do. Well, the topic for today’s post is thanks to my friend Kristin, who asked me to find out about BPA (bisphenol A) in dental fillings and sealants. Kristin is the “greenest” of all my friends; she even has solar panels on her house and gushes about how much it has saved her family on utilities. I’ve got to admit I wish I had her electric bill!

Back to BPA: Kristin and I tossed our kids’ plastic cups and dinnerware years ago after some preliminary research suggested that the chemical could leach out of plastics when heated and cause health problems, especially for babies and young children. I’ve been buying BPA-free water bottles and other plastics ever since, but it never occurred to me that there would be BPA in those white composite fillings or dental sealants (used to protect kids’ teeth from cavities) until Kristin, fresh from her kid’s teeth-cleaning, asked about it.

I called Julie Anne Barna, a dentist and a spokeswoman for the Academy of General Dentistry, to find out what’s going on. She said that though sealants and fillings don’t contain BPA per se, they do have compounds that can turn into BPA when they’re first put in the mouth. However, she assured me that a quick wipe and rinse of the dental work — a routine practice — removes the potential hazards. In fact, a study published last year in Pediatrics by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston found that scrubbing and rinsing sealants eliminates 88 to 95 percent of the BPA-causing compounds.

I wish it were 100 percent, of course, but 90-something is good enough for me. The real risk of having a cavity (and other dental problems that might lead to down the road) outweighs the theoretical risk from BPA. Now, please excuse me, I’m off to tell Kristin.



April 19, 2013 | Filed Under Community | 2 Comments 

Child Health & Safety News Roundup: 04-08-2013 to 04-14-2013

twitter thumbWelcome to Pediatric Safety’s weekly “Child Health & Safety News Roundup”- a recap of the past week’s child health and safety news headlines from around the world.

Each day we use Twitter to communicate relevant and timely health and safety information to the parents, medical professionals and other caregivers who follow us. Occasionally we may miss something, but we think overall we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping you informed. But for our friends and colleagues who are not on Twitter (or who are but may have missed something), we offer you a recap of the past week’s top 25 events & stories.

PedSafe Headline of the Week:

Small children can’t describe headache pain | watch for hands on their heads or over their eyes as a sign http://t.co/JGLFWqyNEq

April 16, 2013 | Filed Under Awareness | 2 Comments