Blog: Exercising With Baby

It's tough to stay committed to exercising without a baby in tow, so when one is actually in the picture things get a bit more difficult. The Babies Online Blog offers up some suggestions for mom and baby workouts.

Toddlers and Cholesterol Tests

A new recommendation released today by the American Academy of Pediatrics urges cholesterol screenings for children as young as two-years-old.

Fighting Insomnia

Baby keeping you awake? Can't sleep? Try these five ways to get to sleep and stay asleep.

Tender Heart Infant Massage

The International Association of Infant Massage is a great resource for finding Certified Infant Massage Instructors around the U.S. and the world. This association trains and certifies instructors who in turn teach parents and caregivers how to massage their babies.

One of these Certified Infant Massage Instructors is Cali Petitt, who introduced us to this program. She is a mompreneur (and Baby Blog Addict reader) who recently started her own business, Tender Heart Infant Massage.

"It's basically in-home infant massage instruction that can be done privately or for groups of friends who want to get together for a series of three mommy and me classes," Petitt told BBA. "Using a teaching doll, I teach parents how to properly perform infant massage. I strongly recommend learning from a certified instructor, since all of the massage strokes have been researched."

Some of the benefits of infant massage include:

• Deepens bond between parent and baby
• Promotes relaxation and can help baby sleep better
• May relieve symptoms due to gas, constipation, teething, sinus congestion
• Stimulates healthy growth and development

Cali Petitt, CCLS, CIMI, teaches in the Mandeville/Covington, Louisiana area, so if you are in that area, you can reach her at 985-502-0629. If not, you can find a Certified Infant Massage Instructor in your area by checking out the U.S. list of 7,000 instructors.

'Designer Baby' Free of Cancer Gene

This is certain to kick-start a few conversations in the coming days: a couple are expecting Britain's first baby screened not to have hereditary breast cancer in a move hailed as "an exciting technological development."

They decided to screen her embryos and remove the inherited cancer-causing gene BRCA-1 because the baby's father, his sister, mother, grandmother and cousin all had the cancer.

Baby Furniture Tainted With Formaldehyde

A number of cribs and changing tables commonly sold at retail outlets contain unhealthy levels of formaldehyde, a consumer advocacy group reported yesterday. Studies have shown that excessive exposure to formaldehyde increases the risk of asthma and respiratory problems.

The report says the Child Craft Oak Crib had the highest formaldehyde of the 21 items tested, emitting 3,680 micrograms per hour.

Plastic Baby Bottles Ruled Safe

Plastic baby bottles and water bottles are safe, a federal health official said Tuesday, seeking to ease public concerns about the health hazards of a chemical used in the products.

The National Toxicology Program said in a recent draft report that there is "some concern" that bisphenol A can cause changes in behavior and the brain, as well as reduce survival and birthweight in fetuses. It drew its conclusions from animal studies.

Baby With Rare Tumor Born Twice, Now Healthy 4-Week-Old

Sounds like a story out of The Inquirer, but it's not. This is an amazing true story highlighting advances in medical technology and the miracle of life. Here's a clipping of the begninng of the story. It's definitely worth a click through to read the rest.

Four months into Keri McCartney's pregnancy, doctors reportedly noticed a tumor growing on the baby's tailbone.

Doctors discovered that the tumor was stealing blood from the fetus and weakening her heart. So, at 25 weeks, surgeons at Texas Children's Fetal Center cut into McCartney's abdomen in an effort to remove the life-threatening mass, according to a CBS News report. For the rest of the story...

Click here for photos including one incredible picture from the operation. I was going to post it here, but even FoxNews.com has a warning that it's graphic, so I figured I'd put the link instead.

Three-Year-Old Boy Sleeps For First Time

At three years old, Rhett Lamb was awake nearly 24 hours a day, and his condition baffled his parents and doctors for years. They took clock shifts watching his every sleep-deprived mood to determine what ailed the young boy.

Rhett's parents finally found out what was wrong with him. He was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition called chiari malformation. In order to relieve the pressure on Rhett's brain stem, doctors performed surgery last week that they hoped would allow him to sleep properly for the first time in his life.

And the results...The surgery appeared to have worked, Rhett’s father, David, said Thursday. "Last night, we didn’t wake up," David Lamb said. "It was amazing."

More U.S. Retailers Give BPA The Boot

Toys 'R' Us announced today that it will phase out bottles and other "baby feeding products" containing BPA by the end of the year. Wal-Mart last week said that it will stop selling baby bottles made with BPA by early next year.

Stanford University pediatrician Alan Greene, author of Raising Baby Green, encourages parents to reduce their children's exposure to BPA. "I wouldn't use it for my children," says Greene, a father of four.

Greene says parents can avoid BPA by choosing glass bottles or shunning plastics labeled with a number 7 recycling code. Some bottles, such as BornFree, Medela and Adiri, are now marketed as BPA-free. Greene notes that BPA is found in a number of products, including the linings of formula cans. Because BPA may be less likely to leach into dry products, powdered formula could be a safer choice than liquid, he says.

Internet Addiction Worst Among Middle-Aged Women Who Stay At Home

I came across this article titled, "Internet addictions: A real medical menace?" It states:

• Internet addiction...is becoming so common that at least one psychiatrist says it merits inclusion in psychiatry's official handbook of mental illness, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."
  
• ...But other doctors comment that Internet addiction, while it may be real, is too new of a condition and needs further study before being medically classified.

Of course I thought about us Baby Blog Addicts while reading the article and chuckled because they were talking about people waaaaay beyond us, right? Until I got to the part that said, "Recent studies are surprising, indicating the problem is worst not among game-obsessed teens, but rather among middle-aged women who stay at home, constantly on the computer as a way of connecting to the outside world."

I guess we need to feature a 12 step program soon!

Glass Baby Bottles Make a Comeback

New York - Meg Robustelli had heard reports that a chemical in most plastic baby bottles could be dangerous, but she had not done anything about it. That's when her mother stepped in and bought her glass bottles.

"She's an alarmist, but I'm grateful," said Robustelli, whose daughter, Mia, is 14 months old. "I switched because of all the concerns about the plastic."

She made the change about six months ago, becoming one of a relatively small but growing number of parents turning to glass bottles amid concerns over a chemical used to make plastic bottles, bisphenol A.

Earlier on BBA: Heating Plastic Bottles Poses a Risk

10 Surprising Easter Dangers

Easter Celebrations are supposed to be enjoyable. We prepare delicious food, arrange fun activities and gather together with our family and friends."

But with all the joys of the Easter Holiday comes potential safety hazards which can hurt or kill a child, dog or cat," warns Debra Holtzman. She suggests following ten simple tips to keep your family and pets safe this Easter...

Lead in Mardi Gras Beads?

Mardi Gras season is in full swing in New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile and all other cities and small towns (around the country now) that celebrate this holiday.

With all the scares about lead in children's toys last year, we can't help but wonder about lead in Mardi Gras beads too. It's definitely something to think about considering that most beads are made in China and most kids put the beads in their mouths at some point during the Mardi Gras season. Even if the beads are not lead hazards, they can be choking hazards, so watch small children carefully or better yet, don't let them play with the beads at all.

Here's an excerpt from the article "Chinese-made Mardi Gras beads get a second look" that was recently published in The Times Picayune (the New Orleans newspaper): "The brightly colored beads and baubles showered on crowds during Carnival processions originate largely in Chinese factories. Retailers say they are now testing to see if the imported wares are safe." For more of the article including specific testing for some retailers, click here.

Is Caffeine a Pregnancy Risk?

Two new studies reach somewhat different conclusions about the connection between drinking caffeine and miscarriage risk, an inconsistency that dates back to the 1980s, when scientists began investigating the subject.

Toy Recalls Tops Health Stories of 2007

Topping WebMD's 10 Top Health Stories of 2007... #1 -Deadly Kid Stuff: Toy Recalls and More

WebMD's top story isn't just one story. In more than a baker's dozen of stories, month after month, WebMD reported an astonishing wave of unsafe-product recalls, most of them children's toys. For a recap of the year of recalls, click here.

Child Height Predictor

Find out how tall your child will be at parentcenter.com. This calculator works for children age 2 and up.

Parents' heights are a good predictor of a child's adult height, but heredity only accounts for about 70% of what goes into deciding how tall someone will be. The other 30% comes from environmental factors, like eating habits (poor nutrition can "stunt" a child's growth) and exercise patterns (a competitive gymnast may not grow to her full potential).

Sometimes a child will surprise everyone and turn out much taller or shorter than either parent. This calculator can't account for that possibility. It also won't work well for children who 1) are exceptionally tall, 2) are already taller than both their parents, or 3) have a condition that affects their height, such as growth hormone deficiency.

As We Enter Cold Season

Here's a bit of advice on preventing ear infections from a fellow Baby Blog Addict.

"I wanted to pass along something that I learned years ago and it saved me so many trips to the doctor.

I noticed when my daughter was almost two that everytime she had a runny nose it would turn into an ear infection. We were helping with a camp session during the month of July and she had gotten her third ear infection of the summer. We were about to do tubes when a nurse practicioner friend of ours at the camp told me something that I had NEVER heard. She said that when you give children a decongestant when the have a runny nose that it dries it up but dries it THICK and that is when they get an ear infection. She said to give then an EXPECTORANT – like Robitussin DM. I don’t think that we have had an ear infection since and she is now 4 ½.

I just wanted to pass this along as we are about to enter this cold season. Thought that this may help someone else like it helped me!!"

During all the recent recalls, I think Robitussin has been in the clear (except for a recall at the end of October regarding missing labeling on their dosage cup). We recommend that you ask your health care professional before giving any medication to your children. Thanks for the advice, Renee.

Reduce Lead Exposure in Your Home

Here's some advice for consumers from consumersunion.org, the independent, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

Given lead’s potential for harm, Consumers Union believes that manufacturers should eliminate its use or reduce it to the smallest trace amounts. But for consumers who are looking to minimize their lead risks, Consumer Reports advises the following:

• Reduce lead exposure in the home – Consumers who live in pre-1978 housing should evaluate lead risks in their home. The main concerns are deteriorating paint, dust, soil, and water. Have children tested for lead – The EPA recommends all children be tested at ages 1 and 2. Some pediatricians also recommend testing at annual checkups under age 6.


• Check recall lists – Consumers should go to http://www.cpsc.gov/ for photos and descriptions of toys and other products recalled due to lead contamination.


• Consume adequate calcium and iron – People whose diets don’t contain sufficient amounts absorb more lead.


• You can also try home lead-testing kits. More on the home kits in our next post below....

Home Lead-Testing Kits

Consumer Reports recently tested five home lead-testing kits and concluded that three of the five kits tested were useful though limited screening tools for consumers concerned about lead levels in the products in their homes.

In Consumer Reports tests, the Homax Lead Check ($8) and the Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit ($18.45) were the easiest to use and identified accessible lead in toys, ceramic dishware, and vinyl or plastic. Consumer Reports notes that the Lead Inspector ($13) test kit might be superior for pink or red items, because if those shades of paint bled onto a Lead Check swab, it might falsely appear to be positive.

In the Consumer Reports tests, the First Alert ($13) kit indicated some false negatives for accessible lead and the Pro-Lab Lead Surface ($10) test kit was less sensitive and more difficult to use than the others.

Consumerunion.org goes into more detail about the testing of these kits about 2/3 of the way down on the link here.