Archive for the 'Health & Safety' Category

Don’t think that keeping your newborn baby safe is a biggest risk. It doesn’t need much work to keep your baby safe. At this small age, your baby can’t get into much trouble on his own.

Even prior to the arrival of your baby, you can know how to handle the hidden threats for a newborn baby.

Here are some threats which you should know:

Safe sleep:

Make your baby to sleep on his back and on a stiff mattress so that you can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Don’t allow the newborn baby to sleep on anything that is soft and cushy such as a pillow, comforter, push toy, or sheepskin.

It is better to get a humid sleeper or one-piece outfit. It is the safest alternative than choosing a blanket, which can get scrambled around the baby. Ensure that the mattress fit tightly in the crib so that the baby cannot get ensnared between the mattress and the side of the crib.

Also, the crib should not consist of any missed gaps or broken parts.

Safe diaper changing:

You can travel with your infant by air safely, if you follow some safety issues.

But, it is better to avoid air travel as much as you can, because it takes some time for your newborn baby to adjust the new life outside your womb.

Most of you worry about air travel with your infants, because it will hurt your child’s ears. Usually, the consequences of air travel on your infant’s ear are same as for an adult’s ear.

Changes in the atmospheric pressure can cause various changes in your middle ear pressure. Finally it can lead to severe pain.

In order to equalize the pressure, feeding will greatly help you. So, during takeoff and landing time, feed your infant. If your infant is not hungry, try to offer a pacifier.

If your infant is already suffering from ear infection, then he/she will feel very uncomfortable while flying. So, it is better to consult the pediatrician before leaving. Your doctor will suggest eardrops for pain relief.

Some mothers suspect that traveling by air raises the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, because irregular breathing is the most common problem in a pressurized airplane cabin.

The overreaction of the immune system to the harmless substance causes child allergies.

This substance is treated as the invader, which causes the symptoms.

The child allergies are caused due to the hereditary conditions. But, all the children in the family may not get the allergy.

Some children without the family history develop the allergy.

Airborne allergies are most common in children

Pollen is the major cause for airborne child allergy. To fertilize other plants; trees, grass, weeds release these tiny particles into the air.

These are seasonal. The type of pollen determines the symptoms that a child is allergic to.

Dust mites are one of the causes for child allergies. These are the main components of allergies that contain the bacteria and fabric fibers. These live in carpets, upholstery and bedding.

Mold is a fungus that live in moist environment, outdoors in warm weather and indoors. Outdoor molds are found in poor drainage areas. It is a common allergen.

Indoor molds are found in poorly ventilated and dark places. Molds are seasonal but indoor molds grow through out the year.

Toddlers are easily affected by quite common things like fever, cold, sniffle and cough.

You can do nothing to avoid the growing mild illnesses and cold in your children.

The rest, comfort and fluids are the best remedies of these illnesses for your toddler health.

If your are worried about your toddler health, you can take the advise of your doctor.

Some of the common health issues in a toddler are:

Asthma:

In Australia, one out of five children is suffering from asthma.

When your child breaths out, a whistling sound called wheeze is observed. This can be distressing to both your child and you. You can ask your doctor for management plan, if your child has asthma [Asthma in toddlers].

Chicken-pox:

When your child has chicken pox, the red blisters occur by varicella zoster virus. The symptom is itchy and children cannot stop from scratching. This virus stays as a dormant, once it has run its course. It returns as shingles after many years.

You have to keep your child away from other children till the last blister is healed, as it is contagious. Immunization is the only way to avoid this.

Most of the infants are allergic to the proteins of cow milk.

The infant allergy to milk is very common.

The infants those have milk allergy are approximately 2-3% and they outgrow it typically.

Infant allergy due to milk:

The milk allergy in infants occurs due to the mistake of the immune system that identifies the milk protein as danger and fight against it. Allergic reactions makes the infant irritable and fussy.

Infant allergy to milk is more in case of formula fed infants than the breast fed infants. The researchers cannot understand the reasons for this infant allergy and they believed that it is genetic.

The symptoms of milk allergy to cow’s protein appear in few months of your child’s life. The symptoms can appear after feeding very quickly (rapid onset) or after consuming the cow’s milk for 7 to 10 days. This is very common.

The symptoms include: Refusing food, loose stools (possibly containing blood), skin rashes, vomiting, colic or irritability and gagging.

These symptoms cannot be diagnosed as they occur with other health conditions. This can outgrow by 2 years in most of the children.

Infant thrush or baby thrush is an overgrowth that can be seen in mouth of your baby.

This infection is due to the yeast called Candida Albicans.

This even occurs due to diaper rash. It can be found in genital areas, intestine and mouth.

It is common in infants up to 5 to 6 months of age.

Recognisition of baby thrush:

The characteristic milky or whitish patches or spots inside the tongue, lips, cheeks or gums are recognized as the thrush. It appears on the tongue as a white thick coating.

Do not scrap the baby thrush, as they bleed in doing so. This infection is not dangerous but it makes your baby’s mouth sore. You can face the problem while feeding your baby.

There is no definite cause for the thrush in your baby. It is not a contagious disease. It is an over growth of the yeast in your child’s mouth. The yeast can grow even when the antibiotics are taken.

There is no harm with this problem. It just irritates your baby’s mouth and leads to some problem while feeding. It will be painful when it becomes severe.

Have you seen about the toxic chemicals used in the baby equipment, toys and baby bottles in the news?

There is an evidence that these chemicals disrupt the endocrine system of the body (that controls the growth and hormones) and can cause the dreadful diseases like cancer.

So, these chemicals should be substituted with chemicals that are safe to use and these chemicals have to be banned.

Generally, for manufacturing baby equipments like the plastic toys, plastic (polycarbonate) feeding bottles and cot mattress, these chemicals are used.

Your children can ingest these toys made of harmful chemicals, which can build harmful levels in the bodies of your baby. But, some manufacturers are ignoring it and still they are manufacturing the equipments that contain the toxic chemicals. [Selecting the right baby toys].

Here are four groups of chemicals that are used for manufacturing house hold goods. The concern about these chemicals has been expressed by the campaigner of the environment.

Organotin compounds

To stabilize the PVC, these chemicals are used. These can be found in baby equipment with harder PVC and vinyl flooring. In animals, some hormonal changes are caused due to these chemicals.

You have prepared the delicious food for your baby and now you want to store it.

Here you can get some tips for baby food storage. You can store the food in freezer or refrigerator.

You can store small quantity of food in refrigerator. You have to see that the food kept in the container should be air tight.

As the temperature in the door is low, the food should not be placed on the door of the refrigerator. Always place the food in the shelves.

You can store large quantities of food in the freezer. See the following chart for your baby food storage so that you can know the length of the time for safe storage.

You can see that the frozen foods can be okay, but the nutritional value and taste will change.