The importance of being an advocate for your child is so important throughout their entire lives, and it should begin when they are babies. Some may think that they are being an advocate for their child and doing what’s best but again, sometimes somebody will tell us something that goes against our own instincts and we begin to think that maybe we were wrong. For instance, last month I took my three month old daughter to the doctor for a regular check-up. He asked what I was feeding her and I told him formula, and cereal. He gently reprimanded me for giving her cereal so early and told me to stop giving it to her immediately. I then told him that she was a very hungry child and that cereal once a day seems to satisfy her more than four bottles of formula in a four-hour time span does.

He looked at me and said, “You’re not going to take her off cereal, are you?” I told him no, I had no intention of doing so. While he again reminded me that he disagreed with my decision, he also said that it was my decision, as her parent, to make. He knew that giving her cereal probably wasn’t the worst thing in the world, even though he didn’t think she should be on it. He also knew that I am her parent and that I will do what I think is best.

This battle was just over cereal but there are bigger ones waiting down the road for me. From teachers telling me things that I won’t think are true or necessary, from my in-laws to pressuring me into raising my girls a certain way, I know that I will need to continually remind myself to be an advocate.

I’m not saying we should stop listening to these experts on everything. They are wonderful guides, and they are there to help us raise our child in the best possible way and environment. But when it comes to what’s best, listen to them and then listen to your gut. If you feel that something is very wrong, speak up and make sure that your children are receiving the care that they need and that you need them to have.

Written By: Kate Beswick

[tags]hungry_child, intuitions, cereal, advocate, babies, doctors, parents[/tags]

It seems as though as soon as a baby is born, the parents start looking for them to achieve milestones. First we want them to hold their head up, then we want them to roll over and then we start thinking about crawling and walking.

The rolling over milestone is really the first big movement that a baby will make on their own. With my second child, I was just as happy about her rolling over as I was with my first. I still called everyone I knew and applauded my baby as though she had just discovered electricity. Why do we get so excited? Well, it’s partly because it’s the first time that a baby is showing us that she’s well on her way to independence. First she’ll roll over and before you know it, she’ll be helping you make dinner. But there’s another reason. New parents are bombarded with what their child should be doing, milestones they should be reaching, when they should be reaching them, and how to help them achieve these great feats.

This can be a little overwhelming for parents that are sleep-deprived and already have too much to do. Worrying that our baby didn’t roll over the day she turned three months old can be one stress that we just don’t need. It’s easy to look at the ages for milestones and tell yourself logically that they are just guidelines. There’s really no need to worry unless your baby is continually missing milestones or seems to always be much slower than where the doctors and books say they should be.

But it’s important to not just tell ourselves these things but to actually believe them. These days are for bonding with your baby and to enjoy having them as the newest part of our family. Remember that they are just guidelines and if something is really wrong, the parent voice inside your head will nine times out of ten, let you know.

[tags]new_parents, milestones, milestone, electricity, doctors, stress, sleep[/tags]

One of the most common serious injuries in children is a fractured wrist. While it is a problem that is considerably easier to heal from (even if uncomfortable) with a few weeks in a cast, the time can be hard for the younger set. Casts are itchy and uncomfortable, and they can be worse for younger children who don’t always understand why they must not itch or even be in the cast.

Doctors are finding that for the common injury, a simpler splint may be more comfortable for children and work as well as a full cast. In testing the splint versus the cast, researchers have found that when it comes to healing right- there isn’t any real difference between the two.

Opting for a splint can be much more comfortable for children, and it is also more hygienic than the normally used cast. A splint can generally be taken off for a bit at a time, for bathing purposes especially. This was one of the many problems faced by casts, they are on until the injury is healed.

The only issue faced by splint wearers out of the study was an additional two weeks in it. Nobody in the study however needed surgery for issues related to their fractures.

Itchiness was the most common complaint (reported by 88 percent of children in the splint group, and 72 percent in the cast group), followed by irritation (60 percent in the splint group, and 40 percent in the cast group). Those differences were not significant in statistical terms.

There are a number of advantages that splints have over casts for children’s wrist fractures, according to lead researcher Dr. Kathy Boutis, a staff physician at the Hospital for Sick Children.
Splints make hygiene easier and allow children to scratch the itchiness that so often comes with an immobilized injury, Boutis told Reuters Health in an email. And, unlike casts, she pointed out, splints do not require a saw for removal — which can be a scary experience for younger children.

(Source: FoxNews)

President Obama today has signed the Health Care Bill, with an overall goal of a sweeping overhaul of the health care industry.  There are many changes, and ideas that will be going slowly into effect over the next few years, and while there are many longer term goals but there are some changes that you may see more immediately.

Among which is the limits on insurance companies’ ability to ‘kick’ people off their coverage due to sickness, or the inability to find affordable insurance due to a pre-existing condition.  Both have been huge problems faced by many families who may have a child with illness or a disability. 

Normally parents have been forced to pay massive amounts of money, especially for the lower middle class and others who aren’t the richest folks around, for health care visits for their children.

More changes that you may see sooner rather than later are your children are now able to be covered up until the age of 26 years.  The bill will also be eliminating the caps on coverage as well.

While some prices will be raised, it is expected that consumers won’t be effected too harshly.  The sweeping reforms are expected to go into effect soon, and continue to be instated over the duration of a few years.

Preventative care is also going to be more accessible to consumers.  The bill requires insurance companies to offer free preventative care to their customers.  This will add into overall savings by catching problems early, and lessening the expense in the long run.

The bill will also be instating an appeals process for those who feel they haven’t been treated fairly by their insurance company.

There is also a planned revamping of student aid added into the bill, with over $40 billion being directed at higher education.  With a fair portion of that going towards the Pell Grant, which helps those who may be financially strapped for cash, go back to school.

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An article in the New York Times has been raising some debate over children and weight loss surgery, namely gastric bypass surgery.  It  does goes into a considerable amount of detail over one girl’s experience, her name is Brittany Caesar and the article points out- she was the first adolescent to receive the procedure. 

Something that, since Brittany Caesar’s own gastric bypass, has become more popular.

The medical facility that she had received it from has seen two adolescent patients a month.

A quote from the article that has really stood out:

“I honestly believe that in 5 to 10 years you’ll see as many children getting weight-loss procedures as adults,” said Dr. Evan Nadler, co-director of the Obesity Institute at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington.

Now, really benefiting from gastric bypass surgery is made to seem as if it is the normal outcome, and that the person who had gotten it will be happier, and healthier no matter what. When it typically comes to stories about it, the hard work and dedication that is also required tends to get glossed over a bit.

Many people, even after having the procedure, quickly fall back into their old habits and the success rates is only recently growing more successful. 

The success rate primarily depends on the person’s ability to resist their bad habits.

Doctors themselves aren’t sure if children having the surgery is something that should be considered, as it has he potential to alter the growing body:

But many doctors say research has yet to establish whether immediate improvements from surgery justify altering a child’s digestive system, probably for life.

(Source: NYTimes)

While the article itself seems to push it as the newest frontier- is it something that should even be so close to the front of the debate- especially when it comes to children?

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