Parent Extremis

Please read the information below. Ikea is a great store that we all love. I know I have tons of furniture and supplies in my house from them. However, there is one product that has entangled a child. Please read below to be sure you do not have this product in your home, and what to do if you or someone you know does own this item.

Strangulation Death of a Child Prompts Recall of Roman Blinds; Sold Exclusively at IKEA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: IRIS and ALVINE Roman Blinds

Units: About 670,000 (an additional 4.8 million were sold outside of the United States)

Distributor: IKEA Home Furnishings, of Conshohocken, Pa.

Hazard: Strangulations can occur when a child places his/her neck in an exposed inner cord on the backside of the roman blinds.

Incidents/Injuries: On April 4, 2008, a 1-year-old girl in Greenwich, Conn. became entangled in the inner cord of an IKEA Roman Blind and strangled. The child was in a portable playpen that was located underneath a fully lowered roman blind. She was found partially suspended with the inner cord of the blind wrapped twice around her neck.

Description: This recall involves all sizes of IRIS and ALVINE Roman Blinds in white. The blinds have a sewn-in label at the top edge of the blind with the IKEA logotype, article name (IRIS or ALVINE), 5-digit supplier number 19799 or 21369, four digit date stamp (YYWW) and the words “Made in India”. On the bottom edge of the blind there is a sewn-in orange/white safety warning label. The blinds are made from 100% cotton.

Sold at: IKEA stores nationwide from July 2005 through June 2008 for between $7 and $30.

Manufactured in: India

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled Roman Blinds and return them to any IKEA store to obtain a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact IKEA toll-free at (888) 966-4532 anytime, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.ikea-usa.com

Note: CPSC reminds consumers to examine all Roman Blinds and shades in their homes. If looped pull cords are present or exposed inner cords are found on the back of blinds or shades and children are in the home or occasionally visit your home, please consider replacing them with blinds or shades that do not have exposed pull cords or inner cords.

Parent Extremis wishes everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving 2008!

Earlier this year the news story broke announcing that Melamine had been found in infant formula made and sold in China. The result was over 50,000 ill babies and sadly, a few dead babies. Melamine is a chemical with many uses, among which is the ability to appear as a protein when dangerously and illegally mixed into food substances.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says there is NO SAFE LEVEL of Melamine in infant formula. A contradiction indeed, they are also telling parents not to overreact or change their baby’s diet at this time. The levels found are extremely low, however, you be the judge. The FDA has established a section of their website for Melamine information.

Yahoo! Reports from the Associated Press:

According to FDA data for tests of 77 infant formula samples, a trace concentration of melamine was detected in one product — Mead Johnson’s Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron. An FDA spreadsheet shows two tests were conducted on the Enfamil, with readings of 0.137 and 0.14 parts per million.

Three tests of Nestle’s Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron detected an average of 0.247 parts per million of cyanuric acid, a melamine byproduct.

The FDA said last month that the toxicity of cyanuric acid is under study, but that meanwhile it is “prudent” to assume that its potency is equal to that of melamine.

And while the FDA said tests of 18 samples of formula made by Abbott Laboratories, including its Similac brand, did not detect melamine, spokesman Colin McBean said some company tests did find the chemical. He did not identify the specific product or the number of positive tests.

Questions and Answers to you questions about Melamine. What is Melamine? What do I do if I think my infant formula contains Melamine? Melamine Information? Symptoms of Melamine poisoning?

Enfamil released a statement today saying that the FDA testing was inaccurate.

Well, folks, more products have been recalled. Products that your children might be playing with this minute. Please read below and make a note of these toys and the contact info in case you or someone you know owns these toys.

RECALLED: Cobra Electronics Children’s Two-Way Radios with Rechargeable Batteries. The batteries can leak and cause chemical burns. These toys were sold at Toys R’ Us in August and September of this year for about $30. They are made in China. If you need more information, contact Cobra Electronics at (888) 252.9889 or visit www.cobra.com.

If you return this product you will get a free-replacement and a 20% off discount towards a future purchase.

RECALLED: JA-RU recalls My Little Train Classics Toy Trains because of a choking hazard. The toy contains small parts that can detach and act as a choking hazard for young children. Made in China they are imported by JA-RU located in Jacksonville, Florida. They were sold nationwide from March 2007 through October 2008 for about $2. JA-RU can be reached at (800) 231.3470.

RECALLED: The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in conjunction with CORAL has recalled Swim N’ Score Dive Sticks because they pose a risk of impalement injury. They were sold at Modell’s Sporting Goods Stores from August 1999 until October 2008. Children can fall or land on the sticks in shallow water and suffer impalement, eye and facial injuries. If you have any of these, please contact Modell’s at (800) 275.6633 or visit www.modells.com/recall

To sign up to receive regular email notices about product safety and recalls visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website at www.cpsc.gov.

Johnson & Johnson, a Merck Consumer Pharmaceutical Company has announced this week, November 10, 2008, an urgent nationwide recall of the Infants’ Mylicon Gas Relief Dye-Free Drops. The medication is an over-the-counter simethicone-based formula to relieve gas. A batch of the medication is being recalled due to the possibility of metal fragments in the medication. This is a precautionary level recall and the potential for serious medical illness is low. It is, however, possible that small metal fragments reached the medication during the manufacturing process.

If you have given this product to your child you shouldn’t worry, any problem should be temporary and resolve without treatment. You should contact your doctor or pediatrician if you suspect you gave this medication to your child.

The two lots of Infants’ MYLICON® GAS RELIEF DYE FREE drops non-staining 1 oz. bottles included in the recall are:

Product Code #	Lot #	Exp	Product
71683791111-1	SMF007	09/10	Infants’ MYLICON® Gas Relief Dye Free Non-Staining Drops 1 oz.
71683791111-1	SMF008	09/10	Infants’ MYLICON® Gas Relief Dye Free Non-Staining Drops 1 oz.

Consumers can find the lot numbers on the bottom of the box containing the product and also on the lower left side of the sticker on the product bottle.

If you have questions about this recall you can reach the company at this number, 1-800-222-9435 or online at www.mylicon.com .

SOURCE

November is National Adoption Month.  Adoption is the means to which many people create a family. Adoption awareness has grown since 1976 when Michael Dukakis, then-governor of Massachusetts proclaimed Adoption Week. The idea gained popularity throughout the nation and in 1990 the week was expanded to a month in many states. Across the nation this month there will be recognition dinners, public awareness campaigns and recruitment campaigns to spotlight the large number of children who need permanent families.

This year’s theme for National Adoption Month is adopting teens from foster care.  If you are interested in adoption click here to learn about being a prospective adoption family.  There are many types of adoptions, domestic and international.  Laws and requirements vary by state.

451 Press has several blog sites dedicated specifically to adoption and foster parents.  Parenting The Adopted and Foster Parents Online.

Have you gotten a flu shot yet? Have you gotten one for your children? The Flu is more dangerous for children than a common cold. When they are under the age of five influenza can frequently send children to the hospital for dangerously high fevers and dehydration. Complications occur most often in children younger than two. Children with asthma and diabetes are at especially high risk for complications. The CDC reports that during the 2007-2008 flu season, 86 children died from flu-related complications.

You do not have to get the flu.

There is a vaccine. You have to get vaccinated every year for a new strain of flu. The virus mutates from year to year and that is why a vaccine from last year won’t protect you this flu season. The CDC recommends that all children over the age of six months get a flu vaccine.

The first time a child under the age of nine gets a flu vaccine he will need two doses of vaccine given at least 28 days apart or more. The first dose “primes the immune system and the second dose provides actual protection. My own pediatrician explained to me that young children have immature immune systems and in order to have complete immunity to the flu virus, they need two doses of vaccine.

The sooner you get vaccinated each year the better. If you find it is November or even December you can still get a vaccine. The peak of flu season isn’t until later in the winter. It’s never too late. Get the vaccine. You can get it at your doctor’s office or even more easily at a local grocery store pharmacy or local drug store flu clinic.

SOURCE

Does your little tot carry around a blanket, a stuffed animal or is he still constantly connected to his binky, or pacifier?

This is all very common behavior, devotion and dependency on an object for comfort.  These objects are commonly known as a lovey.  These objects of comfort provide a calm reminder when you, the parent step away and the child experiences some anxiety.  They lovey is familiar, providing smells of home or reminders of you.

Loveys are more common for toddlers and younger children but sometimes a baby will become connected to an object before their first birthday.  Security items can include pacifiers and a thumb, a blanket or cloth diaper.   You may notice that this object never leaves their hand or their sight.  Sucking has a calming affect of babies reminding them of feeding times when they were close to the parent or caregiver.  Soft blankets are soothing to the touch as well.

Parents often worry that their child will never give up their lovey and often joke that he or she will walk down the aisle dragging their nicknamed blanket or go off to college still sleeping with a pacifier or sucking their thumb but you shouldn’t worry too long.   Children will give up their objects in time and there isn’t any harm in sleeping with a certain blanket or stuffed animal into their teen years.  We all have favorite sheets or pillows, so do children, the comfort and familiarity are the same.

Thumb sucking can harm tooth development and lead to the need for braces and orthodontic devices, if you are worried about your child sucking their thumb too long, speak with your child’s dentist and pediatrician for ways to help them wean off.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in conjunction with Carter’s are advising parents that their clothing with tag-less heat transfered labels are causing rashes in some children. A small percentage of babies and children have developed rashes on their upper back and neck. The affected clothing was manufactured in various countries and sold at Carter’s stores and other retail chains as well.

The clothing that is causing this rash is associated with the Carter’s Fall 2007 line of clothing. It uses a label on the inside back of the garment that has a raised surface with a solid background. This advisory does not apply to the current product lines that use a label with a stenciled background. See the photo below for an image of the label.

If your child develops a rash stop wearing the garment and if the rash persists contact your pediatrician. Some doctors will recommend applying a little bit of anti-itch cream or a moisturizing cream like Aquaphor.

These labels are safe and are not the ones included in this advisory.

Babies and young children are also very susceptible to rashes and a variety of skin conditions including baby acne, eczema and impetigo.

Babies and children have very delicate skin and soon after birth it is common for them to get minor rashes and bumps on their skin that don’t offend them.  However, more severe rashes and allergies are also all too common and require diet modification and sometimes antibiotics.  If you aren’t sure what is appearing on your baby or child’s skin you should see your pediatrician for a diagnosis.

Once again I am taking a break from parenting issues to pass along some serious information that might help save your baby or the life of a baby you know.  Please please read below and make sure you do not have any of these products. These recalls are direct from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC.  You can click on the link for further information about what to do if you have one of these recalled products.

First, there was a recall of 2,000 Convertible Cribs by Playkids USA.  This crib can entrap and suffocate an infant, and in fact, a five-month old baby in Brooklyn died in August as a direct result of this faulty product.  The sides of these cribs are made of mesh that expands.   A gap can open up between the mattress and the side and an infant can slip between the side and mattress.   With any crib or pack n’ play be sure that the mattress is very tight fitting.  Mesh sides are designed so that a child who rolls over and cannot roll back is able to breathe through the mesh siding.  But that mesh should be very tight.

There was also a recall of about 800 Baby Walkers made by the My Way Corporation of San Juan, Puerto Rico.  These walkers were sold exclusively in Puerto Rico too.  The hazard of this walker is that it does not meet the voluntary standard size and can fit through a standard size doorway.  It is also not designed to stop at the edge of a stair as most walkers are nowadays.

EcoChildsPlay is giving away a free Medela Nursing Camisole.  Visit the site and enter this awesome giveaway.

Medela products are and have always been free of BPA.

We’ve all heard stories of a friend who was in Wal-Mart and witnessed a seven-year old using a pacifier and a one-year old with a bottle full of Coke. Some of us prefer to feed our kids as much organic food as possible and some of us just try to get something, anything edible into our kids mouths a few times a day and then hope for the best. Coke in a baby’s bottle is largely WRONG but aside from that little sugary snafu, where do you draw your line and how do you determine what kind of nutrition your kids get?

With advertising being what it is today it can be tricky for busy, unknowing and first-time parents to decide what to feed their children. Food labeling is at an all time marketing-led high of misinformation and misleading claims. Whole grain - Heart Healthy - Low Fat - No Trans Fat - DHA/ARA! - Omega 3 - It’s enough to make even the rare calm level-headed unstressed-out parent-shopper a little frazzled.

A quick Google search for _kids nutrition_ and _nutrition for kids_ doesn’t yield many definitive or direct answers. There are quite a few pages, indeed but no simple charts or lists saying that kids need X amount of vegetables and Y amount of calcium each day. Rather, most websites I found referenced the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. Also, the USDA Food Pyramid for Kids.

I also came across several mentions of a campaign to combat a severe lack of calcium in kids diets these days. Calcium is a nutrient found in dairy products (yogurt, cheese, milk, cottage cheese) and green leafy vegetables that is responsible for helping to build strong bones.

When I started this article I had hoped to find more definitive information about children and nutrition. I wanted to pass on facts and guidelines but there wasn’t anything very easy to locate. How do you feel about this? Are you confident about what you feed your kids? Could you use an update on nutrition? Where do you look for this sort of information?

It’s that time of year again folks, the time we put away the shorts and pull out the sweaters and coats. However, many of us will take vacations to warmer locales in the next few months and its important to keep kids safe in the sun.

Kids Health gives some great tips for kids in the sun. Kids Health also recommends this for wearing sunscreen: Use a sunscreen with an SPF rating of 15 or higher. Put on sunscreen 15 to 20 minutes before going out in the sun. If you are fair skinned, you should use a sunscreen with a higher SPF rating such as SPF 30. The letters SPF stand for sun protection factor, and the number rating tells you how much longer you can stay in the sun without getting sunburned. So if you normally burn after 20 minutes and you put on a sunscreen with an SPF rating of 15, this sunscreen may give you 15 times the protection. That’s 15 times 20 minutes, or 300 minutes (5 hours).

The suns rays are the strongers between the hours of 10am and 4pm. Avoid direct exposure during those hours as much as possible. Hop into the shade as much as you can.

This EPA website provides some great options for protecting yourself in the sun, like wearing sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats.

More sun saftey tips from the Sun Safety Alliance

• Keep in mind the sun is strongest between 10 am and 4 pm.
• Wear clothing that’s dark and tightly woven.
• Wear a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.
• Remember that UV rays bounce off sand, snow, concrete, and water.
• Do not use sun tanning beds.
• Keep very young children (6 months or less) out of the sun.
• Sunscreens need to be applied liberally and evenly over all exposed areas.
• Apply a sunscreen with a SPF of 15 or higher whenever you’re outdoors. To achieve adequate UV protection you should use products that provide broad spectrum protection, which means protection against both UVB and UVA rays. For broad spectrum protection, look for products that provide an SPF of at least 15 and contain ingredients like Avobenzone (Parsol 1789) or zinc oxide.
• For children, the SSA recommends sunscreen with an SPF 30 or higher.
• Apply sunscreen before going outdoors and reapply often.
• Reapply sunscreen after swimming, perspiring, and toweling off.
• Provide complete sunscreen coverage for your skin (including neck, ears and lips!).
• For people with thin or thinning hair, apply sunscreen to the scalp as well.
• And rememberstay in the shade whenever possible!

My son is nine months old and I am not even thinking of weaning him anytime soon, but I’m getting mixed messages because all of those PARENTING emails I get each week are starting to mention weaning so I’m starting to think about when I will do it and how I will do it. I have been breastfeeding since Noah was born and for the most part it has gone well for both of us but it has definitely been drastically reduced as we have introduced regular solid foods.

Many women wean after six weeks or three months if they return to work, some set a goal of six months or a year or two plus years. While I am a champion for breastfeeding mothers I whole-heartedly support all mothers and their choices for whatever works best for them and their families. Pediatricians often recommend that babies who are fed formula switch to whole milk at age one. Also, my own pediatrician said I should start whole milk at age one but that if I wanted to continue breastfeeding I could.

Most recently the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that women nurse for a minimum of one year and into the second year if possible because of the significant health benefits for both mother and baby.

Regardless of when you decide to wean and for whatever reason, consider a few things to make the transition easier on you and baby. Wean over a period of at least a few weeks, choose a calm time so that this is the only major change happening at this time. Make an effort to spend extra time with your baby to make up for lost breast-time. Increase one-on-one time, cuddle, read and be close. Don’t be surprised if you experience some emotional changes from the hormonal shift. Take time to nurture yourself, ask for support from your partner, friends, and family.

SOURCE: PARENTS.Com

I’m not a big fan of following any “method” of parenting to a -T-. I feel more strongly that each child’s personality needs different kinds of care and stimulation and when you claim to follow a certain method you are closing off your options to other parenting resources that might actually make sense to you.

Authoritative Parenting is often seen as the evil step-sister of Attachment Parenting. Authoritative Parenting is built on two components, Parental Responsiveness and Parental Demandingness. This can be seen as love, warmth and nurturing VERSUS discipline and control. The parents have to choose how they balance this concept. Some opt for much more demanding and control and others act with a majority of love and warmth with only occasional control.

According to a University of Minnesota publication here is the core of Authoritative Parenting:

Parental Responsiveness (love, warmth, nurturance): Parental responsiveness is the extent to which parents respond to the child’s needs in an accepting, supportive manner. It is a very powerful force in the development of children, and most children probably do not get enough. Nurturance helps children feel loved, secure, and cared about, and it fosters children’s acceptance of discipline and parental demands. There are many ways to respond and nurture children, including listening attentively spending time with children, being available, and giving more attention to that which pleases and less to that which does not (”catch them being good”).

Parental Demandingness (discipline, control) Demandingness is the extent to which a parent expects and demands responsible behavior from children. This dimension includes both setting and enforcing rules or limits on children. In order to be enforced, rules must be clear, reasonable, developmentally appropriate, fair and just, mutually agreed upon, flexible, and emphasize what to do rather just what not to do. Enforcement of rules is much more than just punishment. Indeed, punishment is probably the least effective of the alternatives available. Monitoring and understanding children’s behavior, preventing misbehavior, rewarding good behavior, and guidance are more effective tools.