News Moms Need

Sandoz is recalling 10 lots of Introvale® birth control pills due to a packaging error. The mistake has to do with how each pill is assigned to each day and week of the month. If you use Introvale® as your birth control pill, the recalled pills don’t put your health at risk. However, it can leave you without enough contraception and put you at risk for an unplanned pregnancy.

Each 3 month pack of Introvale® has 12 rows of peach colored pills and 1 last row of white (placebo) pills. The recalled lots mistakenly have the white placebo row in another row, not the final 13th row as it should be in.

If you find the white placebo row in any position other than the 13th row, start using another kind of non-hormonal contraception as a backup, such as condoms. Also, talk to your health provider and contact Sandoz to report the finding at 800-525-2492 or qa.druginfo@sandoz.com. To learn more about the recall, visit the FDA website.

Infant’s grape flavored liquid Tylenol is being recalled because of a problem with the dosing tool. Infants’ Tylenol Oral Suspension Grape uses a dosing syringe, a tube with a nozzle used to draw in and release fluid. The dosing syringe is placed into a protective cover, called a flow restrictor, that sits at the top of the bottle and helps to measure the right amount of medicine to give. Some parents reported problems with using the dosing syringe, in which the protective cover at the top of the bottle was pushed into the bottle when inserting the syringe.

Over half a million bottles of this grape flavored infant Tylenol were distributed nationwide. If you have this Tylenol and are having problems using the dosing syringe, stop using the product and contact Tylenol at www.tylenol.com or McNeil Consumer Healthcare (makers of Tylenol) at (888) 222-6036 for a refund.

To learn more about the recall, visit the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Watch this video to learn more about the dosing syringe. Learn more about your baby’s health.

Smucker’s® is recalling its Natural Peanut Butter Chunky because it may have Salmonella, bacteria that cause salmonellosis infection. People with salmonellosis can get sick and may have diarrhea, fever, vomiting and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.

The recall is for Smucker’s® Natural Peanut Butter Chunky with the following details:

• Purchased between November 8 - 17, 2011
• UPC 5150001701 (located on the side of the jar’s label below the bar code)
• Production Codes 1307004 and 1308004
• Best-If-Used-By dates August 3, 2012 and August 4, 2012
• Chunky product only (not creamy)

In most healthy adults, symptoms can last for days. But pregnant women, babies and others with weakened immune systems can sometimes become seriously ill from Salmonella infection.  Occasionally, a pregnant woman can pass a Salmonella infection on to her baby. After birth, her baby can get diarrhea, fever and, less frequently, meningitis after birth. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain.

Visit the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website for more information on the peanut butter recall.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is urging parents not to give premature babies (babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy) the thickening product called SimplyThick. The product may cause a life-threatening health problem called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). With NEC, tissue in the intestines gets inflamed and dies.

Some premature babies have trouble swallowing. SimplyThick is a product that’s added to breastmilk or formula to make it thicker. Health providers recommended SimplyThick because it helped premature babies swallow their food and keep it down, without spitting it up. SimplyThick was available from distributors and local pharmacies.

The FDA learned that some babies got sick with NEC after they were sent home on an eating plan that included SimplyThick. Sadly, some of these babies died. NEC most often happens early in a premature baby’s life while she is still in the hospital, not after she’s sent home. NEC is very dangerous to a baby’s health.

At this time, the FDA isn’t sure what about SimplyThick is making babies sick. The organization is actively looking into the link between SimplyThick and these illnesses and deaths.
 
In the meantime, the FDA urges parents to stop using the product immediately, even if their babies don’t appear to be sick.

Call your baby’s health care provider if she shows any of these signs:
• bloated stomach
• greenish-tinged vomiting
• bloody stools

For more information on SimplyThick and the risk to premature babies, visit the FDA website.

About 5 million Similac powdered infant formula containers, including Isomil and Go & Grow, are being recalled. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that these containers may have insect pieces or larvae in them.

The recall is for milk and soy-based Similac powdered infant formulas sold in United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and some Caribbean countries. Some of these formulas were given to families through the federal government’s Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) health and nutrition program. Similac liquid formulas aren’t being recalled.

If you’ve already fed your baby some of the recalled powdered formula, the FDA reassures that your baby won’t have any long-term health problems. In the meantime, if you have a recalled container, stop using it immediately and return it to the manufacture for a full refund.

To learn more or to see a complete list of the recalled powdered infant formula products, visit the FDA Web site. You can also look at the lot numbers printed at the bottom of the formula containers and enter them in the search box on this FDA Web page to see if they’re part of the recall. Contact Abbott (makers of Similac) at (800) 986-8850 with any questions.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recalling nearly 28 million boxes of Kellogg’s® brand cereals. The cereals being recalled are Apple Jacks®, Corn Pops®, Froot Loops® and Honey Smacks®. The FDA received reports that the package liners in these cereals have an unusual smell affecting the flavor of the cereals. Some people reported having temporary nausea or diarrhea.

The cereals were sold at stores nationwide between March and June of this year. If you have any of the cereals mentioned above, take a look at the Better If Used Before Date on the box. Only cereal boxes with the letters “KN” appearing after the Better If Used Before Date are being recalled.

While it’s unlikely for people to get seriously ill, the FDA recommends that consumers stop eating these cereals and contact the Kellogg’s Consumer Response Center at 888-801-4163 for a new box of cereal.  Visit the FDA Web site for more information. Learn more about food safety.

If you are working on getting to a healthy weight before getting pregnant, you may be eating lots of vegetables, fruits and plenty of salad. Last week you may have read or heard on the news that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recalled certain packages of romaine lettuce due to an outbreak of food-borne illness that has sickened at least 19 people in three states.  Today, Vaughn Foods has now joined Freshway Foods in voluntarily recalling romaine lettuce packages with a “best if used by” date of May 12 or earlier.

I just read an update that federal and state officials confirm a link between the bagged romaine lettuce and E. coli O145 illness outbreak. While most adults recover from the diarrheal illness caused by E. coli within a week, E. coli O145 can turn into a very serious condition.  Symptoms of infection with harmful E. coli may range from none to mild diarrhea to severe complications. The acute symptoms include severe abdominal cramps and diarrhea, which may be bloody. Some people may get serious complications, such as kidney damage. The FDA and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) encourage anyone who has experienced the symptoms after eating romaine lettuce products described here to contact his or her health care provider immediately.

For more information, read the FDA update.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recalling children’s and infants’ liquid medicines that are sold over-the-counter at drug stores and retail locations nationwide. The products include infants’ and children’s Tylenol®, Motrin®, Zyrtec® and Benadryl®. Some of these products don’t meet required quality standards and have:
• a higher concentration of active ingredient than shown on the label
• inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements
• tiny particles.

While the likelihood for serious health risks is small, the FDA is asking parents to stop using these products immediately. To learn more about the products being recalled, visit the FDA Web site.

I posted on the safety of doing your nails while pregnant earlier this month.  While it wasn’t the most stimulating post, it addressed a question we get all the time.  So, when I came across this recall of nail polish remover, I thought I should share it, too.

Personal Care Products and FDA notified healthcare professionals of a voluntarily nationwide recall of all lots of Personal Care non-acetone nail polish remover, conditioner enriched with gelatin, 6 fl. oz., UPC 4815592076, because it has the potential to cause chemical burns to the fingers of users.

Read the complete FDA recall summary, including a link to the firm’s press release and photo of the product.