News Moms Need

Our daughter is on the verge of crawling. I’m excited, but nervous at the same time. Everywhere I look around our house I see a potential hazard — the stairs, furniture, cabinets, outlets, lamp cords and book cases. We have a lot of work to do! We plan to go through one room at a time on our hands and knees to make sure we don’t miss anything, remove/secure potential risks and make a shopping list as we go.

A close friend of mine (hi Tricia!) appeared on the evening news a couple of days ago. Her home was assessed by a professional who offered some great recommendations on making her home safer for her toddler twins.  Click here to watch the clip.

According to Safe Kids Worldwide more than 4.5 million children are injured in the home every year. Taking simple prevention measures and closely supervising your children can help protect them from common household hazards, such as fires, burns, drowning, suffocation, choking, firearm injury, poisoning and falls. A few easy, relatively inexpensive steps – locking household cleaning materials in a cabinet out of reach, installing carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms, blocking stairways with baby gates – can greatly reduce your child’s risk of injury in the home.

The March of Dimes and Consumer Reports have worked together to produce a helpful online guide called, Safe Products for Baby. It includes shopping and safety tips for car seats, strollers, cribs, changing tables, play pens, clothing, bathtubs and more. Click here to check it out.

Please feel free to share any safety tips that you may have!

I’m short, he’s tall.  Where will Junior end up?  I found this child height predictor on the web and thought you might get a kick out of it.  I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it might be fun to get a guesstimate about your toddler’s future frame.

Kid’s height predictor.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still trying to figure out what to do about cold and cough medicines for children.  At a public hearing late last week, the FDA said that parents should avoid giving children under age 6 over-the-counter cold medicines. They said there isn’t enough research to show whether or not they work in kids aged 6 and under.  But, the FDA is still not sure if a recall of these meds is necessary.

Earlier this year, the FDA warned parents that cold and cough medicines are too risky for babies and toddlers. Some of these cold medications can actually cause serious life-threatening side effects (difficulty breathing, unconsciousness) in children under age 2. 

While the FDA continues to hammer out this issue, there are certain steps you can take without using meds to make your child more comfortable during a cold. For babies, try using a rubber suction bulb to help clear a stuffy nose. Your provider may recommend nasal saline (salt water) drops to ease stuffiness. Putting a cool-mist humidifier in a child’s room may also help her breathe more easily.

News Moms Need will be sure to keep you posted on any new updates to this issue as they come.