The Latest on Cosleeping

We have discussed cosleeping quite a few times on this blog. Here is what one expert has to say:

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Are Allergy Tattoos a good idea?

My kindergartner has to carry an epi-pen with him at all times due to a bee allergy. (I am so glad the bees are dying or going south or whatever they do for the winter) I have thought about getting him a temporary allergy tattoo when he travels or while he's in school. It's scary to think someone might not know what to do if he goes into anaphylactic shock. I can't imagine a food allergy. That would be even more stressful. If an allergy tattoo helps, I am all for it!

FROM CBC: With more and more kids developing an allergy to peanuts, One mother in Canada has found an original way to alert people about her daughter's allergy. At five years old, most of these little girls are heading to kindergarten this year. It's the first time many of them will be at school for the whole day. A new stress for any parent, but especially if your child has an deadly allergy.

Tara Wilkie/ Wellesley's Mother"My daughter Wellesley has a severe peanut allergy and as she gets older she does things more independently so I was feeling really anxious that she was on her own and could be exposed to peanuts."

So Wilkie created these semi-permanent tattoos to protect her daughter. They're resistant to water but rub off with baby oil.

"They're for my peanut allergy so I won't have peanuts at a birthday or at school." Like many children with a severe allergy, Wellesley also wears a medic-alert bracelet. But Wilkie felt many people don't associate them with food allergies.

Tara Wilkie/ Wellesley's Mother "Some people made assumptions it was for medical, penicillin or something like that. I just needing something visual, to visually alert people. One allergist we spoke to wasn't sold on the idea. He says the tattoos should not be a replacement for the medic alert bracelet. But the reaction from Montrealers was mixed.

"No it's not a good idea, it's a very bad idea. As a matter of fact, tattoos are bad altogether and mostly for kids."
"I think it's a good idea. Cause it's clear we know what it's all about."
Tara Wilkie/ Wellesley's Mother "It's been a really positive response, people seem to be excited about them and feel the same way that I do. Just any extra bit of awareness it what you need to protect your child."

And there's a lot of children who need protection. Twice as many kids have peanut allergies than just a few decades ago. So Wilkie's tattoos could be a sign of more things to come.

Are allergy tattoos a good idea? Does your child have an allergy? What about someone in their class?

Here's the safety tat website. It seems to be the most popular.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.

Health Insurance denied for Chunky Baby

Yesterday we talked about whether fat babies leads to fat toddlers. Today I read this story. It seems a chunky baby was denied health coverage due to his weight! Wow!

FROM NBC:As insurance companies criticize the latest health care reform plan, one of
them has come under scrutiny for its decision to deny coverage to a four-month-old baby in colorado who is big for his age. They reversed themselves, but it's the kind of situation that leaves insurance company customers shaking their heads in disbelief.

At 4 months old - Alex Lange may already be a symbol of health reform - and he looks almost as confused about it as his parents are. (SOT/MOM) "It's frustrating, it's very frustrating."

Alex was born big and happy -- quickly earning the nickname 'chunky monkey.' At 17 pounds, no wonder. Although he's healthy as ever, his parents decided to apply for individual health coverage for Alex - but they were turned down -- not because of his age, but because he was too fat.

(SOT/DAD)
"...it's not like we can put him on the Atkins died or on a treadmill....this is crazy...he's breastfeeding...."

(COWAN ON CAM:)
"Their insurer, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, said Alex was obese -- a pre-existing condition - a financial risk -- and given their underwriting guidelines - he was uninsurable even though he was perfectly healthy."

(SOT/MOM)
"I feel like we're being punished, ya know?"

Individual policies for infants like Alex are relatively new - so are the guidelines. And experts say the pre-conceived limits are a problem.

Alex's father, a local news anchor - made the story public - and the insurer didn't dodge the issue - in fact admitted there was a flaw in the system.

(SOT/DOUG SPEEDIE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN HEALTH PLANS)
"We'd like to see health care reform so that these things go away."

Late today Rocky Mountain Health Plans announced "a company-wide policy change" -- that will now "provide coverage"..."for healthy infants, regardless
of their weight."

As for Alex -- even though he can't walk - he's already a major player in the healthcare debate. Not a bad legacy at 4 months old.

-NewsAnchorMomJen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.

Fat Babies=Overweight Toddlers?

FROM CNN: A new study from Harvard Medical School found that babies who gained weight quickly had a sharply higher risk of obesity. The study followed close to 600 babies and found those in the top quarter of weight for their length at 6 months had a 40 percent higher risk of obesity by age 3 than smaller babies.

The best course of action is to speak with your child's pediatrician. Your child may be large for her age, but not overweight when taken in the context of her height. Also, some babies may grow rapidly at first, and their growth starts to slow as they get older. What does that mean? Your child may be overweight at 6 months, and be at a perfectly healthy weight by age 3. A pediatrician can put your individual questions in the context of your toddler's specific measurements.

Question: If my baby is growing too quickly, what can I do?

First, take a look at your child's feeding habits. Does he push the bottle away before he's finished? If so, do you encourage him to finish it? Experts say babies are often the best judge of when they've had enough, so don't force them to take in more food. Also, are you blending solid foods in with formula or breast milk? Your best bet is to keep them separate. CNNhealth.com Living Well expert Dr. Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician, says babies gauge their fullness by volume, and if you're mixing in solid foods with the liquid, you're making the same volume of milk more caloric.

Finally, try exercise! You're not going to take your toddler to the gym, but Shu says you can put your child on her tummy to give her the chance to practice rolling over. Also, give your child as much time to run around and play as possible -- this is a child's form of exercise.

My new baby is not overweight, but he is gaining weight like crazy! His face is really filling out! My second baby was a little chunk. I remember pulling back the skin on his wrists to clean between the rolls! He is not overweight now by any means though. I am nursing the kids. So it is probably harder to over feed them than if I were using formula. It seems like it would be easy to put a little extra formula in the bottle and maybe not realize it. I don't know. You tell me! Is this something you are concerned about?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.

H1N1 and Pregnant Women

I have had several emails from people asking me whether I am getting the swine flu vaccine for my kids and whether they should get the swine flu vaccine if they are pregnant. I tell people to look at both sides and make an informed decision. This CNN story explains why some people are all for the vaccine and why some aren't so sure.

Hi! I have a question. I am 12 weeks pregnant and I don't know if I should get the swine flu shot. I here a lot of negative things about it and I don't know if I should listen to that or what my doctor wants. She said that they are recommending it but I don't know. Have you heard of any mothers that is pregnant that has asked you about this.

From CNN:

The vaccine is being distributed as an intranasal spray this week, and will arrive next week in injection form, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earlier this week. The CDC and other public health authorities say the new vaccine is safe, and are encouraging everyone to get it, especially those in high risk groups. But experts acknowledge that many people struggle with the decision.

"I bet half the people in the country have concerns," Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of the "Dr. Oz Show" and professor of surgery at Columbia University, told CNN's Anderson Cooper earlier this week.

"Be knowledgeable, though, that the H1N1 swine flu vaccine is built on a chassis of the older original seasonal vaccine. So, it should have similar risks, which have proven to be very low," he said.

Priority groups for the vaccine include pregnant women, caregivers and household contacts of children younger than 6 months, people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years, and anyone ages 25 to 64 with existing health problems, according to the CDC.

A recent survey from the Harvard School of Public Health found that just 40 percent of adults say they are "absolutely certain" they will get the H1N1 vaccine. An additional 41 percent said they "will not get it," and the rest of the sample had various degrees of certainty. "You've got a significant group of people who at the moment wouldn't do it," said Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health, who led the study. Still, nearly 60 percent of those who say they don't think they'll get vaccinated would change their minds if there were sickness or death in their community, the study found.

Moreover, 51 percent of parents said they were "absolutely certain" to get it for their children. Again, about 60 percent of the skeptical parents would change their mind in the event of community sickness and death.

One major group of people who say they probably won't get the vaccine are those primarily concerned about safety, Blendon said.

Peterson isn't against all vaccines -- she and her daughters have already gotten the seasonal flu vaccine, for example. But she is concerned about mercury in some of the new vaccine varieties. Thimerosal, a mercury preservative found in the multi-dose vial H1N1 vaccines, has been controversially linked to autism, though no studies have proved that theory. Peterson said she is also concerned about the toxicity of mercury.

But the CDC says there is no evidence that thimerosal is harmful to pregnant women or fetuses. Vaccine companies are making vaccine types for both seasonal flu and H1N1 flu without this mercury-based preservative.

The other main reason that people cite for not getting the vaccine is that they do not believe they are vulnerable to the disease, Blendon said.

Crystal Fincher, who works in sales in Seattle, Washington, has both safety and vulnerability in mind. She has decided against vaccinating herself and her 12-year-old son both because she doesn't believe there is enough safety information about it, and because she doesn't think she and her son are in high-risk groups.

Fincher said her son's own physician told her the risks of combining the new H1N1 vaccine with his other scheduled vaccines -- for example, tetanus and diphtheria -- are not yet known.

"I just don't feel like there's a risk of having a complication from swine flu is high enough to proceed to taking that, but I would be open in the future once there was more data available," she said.

I am surprised they are making a brand new vaccine that is a live virus and contains thimerasol. I would have thought past concerns would prevent that. It seems odd to create another controversy.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.