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"When it comes to brushing the teeth, children aren't always the most efficient or cooperative participants," says ChicagoHealers.com practitioner Dr. Andie Pearson.

Dr. Pearson suggests these tips for getting your child to brush without the hassle:

Play a Game: For some children, brushing turns into a fun game when they get to brush Mom or Dad's teeth in exchange for allowing Mom or Dad to brush theirs. This way they are still learning technique on their parents' teeth and Mom and Dad are making sure the job is getting done. You may want to combine this with "group" brushing in the morning, with the child brushing his own teeth as part of the family "pod." Then switch to the "brush each other's teeth" game in the evening. This way, at least one time per day, you know that everything was brushed correctly.

Change the Paste: Another possible approach with those reluctant brushers may be the paste. Young taste buds are very picky. There may be 10 tubes of toothpaste on the counter before the selection is done, but it's worth it to find the one that will turn around their desire for brushing. If no flavors or textures are found, try one to two drops of citrus essential oil or simply nothing on the toothbrush. Remember, spicy and strong flavors will almost always turn them away.

Pick the Brush: Take your child to the store to pick out her tooth brush. There are lots of great options on the market and if children picked it and like it, they are more likely to use it.

If All Else Fails, Try Bribery: If new toothpaste, brushing games or a really cool toothbrush fails to entice that little brusher, there's always old-fashioned bribery. Many parents have had success with the calendar/sticker method. You know that eventually they will get that Barbie, action figure, trip or tickets to a sporting event. So why not create a game around how they get it?

(5-12-09)

Children born to women who have low blood levels of vitamin B12 shortly before and after conception may have an increased risk of a neural tube defect, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, Trinity College Dublin, and the Health Research Board of Ireland.

Women with the lowest B12 levels had five times the risk of having a child with a neural tube defect compared to women with the highest B12 levels. Women who consume little or no meat or animal-based foods are the most likely group of women to have low B12 levels, along with women who have intestinal disorders that prevent them from absorbing sufficient amounts of B12.

Neural tube defects are a class of birth defects affecting the brain and spinal cord. One type, spina bifida, can cause partial paralysis. Another type, anencephaly, is a fatal defect in which the brain and skull are severely underdeveloped.

Researchers have known that taking another nutrient, folic acid, during the weeks before and after conception can greatly reduce a woman's chances of having a child with a neural tube defect. Folic acid is the synthetic form of the vitamin folate. In the United States, cereal grains are fortified with folic acid to reduce the occurrence of neural tube defects in the U.S. population.

The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

(5-12-09)

Washing hands and paying close attention to symptoms of illness are just some of the things the public can to do help reduce the risk from the swine flu (H1N1) outbreak, says the American Red Cross. "This is a serious situation that has the potential to spread, and it is a good time for families, businesses and organizations to follow good public health practices and to review and update their preparedness plans," says Scott Conner, senior vice president of Preparedness and Health & Safety Services at the American Red Cross. "Taking steps to prepare for potential emergencies in advance can go a long way in making families feel safer."

The American Red Cross urges the public to remember these simple actions:

Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also effective when soap and water aren't available.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick and stay home if you are feeling sick.

Children have been greatly impacted by this outbreak, and need to know how to properly wash their hands to prevent the spread of germs. The Red Cross has partnered with NSF International's (NSF) Scrub Club to educate children about the importance of hand washing to protect them against influenza. The Scrub Club Web site (scrubclub.org) is an easy, online tool to teach kids how to wash their hands and why it's important.

If families are asked to stay home during this outbreak, it's important to have a plan and supplies in place before that happens. The Red Cross recommends the following:

Stock extra food, water and supplies at home to reduce the need to go out should swine flu become more widespread, limiting potential for exposure to the virus.

Be sure to include household necessities such as laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc. Select foods that are easy to prepare and store.

Make sure you have an adequate supply of essential medications and medical items for all family members. Include non-prescription medications as well.

Other preparedness steps that can be taken include these:

Plan for what you would do if you had to stay at home for a period of time.

Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick.

Find out your employer's plans to keep the business open if key staff can't come to work.

Ask your child's school or day care if there are plans to encourage sick children to stay home to reduce the spread of the disease.

Identify how you can get information, whether through local radio, TV, Internet or other sources.

For more tips on how to prepare yourself, your family and community for this and other potential emergencies, visit www.redcross.org. Learn more about the swine flu by reading the following articles:

Swine Flu and Babies: Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment for the Swine Flu

Swine Flu and Pregnancy: How Does the Influenza H1N1 Strain Affect Mom-to-be?

(5-05-09)

Worldwide concerns over the swine flu outbreak is spurring governments and health agencies into action to keep the public safe. Closer to home, the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) is reminding families that disease prevention is in their hands – literally.

"Cleaning your hands with soap and water is simple, safe, effective and inexpensive," says Nancy Bock, SDA Vice President of Education. "When it comes to preventing the spread of the flu, hygiene is your first line of everyday defense. Very simply put, clean hands save lives ... Whether you're using bar soap, liquid soap or foam soap, just make sure you lather your hands and rub vigorously for at least 20 seconds."

Parents' concern over their children's health in school settings may be understandably heightened due to the round-the-clock news coverage of the swine flu outbreak. SDA offers three quick tips for parents to help keep their kids healthy in school:

Make sure your school has adequate supplies of soap, paper towels and surface cleaning and disinfecting products. It's tough for students to keep their hands clean if bathrooms lack the basics. And make sure there are sufficient and effective cleaning and disinfecting products available for school custodians, who are on the front lines of keeping our schools healthy.

Tuck some hand wipes along your child's packed lunch. Sometimes kids are so rushed during the day, they don't wash their hands before they eat. Hands wipes are useful when kids are on the go.

Consider adding a hand sanitizer into your older child's backpack. Convenient, portable sanitizer products are great to have around when soap and water aren't readily available. (Check with your school to make sure students are allowed to carry along a sanitizer.)

"Take time to explain to your kids why handwashing is important, and stay informed. Proper hygiene, common sense and good information from credible sources will go a long way to seeing us through this public health challenge," says SDA's Nancy Bock.

For more information, visit www.cleaning101.com.

(5-05-09)

Shaken baby syndrome is a term often used by doctors and the public to describe abusive head trauma inflicted on infants and young children. While shaking an infant can cause neurologic injury, blunt impact or a combination of shaking and blunt impact can also cause injury.

In recognition of the need for broad medical terminology that includes all mechanisms of injury, the new AAP policy statement, "Abusive Head Trauma In Infants and Children," recommends pediatricians embrace the term "abusive head trauma" to describe an inflicted injury to the head and its contents. Pediatricians should learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of abusive head trauma, including those caused by both shaking and blunt impact, and consult with pediatric subspecialists when necessary.

(5-05-09)

The star of ABC's popular parenting series SUPERNANNY, Jo Frost, will meet with fans at Downtown Disney to share parenting tips on Saturday, April 25, at 12 p.m. The casting team for the show will be on hand to meet with families who would like to be on the just announced sixth season of the hit show or the new parenting show called SUPER-MANNY.

Producers from Shed Media US are hosting open casting calls on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Downtown Disney District in front of the AMC Theatres at the Disneyland Resort.

This season producers are searching for families with unique interests, parents who have ordinary and extraordinary circumstances, teen moms, parents with mean girls or bullying boys, culturally diverse parents and blended families where both sides are seeking help. Producers are looking for families from every type of background who are ready for the opportunity of a lifetime – a visit from America's No. 1 nanny, Jo Frost, or the world's first Super-Manny, Mike Ruggles!

Interested moms and dads in need of help with their out-of-control kids may apply from anywhere via www.supernanny.com. Parents can also call 877/NANNY TIME (1-877-626-6984) for more information. (4-28-09)

Diagnosing and treating autism is a complex process that requires assessment of many factors. Evaluations of children's sensory (sight, sound, smell, touch and taste) processing functions are often conducted as part of a multidisciplinary assessment. However, new research suggests that, because children with autism are unlikely to properly self-report their experiences, interviewing their parents may add important information to help families understand and better respond to the needs of their children, thereby easing challenges in daily routines.

This method – called the Critical Incident Technique – asks parents to determine situations where their child had a "good" sensory experience, situations where their child had a "bad" sensory experience and provide their own perception of how these experiences felt to the child.

According to the study conducted by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, the most common negative reactions for both typically-developing children and children with autism are related to sound, and the most common pleasant experiences for both groups involve touch and movement. Children with autism were reported to have more "unusual" sensory experiences and negative food-related experiences than their typically-developing peers.

"The ability of parents or other caregivers to adapt to their child's sensory processing problems can influence the number, type or quality of shared experiences, both in a positive and negative way, and may facilitate or constrain engagement in daily family routines," says study co-author Dr. Grace T. Baranek, professor in the Division of Occupational Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Qualitative studies like this one can add to our knowledge of both autism and the sensory processing issues associated with it."

In the study, a higher percentage of children with autism (59 percent) interpreted various sounds as unpleasant sensory experiences compared to typically-developing children (28 percent). Loud and unexpected sounds, such as fire alarms, dogs barking and fireworks, were the most common examples. In some cases, unpleasant sounds were predictable and both parents and children took measures to avoid or control the experience. Children expressed their discomfort with particular sounds in a number of ways, from stating they didn't like the sound to covering their ears.

Parents tried to make sense out of their children's responses to sound. "Being able to understand what bothers a child, and under what circumstances, makes it possible for the parent to avoid the situations, prepare the child or employ other strategies to diminish the impact on the child," says Dr. Baranek.

Touch as a positive experience was reported by 24 to 29 percent of parents in both groups. The majority of the positive touch accounts for both groups involved interpersonal touching (i.e., cuddling or snuggling with a parent, having a backrub, being tickled, etc.). Negative touch experiences, which were reported by only a small number of parents, were related to the face and head – not wanting to have ears cleaned, wiping food off the tongue, having the face touched and aversion to haircuts.

A quarter of parents in both groups reported positive movement-related experiences. The type of positive movement did not vary between the groups – swinging, jumping, spinning, etc. – but parents of children with autism emphasized, in some cases extreme and repetitive, jumping.

Food-related experiences were reported as positive examples for 21 percent of the typically-developing children but only for 4 percent of the children with autism. In contrast, 15 percent of the typically-developing children and 26 percent of the children with autism reported negative food-related experiences. Issues related to food were not limited to one sensory aspect, but rather included texture, taste, smell, visual aspects of the food itself and having the food on hands or tongue, as well as other considerations such as predictability, routine and novelty. Positive food experiences were briefly described in terms of taste (sweet, sour, spicy), temperature (cold), and/or texture (crunchy, soft).

"Unusual" sensory experiences were reported by 36 percent of parents of children with autism. Reports focused on behaviors such as hand flapping, having to chew on things, not responding to extreme cold, and as one mother said, being "dull to things." Parents described some of these activities as self-stimulation and linked them to their child's diagnosis.

"Children in both groups reacted negatively to some sounds, responded positively to movement and disliked certain foods or sensory aspects of foods," says Dr. Baranek. "We did, however, sense a qualitative difference in the way parents reported these experiences. Parents of children with autism were more likely to recognize elements in their children's experiences as being sensory and likely to attribute responses to aspects of autism, per se. And while some of the parents in both groups reported strong reactions to sensory input, such accounts by the parents of children with autism described more extreme responses, and sometimes included unusual behaviors."

For more information, visit www.aota.org.

(4-28-09)

Quitting smoking is one of the best things parents can do for their health and the health of their children. Now they can get assistance from an unexpected source – their child's pediatrician.

A new resource offers pediatricians the tools they need to screen parents for smoking, offer counseling and enroll parents in a free smoking-cessation helpline. Using the existing state quit line known as "QuitWorks," Massachusetts is promoting "QuitWorks for Child and Family Health Care Practitioners" statewide this month. The program is based on research from the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure (CEASE) program of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is also available free to other public health departments and pediatric offices across the nation.

Because of their regular, frequent contacts with families, pediatricians are uniquely positioned to help parents quit smoking, says Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, assistant professor of pediatrics at MassGeneral Hospital for Children and founder of CEASE. "Tobacco use is a serious health issue for all members of a family," Dr. Winickoff says. "We're getting the biggest return on our investment by targeting parents who smoke. Not only do we hope to reduce children's exposure to second-hand and third-hand smoke, but if more parents quit smoking, fewer children will grow up to be smokers."

CEASE is available through the AAP Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, whose mission is to improve child health by eliminating children's exposure to secondhand smoke and tobacco. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health worked with the Massachusetts chapter of AAP to incorporate CEASE materials into the QuitWorks program for statewide dissemination.

Dr. Carole Allen, president of the AAP Massachusetts chapter, says local pediatricians are enthusiastic about implementing parent-focused smoking cessation strategies in their practices. "If you smoke, the best way to protect your child's health is to quit," says Dr. Allen. "Now pediatricians can do more than just tell you to quit – they can help you to quit. It's a big difference."

Massachusetts is the first state to deliver CEASE materials to all pediatric offices. The module can be adapted to suit any state's smoking cessation program. "The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that every state should invest some of its tobacco control resources in programs that will help pediatricians help parents protect children from secondhand smoke," says Dr. David T. Tayloe, Jr., president of the AAP, which represents more than 60,000 pediatricians.

For more information about CEASE and other resources for clinicians and families, see www.aap.org/richmondcenter/resources.html. To see a video demonstration of the program, visit www.ceasetobacco.org.

Learn more by reading the following articles:

Smoking While Expecting: The Latest Research on Smoking and Pregnancy

Smoke into the Mouths of Babes: The Effects of Secondhand Smoke on Babies and Toddlers

Third-hand Smoke: The Dangers Smoke Residue Poses to Small Children

(4-28-09)

New moms to twins or more have an increased risk (43 percent) to have moderate to severe depression nine months after delivery compared to moms who have single babies, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

The study looked at a nationally representative sample of more than 7,000 mothers of singletons and 776 mothers of multiples. Of both groups of mothers, only 27 percent of those who had moderate to severe depressive symptoms reported talking about it with a mental health specialist or general medical care provider.

The authors note that undergoing a high-risk pregnancy and delivering multiple babies are stressful life events, and the unique demands of caring for multiples, including fatigue and social isolation, can contribute to parental stress and depression. The authors conclude that greater attention is needed in pediatric settings to address maternal depression in families with multiple births.

(4-28-09)

Infants born one to three weeks early are at risk for developmental delays, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers found that the last weeks in the womb – when brain maturation and growth occur – are associated with the baby's future development and school success.

Researchers found healthy children born at 34 to 36 weeks' gestation had a 36 percent higher risk of developmental delay or disability through the first five years of life compared with healthy term infants (born at 37 to 41 weeks' gestation).

Researchers found late preterm infants were more likely to be suspended in kindergarten or held back in kindergarten. These infants represent a significant portion of preterm deliveries in the United States. It has been estimated that 70 percent of preterm births are born at 34 to 36 weeks' gestation.

(4-28-09)