Health News

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other experts recommend that teens get a checkup once a year.  During these visits, your doctor may:

• provide guidance on how to prevent injuries.

• discuss the benefits of a healthy diet and regular exercise.

• check if your teen might have an eating disorder or a problem with body image.

• talk about the dangers of tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse.

• check if your child has high blood pressure or high cholesterol

• perform a Pap test on your teenage girl, if appropriate.

• give your teen any shots or immunizations she or he needs.

 Judy Lyden

Scripps Howard News Service

Nearly 75% of preteens and teens get at least one sunburn every summer.  Some tips to tell your preteens and teens: put on sunscreen of at least SPF 15 before going outside; apply enough it cover skin thoroughly; and reapply often, especially when swimming.

Got flavored milk?  About 70% of teen boys - and 90% of teen girls - aren't getting enough calcium because they often choose soft drinks over milk. If that sounds like your teen, buy flavored milk, such a strawberry or chocolate.

Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Toddlers who suck on their fingers or a pacifier until age 2 or beyond may be more likely to have overbite problems.

Journal of the American Dental Association

With the news scare about diseases such as SARS, a new awareness of children's health may be in order. Keeping children home when they're ill is a battle of wits.  Getting to work because of tough bosses and tougher schedules seems to be turning mothers and father against caring for the child.  Now we have a deadly respiratory disease to add to our worries.

The modem assumption is illness is "any body ailment we can't hide."  Sometimes loading a child down with over-the-counter medications in hopes he can get through the day-care of school doors seems the best choice.  The child looks fine because the Tylenol has kicked in, the cough medicine has relieved a hacking cough or the stomach medicine momentarily has stopped the uncontrollable diarrhea.

Ten minutes after drop-off, the child reports, "I threw up last night five times." Or he runs to the bathroom and has explosive diarrhea, then says he did that last night as well.

My favorite is the child with allergies, His allergies cause an indescribable and profuse drainage the color of grass.  The allergies pop up about every two months, even in a snowstorm, and cause fever, coughing, vomiting and diarrhea and end in an ear infection.

Allergies, of course, don't need to be treated. Allergies are simply an idiosyncrasy of a particular child's makeup.  Interesting enough, most of these allergies are contagious and spread not only to the other students but to the teachers as well.

The question parents ask most often about ill child is, "Can the child make it through the day?"  First, it's against the law to send an ill child to school.  Second, the child is not an adult and often can't express himself well enough to say, "Mom or Dad, I'm really sick. I just can't go to school today." And third, over-the-counter medications are not made to hide illnesses. They are made to relieve minor discomforts for short periods.

Keeping children home from school when they are ill promotes a healthier environment at school. It may even help curb something as deadly as SARS.

Here are some guidelines to understand children's illnesses:

• Keep a child home the first day of an illness; he will be ill a shorter time.

• Find a comfortable back-up provider who will take an ill child or call sick bay the local hospital.

• Make sure your child's dinner contains fruit, vegetables, protein, and whole grain every night. When the child's nasal discharge is more than he can blow out, see a doctor.

FACT: To decide whether or not you should exercise, experts recommend the "neck check". If symptons are above the neck (a runny or stuffy nose, scratchy throat, itchy eyes), you can probably exercise. Start out slowly and see how you feel. If your symptons are below the neck (muscle aches, chest cough, fever), avoid exercise until you feel better.

Head Lice. Just thinking about them makes your head itch. For up to 12 million Americans each year, mostly children, it's more than as passing sensation. In fact, other than the common cold, more children get head lice than all other communicable childhood diseases combined.
The most important things to know about head lice are that ANYONE can get them, and that, if your child does, it is absolutely essential to inform the school and the parents of his/her playmates. Beyond those two key facts, here's an introduction to dealing with these blood-sucking parasites. Where do they come from? You can catch head lice either directly or indirectly from another person. If two people are in head-to-head contact, the lice can travel directly from one head to another. Usually, however, the "transfer" is made through contact with something that an infested person's head has touched.
Sometimes it's NOT good to share. Teach your children never to share - or borrow - anything that touches the head or hair, including earphones, pillows, scarves, hooded jackets, combs, brushes, hair bows, barrettes, ponytail holders, costumes, towels, hats, and other head gear. Role play with them what to say: "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to share my _____"
Clean or dirty doesn't matter. Lice actually prefer clean hair, so frequent bathing and short haircuts are no help, nor are shampoos designed to fight dandruff or other scalp conditions.
Preventive treatment doesn't work. Don't be fooled into thinking that you can avoid "catching" head lice by using an anti-lice treatment before any lice have been found. These products are effective only as treatments, not preventatives.
Play detective. Intense head scratching is usually the first clue that lice have come to visit. For proof, use a magnifying glass to look for tiny red bite marks on the scalp or neck, or sesame seed-sized lice eggs, called nits, "glued on" to strands of hair. (If it looks like dandruff but won't "flake off" - or even budge - it's probably a nit.)
Call the school immediately. Many schools insist that children stay home until free of nits.
Multi-step TreatmentTreating head lice is tedious, but too succeed you have to follow every step to the letter. Here's a quick overview:

• Talk to your doctor about what lice-killing product to apply, when and how to use it.
• Buy a special nit comb and use it daily to "nitpick" each affected person's hair. (Most lice treatment shampoos come with a comb.)
• Thoroughly vacuum, hot water wash, dry clean, or seal in a plastic bag for two weeks eveything that could have come in contact with the infested person's head.
• Re-treat the hair and scalp a second time, 7-10 days after the first treatment. Continue daily monitoring for nits until your family is lice- and nit-free.

Avoid "Old Time" Cures. Children have suffered horrific, and sometimes fatal, burns from "treatments" with gasoline or kerosene. Vaseline treatments don't effectively smother the lice - and then you have to get the petroleum jelly out.
Don't keep it a secret. Sure, it's embarrassing to notify others that your family is dealing with lice but it's not a social disgrace. Think of it like those other "bugs" that people pass to each other, like colds and flu. The sooner you let people know they've been exposed, the better able they'll be able to deal with it promptly and effectively - and the less likely you'll catch it from them later.

SAVING PREEMIES

According to a recent study, critically ill premature babies can be rescued from almost certain death by filling their underdeveloped lungs with an oxygen rich liquid. Seven out of 13 such infants survived without serious lung damage, mental retardation or other ill effects common to preemies.
The new treatment involves a substance called perflubron (LiquiVent), a clear liquid that easily dissolves oxygen and carbon dioxide. Doctors trickle the liquid down the baby's breathing tube until it partly fills the lungs. The perflubron gently opens and stabilizes the collapsed air sacs. A respirator then replenishes the oxygen in the liquid as the oxygen moves through the air sacs into the bloodstream. The liquid then carries the carbon dioxide away.
The same technique is being tested on older children and adults with a variety of other life-threatening lung illnesses and injuries, including infections, near-drowings and smoke inhalation.

BREAST MILK IS BEST - BUT FOR HOW LONG?

Breast milk is undoubtedly the ideal food for infants. But how long do you need to breastfeed to give your baby a healthy start? The American Academt of Pediatrics recommends feeding infants only breast milk for the first four to six months. This can bolster babies' immune systems, protecting against ear, respiratory and intestinal infections.
Feeding infants only breast milk for the first several months also may help protect them from allergies - particularly food allergies. But the health benefits of breastfeeding are not limited to preventing infections and allergies. Children exclusively breastfed for three to four months are less likely to develop insulin-dependent diabetes, according to one study. Breastfeeding beenfits also may extend into later life, protecting against breast cancer and cholesterol problems.

FOOD POISONING

Approximately every second of every day in the year, someone in the United States is stricken with food poisoning, according to the Council for Agriculture Science and Technology. It has been likened to a sneak attack: you eat a hamburger, a healthy-looking garden salad or a piece of strawberry shortcake. Then, if it was contaminated, within 48 hours you have stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and fever. It has been noted that, although illness often results from improper handling, many of the pathogens were already present at the processing stage.