Spending Time with the Kids Reduces Stress

Photo credit : http://familynews.com/

Single mothers who engage with children in daily activities, such as reading stories or playing games, may experience lower levels of stress, according to a new study
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The study sought to understand the link between parental stress, parental engagement, and child temperament.

By studying a national dataset, the study concluded:

• Single mothers who spent time engaging in daily activities with their child at age 1 were more likely to continue engagement at age 5.
• The more difficult a child is at an early age, the less likely the mother is to engage with him over the first five years of life.
• If a child is seen as difficult and fussy, it increases the level of parental stress.
• Even if a single mother is stressed or overwhelmed in her role as a parent, it does not predict how much time she will spend with her child.
• The more time a mother spends engaging with her child in daily activities, the lower level of stress she may experience and the more energizing she may feel as a parent.

“The last finding was especially interesting to us because it helped us realize that the answer is spending time with their children,” study co-author Blake Berryhill said. “Being a single mother and being a parent in general is very exhausting, but if a mother is willing to spend time with her children, it can reduce her parental stress because she will feel that in her role as a mom, she is doing an adequate job.”

About 41 percent of births in the United States are to unwed mothers. Berryhill said it has been shown that single mothers often have higher levels of parental stress, difficulty a mother experiences from the demands of being a parent, than married mothers.

“Single mothers can feel constantly overloaded and overwhelmed at being a parent and trying to fulfill all of their responsibilities,” Berryhill said. “Being a single mother brings extra stress, because they have decreased economic resources, longer work hours and their social support network may be limited as well. Because of all of this, they can feel the constant stress of ‘how am I doing in my role as a mother?’”

For Berryhill, Kristy Soloski, and Rebekah Adams, the study’s authors, the discovery that engagement can reduce stress was an unexpected, yet positive finding.

“If we can help moms spend more time with their child and help them in that way, then their levels of parental stress will be reduced and they will have more fulfillment in their role as a mother,” Soloski said. “Our role becomes helping them find meaningful ways to interact with their children.”

“Often times mothers are encouraged to engage with their children for the positive impact it has on the child,” Adams said. “The findings show there is long-term positive impact for the mother as well.”


Source : http://familynews.com/spending-time-with-the-kids-reduces-stress/

The Benefits of Laughter

Photo credit : http://www.psychologytoday.com/

So much of our attitude about life and our capacity to meet life's challenges depends on the quality of the relationships we have, especially our most intimate relationships that when they go sour, life tends to feel bleak. Because the quality of our relationships has a powerful effect on physical and mental balance, as well as our sense of satisfaction in life, it's important that we keep our relationships rewarding and fresh.

The data on divorce provide compelling evidence that we are not succeeding at all. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce--cohabitation couplings are far likelier to end badly--and of marriages that endure, many are less than happy.

Most people know the value of a good relationship and, no matter how often they have lost at love, keep on hoping. As a result, advice on how to make relationships work fills shelves and shelves of bookstores and hours of talk-show time. Some of it is even good, the product of careful research on happy and unhappy couples.

But of all the elements that contribute to the warm atmosphere of a good relationship, there is one that seldom gets translated into advice or even therapy, yet is something that everyone desires and most people would like more of: Laughter.

It's a safe bet that most of the laughs married couples get come from TV laugh tracks, not from each other. They don't emanate from the relationship. More important, they don't feed it. And if the jokes that make the rounds by email are any gauge, often they are at the expense of it.
But homegrown laughter may be what ailing couples need most. Uniquely human, laughter is, first and foremost, a social signal--it disappears when there is no audience, which may be as small as one other person--and it binds people together. It synchronizes the brains of speaker and listener so that they are emotionally attuned.

These are the conclusions of Robert Provine, Ph.D., a neuroscientist who found that laughter is far too fragile to dissect in the laboratory. Instead, he observed thousands of incidents of laughter spontaneously occurring in everyday life, and wittily reports the results in Laughter: A Scientific Investigation (Penguin Books, 2001).

Laughter establishes--or restores--a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people, who literally take pleasure in the company of each other. For if there's one thing Dr. Provine found it's that speakers laugh even more than their listeners. Of course levity can defuse anger and anxiety, and in so doing it can pave the path to intimacy.

Most of what makes people laugh is not thigh-slapper stuff but conversational comments. "Laughter is not primarily about humor," says Dr. Provine, "but about social relationships."

Among some of his surprising findings:

- The much vaunted health benefits of laughter are probably coincidental, a consequence of it's much more important primary goal: bringing people together. In fact, the health benefits of laughter may result from the social support it stimulates.

- Laughter plays a big role in mating. Men like women who laugh heartily in their presence.

- Both sexes laugh a lot, but females laugh more--126 percent more than their male counterparts. Men are more laugh-getters.

- The laughter of the female is the critical index of a healthy relationship

- Laughter in relationships declines dramatically as people age.

- Like yawning, laughter is contagious; the laugher of others is irresistible.

One of the best ways to stimulate laughter--and it's probably the most ancient way--is by tickling. Tickling is inherently social; we can't tickle ourselves. We tickle to get a response. Or to entice ticklee to turn around and become tickler.

Not only do most people like tickling--ticklers as well as ticklees--most recognize it is a way to show affection. What's more, adolescents and adults prefer to be tickled by someone of the opposite sex.
Tickling is probably at the root of all play and it is inherently reciprocal, a give-and-take proposition. In other words, it exactly represents the basic rhythm of all healthy relationships. Not to mention is triggers sexual excitation in adults.

But tickling declines dramatically in middle age. People begin a gradual "tactile disengagement," reports Dr. Provine. Tickle, touch, and play, so critically intertwined, all go into retreat, although these behaviors are at the root of our emotional being.

So the next time you have an argument with your mate, don't walk out of the room and slam the door. Try tickling your partner instead. (Most ticklish areas, in descending order: underarms, waist, ribs, feet, knees, throat, neck, palms.)

It won't make problems go away. But it can set the stage for tackling them together.


Source : http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201206/the-laughing-cure/the-benefits-laughter

Studies: Childhood obesity tied to poor incomes, math scores

Photo credit : http://familynews.com/

Two new studies are disassociating childhood obesity from consumption of sugar-loaded beverages and associating childhood obesity with poor math performance.

The first study, published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, a Canadian research journal suggests most children and youth who consume soft drinks and other sweetened beverages, such as fruit punch and lemonade, are not at any higher risk for obesity than their peers who drink healthy beverages. Rather, it suggests childhood obesity is more highly correlated to household income, ethnicity, and household food security.

The study examined the relationship between beverage intake patterns of Canadian children and their risk for obesity and found sweetened beverage intake to be a risk factor only in boys aged 6–11.
“We found sweetened drinks to be dominant beverages during childhood, but saw no consistent association between beverage intake patterns and overweight and obesity,” says lead author Susan J. Whiting. “Food and beverage habits are formed early in life and are often maintained into adulthood. Overconsumption of sweetened beverages may put some children at increased risk for overweight and obesity. Indeed, boys aged 6–11 years who consumed mostly soft drinks were shown to be at increased risk for overweight and obesity as compared with those who drank a more moderate beverage pattern.”

The authors determined beverage consumption patterns among Canadian children aged 2–18 years using cluster analysis where sociodemographics, ethnicity, household income, and food security were significantly different across the clusters. Data were divided into different age and gender groups and beverage preferences were studied.

By coincidence, an unrelated study conducted by a University of Missouri researcher and published in the journal Child Development has found that children’s weight is associated with their math performance.

Sara Gable, associate professor in the University of Missouri Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, looked at more than 6,250 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, a nationally representative sample, and tracked their progress from kindergarten to fifth grade, occasionally obtaining additional information about the students from the children’s families and teachers.

“Our study suggests that childhood obesity, especially obesity that persists throughout the elementary grades, can harm children’s social and emotional well-being and academic performance,” Gable said.
When compared with children who were never obese, boys and girls whose obesity persisted from the start of kindergarten through fifth grade performed worse on the math tests, starting in first grade. Their lower performance continued through fifth grade. For boys whose obesity emerged later—in third or fifth grade—no such differences were found. For girls who became obese later, poorer math performance was temporary.  In addition, for girls who were persistently obese, having fewer social skills explained some part of their poorer math performance. For both boys and girls who were persistently obese, feeling sadder, lonelier and more anxious also explained some of their poorer math performance.


Source : http://familynews.com/study-childhood-obesity-tied-to-poor-incomes-math-scores/

Study finds improperly stored vaccines may be putting children at risk

An investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services shows some clinics providing immunization vaccines are not storing them at the required temperatures.

That mistake can render the vaccines ineffective and put children at risk for contracting the diseases they thought they were protected against.

Report findings identified 76 percent of the selected vaccine providers had stored their vaccines to inappropriate temperatures for at least five cumulative hours.

The report also found that 13 of the 45 providers inspected had stored vaccines that had expired alongside those that were current.

The providers in the study all participated in the Vaccines for Children program.

Foothill Community Health Center in San Jose, Calif., participates in that program but was not part of the report.

The clinic has established several safeguards to prevent any problems with vaccine storage.

The refrigerator is kept at a precise temperature and an alarm sounds if that changes.

In addition two people are assigned to check the temperature and log it daily.

Silicon Valley Pediatricians also has alarms and employees assigned to log and monitor the refrigerator.

There is a separate freezer for vaccines that require colder temperatures.

Dr. Claire Del Signore encourages parents to ask questions before their child receives a shot.

"Parents have a right to know that their doctor's office is maintaining proper storage of vaccines and keeping a log of the temperatures every day. Parents can even ask to see where we store our vaccines" says Dr. Del Signore.


Source : http://www.ktvb.com/news/health/Study-finds-improperly-stored-vaccines-may-be-putting-children-at-risk-158456265.html

Are Doctors Improperly Storing Vaccines?

As many moms do, Julie Delinsky of Washington, D.C., takes her one-year-old daughter to the doctor for her recommended vaccinations.

"It's protective and preventative in my mind and anything I can do to keep her as safe and healthy as possible," Delinskyy said.

But a new government report obtained exclusively by ABC News has her a bit worried about the efficacy of the immunizations her daughter is getting.

An investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG) found that many providers of immunizations meant for low-income children don't store the vaccines at proper temperatures, potentially rendering them ineffective and placing children at risk for contracting serious diseases.

"I'd be very furious if that happened to me," said Delinsky. "I would be furious if my doctors were not storing them properly and so her vaccines were not effective."

Inspectors visited the offices of 45 providers in five states who offered free immunizations as part of the government's Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program. Nationwide, about 44,000 offices and clinics participate in the program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services pay for the vaccines, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distribute them.

The investigation found that 76 percent of the providers stored the vaccines at temperatures that were either too hot or too cold. They also found that 13 providers stored expired vaccines along with nonexpired vaccines. In addition, they said they found that none of the providers properly managed the vaccines according to VFC program requirements.

"As a result, the 20,252 VFC vaccine doses that we observed during site visits may not provide children with maximum protection against preventable diseases and may be vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse," according to the report. "These doses were worth approximately $800,000."
The storage problem could potentially lead to less effective vaccines, but doesn't pose a safety risk, the HHS OIG said.

In 2010, about 40 million children received 82 million VFC vaccines at a cost of approximately $3.6 billion, and providers must meet certain requirements for storage and management.

While the report is concerned with vaccines offered under the VFC program, doctors say the government's investigation is an important reminder to all clinicians about the need to properly and carefully store all vaccines.

"We have vaccines delivered probably every week, and vaccines come in these large Styrofoam containers, and that is to keep them cold or frozen depending on the particular vaccine," said Dr. Promise Ahlstrom, who is Delinsky's daughter's pediatrician. She is not involved in the VFC program.

"The temperature has to be monitored throughout the entire time, from the time it leaves the manufacturer to the time it spends in transit to the time it's delivered to the clinic and it's used in the clinic," said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "We want every dose given to every child to provide the optimum protection as it's intended," he said.

In its report, the Inspector General's Office recommends that CDC take steps to ensure that providers who participate in the VFC program do their jobs.

"We want them to work with the grantees and providers to make sure that they're storing vaccines properly, then put in better inventory control mechanisms so there's less inventory on hand so that creates less chances that vaccines can expire," said Dwayne Grant, the regional inspector general for the Office of Inspector General in Atlanta.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told ABC News the vaccination program has helped protect many children from preventable diseases, but acknowledged there was a breakdown in the vaccine management process.

"We're doing our root cause analysis right now to try and understand the key factors that lead up to these issues," she said. "There have been changes in the equipment, the refrigerators. There are many vaccines recommended now, and maybe there are more doses being stored in the average office than there used to be."

The CDC says disease rates haven't gone up because of vaccines affected by temperature problems, but they are investigating a rare whooping outbreak in the state of Washington.

What Can Parents Do?

Schuchat stressed that parents should still get their children immunized.

"I don't think this is a time for parents to ask their doctors, 'Where are the vaccines stored and can I go look at them?' I think this is a time for parents to remember that vaccines are very important and that keeping your children and yourselves up to date on vaccines is one of the best things you can do for your health," she said.

Ahlstrom, the Washington, D.C. pediatrician, also said parents shouldn't worry too much about it, but said if they are worried, they should ask questions.

"I think that it is probably good for them to address it with their doctors so that they can feel that their mind, that their mind is put at rest," Ahlstrom said.

And as a mother, Delinsky said vaccine safety is something would definitely address if she had any doubts.

"I think it would be a mistake not to check, to ask the questions and to make sure your doctor is taking those precautions. And I mean the onus is on us as the parents to make sure our child is getting what they need."

ABC News' Jim Avila, Brian Hartman and Serena Marshall contributed to this report.


Source : http://abcnews.go.com/Health/government-report-finds-doctors-storing-vaccines-improperly/story?id=16501077#.UMAJG4bLmj5

Mommy Medicine: Identifying bipolar disorder

More than 5 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But many health care professionals argue this number is too low, noting there is no count on the number of people who are not accurately diagnosed.

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness which manifests itself by severe mood swings — from deep depression to extreme euphoria (also called mania), and an abnormal state between.

"For the most part what is typical is to have an abnormal mood state colored by a predominance of high or low," says Dr. Gary Sachs, director of the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Sachs describes the abnormal state as "something intense or unexpected in relation to a situation, such as giggling instead of crying when you find out your home will be foreclosed."


Signs and symptoms of depression include:

• Saddness, anxiety, feelings of emptiness or hopeless
• Reduced energy, to the point of not getting out of bed for days
• Little to no interest in relationships
• Inability to make simple decisions
• Severe change in sleeping habits
• Suicidal thoughts or actions

Signs and symptoms of mania include:

• Being extremely euphoric and happy or extremely sad and angry
• Exhibiting an excessive amount of energy
• Racing thoughts and ideas, or talking a lot and making ambitious plans
• Impulsive or reckless actions
• Increased sexual drive, with no thought of consequences
• Little to no sleep for days at a time

Both men and women suffer from bipolar disorder, and it is being diagnosed earlier and earlier in life. As a person ages, the behavior becomes more and more prominent and harder to control. In most cases, the disorder is easy to miss in the teenage years, as one would misconstrue extreme behavior as "teenagers just being teenagers."

There is no single cause of bipolar disorder and no single treatment. Patients with the disorder typically have a family history, or they have abused drugs at some point in their life.



While there are very effective treatment options available, many bipolar patients do not want to stay on the treatments because of the side effects they include. In addition to that, many patients truly love to be in the manic phase, and medication calms this phase down.
The family or friends these untreated patients live with are truly in a no-win situation if the bipolar personality will not seek help. This makes family counseling a must.
If you or someone you know is exhibiting the symptoms of bipolar disorder, there are places to seek help. First, talk with your health care provider or contact your local mental health services.
The following websites can also be very helpful in determining what to do next:

• National Institute of Mental Health, www.nimh.nih.gov
• National Alliance on Mental Illness www.nami.org
• Mental Health America www.mentalhealthamerica.net

If you find yourself in a crisis situation, afraid you or another bipolar patient may hurt someone, call the Crisis Call Center at 1-800-273-8255. The hotline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Bipolar disorder is a family disorder in the way it will affect, run and control your family life. Do not go through this alone, find help.


Source : http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20797739

TV Can Decrease a Child’s Self-Esteem

A new study suggests exposure to today’s electronic media often reduces a child’s self-worth.
Indiana University researchers say this is the case if you are a white girl, a black girl or a black boy.
However, researchers believe the media exposure can help the self-confidence of white boys.

Nicole Martins, an assistant professor of telecommunications in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, and Kristen Harrison, professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, also found that black children in their study spent, on average, an extra 10 hours a week watching television.

“We can’t deny the fact that media has an influence when they’re spending most of their time — when they’re not in school — with the television,” Martins said.
Harrison added, “Children who are not doing other things besides watching television cannot help but compare themselves to what they see on the screen.”

Their paper has been published in Communication Research.
In the study, the researchers surveyed a group of about 400 black and white preadolescent students in communities in the Midwest over a yearlong period.

Researchers focused on the correlation between the time in front of the TV and the impact on a child’s self-esteem.
“Regardless of what show you’re watching, if you’re a white male, things in life are pretty good for you,” Martins said of characters on TV.

“You tend to be in positions of power, you have prestigious occupations, high education, glamorous houses, a beautiful wife, with very little portrayals of how hard you worked to get there.

“If you are a girl or a woman, what you see is that women on television are not given a variety of roles,” she added.

“The roles that they see are pretty simplistic; they’re almost always one-dimensional and focused on the success they have because of how they look, not what they do or what they think or how they got there.

“This sexualization of women presumably leads to this negative impact on girls.”
Sadly, black boys are often criminalized in many programs, shown as hoodlums and buffoons, and without much variety in the kinds of roles they occupy.

“Young black boys are getting the opposite message: that there is not lots of good things that you can aspire to,” Martins said. “If we think about those kinds of messages, that’s what’s responsible for the impact.

“If we think just about the sheer amount of time they’re spending, and not the messages, these kids are spending so much time with the media that they’re not given a chance to explore other things they’re good at, that could boost their self-esteem.”

Martins said their study counters claims by producers that programs have been progressive in their depictions of under-represented populations. An earlier study co-authored by her and Harrison suggests that video games “are the worst offenders when it comes to representation of ethnicity and gender.”

Research on use of digital technology is starting to show the impacts of other kinds of entertainment sources, such as video games and hand-held devices. It indicates that young people are becoming creative at “media multitasking.”

“Even though these new technologies are becoming more available, kids still spend more time with TV than anything else,” Martins said.

Interestingly, the young people were asked about their consumption of print media, but the results were not statistically significant.

Source : http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/05/31/tv-can-decrease-a-childs-self-esteem/39496.html

The Antidote to Anger and Frustration

When our loved-one erupts in anger and frustration, the last thing most of us think to do is to pour fuel on the fire by telling them they should feel angry and frustrated. Yet when done correctly, providing someone emotional validation can have extremely surprising results that strengthen relationship bonds.

Dealing with Another Person's Anger

We've all been in situations in which a loved one is incredibly upset. It is often hard to know the best way to react in such scenarios. Our instinct is to try and calm them down but that is not easy to do and it might even be risky. As a result we are often extremely uncomfortable and at a loss for what to say. If their anger is directed toward us we might need to consider How To Apologize Effectively but regardless, we need to validate their emotions.

The idea of fanning the flames by telling the person in question they have every right to feel irate or livid seems counterintuitive. But when we convey exactly that message and do so from a place of empathy and sympathy, something magical happens. Rather than inciting the other person's fury and fueling their fire, our message of emotional validation actually douses the flame!.

Emotional Validation is a Basic Human Need

Emotional validation is something we all seek and crave far more than we realize. When we are upset, angry, frustrated, disappointed or hurt, our tendency is to want to discuss our feelings with others so we can get it off our chest.

However, getting things off our chest by telling others about our feelings is not always satisfying or cathartic. If the person to whom we vent simply looks at us and shrugs or responds by giving us advice or by telling us what we did wrong, we won't feel any better and we will probably feel worse after speaking with them.

What we seek when venting to others is for that person to 'get it', to understand what happened to us and why we feel the way we do. We want them to validate our feelings by conveying that understanding to us and to do so with a dollop of sympathy or empathy

When we are extremely angry or upset, we tell someone why and they totally get it truly and effectively validates our feelings. As a result, the relief and catharsis we experience is tremendous! Only then can we actually let go of at least some of the feelings we had built up. It is that which feels like an authentic visceral 'release'.

Authentic Emotional Validation is Hard to Get

However, true cathartic experiences of this kind are actually rarer than we realize. We typically find the need to express our tales of woe, outrage or sadness to many people because we rarely get the response we crave-true emotional validation. When someone does finally offer us real emotional validation, we tend to feel extremely grateful to them for doing so.

We might think our nearest and dearest, those who know us best would be the best sources of emotional validation but unfortunately, this is not usually the case. Those who care about us the most are most likely to be personally distressed by our own distress. As a result they are might (with the best of good intentions) try to minimize our emotional experience ("Don't dwell on it," "Just let it go" or "Don't let them get to you") or to offer solutions ("here's what you should do" "Don't mope, take action!") instead of reflecting their understanding and acceptance of our pain.

Again, although their intentions might be good, such responses can feel more emotionally dismissive than they do helpful or cathartic. If these loved ones first provided emotional validation and then offered such advice, we might be far more receptive to their suggestions but this is rarely the case.
So how does one offer authentic emotional validation?

The Recipe for Authentic Emotional Validation

Here are the steps for offering authentic emotional validation. But take note: You must do all 5 steps and do them correctly to achieve the desired impact.

1. Let the person complete their narrative so you have all the facts.

2. Convey you get what happened to them from their perspective (whether you agree with that perspective or not and even if their perspective is obviously skewed).

3. Convey you understand how they felt as a result of what happened (from their perspective).

4. Convey that their feelings are completely reasonable (which they are given their perspective).

5. Convey empathy or sympathy (not pity!) for their emotional reactions.
Lastly, if your loved ones are not good at emotional validation when you vent to them about your own emotionally painful experiences, email them this article-it will be worth it!

Source : http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201107/the-lost-art-listening/the-right-way-listen-when-someones-upset

Pennsylvania school districts boot unvaccinated children

I don’t remember getting the chicken pox when I was young.  I was only three years old.  What I do remember is that my dad got the chicken pox at the exact same time I did. I’ve seen the photos, and trust me when I say that you don’t want to see them.  It was bad.
But I never remember getting measles.  I didn’t even know what mumps were as a teenager.  Rubella?  I’m still not sure about that one.  I remember learning in history class that FDR rode a wheelchair as president because he had polio as a child.  I also remember my grade school teachers telling us we should all be grateful for not having to deal with such a debilitating disease, and to be honest, I’m glad I’ve never seen anyone my whole life confined to a wheelchair because of polio.
On the other hand, maybe if we did see a polio-ridden child being wheeled about every now and again, parents would be a bit more enthusiastic about getting their kids vaccinated.  Case in point: when several cases of measles in Utah were traced to unvaccinated european travelers, people paid attention.
In at least one part of the country, parents and students are apparently so apathetic about getting their kids vaccinated that the state has resorted to extreme measures.
Michael Rubinkam, writing for Philly.com, reports Pennsylvania has imposed an ultimatum: either get your kids vaccinated or they won’t be allowed in school.
The ultimatum was delivered with warnings aplenty.  Students and parents got eight months from the beginning of the school year to get vaccinated, but hundreds of students didn’t comply.  There was even a two week grace period at the end of the eight months, and although the vast majority of students took their medicine, still some wallowed in apathy towards the vaccinations.
This begs the question: why?  Why would parents fail to act in the interests of their children’s health (besides religious or medical concerns)?
Perhaps it’s because today’s parents are a lot like me; they’ve never seen the devastating effects of these diseases firsthand.  And with vaccines being as inexpensive and common as they are today, I hope that I never do have to see those effects manifest firsthand, especially in my own children.

Source : http://familynews.com/pennsylvania-school-districts-boot-unvaccinated-children/

After car booster seat laws, child deaths fell

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - U.S. states with laws requiring kids to ride in car booster seats have had fewer child deaths in accidents, especially among 6- and 7-year-olds, researchers reported Monday.
Nearly all U.S. states require that children who have outgrown traditional car seats use a car booster seat, which raises a child high enough so that seatbelts can be positioned properly - with the shoulder strap across the shoulder (not the neck), and the lap belt across the hips.
Florida and South Dakota are the only states that don't mandate booster seats. But the other states vary in their age requirements, and many don't require booster seats for 6- and 7-year-olds.
But in the new study, researchers found that after states began passing booster seat laws, fewer children ages 4 to 7 died in car accidents - and the biggest differences were seen in older kids.
Between 1999 and 2009, states that started requiring booster seats had an 11 percent lower risk of child traffic deaths compared with states without a law. When the booster law included 6- and 7-year-olds, deaths dropped by about one-quarter, versus states with no booster seat mandate.
"I think parents may think that as kids get older, they need booster seats less," said senior researcher Dr. Lois K. Lee of Children's Hospital Boston.
"But this shows that it's kids at the upper end of the age range who could benefit the most," Lee said in an interview.
Already, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that children should ride in car seats with a harness until they are 4 years old, or have outgrown the seat. After that, they should use a booster seat until they're between 8 and 12 years old, or have reached 4 feet, 9 inches in height.
Based on the current findings, Lee said, "I think states should consider extending their age limits to match the AAP guidelines."
TELL YOUR CHILD IT'S THE LAW
The findings, which appear in the journal Pediatrics, are based on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for 1999 through 2009. In 1999, no U.S. state had a car booster seat law; by 2009, nearly all had passed one.
Among states that passed a law, traffic deaths among 4- and 5-year-olds fell from an average of 5.7 per 100,000 before the law, to 4.2 per 100,000.
The researchers then looked at states whose laws covered 6-year-olds. The average death rate among kids that age dipped from 2.3 to 1.5 per 100,000.
In states that covered 7-year-olds -- 16 of them in 2009 -- the average death rate among those kids did not decline. But when the researchers accounted for other factors, like other new driving laws, booster seat laws were linked to a one-quarter lower death rate among 7-year-olds.
Lee said that regardless of what your state law is, the best way to keep your child safe in the car is to follow the AAP guideline on booster seats.
Of course, getting your 8-year-old to agree to get in a booster seat can be a challenge, Lee acknowledged. "That's one way legislation helps parents," she noted. "They can tell their child it's the law."
For booster seats to work, they do have to be installed and used correctly. And research has found that families often make mistakes, such as improperly positioning or latching the seatbelts.
Parents who need advice on using booster seats can go to online sources like the NHTSA website (www.nhtsa.gov) and Safe Kids USA (www.usa.safekids.org).
The NHTSA site also lets parents search for local inspection stations where they can get help installing and using car safety seats.

Diabetes during pregnancy may raise ADHD risk

(Health.com) -- Young children are far more likely to experience attention and hyperactivity problems if their mother develops diabetes during pregnancy and they are born into a poor or lower-middle-class household, a new study suggests.

The study, published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that children whose mothers received a diabetes diagnosis during pregnancy (known as gestational diabetes) were twice as likely as their peers to meet the criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at age six.

Living in a family with below-average socioeconomic status likewise doubled the risk of ADHD in six-year-olds. But children with both risk factors -- those who were exposed to gestational diabetes and grew up in a less-than-affluent household -- had a 14-fold increased risk of ADHD compared to children with neither risk factor.

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The findings don't prove that gestational diabetes directly causes ADHD, but the researchers say they send a message to mothers and doctors that gestational diabetes may pose hidden dangers to a child well after birth, especially if the child grows up in a challenging environment.

"Mothers should be aware that gestational diabetes can affect her fetus," says Yoko Nomura, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City.

Gestational diabetes, which affects roughly 5% of expectant mothers in the United States, generally develops during the second or third trimester of pregnancy -- the same window of time in which a fetus undergoes a critical burst of brain development.

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Women with gestational diabetes have abnormally high blood sugar (glucose). If the fetus is bombarded with excess blood sugar, energy normally used for nervous-system development could potentially be diverted to absorb that excess, Nomura says. As a result, the central nervous system may not develop properly.

Growing up in poverty would likely aggravate any underlying nervous-system deficits, Nomura says.

"When babies are born into higher socioeconomic status households, they have better access to medical care [and] remedial activities, intellectual stimulus is higher, they have better foods," she says.

In addition, low-income women may not control their gestational diabetes as well as more prosperous mothers-to-be, says Luigi Garibaldi, M.D., clinical director of pediatric endocrinology at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

"Having diabetes during pregnancy by itself may not be so bad, but if you don't take care of it, there may be consequences on the brain development of the child," says Garibaldi, who was not involved in the study.

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Nomura and her colleagues followed 212 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse children living in Queens, New York, 10% of whom were exposed to gestational diabetes. From preschool through age six, a trained psychologist or doctoral student evaluated each child for ADHD symptoms annually.

The study had several shortcomings. It was relatively small, and although they did take into account the parents' history of ADHD, the researchers didn't collect data on whether the children had siblings or other relatives with attention or hyperactivity problems. Also, Garibaldi notes, the researchers didn't measure how well the mothers controlled their gestational diabetes.

Still, the study is a valuable reminder that a child's environment -- in and out of the womb -- appears to affect the risk of ADHD, says Joel Nigg, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, in Portland.

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Previous research suggests, for instance, that children are at increased risk of ADHD if they're exposed to lead and certain pesticides.

"As a precaution, we might want to add [gestational diabetes] to the list of risk factors we're aware of," says Nigg, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study.

Source : http://www.cnn.com