A paediatrician in our local hospital is infamous for throwing his patients ointments into the dustbin when he goes on his rounds. He doesn’t allow parents to rub all those magic, snake oil on kids because the vapour may cause convulsion.

Now, another news just appeared on WebMD about the dangers of miuse of Vicks VapoRub on kids. It seems that a grandparent has dabbed the Vicks VapoRub under the child’s nose. Our older generations are used to do that. So, moms and dads, do educate your babysitters, parents and other caregivers about this. Do not supply them with such ointments.

I know it is very hard to see our child having difficulties breathing but this is better treated by the clinics or hospital. If your child has severe breathing difficulties, doctors will know what to do.

Jan. 13, 2009 — Misuse of Vicks VapoRub may have landed an 18-month-old girl in the hospital, Wake Forest University researchers suggest.

The previously healthy girl had an upper respiratory infection, for which her grandparents treated her with a dab of Vicks VapoRub under the nose. In about half an hour, the child began to struggle for breath, and she was taken to the emergency room.

Bruce K. Rubin, MD, professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest’s Brenner Children’s Hospital, suggests the grandparents’ misuse of Vicks VapoRub may very well have caused the girl’s respiratory distress.

Full article on WebMD

24,000 Cribs Recalled for Fall Risk
Munire Furniture Recalls 24,000 Cribs; Government Issues Crib Safety Tips for All Parents and Caregivers
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Feb. 29, 2008 — Do you have a crib at home? Check it to see if it’s subject to a new crib recall, and to make sure it’s set up for infant safety.

The new crib recall, issued by Munire Furniture, includes about 24,000 of the following wooden cribs made between Nov. 1, 2005, and Nov. 1, 2007:

* Majestic Curved Top cribs with model number 9500
* Majestic Flat Top cribs with model number 9000
* Essex cribs with model number 7100
* Brighton/Sussex cribs with model number 9100
* Captiva cribs with model number 5100

The model number is printed on a white label on the bottom inside of the right rail. The crib manufacture date is printed on either the white label near the model number or on the white label located on the bottom of the headboard.

Cribs with a green sticker on the mattress frame aren’t included in the recall.

The recalled cribs don’t meet federal safety standards. The four support brackets on the mattress support spring are too long, preventing the spring from lowering to its lowest position. Kids in the cribs may crawl over the railing, posing a fall hazard. No injuries have been reported, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The cribs were sold at specialty juvenile product stores nationwide from November 2005 through November 2007 for $400 to $600.

(source : http://children.webmd.com/news/20080229/24000-cribs-recalled-for-fall-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC)

So, how much do you know about dengue fever? Here’s what I gathered from World Health Organisation or WHO.

Characteristics

Dengue fever is a severe, flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults, but seldom causes death.

The clinical features of dengue fever vary according to the age of the patient. Infants and young children may have a non-specific febrile illness with rash. Older children and adults may have either a mild febrile syndrome or the classical incapacitating disease with abrupt onset and high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains, and rash.

Dengue haemorrhagic fever is a potentially deadly complication that is characterized by high fever, haemorrhagic phenomena–often with enlargement of the liver–and in severe cases, circulatory failure. The illness commonly begins with a sudden rise in temperature accompanied by facial flush and other non-specific constitutional symptoms of dengue fever. The fever usually continues for two to seven days and can be as high as 40-41°C, possibly with febrile convulsions and haemorrhagic phenomena.

In moderate DHF cases, all signs and symptoms abate after the fever subsides. In severe cases, the patient’s condition may suddenly deteriorate after a few days of fever; the temperature drops, followed by signs of circulatory failure, and the patient may rapidly go into a critical state of shock and die within 12-24 hours, or quickly recover following appropriate volume replacement therapy.

The names of the game are known as suffocation roulette, space monkey, pass-out, knock-out, or flatliner or choking game. They intentionally cut off the oxygen by strangulation and then, hope to get a high when the blood rushed back to their brains. However, sometimes they failed to release and died as a result of lack of oxygen.

This is not just a random deaths but so many deaths have been recorded. Certainly, it is not going to be something that I can understand. However, I hope by sharing these links which I picked up, more parents will be aware and find ways to talk to their children about this.

In my opinions, it is important we talk to our children so that we can hear if their friends or even our children are indulging in them. These are the links which you may want to read more :

Choking game post written by me in 2006. Dylan Blake foundation has a lot of information on this.

It is sad that we parents in this modern age have to deal with these sort of deadly choking game but let’s be aware so that we can spread this awareness to other parents.

If you have small children or babies, do watch out for these seasonal green and brown insects. I have blogged about it in my personal blog and it seems to have a season.

I notice that many people are highly allergic to it and will get bumps and scars after being bitten by the green insects. And it just occurred to me that the sting will leave an open wound and it cause bleeding, probably the darn green thing has left its saliva to make the blood doesn’t clot or something.

Few nights ago, I realized blood dripping from my thigh and I didn’t connect it to the insect bite. Today, my housekeeper mentioned it and I just found out that the bleeding was due to the bite.

So, moms and dads, watch out for the green insects.

WEDNESDAY, Dec.12 (HealthDay News) — Merck & Co. has recalled 1.2 million doses of a common childhood vaccine due to potential contamination during the manufacturing process. But, the vaccine does not pose a health threat, U.S. health officials announced Wednesday.The company voluntarily recalled two lots of the Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine . Haemophilus influenzae is a group of bacteria that may cause different types of infections in infants and children. They include ear, eye, or sinus infections and pneumonia. The more serious but rare strain can cause meningitis and a life-threatening infection called epiglottitis.

The Hib vaccine is recommended for all children under 5 and is usually given in a three-shot series, starting at 2 months of age.

(full story on Forbes)

I have kids age 17 years old to 4 years old. I have no worries with the older two because I pretty much connected to them and we are very open with everything. However, I do have concerns with my middle kid because he is at that inquisitive age of pre-teen and he can really digs a lot out of the internet. To counter that, we have fixed the time when he is allowed online and all the time, there is always an older brother or hubby and I to keep an eye on him.

Built-in popup blocker, download blocker, site restriction are few of many features that make Internet secure for younger users.

There are now so many porns which are hidden under very innocent names and hence, we parents have to be alert all the time. On top of that, the malicious spywares and adwares inserted by some suspicious game sites have caused out computers to crash before.

As for the youngest, he too loves to Google images because he can type basic words and feels amused to see all the objects photos. So, with that amount of surfing, I am glad to hear about Surf Knight (TM). It is a browser built for kids.

Surf Knight is absolutely free to download. You will not be downloading a limited trial version, and you will never be asked for your credit card information!

It takes just a few easy steps. I downloaded it, set the password and I get a cute browser with orange bubbles.

Do you notice how big the font is? Well, I am sure your children will love the Surf Knight in its shiny armor and surf board. Go on
and try it out. I am sure it will be much safer for our kids to surf the internet under Surf Knight.

*This is a RM from SurfKnight*