Turn on the TV, plop little kiddie in front of it and you get peace and quiet. And that’s the problem. When the boob tube is blasting, babies and their parents or caregivers don’t engage in conversation or much interaction at all. As a result, the kids are slower to develop their language skills, according to a new study.
Researchers found that each hour of TV was associated with a decrease of 770 words the child heard from an adult, Science Daily reported. The kids in the study wore small digital recorders on radom days for up to two years, which allowed the researchers to track the sounds they were exposed to and made. A total of 329 kids ranging from two months to four years old participated.
“Adults typically utter approximately 941 words per hour. Our study found that adult words are almost completely eliminated when television is audible to the child,” said lead researcher Dimitri A. Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington medical school. The research was published in the Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has long recommended that parents refrain from turning on the TV for kids under the age of two. (This means those Baby Einstein videos, too!) Instead, parents should play, read, sing and listen to music with their child.
For older kids, these tips are encouraged:
– Keep TV off during mealtime.
– Limit TV to two hours or less per day.
– Avoid using TV as a reward.
– Keep TV out of bedrooms.
The six boys and two girls are only the second set of octuplets to be born alive in the United States. They came nine weeks early, but were reported to be in stable condition at Bellflower Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Doctors at a news conference declined to publicly identify the mother or say whether the octuplets were the result of fertility drugs, the Associated Press reported. The newborns weren’t named either, just referred to by letters A thru H.
The children were delivered by C-section and ranged from 1 pound, 8 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces. The mother told her doctors she planned to breastfeed all of them.
The woman’s doctors had expected seven kids — they were surprised by number 8. “It is quite easy to miss a baby when you’re anticipating seven babies,” Dr. Harold Henry, chief of maternal and fetal medicine, said at the news conference. “Ultrasound doesn’t show you everything.”
The first set of live-born octuplets were delivered in Houston in 1998. One child died a week later. The remaining siblings are now fourth-graders.
And this doesn’t even count Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin.
The birth rate for girls ages 15 to 19 increased about three percent in 2006 from the previous year, according to the latest government data. It’s the first nationwide increase in 15 years.
States in the South and Southwest had the highest teen birth rates, according to the analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The “winner” on this list was Mississippi, 68.4 births per 1,000 female teens, followed by New Mexico (64.1) and Texas (63.1). Where were the more responsible teens? The report listed New Hampshire with 18.7 births per 1,000 and Vermont with 20.8 births per 1,000.
Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told USA Today that she blames Hollywood, politics and our increasingly sexualized culture for encouraging all these unmarried births. She’s not encouraged about the stats for 2007 and 2008. “In the last couple of years, we had Jamie Lynn Spears. We had Juno and we had Bristol Palin,” she said.
For the record, Bristol has plenty of company in her home state. In 2006, Alaska had 44.3 births per 1,000 teens, a jump of 19 percent from the previous year.
Twins in Michigan and England are getting attention for what makes them different.
A set of twins from a Detroit suburb was born on different days — and different years. Tarrance Griffin was born just before 2008 ended, at 11:51 p.m. His twin brother Tariq came in 26 minutes later, in 2009.
The mom, Tangerica Woods, told WXYZ TV News in Detroit that she was trying to hold out to have both born on New Year’s Day, but Tarrance just couldn’t wait. Maybe he knew that his parents could use the tax deduction for 2008. See a video of the cuties here.
In England, a mixed-race couple produced a set of black and white twins — twice. One child from each set has fair skin like her mother and the other has dark skin like her father.
The first set, Lauren and Hayleigh, was born in 2001. Sisters Miyah and Leah came into the world in November, a few weeks early. The kids are fraternal, not identical, twins, but doctors say that it’s rare for twins to look so different from each other. Take a look at the four kids here.
Parents Alison Spooner and Dean Durrant told Sky News that they were tempted to bet on whether they would have another black-and-white set, but a bookie refused because he couldn’t set odds on it. A spokesman for William Hill bookies said that if the couple wants to try a third time, he’ll let them place a bet. The odds would be set at 10,000 to 1.
Is breastfeeding erotic? Facebook seems to think so, and maybe that’s all you can expect from a Web site started by a guy so young he was being breastfed just a couple of years ago. Members say Facebook is banning photos of children nursing, and they’re in revolt.
“Facebook, we expect more from you, and we expect you to realize that nursing moms everywhere have a right to show pictures of their babies eating, just like bottle-fed babies have a right to be seen,” wrote the organizers of the group, “Hey, Facebook, Breastfeeding Is Not Obscene.” It now has over 60,000 members.
A Facebook spokesman told the New York Daily News it removes photos only if the entire breast is exposed. Barry Schnitt said the policy was designed to make the site “a safe, secure and trusted environment” for all users, including teenagers.
Members of the Not Obscene group have posted over 2,000 pictures of themselves breastfeeding. Any teenage boy who seeks them out expecting a thrill is going to be disappointed.
The 4-oz chocolate bar came with a gift teddy bear and has been sold at Walgreens since late September. The Food and Drug Administration found melamine, a toxic chemical, in some samples of the chocolate, according to a news release from Walgreens.
The drug store has stopped selling the Dressy Teddy Bear, and customers should return the item to Walgreens for a full refund. Walgreens has not received any reports of illness. To see a photo of the recalled product, click here.
Just 173 of the teddy bears with chocolate were sold, but the recall raises questions of how many other products may be tainted. The announcement from Walgreens did not specify where the chocolate was made or why the FDA tested the candy.
In November, the FDA announced that all food imports with milk-based ingredients from China would not be allowed in the United States until the shipments are checked for safety.
Various food imports from China have been recalled worldwide because of melamine contamination. The scandal began in September after news broke that tens of thousands of kids in China were sickened by baby formula tainted with melamine. China recently has revised the number of babies who died to six from the four previously reported.
Last week, the FDA revealed that melamine had been found in some samples of U.S.-made infant formula. The agency reversed its zero-tolerance policy on melamine and said that a small level of the chemical is safe. The decision outraged many consumer groups and lawmakers, who question whether the FDA is doing enough to keep the food supply safe.
Melamine, a chemical used in packaging, fertilizers and cleaning products, can cause kidney damage in young children.
Both infants, from different counties in New Mexico, contracted a rare illness linked to powdered formula.
The sickness, called Enterobacter sakazakii, causes an infection in the bloodstream and central nervous system. One child, a boy, has died, and a baby girl has been hospitalized, according to the New Mexico Health Department in a news release issued today. The children contracted different strains of the bacteria.
Health officials say they are investigating what exactly caused the babies to develop the infection. Just 120 cases of the illness have been recorded worldwide.
Researchers have previously linked the sickness to infant formula tainted with E. sakazakii. But in some cases, the formula tested did not have the bacteria. The two babies in New Mexico consumed formula as well as other foods, which are also being tested.
New Mexico health authorities said that the safest method of feeding infants is breastfeeding. For those who have to resort to formula, these safety tips are recommended:
– Talk to your doctor before trying a new formula.
– Prepare a small amount of formula for each feeding. This reduces the amount of time it is at room temperature.
– If you have prepared formula and your baby has not yet had any, throw it away within two hours. If your baby drank out of the bottle, throw away any leftover formula within one hour.
– Always wash your hands before preparing formula or any food for yourself or family members.
– Prepared formula in a refrigerator should be used within 24 hours.
Products made before a federal ban takes effect Feb. 10 on certain soft plastics can be legally sold during Christmas and well into next year.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has decided that the ban only applies to products made after Feb. 10, the Washington Post reported. The law involves the controversial chemical phthalate, which has been linked to reproductive problems and is used in soft plastic items such as teethers, pacifiers and some children’s toys.
Consumer advocates were upset that manufacturers will still be able to sell products made before the deadline date. “How will parents know whether the rubber ducky they’re buying was made today and not in March?” said Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for Consumer Federation of America.
A spokeswoman for CPSC said that parents can just call a manufacturer to find out when a product was made.
Meanwhile, makers of children’s products hailed the decision. They had been worried that they would have to test all their products and components if already-made goods couldn’t be sold. “I’m glad to hear they are grandfathering product already in place because there is dispute about whether those phthalates are harmful, and what are they going to replace them with,” said Kathleen McHugh, president of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, which also represents small toy makers.
Some manufacturers offer phthalates-free pacifiers, teethers and other children’s goods that young kids are likely to put in their mouths and chew.
Toxic doses of the chemical bisphenol A were released when products made for babies were heated in a microwave or conventional oven during a test by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Of the 10 products tested during the newspaper’s investigation, the highest amounts of leaching were found in a can of Enfamil liquid infant formula and a Rubbermaid plastic food-storage container. Other products tested that babies might eat or eat from included Munchkin bowls, Gerber Graduates Pasta Pick-ups and Campbell’s Just Heat & Enjoy tomato soup.
Some of the levels detected were the same amount that scientists have found to cause neurological and development damage in laboratory animals. “There is no such thing as safe microwaveable plastic,” said Frederick vom Saal, a University of Missouri researcher who oversaw the newspaper’s testing.
BPA is a key ingredient used to make common household plastics, and studies have shown that 93 percent of Americans have it in their body. Many scientists say that babies should avoid BPA products because their tiny kidneys cannot eliminate toxins quickly.
In October, Canada declared the chemical a human health hazard and will soon ban it from baby products. The Food and Drug Administration has declared BPA in plastics to be of low dosage and safe. But a panel of scientists charged that the agency was creating “a false sense of security.” Six senators support a BPA ban like Canada’s.
In the Journal-Sentinel’s investigation, reporters found that products that an average one-year-old child might consume would expose her to the same amount of BPA that caused mammary gland changes in mice. Those changes in humans can lead to breast cancer.
Food companies say that parents worried about BPA should not microwave meals in plastic containers with the recyling number 7 stamped on the bottom. That designation indicates that BPA was used. But the newspaper reported that BPA also leached from containers with different recyling numbers, including 1, 2 and 5.
Many food companies tout their products as “microwave safe,” but that label is not regulated by the federal government. BPA can make its way into the food from the plastic packaging when the containers are heated.
The American Chemistry Council dismissed the Journal-Sentinel’s tests. Food company officials told reporters that the doses in the tests were too low to be significant to human health.
But Bradley Kirschner, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and the father of three young girls, said that U.S. officials need to do more safety checks on the chemical, following Canada’s example. “If an entire country is banning it, that makes it hard to ignore,” he said.
The Environmental Working Group, a public health advocacy nonprofit, recommends that parents use glass or ceramic bowls when heating up food and to use baby bottles labeled BPA-free. Other tips to minimize exposure can be found here.
First, the military surge in Iraq. Now, the baby surge at Fort Bragg.
The Army base in Fayetteville, N.C., has been hit with a baby boom that began this summer, with the military hospital delivering nearly 300 newborns in August and 261 in September. Births are up 50 percent from the previous year, the New York Times reported.
Wanda McCants, a nurse at the Womack Army Medical Center, said the new babies are a welcome contrast to the war tragedies that the hospital also handles: “I think it’s the nature of war to come back and want to create something.”
Nearly 22,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne division, deployed to Iraq in 2007 for the surge, began returning home last October. The base also is home to 29,000 soldiers from other units, many of whom also served overseas.
On Saturday, about 1,000 new moms and moms-to-be were honored at “Boots and Booties,” what the Army called the largest military baby shower ever. One woman, pregnant with her third child, showed up even though she was having contractions. She explained that she usually had “long labors.” Soldiers may be tough, but moms are tougher.
The force of babymania has been felt all across town, the Times reported. The Target store had such a run on nursery furniture that some moms couldn’t get matching cribs and dressers. So many families were calling the medical clinic for the results of pregnancy tests that the Army had to install an extra phone line. At a civilian hospital, some women had to labor in the waiting room until maternity beds became available.
About 20 percent of the expectant moms are active-duty soldiers who get six months nondeployment status for the birth of their child, according to Col. Flavia Diaz-Hays, chief of maternal child health services at Womack.
Photo by Loose Ends
