Sugar makes kids hyper: fact or fiction

"Wait an hour after eating before going swimming." "Don't go out in the rain or you'll catch a cold..." We've all heard these before...mostly because our parents told them to us...but who told it to them? Sometimes their parents...sometimes even doctors...but is there actual science behind the myths that most of us believe - and will more than likely pass on to our own kids?

Pediatricians Andrew Adesman (author of "Babyfacts: The Truth About Your Child's Health From Newborn Through Preschool"), Aaron Carroll and Rachel Vreeman, (co-authors of "Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health") all agree - many of the leading myths just don't have the scientific evidence to back them up. When in doubt, doctors often fall back on what their own mentors taught them without questioning the facts on which their advice is based. (Story by Liz Szabo, USA Today http://tinyurl.com/p6nmox)

So what are these wives' tales that parents believe and these pediatricians say are myths? Here are some of my favorite:

• Adding cereal to a baby's diet will help him sleep longer (...we really do so want to believe)
• Teething causes a fever (apparently no more so than anything else)
• Vitamin C, echinacea or zinc will prevent a cold (a number of studies to the contrary)
• You can catch poison ivy from someone else with poison ivy (only if they haven't washed off the oil )
• Birth control pills don't work as well on antibiotics (apparently no proof of this)
• Must stay awake with a concussion (not unless the doctor says so).
• Timing when you have sex will determine your baby's sex (even if it's not true - this one might be worth double checking...just for the fun)

In reality, there are infinitely more questions than there are answers when it comes to the many important medical decisions we often face. That is why I believe it all comes down to this. If you look at the heart of these "myths" there is one common theme...at the end of the day, their goal is to keep us and our children healthy and safe. And until we are inundated with good, credible scientific data to the contrary, it is highly unlikely we will ever give them up.

Truthfully, if I ask you right now do you believe sugar makes kids hyper - fact or fiction? ...what would you say???

The littlest victims of the recession

Times have not been easy. It's no surprise that many of us will leave this recession with more than a few "battle scars". But for the littlest ones, the ones who can't fight their own battles, the economic crisis has begun to take on a much more frightening tone as it threatens their health and in some cases even their lives.

According to CBS Early Show medical correspondent Dr Jennifer Ashton, nationwide 44% of children's hospitals are reporting increases in ER visits this year. At Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio - one of the larger children's hospitals in the country, traffic is up in the ER, even though the population of children in northeast Ohio is down.

Dr Edward Barksdale, chief of pediatric surgery, says the ER is busier than ever because people are waiting to seek care. Too many can't go to a doctor's office and end up coming to the ER instead, delaying care until its necessary. Then there are cases such as baby Hailey Sarubbi, born at 23 weeks and weighing little more than a pound who is struggling to survive because her mother went into premature labor after working seven days a week to make ends meet. And 17-year old Teauna Boysaw who didn't have health coverage when she came into the ER with an infected cyst...her mother, a nursing assistant, couldn't afford the $550 monthly fee to insure her children.

CBS News Interactive: Children In Danger

http://kdka.com/health/kids.health.care.2.1013257.html

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that our little ones are ending up in ER's across the country. Do we blame the parents who delay treatment until it is absoutely necessary because it is more important to put food on the table? Do we blame a system where one in nine children lacks health insurance coverage? Do we blame the doctors and nurses who keep the child waiting in the ER, sometimes for hours, because every day there are more and more to treat.

Or is there something simpler we should consider here. Perhaps rather than blame, we could look for a way to help ...a way to support...a way to cheer on every caregiver who is managing to not only survive these unbelievably awful times, but doing their very best to make life a little better for the child in their care - whether it's their own or someone elses. Maybe it's by relying on each other that we find the answers to the problems...for them...and for us. Perhaps its silly to look to a television show for any real meaning, but maybe the castaways on ABC's Lost were on to something when they said "live together, die alone". All I know is its up to us to make sure the littlest victims of the recession never become its casualties.