Strollerderby : breathing difficulties

They Say: Vicks VapoRub Bad for Baby

JeanneSager — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:31:00 GMT

Have you always been slightly creeped out by rubbing greasy slime along your kid's upper lip? Good news - you don't have to do it anymore.

Of course, if you're one of those people who has always wiped the Vicks VapoRub under the kid's nose, and hoped for the best, you might want to keep reading.

Reseachers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina announced this week that Vicks VapoRub applied under the nose of children two and under might actually be making it more difficult for them to breathe.

Of course, Vicks is not promoted for kids under two, and the package clearly states it should not be put directly under the nose. But hundreds of parents do it anyway - thinking the layer of gunk under the nose is going to get their kids' mucus moving faster than it would if they smeared it on the chest (in other words, if they followed directions). Unfortunately, according to Wake Forest researcher Dr. Bruce Rubin, the incredients in VapoRub can irritate the nasal passages and cause the body to produce more mucus. The thickened secretions - especially in infants and young children, whose airways are narrower than an adults - will then make breathing more difficult.

Rubin and his colleagues started their project after treating an eighteen-month-old girl in respiratory distress whose parents had treated her with VapoRub, under the nose - despite warnings on the package.

Those pesky directions, they'll get you every time.

Image/Source: Reuters

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They Say: Prenatal Folic Acid Not So Good After All

JeanneSager — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:57:00 GMT

Am I the only one who is starting to feel like scientists flip a coin every day to decide what's good for our kids? The latest flip flop hits those prenatal ~~horse pills~~ vitamins every mother tries to force down throughout her pregnancy.

Turns out that folic acid we always thought was so necessary for their development? This week, they're saying we probably should hold off about three months. Stay tuned (these things are subject to change).

The study out of Norway has some heft to it. Researchers followed thirty-two thousand kids over a period of three years and found moms who took folic acid during the first three months of gestation were more likely to have a baby with respiratory issues all the way up to the eighteen-month mark. The kids were also twenty-four percent more likely to land in the hospital because of their wheezing.

Over the years, folic acid intake by pregnant moms has been liked to everything from a decrease in the incidence of spina bifida to a possible decrease in cancer in kids. I've known moms who started taking prenatal vites months before they even began TRYING for a baby because they wanted to have a healthy folic acid build-up in the body. And I'd imagine you'd be hard-pressed these days to find a prenatal vitamin that DOESN'T have folic acid built in (thank you March of Dimes).

So what's a mom to do? Would you say the benefits outweigh the risks? Or should we just stay tuned for the other flip flop to drop?

Image: MLive

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