Taking care of a sick toddler isn’t fun. But taking care of two sick children is worse. It means more misery and sleepless nights — and for you, more missed days of work.

So short of ordering everyone into hazmat suits, what are you supposed to do the next time one of your kids comes home from daycare flushed and feverish? How can you protect the rest of the family and prevent germs from spreading? Read the rest of this entry »

Children born to mothers exposed to microbes during pregnancy may be less likely to develop allergies, German researchers say.

They found that pregnant mice exposed to inhaled barnyard microbes gave birth to allergy-resistant offspring. The microbe exposure triggered a mild inflammatory response in the mothers. This response was characterized by increased expression of microbe-sensing Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and the production of immune molecules called cytokines. Read the rest of this entry »

Vigorous exercise may be an especially good way to keep kids lean, but sitting around, in and of itself, doesn’t appear to have a major role in making them fat, new research shows.

Nevertheless, there are still plenty of reasons to avoid too much sedentary “screen time,” Dr. Ulf Ekelund of the MRC Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, UK and colleagues say, given potential negatives including “violence and aggressive behavior, poor academic performance, and poor body image.” Read the rest of this entry »

Parent’s have an important role to play in the case of obese children. Children learn from their parents. Parents should be an example to them by displaying discipline, being physically active, taking part in games with them, encouraging them to go out and play, eat a healthy diet, avoid eating fast foods.

Great  number of children growing in the United States are obese. How can parents keep their kids from becoming obese without triggering an eating disorder, particularly in young girls? Read the rest of this entry »

As much as 80 per cent of our lifetime exposure to the sun occurs during childhood so it is vital that parents to make sure children are properly protected

Sun exposure and protection is a complex and contradictory area of child health. On the one hand, fresh air and sun are vital for the development of a child.

Sunlight, for example, is an important source of bone-building vitamin D. On the other hand, too much sun in childhood can seriously increase the risk of skin cancer in later life.

With this in mind, it is worrying that recent research published in the British Medical Journal shows that many parents still don’t use sunscreens regularly to protect their kids. Read the rest of this entry »