Parenting Solved

CNN's John Roberts and His Concern for Baby Palin

CNN’s preoccupation with Sarah Palin at this point seems to be that as veep she won't have the wherewithal to care for her newborn with Down's syndrome. In an interview with Dana Bash, correspondent John Roberts seemed in no way concerned with Palin’s competency to hold the highest office but rather seemed more preoccupied with what was going to going to happen to her child! I suspect that this is goodhearted concern rather than political bias.

Let's tune in....

JOHN ROBERTS: You know, there's one other issue -- we've talked about her experience and what depth of experience she has; the fact that maybe she tries to peel off a few women voters on the Democratic side, who really wanted to see a woman in the White House in some way, shape, or form. There's also this issue that on April 18th, she gave birth to a baby with Down's Syndrome.

DANA BASH: Yes.

ROBERTS: The baby is just slightly more than four months old now. Children with Down's syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of Vice President, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?

Dana Bash was appropriately bewildered.

While I suspect Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree more with the attention necessary to special needs kids, I’m guessing Sarah Palin is going to put on her big girl pants and get it done. And so far she’s done it without the help of CNN’s probing correspondents.

Should a special needs child keep a woman below the glass ceiling? And what if the vice presidential nominee had been the baby's father? Don’t have the answer necessarily, just asking. Liz Ditz and Whitney Hoffman seem to be concerned.

Tip to Amanda Carpenter at Townhall.com

Vaccinate Your Baby - Site Aims to Promote Vaccination

This month Every Child By Two launched a new site, Vaccinate Your Baby. As someone fed up with a web filled with self-proclaimed vaccine authorities, it'€™s refreshing to see private resources allocated to such a beautifully designed and dead-on accurate site. Under the direction of some of the country's most esteemed pediatric infectious disease experts, this site does it right. From overburdening the immune system to thimerisol, the facts are spelled out in plain english. And check out the Research & Studies page - loads of links to the spades of data that dispel the quackery pervading the media.

Note to self: Send my patients to Vaccinate Your Baby.

4 Great Probiotics For Your Child

“Dr. V, what probiotic should I give my child?” I hear this every day and each time I remind my parents that the use of any probiotic needs to be tailored to the need of a child. Just like specific antibiotics have to be taken for particular infections, specific probiotic bugs need to be taken with particular problems in mind. Here are a few that I regularly recommend. These bugs that have been proven in a variety of studies to be clinically effective at treating specific conditions:

Lactobacillus reuteri. Affectionately known as ‘reuteri’, I think of this as a sleeper among probiotics. You tend not to hear much about it but it’s one of the most powerful bugs available. Recent studies have demonstrated effects ranging from the cure for infant misery to the prevention of diarrhea in daycare centers. I see reuteri as one of the best preventive bugs for kids. Available exclusively through Biogaia of Sweden as chewable tablets, chewing gum or via (I love this) reuteri impregnated juice box straws.

Lactobacillus GG. To those in the know, it’s ‘GG’. This is perhaps one of the most thoroughly studied probiotics in children with effects claimed in everything from eczema to asthma. Like reuteri, I like GG as a prophylactic or preventative bug. Culturelle offers a reputable product and it’s widely available in retail outlets. Offer one capsule, or 10 billion bugs, per day sprinkled in baby food or apple sauce. Look for GG to appear in select infant formulas in the next couple of years.

Bifidobacterium lactis. If you look at the colonic inhabitants of the typical breastfed infant you’ll find mostly bifidobacteria. In fact, it’s been suggested that this abundance of bifidobacteria accounts for the remarkable health enjoyed by breastfed babes. Bifidobacteria as a probiotic has been shown to prevent infectious diarrhea, shorten the course of infectious diarrhea once its taken hold, and decrease the shedding of rotavirus. B. lactis has been shown to increase the production of secretory IgA (one of the first lines of defense) in the intestinal tract which is always a good thing. Look for B lactis in Nestle’s Good Start with Natural Cultures.

Sarcomyces boulardii. This is the only probiotic on the list that isn’t a bacterium but rather a yeast. S. boulardii is best known for it’s effects in reversing the diarrhea often experienced during antibiotic use, and specifically against the infection Clostridium difficile. Personally in my clinic I have used this to combat toddler’s diarrhea with some success. Available as Florastor sachets, 1 packet or 5 billion bugs per day.

As probiotics represent a practically unregulated industry remember that what you read on a manufacturers label may not be what you’re putting into your child’s mouth. Stick with reputable brands as I have suggested.

If You Like My Blog, Push My Buttons

Okay, time for a little old-fashioned groveling.

Those of you who frequent the pages of Parenting Solved will note that about a month ago ads began appearing. I’m a proud charter member of the Six Apart ad program. And all of the titillating content found here is generated free of charge – no tip jars or pleas for PayPal contributions to fund a trip to the next blogging convention. But as a reader you can help me out by clicking my ads. If you see an ad that looks compelling, click through and help us out. It’s a quiet and free way to say thanks.

Idea tip to Seth.

"Dr. V, I Believe That Man is a Yankee!"

I’m a yankee. My wife reminds me of this on a regular basis. When we’re out with friends or visiting extended family in the Texas Hill Country it’s an awkward source of embarrassment for my in-laws. My father the Texas tobacco lobbyist went to his grave with the sad reality that his daughter married someone from the same state as Ted Kennedy.

And it seems I can’t escape, even in the clinic.

I was on the phone recently with a mother upset after a run in with a less-than-cordial pharmacist. In a fit of exasperation this mother declared in heavy Mississippi accent, “Dr. V, I believe that man is a yankee!” I didn’t know what to say. It was after hours and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I was wearing a well-weathered Red Sox cap. A lot like my cap, fifteen years in Texas had worn my Boston accent to something barely recognizable. I tried to commiserate but really didn’t know what to say. I was verklempt.

I was again reminded of my alien status during a recent horse drawn carriage tour of a plantation in Charleston, SC. At the outset of the tour the carriage driver asked where everybody was from. With the exception of some token Europeans, all claimed citizenship below the Mason Dixon line. The carriage demographics apparently gave the driver license to deliver a healthy, family style serving of history – Southern style (all along it had been my understanding that the Civil War was over). While I enjoyed the tour, in the end my feelings for the old South failed to leave me misty.

And so it goes, at home, in the clinic or on the plantation, I’m just a stranger in a foreign land.

Green Vaccines? Green This

Via Liz Ditz I stumbled upon Mark Crislip's review of childhood infectious diseases preventable by immunization in his post, Amanda Peet is My Hero. My favorite quote:

Green our vaccines? The only green you will see by getting rid of vaccines or decreasing their use is the grass growing on the graves of children needlessly killed by preventable infections.

Oh, and conflict of interest doesn't apply here. Crislip is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who gets nothing when kids die.

Thanks, Liz.

Alert the Media: Airline Travelers Don't Like Babies

Some interesting Labor Day stats: According to Airfarewatchdog, 85% of surveyed readers believe that airline carriers should dedicate sections for parents of babies and young children. And 100% suggested that they would pay a premium to fly without the patter of little feet in the aisle.

While I’m inclined to think that this reflects the worst of society, traveling with children is admittedly difficult for everyone involved. And the stress of close quarters is only compounded in the presence of a toddler with ears that won’t decompress.

As a dad traveling with children I have never traveled with a sense of entitlement. Yes, I paid as much as the man trying to sleep in the seat in front of us. But he has no obligation to embrace my daughter’s occasional outburst or need for a diaper change. As traveling parents all we can do is plan ahead, pray for sleep and count each minute to landing.

An Unlikely Spokesman for Breastfeeding

I’m a breastfeeding advocate but I can’t get my hands around this one.

It seems Illinois can claim to have one of America’s only male lactation specialist. Chicago’s Henry Hale was so inspired by his daughter’s NICU experience with breast milk that he became something of a self-proclaimed pied piper of the breast pump. And it seems that once this 25-year-old security guard discovered the virtues of breast milk he shelved his flashlight and never looked back. He had to share his passion with the world. You can read the story here in the Chicago Tribune (be sure to check out the part where Henry talks smack with formula-toting mothers in the grocery aisle).

A local spokesperson for La Leche league calls it “cutting edge”. As for me: I report, you decide.

The New York Times Addresses Measles Rising

Kudos to the Sunday New York Times for allocating precious editorial space to the subject of preventive health in children. Their attention to the rising numbers of measles cases in the U.S. is just what the doctor ordered as far as a wake up call to those who dodge immunization in their children.

Measles is a bellwether infection and is often the first disease to rear its head when immunization rates fall. Stay tuned.

Malaysian Pediatricians and Their Probiotics

This weekend I addressed the Malaysian Pediatric Association Annual Congress on probiotic use in children. As it turns out, many of them could have stood up and given the same talk. It turns out that the use of probiotics has been way of life for pediatricians in southeast Asia for some time. My appearance was a reality check on the subtle sense entitlement that American physicians often harbor. I was also privileged to judge the meeting’s poster case presentations which consisted of strange and unusual disease seen in only this steamy corner of the world. And I thought I worked hard.

I might suggest that the American Academy of Pediatrics fly in a handful of hardworking general pediatricians from Malaysia. While none of us in the U.S. would like to admit it, we would definitely learn something.