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Prevent
SIDS
sudden infant death syndrome of sleeping babies There
is only product proven to remove carbon dioxide from around the head of a sleeping
baby. It's a mattress that's a mesh with an electronic fan underneath that pulls
air down from the room and through the mattress. 
Breast
Feeding Protects Against Asthma
Sept 25, 1999
LONDON (Reuters)
- Australian researchers have added new evidence to the growing
body of research showing breast milk is the best nourishment for infants.
In a report published in the British Medical Journal Friday, Australian researchers
said babies fed only with breast milk for at least the first four months of their
lives have added protection against asthma and other allergies.
Their
findings suggest public health measures promoting breast feeding could help reduce
childhood asthma.
"A significant reduction in the risk of childhood
asthma at age six occurs if exclusive breast feeding is continued for at least
four months after birth," said Dr Wendy Oddy, of the Institute for Child
Health Research in Perth, Western Australia.
Oddy and her colleagues
studied 2,187 children in Western Australia from birth until the age of six to
see if there was any link between breast feeding and asthma and other allergies.
After ruling out other factors that could have contributed to the disease
-- such as low birth weight, premature birth and mothers who smoke -- they found
that feeding infants milk other than breast milk before they were four months
old led to an increase in asthma cases.
Other studies have shown that
breast-fed babies are less likely to suffer from obesity, ear infections and diarrhea
and do better at school.
Latex
pacifiers may trigger allergy in infants
by
Denise Mann, Sept 30, 1999
NEW YORK, Sep
30 (Reuters Health) -- Pacifiers made of latex may
cause allergies in some infants, Italian researchers suggest.
In a case
study reported in the September issue of the journal Allergy, Dr. A. Venuta and
colleagues at Clinica Pediatrica in Modena, Italy, write that an 11-month-old
girl's cough was caused by her rubber pacifier.
But an American latex
allergy expert cautions that such allergies are not common.
Latex is
found in as many as 40,000 consumer products, including rubber gloves, condoms,
balloons, athletic shoe soles, tires, underwear leg and waist bands, rubber toys
and pacifiers.
Additionally, latex can be found in many medical supplies
including disposable gloves, intravenous tubes, syringes, stethoscopes and bandages.
According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), at
least one percent of people in the United States have latex allergies.
The first sign of latex allergy is usually a poison ivy-like rash, which appears
12 to 36 hours after contact with latex. Itching, redness, swelling, sneezing,
wheezing and coughing may also occur, according to the AAAAI.
In the
new case study, the little girl had a cough since she was 3-months-old, the researchers
report. "The cough progressively increased in severity and became more nagging
during the night, causing frequent awakenings.... From birth, she had used a rubber
pacifier, especially during sleep," Venuta and colleagues write. "When
the rubber pacifier was replaced with a silicon one, the cough disappeared,"
they note.
The girl also had a history of rash on her scalp and around
her diaper area. Skin prick tests revealed allergy to natural rubber latex but
not to common foods and allergens. The authors recommend that latex allergy be
considered in infants with persistent coughs who use rubber pacifiers.
"This is a very interesting case study," said Long Beach, California-based
latex allergy expert Dr. Kenneth Kim. "Latex allergy to pacifier is relatively
uncommon but it does occur," adds Kim, the chief of medicine at Long Beach
Memorial Hospital.
Kim offers this tip to parents who think their children
may be allergic to latex. "In day care centers, workers always wear latex
gloves and when they change infants' diapers, they hold up their ankles, so if
it looks like your child's ankles are red, this may be a subtle sign of latex
allergy," he notes.
"As a general rule, don't be paranoid,
but think about such subtle clues to latex allergy," he says.
October
3 through 9 has been designated Latex Allergy Awareness Week, sponsored by ELASTIC,
the Education for Latex Allergy Support Team and Information Coalition. *
ePregnacy *
Younger Mothers Network *
Right Start 
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