Baby and children articles

Articles pertaining to babies and children

Baby walkers may slow
physical and mental development

A report published in the October 1999 issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics states that baby walkers can not only slow physical development but can also slow mental development as well. These results came out of a study of 109 children by two researchers, Siegel and Burton.

The researchers reported that the devices blocked the children from seeing their legs thus blocking the feedback needed for development of these important motor skills. Without seeing their legs the children developed more slowly. In addition the researchers reported that children who crawl are stimulated by objects in their environment while children in walkers were limited in their exploring.

The 109 babies were studied as three groups. One group did not use walkers at all. One group used newer walkers with trays that the child could not see through, and one group used older walkers with smaller trays making it easier for the child to see their feet.

The results were that on average children who did not use walkers could sit up at 5.39 months, crawl at 5.84 months and walk at 10.82 months. Babies with the see feet walkers, could sit up at 5.99 months, crawl at 6.23 months and walk at 10.70 months. Those babies that were in walkers and could not see their feet could sit up at 6.73 months, crawl at 6.68 months and walk at 11.66 months.

Children victims of too many medical errors

In a report from the April 25, 2001 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and reported on the WebMD web site, comes an alarming report of research on the high incidence of medical errors effecting hospitalized children. According to the study researchers looked at 1,120 children admitted to two teaching hospitals during the spring of 1999. They reviewed almost 11,000 orders for medications and found 616 errors which translates into a 6% error rate.

According to the study most of these errors were relatively small resulting from clerical problems. However, alarmingly 115 of them could have potentially lead to harm, and 26 actually did lead to harm to the children. In as much as previous studies have shown an alarmingly high rate for medical errors overall, this recent study shows that the number of potential problems was three times higher in children as compared to a previous study of medical errors in adults.

Study author Rainu Kaushal, MD, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, says, "Children pose unique challenges. Unlike adults, almost all pediatric drug doses must be specially calculated. Pharmacists often have to dilute stock solutions to make them suitable for children. When a error occurs, very small, very sick children may not have the internal buffers needed to deal with even a small dosing error."

Leon Wyszewianski, PhD, an associate professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health commented on a solution, "Lowering the error rate is not just a matter of getting physicians to change their ways. We have to change the systems that surround them. We have to hold administrators and managers accountable for solving problems like this."

Communicating with children about disasters

The events of September 11th affected everyone personally in some way. Children were also affected, and probably more than we think. Just from watching news broadcasts children have been impacted in ways we are only beginning to notice. Teachers are even reporting that in art classes, small children are drawing chilling pictures of the Twin Towers with planes crashing into them.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released some points of advice to assist in helping children's emotional health. These points were published on September 12, 2001 on the Intelihealth web site. The points they advise are:

It's important to communicate to children that they're safe. Given what they may have seen on television, they need to know that the violence is isolated to certain areas and they will not be harmed. Parents should try to assure children that they've done everything they can to keep their children safe.
Adolescents in particular can be hard hit by these kinds of events and parents might want to watch for signs such as: sleep disturbances, fatigue, lack of pleasure in activities enjoyed previously, and initiation of illicit substance abuse.
Overexposure to the media can be traumatizing. It's unwise to let children or adolescents view footage of traumatic events over and over. Children and adolescents should not watch these events alone.
Adults need to help children understand the significance of these events. Discussion is critical. It should be stressed that the terrorist acts are ones of desperation and horror - and that they're not about politics or religion. Children should know that lashing out at members of a particular religious or ethnic group will only cause more harm.

Chiropractors also recognize that this time of stress effects, and is affected by nervous interference from subluxations. It is therefore very important that children be chiropractically checked for subluxations and adjusted as needed.

Drug errors in children draw alarm

Medscape reported on July 2, 2000 that errors in medication for children are creating a growing problem. The article states that the problem is due to the lack of information on the effects of many drugs on children. Most research is done with drugs on adults, little information is then known on the effects on children. The article states that improper dosage is the most common error that causes problems. They note that infants and children are not "little adults" and should not be treated as such. The article lists several facts demonstrating the Big Problems. They are:

medication errors, excluding adverse reactions, are responsible for 14% of drug-related deaths
5% of US hospital drug orders contain errors
4 to 10% of US pharmacy-dispensed drugs involve some form of error; 0.6 to 1.5% of these are considered serious.
in France, 30% of pediatric calls to poison centers involve infants; the most common concern is an error of dose. Hospitalization is necessary in about 15% of cases.

Highlighting this problem is an article from Reuters News dated May 15, 2000 which headlines the fact that more children are being placed on a combination of medications such as Ritalin and Prozac. In this article Dr. Jerry Rushton of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, states, "I think the safety of these medications--in the young child especially--is not known, and when you take them in combination it is a whole new level of safety concern." The alarming numbers in this article show that by 1998, 10% of children aged 6 to 14 years were on Ritalin or stimulants, as were 1% of preschoolers aged 1 to 5 years.

Chiropractic care has long suggested that a proper functioning nervous system, free from interference creates a healthier functioning child. Studies done such as the one at Mississippi State University, published in the October 12, 1989 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, showed that a non-drug approach can help children with hyperactivity. The researchers remarked, "the majority of the children in this study did, in fact, improve under specific chiropractic care."

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