Anophthalmia–the condition of being born with no eye tissue–affects about 30 out of 100,000 babies, leaving them irrevocably blind. A few months ago, an otherwise healthy baby named Brielle Garrison was born with the condition to a 15-year-old mother in Florida. Continue reading »

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Remember that “urgent call for breastmilk donations to Haiti’s babies” that was flying around the internet earlier this week?

Not so fast. Aid organizations on the ground in Haiti, including UNICEF
and the Red Cross, are still not accepting any human milk donations.

I got an e-mail from at least half a dozen moms this week asking for breastmilk donations, saying aid organizations in Haiti were ready to receive them on the USS Comfort off of Haiti’s coast. The milk was desperately needed, they said. I was surprised, since UNICEF had been firm on this point two days earlier: they were not accepting milk.

They still aren’t, and have asked the Human Milk Bank Association of North America to retract their call for donations.

While donations of breastmilk are well-intentioned, the aid workers on the ground say they are neither safe nor necessary. They are working with moms to help them continue or reestablish lactation with their babies. The few babies who can’t be breastfed have ample access to breastmilk alternatives, says UNICEF.

Over 500 ounces of human breastmilk were delivered to the USS Comfort, a Navy aid ship with a neonatal intensive care unit on board. The ship has ample freezer space to store the milk, but aid workers say they haven’t used any of the donated milk.

The U.S. Office For Disaster Assistance says that concerns about transportation, screening, handling and storage make donated milk unsafe to use in the current conditions that exist in Haiti. The American Red Cross,
Doctors Without Borders and World Vision have all said there was never a need for donated milk.

They also do not need or want donations of infant formula. Babies being formula-fed are at much higher risk for opportunistic infection than those being breastfed. UNICEF has said they want to keep track of any infants receiving formula so they can provide additional medical monitoring for those infants. The organization also considers it unsafe to use bottles at all right now, due to the lack of clean water, and wants to train anyone giving a baby supplemental food on the use of a cup and spoon feeding technique.

If you have milk to donate, you should absolutely contact your local milk bank. There are plenty of babies closer to home who can benefit from your generous donation. If you want to help the babies in Haiti, send money.

Photo: Daniel Lobos

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Newt Gingrich has approvingly called Arne Duncan Obama’s “one real bipartisan appointment.” But liberals like Amy Wilkins, who runs a nonprofit for disadvantaged students, has said of Duncan’s reform platform, “The hard heads and soft hearts and replacing the softheaded and hardhearted.” Continue reading »

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A British study reveals it’s probably too difficult to start regulating products thought to sexualize children, and besides, kids don’t want to be “protected” from these products anyway.

The “study” — and I put it in quotes because it doesn’t sound scientific — apparently involved walking along a popular shopping district to inspect the wares and then talking with kids and parents. 

The results say that not many products are actually aimed at children.

“This is not to suggest that imagery in consumer culture is not widespread or that children do not consume products surrounded by such imagery, ” the report said. ”What it does indicate is that relatively few sexualised products are specifically aimed at children.” Continue reading »

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I can only imagine the look of shock and horror on the face of this kid’s dad, as some moron 18-year-old walks up and tries to yank the gold chain off the neck of his 5-year-old.

The robber apparently yanked so hard that the kid was pulled and lifted off the ground before the robber got away. Continue reading »

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Michelle Obama just became one brave mama with her announcement that her pediatrician had to give her a heads up on her girls’ potential for a weight problem.

But did her attempt to personalize the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic unintentionally send a bad message? Continue reading »

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A fun article has been making the rounds of my social media sphere this week. Things You Really Need To Know, by Stephen Downes, isn’t a brand-new essay or a new idea, but it seems to have found a new life in the new decade as we all take stock of where our lives – and our kids’ lives – are going.

“Your school will try to teach you facts, which you’ll need to pass the test but which are otherwise useless. In passing you may learn some useful skills, like literacy, which you should cultivate,” Downes says.

Continue reading »

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