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Strollerderby
Do overweight kids who exercise still need medical treatment?
Do parents take obesity seriously enough? According to doctors involved in a recent study, no, no they do not.
The survey, conducted by the Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, found that only just over half of parents said they would seek medical help for an overweight child, whereas at least three-quarters said they’d get medical help if their child showed symptoms of diabetes, asthma or even a learning difficulty.
This study is supposed to provoke outrage and soul-searching among the parenting population, but know what? I’m not falling for it. Continue reading »
Would you equate hot dogs to cigarettes?
America’s favorite baseball arena treat is coming under fire from more than just the grill. A billboard in Indianapolis compares the cancer risk of eating hot dogs to that of smoking cigarettes.
While most parents would never view a hot dog as a healthy selection, a lot of us do give our kids a hot dog here and there at a baseball game or a family barbecue.
So does the risk pose a real threat?
How do you make veggies the main course?
Today we said goodbye to the long-standing food pyramid, conceived in 1992 to advise American’s on their diets, and hello to MyPlate — the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new representation of the ideal diet. Easier to understand and use, and reflective of our unfolding knowledge of healthy nutrition.
Fruits and vegetables make up half the plate (yay!), grains and proteins get the remaining two quarters. Dairy is off to the side in a little cup — of yogurt or milk, for example. It’s a great development in my opinion. We tend to build meals around meat, when we should build meals around vegetables and think of meat as a side.
But I’m sure a lot of parents are thinking: all well and good, but how do you actually get a kid to eat her veggies?
Today, a study on getting kids to eat more veggies piqued my interest in light of the MyPlate news. Tell me what you think:
We all know breakfast is important. It gets your day started, nourishes your body, helps you lose weight, improves concentration…and protects against lead absorption in your tissues.
OK, that last one isn’t such common knowledge. But it’s a real thing in the world, according to a new study out of China. In a 6-month study, Chinese scientists showed that children who ate breakfast every day lowered their blood levels of lead by 15%, compared with those who skipped it.
That’s a pretty big advantage for a small effort.
Oh, is that a baby on my breast? I didn't notice.
Babble has two fascinating features up this week that sit firmly on either side of the breast vs. bottle debate. One, a slideshow of celebs breastfeeding in public, features photos of famous moms like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Salma Hayek and Gwen Stefani gleefully feeding infants. (In Hayek’s case, she was photographed feeding someone else’s infant – one of the 10 biggest breastfeeding controversies, according to TIME magazine.) The other is an opinion piece by Being Pregnant blogger Monica Bielanko on why she won’t apologize for formula feeding. Titled “Not Breastfeeding is Fine,” Bielanko’s central argument is that because of her strict Mormon upbringing, she has “always associated nudity, especially breasts, with sexuality and then sin and shame,” a correlation that makes breastfeeding difficult, to say the least.
Bielanko has essentially been told to get over her insecurities by breastfeeding zealots who seem to be completely callous toward her emotional and psychological issues yet obsessed with the health of her baby – a child they don’t and will never know. I think it’s one thing to advocate breastfeeding in general, but to attack specific individuals for their choices is a bit much. (Those same breastfeeding advocates willing to attack an individual for choosing to bottle-feed would likely never attack a gay person for choosing to be in a same-sex relationship.) Beyond a certain point, these extreme lactivists are not trying to help anyone, but rather are choosing to attack other mothers in an attempt to legitimize their choices amidst a culture that can seem to be anti-breastfeeding.
Then there are those, like most of the celebrity moms profiled in Babble’s Celebs Who Breastfeed in Public feature, who are simply trying to lead by example. To make it known to the world at large that they are breastfeeding their children, perhaps in the hope that a new mother on the fence about breastfeeding will feel inspired, or maybe just because an essential element of breastfeeding is doing it on demand no matter where you are, even if you’re in the park/at a store/on the cover of a magazine. (Don’t you hate it when your baby bugs you for food while you’re trying to pose for Vogue? Kids!)
Michelle Obama has taken heat from conservative women for announcing last week that she supports the mantra, “Breast is Best,” in the same way that Bielanko (and many others like her) have been ridiculed by La Leche Leaguers. Bielanko says, “Other women breastfeeding in public make me feel uncomfortable, too, even though I think it’s good that they’re doing it. I can’t help that reaction, it just happens. I can disguise my discomfort, I can smile at the breastfeeding mothers, and I do, but I can’t control how I feel on the inside.” She’s certainly not alone. Kim Kardashian famously tweeted about how gross she thought it was that a mother seated near her was breastfeeding in an LA restaurant (though I doubt K.K. made any effort to hide her feelings). As an aside to the First Lady’s new focus on breastfeeding, the Surgeon General has made it clear that “No mother should be made to feel guilty if she cannot or chooses not to breastfeed.” Yet clearly Bielanko does feel guilty, and some would suggest she should. Continue reading »
Elmo to help low-income families eat better
Eating well can challenging for any family, but for a family on a limited income, it’s even more difficult. And given our current economic climate, more and more families are having a harder time putting food on the table, much less making sure that food is nutritious. But Elmo and the gang want to help. And the help is right around the corner.
On Monday, the Sesame Workshop announced their newest project: Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget. They’re hoping to make a difference to the one in four children who suffer from “food insecurity,” which means they aren’t consuming food that meets nutritional needs due to financial instability. According to the Sesame Workshop‘s website, 9.6 million of these children are under the age of six.
The plan is to provide such families with free “outreach kits,” which, among other things, will include an educational video that features Sesame Street’s four newest muppets, known simply as “the Superfoods.” The video also features Elmo along with some real-life families who qualify as food insecure. Continue reading »
Nestle’s Boost Kid Essentials drinks for kids may be good for kids, but they’re not a panacea for all that ails your little ones. Now, Nestle will tell you that up front.
Nestle has agreed to stop claiming its Boost drink for kids has immune benefits. The agreement is part of a settlement with the FTC following investigation of a recent Boost ad campaign.
The ads claimed the drink, which comes with a straw filled with probiotics, could protect kids from colds, diarrhea and other mild illnesses. The ads portrayed Boost as being so good for kids’ immune systems that it would keep kids from missing school due to illness.
The FTC investigated these claims and found there was insufficient scientific evidence to back them up. Nestle admitted no wrongdoing in their settlement, and the company was not fined.
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
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