Debora Porter

  February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA), “this month-long national health observance brings together thousands of dedicated professionals, healthcare providers, and educators to promote the benefits of good oral health to children, their caregivers, teachers and many others.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls tooth decay the most common chronic disease of childhood: “Dental caries, or tooth decay, is a common chronic disease that can cause pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life throughout one’s lifespan. Left untreated, tooth decay can progress and lead to infection, tooth loss, and more complex and expensive treatments. Untreated tooth decay can affect essential aspects of daily living, including eating, speaking, and performing at home, school, or work. Children with poor oral health miss more school and receive lower grades than those with better oral health, while adults l...

  13 years old is the minimum age a child can create a social media account on popular platforms like Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was recently asked if he thought 13 was old enough: “I, personally, based on the data I’ve seen, believe that 13 is too early … It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children,” Murthy said on “CNN Newsroom.”   According to the Pew Research Center report , “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022,” practically every teenager in America (97%) uses the internet on a daily basis, with 46% saying they use it “constantly.” A growing body of research has been measuring the impact of  internet and social media usage on teen health and mental well-being. Cyberbullying, child predators, and ...

  In April 2019, Fisher-Price and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of 4.7 million Rock ’n Play Sleepers after reports of 30 infant deaths allegedly related to the product. At the same time, Kids2 recalled nearly 700,000 of their reclining rocking sleepers after 15 infant deaths were reported. The recall was apparently ineffective because the companies and the CPSC were compelled to reissue their warnings last month: Today the CPSC is reannouncing two recalls of inclined infant sleepers that were issued nearly  four years ago – the Fisher Price Rock n Play and the Kids2 Rocking Sleeper. We are issuing  this announcement because, despite their removal from the marketplace and a prohibition on  their sale, babies continue to die in these products. We now know of approximately 100 infant  deaths in the Rock n Play, including eight that happened after the recall was announced. And  we know of 15 infants who died in the Kids2 Rocki...

Daddy’s Home by Gary Markstein and Anthony Rubino Jr. ( Arcamax.com/thefunnies )             source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/02/05/sunday-funnies-543/

Kamchatka. The Winter Surf Challenge from Timelab Pro on Vimeo : Surfing in the Pacific Ocean, active volcanoes, beaches of black sand, snowy mountain ranges – in the new aerial video Timelab Pro discovers winter Kamchatka.     source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/02/04/cool-video-of-the-week-544/

*This post originally appeared on The PediaBlog on February 3, 2016.   “It’s A Small World After All”     It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears. It’s a world of hopes and a world of fears. There’s so much that we share, That it’s time we’re aware It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small, small world. There is just one moon and one golden sun. And a smile means friendship to everyone. Though the mountains divide, And the oceans are wide It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small, small world. — “It’s A Small World” by The Sherman Brothers.   In order to “be the change” we want to see in the world, Dr. Linda D. Arnold asks pediatricians to think globally, even as we work tirelessly to provide care in our local communities: Pediatricians are unique...

  Despite growing evidence highlighting the safety and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines to protect all age groups from severe COVID-19, uptake in the pediatric population has been slow. According to the CDC COVID Data Tracker , by the end of January 2023, 62% of eligible teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 completed their primary 3-shot series, and only 7% received the updated bivalent booster. Since vaccines were approved for 5-to-11-year-olds in November 2021 (right before Delta gave way to Omicron), 33% have finished their primary series so far, and 4% have gotten the bivalent booster. Last summer, 20 million American children under 5 became eligible to receive their primary series of shots. To date, only 9% of those kids have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Researchers examining the effectiveness and safety of mRNA vaccines remind us why children are targeted with COVID shots in the first place: SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19–related illnesses have affected all ...