Baby Babble

Think you're tired? Try supervising a 3-year-old for 3 years, 24/7

Back in early May, Parent Dish reported on a 3-year-old boy who had a rare condition that manifests itself in not sleeping. Ever.  The boy, Rhett Lamb,  was born with a rare condition called chiari malformation, which means his skull is abnormally formed.  Doctors think the malformation may be the cause of Rhett's lack of sleep. He hasn't slept at all since birth--through the night or even just for a nap.  The child has now undergone experimental surgery that doctors hope might help. Meanwhile, Rhett's parents take turns--morning shift, afternoon shift and night shift, since they can't really just let Rhett be on his own at the age of three. Imagine.  These parents do not experience that sense of relief as their child drifts off to sleep and they, the parents, can go tend to some other necessary parts of their lives.

Mommy cards? A trendy indulgence or modern necessity?

Ever thought of the origin of business cards? Once upon a time, we all had to "call on" each other by showing up at your doorstep. If you weren't there--well, what to do? Tada! The business card, or "calling card," as it was once known, was born. Now, a modern day version has just emerged--the Mommy Card. Some smart entrepreneurs have thought up a handy way for busy mothers with over-scheduled children to make fast connections for play dates.  Come across a great kid at the park? Hand your Mommy Card to the child's parent and the two of you can set about arranging for the next tea party at your place or hers. It beats digging to the  bottom of the diaper bag for a pen and scrap of paper. 

While a number of stationary stores and entrepreneurs are now carrying special lines of "Mommy Cards," with today's great software programs and printers, it wouldn't be that hard to make your own, would it?

Vaccination rates are good but could be better for U.S. babies

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a few weeks ago that immunization rates for babies born in the United States remain at an all time high, which is good news for babies.  Teenagers, however, are falling behind in this country.

Among children ages 19 to 35 months, 77 percent had received the full spectrum of vaccinations recommended by current guidelines to control some 10 diseases.  Those diseases include diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B and chickenpox. That 77 percent is a good rate and about the same as it was in 2005, but the CDC would like to see that percentage reach 90 percent by the year 2010.

Immunization rates vary by state and socio-economic status.  The top 5 states are Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.  The bottom 5 states for immunization rates for babies are West Virginia, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska.

Infants *could* marry in Arkansas if legislative error not fixed

Probably the poor state has taken enough ribbing for this, but did you hear the one about the typo in a piece of new legislation in Arkansas that makes it possible for an infant to get married, if his/her parents agree?

It seems they were intending to make it possible for PREGNANT persons who are minors to get married IF they have their parents' consent. But, somebody goofed and a "NOT" got put where it didn't belong and...well, it could be a problem.  Since the legislature adjourned earlier this year, a group set up just to fix these types of things has met, but apparently folks didn't like what that group did. A special session of the legislation will be necessary, or else wait until the legislature comes back into session under its usual schedule--January of 2009.

Ever wonder where recalled toys go?

Ten million toys in the United States have been recalled since June of this year, according to this MSNBC report. So, where did they go? Did parents throw them out? Return them to the store? And, what do the toy companies who had them made and imported do with the leftovers? It's a little mind-boggling to contemplate, isn't it?

Among the recalled toys are ones painted with lead-based paint. Those, experts say, should be destroyed or disposed of properly. Ah, yeah. And, how's that then? Others were recalled because of magnets that might be hazards to very small children. Those toys are, well, likely to be resold in discount or salvage stores.  Hmmm.

Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of Occupational Knowledge International, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that tracks environmental health issues, worried that “ultimately, this problem is also creating a landfill problem because most of these products are not likely to be captured by manufacturers,” Gottesfeld said.

What would be your idea? How to ensure these toys are returned, distroyed properly and not re-sold?

A female twin may be less likely to marry, give birth

Here's interesting news from Reuters and brought to us by researchers who reported their findings to the National Academy of Sciences: Females who have a twin brother may be less likely to marry and have children than the average female and than females who have a twin sister instead.  The theory goes that exposure to testosterone in the womb affects the female's reproductive abilities.  One really interesting thing about the study is that it was conducted from data gathered during the 18th and 19th centuries, from church records.  The researchers chose these old records so that the results weren't affected by reproductive technologies or advances in health care.  There were 754 sets of twins from Finland in the study. Well, why exactly didn't the female twins marry? The researchers could only speculate, but they wondered if more "male" features in their physical appearance may have made them less desirable to potential suitors, or if their exposure to male hormones made them less inclined to want to be married. Hmmm...interesting to thing about, don't you think?

Have you seen this played out in modern-day twins you know? Write us here with your stories, using the comment feature just below.

Good (cop) news, and other news for Friday

Dad drives the cop car:  This is somewhat old news, but we just stumbled upon this heroic story and thought it was a great take to tell on a Friday.

Are you an organic parent? You might find this article helpful, with hints on how to save money when buying organic.

Driving for two? Apparently in parts of the country where carpooling lanes are in effect, mothers-to-be are wondering if the fact that they're pregnant allows them to use the carpool lanes, reserved for drivers with at least one other passenger in the car. Interesting logic going on there, on the part of the mothers. Hmmm...

Mid-month fashion mavens: We're not really sure we want to go down this road, and we'll let you read the news for yourself here, but apparently women dress better when they're ovulating.  What's most interesting about this story, in our humble opinion, is that somebody paid good money and spent good time studying this phenomenon at the UCLA and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  I mean, really, have they solved that whole AIDS vaccine thing, for example?