Baby Monitors: Whatcha Gonna Do?

Peace of mind, some say.

I've been hearing and reading a lot about new mothers who monitor their babies all night. At the slightest beep they're up and running to check out what's wrong.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to live like that. We were given a monitor at our baby shower and haven't used it. I figure, if something truly dramatic were going on I'd hear it down the hall.

The morbid thing I have to wonder is, what would the average parent do if they found their lifeless baby in the crib? -A scary image, I know. I remember one time my son was in such a deep sleep that he didn't move a muscle when I caressed his face during a nap. I poked his belly and I still got nothing. Finally I yelled his name and whisked him into my arms, only to have him stare back at me like I was crazy. I was all ready to jump into my basic resuscitation skills, though it felt extremely different when the 'patient' is your own child.

I highly recommend that parents and caregivers be comfortable with basic CPR. All the nursery gadgets in the world would be useless without it. I know a lot of hospitals offer community courses for certification. If you don't have time for that, check out these links (I have to say that the YouTube stuff isn't official, but it's better than nothing):

• Basic Infant CPR
• Baby CPR Video
• Baby Choking
• AHA Program

Of course I hope and pray you'll never have to use this information.

How to Give Your Kid a Spinal Cord Injury:

Purchase one of these.

Let 'em loose with this one.

And use this device while driving.

That's how my pediatric patients got theirs.

(Yet another scare-you-straight post from Resident Mommy)

Have a Safe 4th of July

Consider the children!

[I realize that this post, coupled with the previous, will have people thinking I'm hellbent on using my medical knowledge to freak out parents everywhere. Sorry 'bout that.]

When I was a fourth year medical student I did a rotation in otolaryngology (ENT) and I'll never forget a discussion my classmates and I had with the chief resident. We wanted to know who the real "masters of the airway" are: Anesthesia vs. ENT. The chief said it depends on how you look at it, when someone is choking you'll want to call him because ENT uses a rigid scope to retrieve all sorts of things. He went on to list a few of the items he's pulled out from little kids like broccoli, chips, quarters. . . but never hotdogs.

You're wondering, as we were, why not hotdogs? His reply: "Oh, those kids are always dead on arrival. . . hotdogs, just the size of their airspace with a consistency that gives too much to be pushed or pulled out. *sigh* People, cut your hotdogs LENGTHWISE."

You thought this post was going to be about fireworks, didn't you?

Skincare Products: Think Twice

You don't need to be a doctor to notice that the incidence of cancer continues to rise. The cause is multifactorial, but in a general sense the medical community has come to accept that it is the combination of genetic predisposition plus insult(s) that starts the chain of tumor development.

Put another way: Everyone is born with a certain number of safety nets between them and cancer, with each toxic exposure a safety net is removed. Given the increase in cancer cases, it appears that our exposure to carcinogens has been rising over the years. Some people have a lot of safety nets to buffer them from harm; others are not so lucky.

I don't know what my baby inherited to protect him against these dangers, but as a mother I feel it is my duty to limit his exposure as much as possible. Here is an excellent website that allows you to check the toxicity of many popular baby skincare products: Skin Deep. It will amaze you to know what hazards may be creeping around your nursery.