Myths & Facts About Children’s Eye Health

Many parents grew up with medical adages or advice that have since been proven by scientists to be incorrect or outdated. Here are five common myths about children’s eye health and the medical reality behind them, written by the physicians at The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Myth 33: Early Daycare Prevents Allergy & Asthma Later

[Written by American Thoracic Society]

New research hints that the common belief that kids who go to daycare have lower rates of asthma and allergy later in life might be nothing more than wishful thinking. While young children in daycare definitely do get more illnesses and experience more respiratory symptoms as a result, any perceived protection these exposures afford against asthma and allergy seem to disappear by the time the child hits the age of eight.

Myth 32: There’s Something Wrong With A Bedwetter

Once our children outgrow diapers, we all hope that they will enjoy comfortable nights of sleep in a dry bed.  Also, more practically, we want them to be able to sleep over at friends’ houses or in a hotel bed without worry that they will soil the bed or suffer embarrassment.  But what about the child who, despite diligent night-training, continues to sleep right through the urge to use the bathroom. Is it his fault? Is it ours?

Myth 31: All Anesthetics During Birth Harm Babies’ Brains

No less a revered medical institution than the Mayo Clinic, the saviors of severely medically challenged children nationwide, have studied and declared that anesthetics used during cesarean births do not cause children to have brain problems.

Myth 30: Lots Of Milk Builds Strong Bones

For years, doctors and scientists have told the public to drink milk, eat dairy products and take calcium supplements to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis. The problem is they’re wrong. 

Myth 29: High Fructose Corn Syrup Is The Worst Of The Evils

Aside from the obvious nutritional benefits of ingesting natural sugars from their source, eating foods created from refined sugar of any kind seems to fall firmly within the jurisdiction of the epithet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Myth 28: Children Get Poisoned On Halloween

The story that children far and wide are being poisoned by unwrapped Halloween candy and home-baked Halloween cookies, that there was ever a razor blade in the apple is the very definition of an urban legend. It is a myth to the extent that NO American child is on record as EVER being seriously hurt by a contaminated Trick-or-Treat bon bon.

Myth 27: “Natural” Childbirth Is Natural For Everyone

The tools and methods used or not used to deliver babies are “natural” subjective only to the culture with which one identifies.

Myth 26: “Better Safe Than Sorry” Is Rational Thinking

Wired.com has spoofed the syndrome that many of us concerned parents are vulnerable to — access to and believing too much scary information and believing our children are extremely vulnerable to harm. Their June 1, 2009 piece called “Alt Text: Beware Nebulous Internet Disease” starts with this jab, “The infection typically begins when the victim reads about an unusual affliction on a news site or current-events blog. Upon reading, the victim begins to experience one or more symptoms of that disease, typically minor symptoms such as a scratchy throat or slightly reddened area of skin.” – Wired

Announcement! Smart moms go underground

In our media-lead world where fear is pushed as a means to sell more product, there is a movement brewing. Moms, who by definition have the best intuitive sense of any creature on the planet, are standing up and saying, “We won’t be played like that!” These moms are examining the current parenting culture that brings us baby knee pads, professional baby-proofers, and child-tracking devices, and they are saying, “We won’t buy it.” Those moms are going underground…

They are saying a lot of other things too, in the titles of their books… “Homework Is Hurting Our Children & What We Can Do About It”, and “We Should All Stop Worrying & Start Living”, and “Ignorning The Experts May Be Best For Your Child”

They are saying it in the titles of their blogs.. “Giving our kids the freedom we had without going nuts with worry”, and “There is no “right way” to rear a child”, and “Lose the Guilt, Love Your Instincts”.

It is an underground movement of common sense that is raising the volume of the voice of reason. That movement now also has a homepage UndergroundMoms.com No, it isn’t another social networking site (one more of those and the internet might explode), it is simply a referral source of great reading for smart moms who share a common value, freeing themselves from baseless restrictions and “raising the volume of the voice of reason” If you are already reading this blog, you are probably an Underground Mom too. You will enjoy the reading referrals you will find there. Free the people! (At least free the moms.)

www.UndergroundMoms.com