Did you know that you should replace your child's car seat after your car has been in an accident? Even moderate accidents that result in no visible damage to the seat can put stress on the car seat's straps, frame, LATCH connectors and other structural components. Most insurance companies will cover the cost of replacing your child's car seat, so give your provider a call to find out the details.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that there are some cases where it is safe to reuse a car seat after a minor crash. You may be able to reuse your child's car seat if the crash meets ALL of the following 5 criteria:

1. A visual inspection of the child safety seat, including inspection under any easily movable seat padding, does not reveal any cracks or deformation that might have been caused by the crash;

2. The vehicle in which the child safety seat was installed was capable of being driven from the scene of the crash;

3. The vehicle door nearest the child safety seat was undamaged;

4. There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants; and;

5. The air bags (if any) did not deploy.

Do you have registered sex offenders living near you and your children?

According to the U.S. Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 90% of cases rape of a child 12 years old or younger, the child knew his/her molester.

Family Watchdog is a free service that uses information from public databases to map out all the registered sex offenders who live or work near your children. You can sign up for updates to be sent to your email address or mobile phone when a new offender moves to your area.

On Family Watchdog's website each offender's crime is listed, which is helpful because some registered sex offenders are young people convicted for cases of statutory rape (in which their boy/girlfriend was only a few years younger, but below their state's "age of consent.").

You can also find your state's sex offender registry website through the FBI's list of registries.

Vaccinations have been in the press a lot lately, with all the hype about Merck's Gardasil lobbying campaign.

As a parent, you have to weigh the risks of vaccinating fully, partially, or not at all, and decide what's best for your family. Vaccination is a difficult topic to research because it's hard to find accurate information on either side that lacks sensationalism and fear-mongering. A dozen people can read the same reports and books and reach a dozen different conclusions. However, I believe that it is important to make informed decisions and that doing some research is vital when it comes to the health of our kids.

When researching vaccination, there are some factors I think are important to consider. Finding out the answers to these questions may help you wade through the information in order to make your decision:

• What is the incidence rate of each disease and its prevalence in your area? (How likely is your child to catch the disease?)


• What are the risks and complications from contracting each disease? (What's the worst-case scenario if your child gets the disease?)


• What is the incidence rate of complication from each disease? (How likely is this worst-case scenario to occur if your child gets the disease?)


• What is the success rate of each vaccine? (How well does each vaccine prevent the disease it is meant to prevent?)


• What are the risks and complications from each vaccine? (What's the worst-case scenario if your child gets the vaccine?)


• What is the incidence rate of complication from each vaccine? (How likely is this worst-case scenario to occur if your child gets the vaccine?)


• What is your child's and family's health history? (Are there health issues or contraindications in your family, taking into account diet (formula/breastmilk as well as solids), allergies, prematurity, congenital health issues, prior vaccine reactions, etc.?)

I know a large number of parents who don't vaccinate their children. It is completely legal to either delay vaccinations or refrain from vaccinating your children, as each state has vaccination exemptions (medical, religious, philosophical, or any combination of the three). The argument I hear most often is that (despite what pharmaceutical companies would like us to believe) vaccines are neither 100% safe nor 100% effective. There are many children out there who have been damaged by vaccines.

A final note: If you feel unprepared at a doctor's visit and you're not sure whether you want your child to receive a particular vaccination, it is okay to delay while you make your decision. That's true even if it's the second or third shot in a series. You can always make up the shots you miss, but you can never take them back out.

A recent article from Australia's Herald Sun discusses an Australian school that eliminated food additives from their students' meals for two weeks in order to see what effects it would have on their behavior.

"Sue Dengate, who runs the Food Intolerance Network and organised the project at Palmers Island Primary School, said the results were surprising. 

'It was amazing. The children were more co-operative, the siblings stopped fighting and there were more harmonious families,' Ms Dengate said.

Principal Andrew Bennett said that the changes became obvious in three or four days. 

'We found difficult children created much less of a disturbance,' Mr Bennett said."

This is incredible news, and I hope more parents take note of it. Scientists have known about the detrimental effects of food additives (colors, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavorings and other chemicals) on health and behavior for years, yet there are still so many food items out there that contain these additives. Many of them are specifically marketed towards children, with the products' bright colors and sweet flavors. Food additives may especially exacerbate symptoms for children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, so parents may want to take a look at what their children are putting in their bodies.

Sadly, many people believe that companies wouldn't put dangerous things in food. They think that if the FDA approves it, it must be safe. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. The FDA reverses its own decisions quite frequently, and they just don't take the time to do long-term studies on the effects of these new-fangled scientific concoctions before allowing things to hit the shelves.

What can you do?

The best thing to do is to cut down on processed foods (anything pre-prepared that comes in a box, wrapper, or can) and serve real, whole foods you cook yourself. Yes, that can take more time, but it doesn't have to. Get a crock pot, and you can put the ingredients together the night before, pull the crock out of the refrigerator in the morning and have dinner waiting for you in the evening. Fruits and vegetables make great quick snacks, as do smoothies. Buy plain yogurt and jazz it up yourself with various flavors of sugarless jams or fresh fruit.

Most of us don't want to completely eliminate processed foods from our diets, though, especially if we were raised on them. There's something to be said for the comfort of yummy junk food and microwave dinners, and they are often easier and faster to prepare. Yes, I'm lazy, too. I buy crackers, cereal, cookies, jarred pasta sauce, and the occasional frozen pizza....

For the processed foods you do buy, take a moment to read the labels. Choose healthier products without extra additives. If the list of ingredients is exceptionally long and it contains names of things that you couldn't pronounce in your high school Chemistry class, it's probably a good item to put back on the shelf. You may be surprised at the additives that lurk in supposedly healthy items like bread, yogurt, and canned soups.

Common food additives that often cause problems:
- Artificial colorings (FD&C Yellow No.5, for example)
- Artificial flavorings
- Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
- BHA, BHT, TBHQ (commonly found in cereals, potato chips, candy)
- Calcium proprionate (commonly found in bread, baked goods)
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG, commonly found in soups, fast foods, frozen dinners, potato chips)
- Nitrates, Nitrites (commonly found in hot dogs, ham, lunch meat, bacon)
- Sulfites (commonly found in dried fruits, shrimp)

Did you know that getting just one bad sunburn as a child can double the risk of getting skin cancer later in life?

Here are the top 5 ways to keep your kids safe in the summer sun:

1. Try to find shady places to play when the sun is strongest (10a to 4p). Keep young babies (under 6 months) in the shade as much as possible.


2. Cover up with UV-protective swimwear. They're increasingly common these days, and you can find "rash guards" or sun shirts sold at popular stores like Target and Old Navy. You can also get plenty of sun protective swimwear for kids and adults of all ages online from sites like Solartex and Sand Pail Kids.


3. Slather plenty of sunblock (SPF 30 or higher) on all exposed skin (for children over 6 months of age). Most people use too little sunblock, so really slop it on! Reapply it frequently - after swimming, sweating, or towel-drying. Look for a non-chemical sunblock like the ones made by California Baby.


4. Put on a sun hat with a nice wide brim that will shade their face, ears, neck, and shoulders.


5. Don't forget their little eyes! Sun exposure can do damage to eyes and lead to cataracts later in life, so find some UV-blocking sunglasses for your kids. Even the littlest babies can wear fun shades like the ones made by Baby Banz.

Above all, set a good example. Most parents protect their children from the sun, but fail to protect their own skin. Wear your sunglasses, hats, and sunblock, and have fun playing outside with your kiddos this summer.

Robert's American Gourmet Food, Inc. has recalled all lots and sizes of their Veggie Booty Snack Food because of possible contamination with Salmonella. 51 cases of Salmonella infection were reported across 17 states, most of which occurred in children under 3 years old.

Veggie Booty has been tested and so far has not been shown to contain Salmonella organisms in the finished product, but the company is taking the proper precautions and temporarily halting the manufacture and sale of Veggie Booty.

Veggie Booty is sold across the United States and Canada in a flexible plastic foil bag in 4 oz., 1 oz., and 1/2 oz. sizes.

If you have any Veggie Booty, discard the contents of the package and contact Robert's American Gourmet at 1-800-626-7557 for reimbursement or a product voucher. You can also return the empty bag to the store where you purchased the product, or send the empty bag along with your address to:
Robert's American Gourmet
P.O. Box 326
Sea Cliff, NY
11579

When you're vacationing with the kids this summer, you may come across tents & booths at resorts or tourist areas offering mehndi, or henna temporary "tattoos." Sounds like fun, right? The kids get a harmless temporary tattoo and some cute photos and memories. Yes, if the henna artist is using pure henna. If, however, the henna artist has added a chemical called PPD (para-phenylenediamine) to the paste they're using, your children could bring home much more than memories, including itching, painful blisters, permanent scarring, and permanent chemical sensitivities.

Natural henna is a powder from dried, ground leaves of the plant Lawsonia inermis, and when made into a paste and applied to the skin, leaves a reddish-brown stain. There is no such thing as "black henna." Allergic reactions to the natural henna plant or pure essential oils added to the paste are possible, but very rare.

PPD is found in black hair dye, and some henna artists have taken to adding it to regular henna or using it alone to create dark black temporary tattoos that look more like real ink tattoos than the lighter orange or brown stains left by true henna. PPD-based hair dye contains a warning that it shouldn't touch the scalp. The chemical PPD is a strong sensitizer, carcinogen, and accidental ingestion (which is common in young children who might ingest the paste before it's taken off) can cause death. It is associated with liver failure, asthma, and cancer.

If your children become sensitized to PPD, they run the risk of having future reactions to chemical hair dye, PABA-based sunblock, sulfa antibiotics, many cosmetics, anesthesia ending in -caine, fabric and other dyes...the list goes on and on.

After a large number of toys were recalled over the past few months due to excessive levels of lead in the paint, United States and Chinese safety officials met to discuss a solution.

China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine made an agreement with the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to immediately create and implement a plan to eliminate lead paint used on all toys exported to the U.S. The Chinese and U.S. safety agencies will review the plan and its effectiveness in a year to see how things are going.

Don't count on all lead paint to be gone quite yet, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

More information here.