Safety at Home

First, let me tell you about my great friend Whitney. This morning, she brought her handy dandy Terminator lice/nit comb to my house and combed through my long curly hair strand by strand. That is true friendship.

Now, let’s rewind. A few weeks ago, her son brought lice home and she spent a week battling and learning about lice. I watched cautiously from the sidelines relieved that I had never had it as a child nor had my own children. Whew. But I also learned from her. When she wrote Lice is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, I read it thoroughly and poured over the comments.

I learned that lice prefer healthy clean heads of hair and they don’t really care if you have other fun things to do that day. People get it from head to head contact or sharing belongings (like hats, headphones, hoods, or similar head-touching items).

I learned that you must buy the fancy nit comb to have on hand. Just in case.

I learned that the shampoo used to kill lice is super duper toxic stuff but there are some natural treatments and preventative shampoos with tea tree oil that one can use. For example, some folks swear by olive oil and full fat mayonnaise as being louse-killers. I’m not sure about that, but since I’m pregnant, I’ll certainly consider those options.

Our part of California has a few lice treatment salons that will comb through and treat infested hair. I’m heading there now.

Finally, I learned that if you have a husband and a best friend willing to comb through your hair for tiny bugs and microscopic eggs, you are a very lucky girl!

Like the children for whom Mary Poppins was caring, I can recall the disgusting taste of cough syrup and how I stood with a glass of water in my hands, ready to chase the tablespoon of medicine my mom or dad was sticking in my mouth. Gone are those days. Now my kids beg for medicine as the candy flavors of today’s over-the-counter meds are so appealing.

It is important to deliver the right dosage – and I have some tips from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) Educational Foundation about how to safely administer OTC medications to your child.

• Always read and follow the label.
• Always give the recommended dose and use the correct measuring device. Never use longer than the label instructs or at higher doses, unless your doctor specifically tells you to do so.
• Only use the medicine that treats your child’s specific symptoms.
• Never give two medicines with any of the same active ingredients.
• Never use cough, cold, or allergy medicines to sedate your child.
• Never give aspirin-containing products to children and adolescents for cold or flu symptoms unless told to do so by a doctor.
• Do not give a medicine only intended for adults to a child.
• Stop use and contact your doctor immediately if your child develops any side effects or reactions that concern you.
• Consult a doctor, pharmacist, or other healthcare provider with any questions.

And finally, if your child’s medication or vitamins taste as delicious as the one’s for which my children are always clamoring, make sure to keep them out of reach and out of sight.

We’ve had a stool in front of each of our bathroom sinks for so long that I can hardly remember life without them. I’m constantly sliding them out of my way with my foot, banging my knee on them, and counting down the days until my younger child is old enough to reach the sink without a step stool.

She’s a petite little thing, plus she potty trained before she was two, which means that when she first began needing to wash her hands “by mah seff” she couldn’t even reach the sink with your basic toddler stool. So for the past two years, we’ve had this lovely apparatus in front of the sinks in both our guest bathroom and the kids’ bathroom.

My son can get the job done with just a little boost from one of these babies.

No stool, no independence in the bathroom, and that is one of the parenting milestones I truly appreciate.  You parents of little ones can probably only imagine the day your child says, “I’ll be right back,” and then returns moments later with an empty bladder, a clean behind, and washed hands. It is truly magical.

At restaurants, airports, and retail stores, bathroom usage involves an awkward hoisting up of child to sink. (Usually followed by complaints of, “You’re smashing me into the counter!”)  So, when we go to visit the grandparents, I very much appreciate that a bathroom stool has been made available by them.

What basic tools do you find helpful every day? Have you equipped your parents’ houses with them?

I am expecting a third baby. Both of my first two sons enjoyed the comforts of second-hand cribs, but with these stringent new safety standards, I don’t know if baby-to-be will be able to rest as easily.

As of June 28, a new generation of cribs will be the only ones approved for sale. Anywhere in the USA. Yard sales and craigslist included. As of this date, drop-sided cribs are banned. Additionally, more rigorous safety tests are required; new tests simulate how a wild toddler shakes and rattles his bed.

The new cribs are expected to look just like the older style but be much more sturdy.

From a recent AP article:

Drop-sides are blamed in the deaths of more than 30 infants and toddlers since 2000 and suspected in about a dozen other infant fatalities. Since 2007, more than 9 million drop-sides have been recalled.

Confused? Here’s a Q+A from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regarding the new crib standard.

Industry officials assure me that a new supply of safer cribs is ready for me to purchase – at full price of course.