Kindy Ecobaby
  • Home
    • Mummy's Mini Starter Pack
    • 3 X Bamboo Modern Cloth Nappy Liners - 300 sheets
    • 3 X Bamboo Modern Cloth Nappy Liners - 300 sheets 18cm
    • 6 X Bamboo Modern Cloth Nappy Liners - 600 sheets
    • 6 X Bamboo Modern Cloth Nappy Liners 600 sheets 18cm
    • Bamboo Breast Pads
    • Bamboo Wet Wipes
    • Bamboo Wet Wipes 6pack
    • Nappy Inserts Charcoal Bamboo Pack of 5, 10 & 20
    • Nappy Inserts Slim Cream Bamboo Pack of 5, 10 & 20
    • Eco Nappies: Disposable
    • Pack of Four Babyland Unisex Cloth Nappies!!
    • Minky Modern Cloth Nappy - Bamboo lined velcro!!
    • Very Cool Wet Bag/Library Bag Great Designs!!
    • Kindy Sheet Bags in Eight Great Designs: Waterproof Too!!
    • Baby Shower Gift Pack!
    • Eco Baby Shop Testimonials
    • E-BayShop
    • Invite a Friend and Get $20 Off!
    • Become a Stockist
  • Baby News
  • Blog
    • Royal Baby George
    • Serious News
  • Contact
  • Directory
    • Online Shops
    • Brisbane Directory >
      • Acupuncture, Massage + Holistic Therapists
      • Babysitters+In-Home Childcare
      • Baby and Kids Toy Stores
      • Chemists
      • Children's Classes
      • Creative Programmes
      • Dentists
      • Dentists + Doctors
      • Equipment/Toy Hire
      • Just For You
      • Kids Entertainers
      • Kindergartens >
        • Auchenflower
        • Ashgrove
        • Brookfield
        • Bardon
        • Chapel Hill
        • Chelmer
        • Fig Tree Pocket
        • Graceville
        • Highgate Hill
        • Indooroopilly
        • Rosalie
        • Oxley
        • Paddington
        • St Lucia
        • Toowong
        • Victoria Point
        • West End
      • Maternity Clothes
      • Medical Specialists
      • Museums, Amusement Parks + Other Attractions
      • PartyPlanning+Supplies
      • Photographers
      • Pharmacies
      • Sports + Outdoors
      • Tutoring + Education Services
    • Sydney Directory >
      • Babysitters+In-Home Childcare
      • Baby + Kids Clothes and Accessories
      • PartyPlanners+Supplies
      • Pharmacies
      • Sports + Outdoors
      • Photographers
      • Tutoring + Education Services
    • Perth Directory >
      • Kids Entertainers
    • Playgroups >
      • Brisbane Groups
  • Mums&Dads
    • Forum
    • Child Care >
      • ConversationStarters
      • Kids Health
      • Kids Gym
      • Babysitting
    • Advice for Parents >
      • Learn >
        • Fit Brains!
        • Creativity
      • ReadyforKindy
      • Swimming Tips >
        • Sue's Swimming Tips >
          • Goggles or Not?
          • Swimming on the Edge
      • Growing Feet
    • Recipes >
      • Sweet Treats for Kids >
        • Rasberry Brownies
        • Cupid's Cupcakes
        • Cutie Cupcake
  • Grandparents
  • Kids
    • Free Fun
    • Games >
      • FishSmartyFun
    • Fashion
    • Art >
      • ArtBlog
    • Pets
  • Features
    • SuperMum
    • Losing Stuff
    • Tykes on Bikes
    • Free Swimming
    • Baby Understands Me!
    • Tame Kids’ Clutter
    • Babies make friends
    • Kids on a Plane
    • Parties
  • Games
  • Pack of Four Unisex Cloth Nappies!!

Vaccination Crackdown!

5/23/2013

1 Comment

 
Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children may find themselves refused from Queensland childcare centres under a new bill introduced into State Parliament.

Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was unashamedly following the lead set by NSW state Labor by putting the public health bill forward. Ms  Palaszczuk said she hoped it received the same level of support.

"It's the right thing to do, it makes sense and I would be very surprised if there was any other member of parliament who did not support this initiative," Ms Palaszczuk said.

The Bill, to be introduced during the Thursday afternoon parliament session by shadow health minister Jo-Ann Miller will seek to "give children enrolled at child care centres and the staff who look after them protection from preventable infectious disease".

Have your Say on This Issue on the Forum

Click Here
Picture
The law will make exceptions for those who can not receive vaccinations for medical reasons.

Ms Miller said it was "not about punishing parents" it was a "legally binding right to protect children".

Ms Miller said the National Health Performance Authority had found 70,000 children were not fully immunised in Australia, with the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, named as the area with the state's lowest immunisation compliance rates.

"What we see in Queensland is a situation, particularly on the Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane, where the rates of vaccination are as low as Uganda and Angola.  This is not acceptable in a first world country in Australia and it is not acceptable in Queensland," Ms Miller said.

"Our babies, our little ones are precious to all of us, we need to protect them all from some of the worst diseases and we really need to look after them."
The opposition said they were hoping for bipartisan support.

Return To Homepage

Picture

"It's the right thing to do, it makes sense and I would be very surprised if there was any other member of parliament who did not support this initiative"

1 Comment

Could there be a worse nightmare for a parent?

5/17/2013

2 Comments

 
Could there be a worse nightmare for a parent?

Since Monday, when Amanda Berry escaped the Cleveland home where she’d been imprisoned along with her 6-year-old daughter and two other women, parents everywhere have been just a little more on edge. The story of those captives did not have the worst ending it possibly could have, but what they endured will plague them and their families for years to come. And now we all have a vivid reminder of what could happen to our own kids.

Odds are, it won't. The chances of your child being a victim of a "stereotypical" abduction – whisked away by a stranger with the intent to keep, kill or abuse them – are roughly one in a million. But how do we strike that balance between concerns over keeping our kids safe while allowing them to grow up?

“Common sense needs to prevail,” says Pattie Fitzgerald of Safely Ever After, Inc., a Los Angeles-area consultant who teaches safety to parents and children. “When this stuff is in the news, my phone rings off the hook because everyone suddenly thinks there are kidnappers all around. But it’s unusual.”

Here's how unusual: 

  • Approximately 800,000 children are reported missing annually (and most are found quickly), according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
  • About 200,000 are abducted by family members
  • About 58,000 are abducted by nonfamily members
  • An estimated 115 children are victims of stereotypical kidnappings 
“Sometimes we don’t realize it but the danger is living next door,” says Nancy McBride, national safety director at the NCMEC. “We like to think it’s the scary weirdo behind the tree, but in actuality the danger is someone you or they know.”

Plus: Amanda Berry, the Ohio Abductions and What Lies Ahead

And every couple of years a story like this dominates the news cycle, rattling parents to their core. In 2011, 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky was dismembered and killed by a stranger after taking a wrong turn on his way home from camp in Brooklyn. Then there is Jaycee Dugard, abducted at age 11 while walking to the school bus in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., and held captive as a sex slave for 18 years.

Experts like McBride and Fitzgerald offer a few tips to parents who are wondering what to do in light of recent events:

Check Up On the Adults in the Area
Parents should be sure to have contact with all of the adults who have contact with their kids. Check references with other families who have used the same childcare providers and be cautious about the amount of information you share with friends, neighbors and coworkers. For access to sex-offender registries visit the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website.

“Don’t make assumptions that just because someone is volunteering to be your kids’ soccer coach that it means they’re a great person,” says McBride.

If an adult who is not from your close circle approaches you for time alone with your child, she says, that should be a red flag. Any coach who wants some special one-on-one training time with your child or any teacher who thinks your child needs special lessons or tutoring ought to be scrutinized carefully.

Teach – and Learn – the Rules
Kids themselves can learn what to do by recognizing and avoiding a potentially dangerous situation. Keep it simple by establishing a system of rules. Teach your child that if he is approached by what Fitzgerald calls a “tricky person” or if they get an “uh-oh” feeling, seek out a trusted adult immediately.

Drill them, too, on what they should do if someone they don’t know asks them a question on, for example, a field trip: check with a familiar adult no matter what. If that predator says they’ve already checked for the child, the child needs to know to say “no I am the one who has to check,” that it’s a rule.

“It’s always important to approach it with them as 'safety rules,' because that’s clear cut,” says Fitzgerald. “Kids get through their days with rules and if they see an adult who is breaking a rule, they’ll know what action to take. You don’t have to give them long lectures.”

A recent survey of 8,000 failed abduction attempts found that 83 percent of the targeted kids got away because they knew what to do. They knew the rules. If they were grabbed by a stranger, they knew they had to walk or run or punch or kick or bite or scream their way out of the threat.

The rules aren’t complicated. “The top tricks used by predators still work. They offer candy, money, ask for help in finding a puppy, ask kids if they want a ride,” says McBride. “They’re asking a child any sort of a question at all, hoping to engage the child because we’ve taught our kids to be polite.”  

When Can They Walk To School Alone?
Kids 12 and younger should never walk anywhere alone. If they’re 10 or 11 and feel old enough to walk to school without an adult, they should go with at least one friend as part of a buddy system, says Fitzgerald. And plot the route with them ahead of time, pointing out local businesses or neighbors’ homes that are safe if they ever get concerned someone might be following or bugging them.

If you feel they’re old enough for a phone, make a rule about not using it while walking. A distracted child is an easy target, says Fitzgerald.

In the final analysis, though, no amount of drilling or rules-learning can replace the supervision of a caring, trusted adult. “You can teach kids some skills; you can model behavior and rehearse scenarios,” says McBride. “But the bottom line is, nothing beats your supervision and attention.”

2 Comments

HIV Baby Declared Cured! Medical First!

3/18/2013

121 Comments

 
We love to report on good news, and this certainly falls into that category! For the first time ever, a baby born infected with H.I.V. has been cured.
The infant, who was born in rural Mississippi  in the United States to a mother who did not know she was carrying the virus, was immediately transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. There, within 30 hours of birth, doctors began agressive treament with antiretroviral medication. By the age of 18 months, all tests came back negative, indicating that the child is now free of the virus.
Doctors have announced that a baby had been cured of an H.I.V. infection for the first time, a startling development that could change how infected newborns are treated and sharply reduce the number of children living with the virus that causes AIDS.

The baby, born in rural Mississippi in the United States, was treated aggressively with antiretroviral drugs starting around 30 hours after birth, something that is not usually done. If further study shows this works in other babies, it will almost certainly be recommended globally. The United Nations estimates that 330,000 babies were newly infected in 2011, the most recent year for which there is data, and that more than three million children globally are living with H.I.V.

If the report is confirmed, the child born in Mississippi would be only the second well-documented case of a cure in the world. That could give a lift to research aimed at a cure, something that only a few years ago was thought to be virtually impossible, though some experts said the findings in the baby would probably not be relevant to adults.

The first person cured was Timothy Brown, known as the Berlin patient, a middle-aged man with leukemia who received a bone-marrow transplant from a donor genetically resistant to H.I.V. infection.

“For pediatrics, this is our Timothy Brown,” said Dr. Deborah Persaud, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and lead author of the report on the baby. “It’s proof of principle that we can cure H.I.V. infection if we can replicate this case.”

Dr. Persaud and other researchers spoke in advance of a presentation of the findings on Monday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta. The results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Some outside experts, who have not yet heard all the details, said they needed convincing that the baby had truly been infected. If not, this would be a case of prevention, something already done for babies born to infected mothers.

“The one uncertainty is really definitive evidence that the child was indeed infected,” said Dr. Daniel R. Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Persaud and some other outside scientists said they were certain the baby — whose name and gender were not disclosed — had been infected. There were five positive tests in the baby’s first month of life — four for viral RNA and one for DNA. And once the treatment started, the virus levels in the baby’s blood declined in the pattern characteristic of infected patients.

Dr. Persaud said there was also little doubt that the child experienced what she called a “functional cure.” Now 2 1/2, the child has been off drugs for a year with no sign of functioning virus.

The mother arrived at a rural hospital in the fall of 2010 already in labor and gave birth prematurely. She had not seen a doctor during the pregnancy and did not know she had H.I.V. When a test showed the mother might be infected, the hospital transferred the baby to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where it arrived at about 30 hours old.


Picture

“It’s proof of principle that we can cure H.I.V. infection if we can replicate this case”

Picture
Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi, is pictured in March 2013. (Jay Ferchaud/University of Mississippi Medical Center/AP)

Return to HomePage

Picture
Dr. Hannah B. Gay, an associate professor of pediatrics, ordered two blood draws an hour apart to test for the presence of the virus’ RNA and DNA.

The tests found a level of virus at about 20,000 copies per milliliter, fairly low for a baby. But since tests so early in life were positive, it suggests the infection occurred in the womb rather than during delivery, Dr. Gay said.

Typically a newborn with an infected mother would be given one or two drugs as a prophylactic measure. But Dr. Gay said that based on her experience, she almost immediately used a three-drug regimen aimed at treatment, not prophylaxis, not even waiting for the test results confirming infection.

Virus levels rapidly declined with treatment and were undetectable by the time the baby was a month old. That remained the case until the baby was 18 months old, after which the mother stopped coming to the hospital and stopped giving the drugs.

When the mother and child returned five months later, Dr. Gay expected to see high viral loads in the baby. But the tests were negative.

Suspecting a laboratory error, she ordered more tests. “To my greater surprise, all of these came back negative,” Dr. Gay said.

Dr. Gay contacted Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, an immunologist at the University of Massachusetts, who was working with Dr. Persaud and others on a project to document possible pediatric cures. The researchers, sponsored by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, put the baby through a battery of sophisticated tests. They found tiny amounts of some viral genetic material but no virus able to replicate, even lying dormant in so-called reservoirs in the body.

There have been scattered cases reported in the past, including one in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1995, of babies clearing the virus, even without treatment.

Those reports were greeted skeptically, particularly since testing methods were not very sophisticated back then. But those reports and this new one could suggest there is something different about babies’ immune systems, said Dr. Joseph McCune of the University of California, San Francisco.

One hypothesis is that the drugs killed off the virus before it could establish a hidden reservoir in the baby. One reason people cannot be cured now is that the virus hides in a dormant state, out of reach of existing drugs. When drug therapy is stopped, the virus can emerge from hiding.

“That goes along with the concept that, if you treat before the virus has had an opportunity to establish a large reservoir and before it can destroy the immune system, there’s a chance you can withdraw therapy and have no virus,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Adults, however, typically do not know they are infected right as it happens, he said.

Dr. Steven Deeks, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said if the reservoir never established itself, then he would not call it a true cure, though this was somewhat a matter of semantics. “Was there enough time for a latent reservoir, the true barrier to cure, to establish itself?” he said.

Still, he and others said, the results could lead to a new protocol for quickly testing and treating infants.

In the United States, transmission from mother to child is rare — several experts said there are only about 200 cases a year or even fewer — because infected mothers are generally treated during their pregnancies.

If the mother has been treated during pregnancy, babies are typically given six weeks of prophylactic treatment with one drug, AZT, while being tested for infection. In cases like the Mississippi one, where the mother was not treated during pregnancy, standards have been changing, but typically two drugs are used.

But women in many developing countries are less likely to be treated during pregnancy. And in South Africa and other African countries that lack sophisticated testing, babies born to infected mothers are often not tested until after six weeks, said Dr. Yvonne Bryson, chief of global pediatric infectious disease at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Bryson, who was not involved in the Mississippi work, said she was certain the baby had been infected and called the finding “one of the most exciting things I’ve heard in a long time.”

Studies are being planned to see if early testing and aggressive treatment can work for other babies. While the bone marrow transplant that cured Mr. Brown is an arduous and life-threatening procedure, the Mississippi treatment is not and could become a new standard of care.

While it might be difficult for some poorer countries to do, treating for only a year or two would be cost effective, “sparing the kid a lifetime of antiretroviral therapy,” said Rowena Johnston, director of research at amfAR.

121 Comments

Super Server: Waiter Refuses Table After Down Syndrome Boy Was Mocked

1/26/2013

0 Comments

 
A Houston waiter's Facebook page has been inundated with friend requests and messages after a story of how he stood up for a special needs child went viral.

"Maybe there were other ways I could have handled it, but Milo is such an angel, he is a gift from God as are all special needs children," Garcia said.Michael Garcia, a waiter at Laurenzo's, was serving a family who have been regulars since the restaurant opened. The family includes 5-year-old Milo, who has Down syndrome.

"Milo wasn't being bad, he was just talking and making little noises," Garcia said. But a customer at a nearby table who was also with his family began making comments about Milo.

The customer got up from the table and moved his family to another table further away from Milo, but still in Garcia's serving section.

Garcia said the man continued talking about Milo and said, "special needs children need to be special somewhere else."

"My personal feelings took over because that's ignorance in my opinion and I told him 'Sir, I won't be able to serve you,'" Garcia said.

The man and his family got up and left the restaurant, while Milo's family was unaware of the incident at all. 

"Maybe there were other ways I could have handled it, but Milo is such an angel, he is a gift from God as are all special needs children," Garcia said.

Garcia did not tell Milo's family of the incident because he didn't want to cause them any pain. He compared his actions to wanting to shield someone and said he hopes someone would do the same for his family. Another server told Milo's family what Garcia had done.

"We can't lose track of what this is about," Garcia said about the amount of attention the story has gotten.

"It is about Milo, it is about educating ourselves and when people are different, why should you treat them any different?"

"It's fear of the unknown," he said.

More Serious News

Picture
Michael Garcia, a waiter at Laurenzo's, was serving a family who have been regulars since the restaurant opened. The family includes 5-year-old Milo, who has Down syndrome.

"Maybe there were other ways I could have handled it, but Milo is such an angel, he is a gift from God as are all special needs children" 

Return to Homepage

0 Comments

Call for New Building Laws to Protect Children From Highrise Falls

1/24/2013

2 Comments

 
  • * Leading surgeon fed up with highrise falls
  • * Wants laws to restrict windows opening to 10cm
  • * Says locks can cost as little as $5
  • ONE of the country's leading pediatric surgeons has called for laws restricting windows in apartment buildings from opening more than 10cm, after a spate of child deaths.

    The latest near-tragedy came just last night, when a toddler plunged three storeys from a Sydney apartment balcony, saved only by the trees below.
    In NSW alone, about 50 children - most under the age of five - fall from high rise residential buildings every year.
    Australian Medical Association (NSW) president, Associate Professor Brian Owler, wants the NSW Government and strata bodies to make it illegal for apartment windows to open wider than 10cm.
    This could be achieved through the mandatory fitting of window locks, which can be picked up for as little as $5 from any hardware store, he said.
    Similar legislation introduced in New York had resulted in an incredible 94 per cent reduction in the number of injuries related to children falling from apartments.
    "In New York the law was changed so that you couldn't have children in your apartment unless you have these safety devices attached to the windows," Prof Owler said.
    The AMA has been in talks with the NSW Department of Fair Trading and Strata Community Australia (NSW) since last year to try and get the same law introduced in NSW.
    "Strata bodies are interested because they know there's a question of liability but things are not moving as quickly as they could," Prof Owler said.
    "This latest case (in Sydney last night) involved a fall from a balcony but most children fall through windows. There have been cases of children with beds pushed up against windows who have bounced on the bed and right out of the window."

    Return to HomePage

    More Serious News

    Features and Videos

    Picture
    Jeremy Meyer, 20 months, is recovering in hospital after falling off the balcony of his Sydney home.

    "In New York the law was changed so that you couldn't have children in your apartment unless you have these safety devices attached to the windows"

    On May 1, changes to the Building Code Australia (NSW) will come into effect making it a requirement that windows be fitted with locks preventing windows from opening wider than 12.5cm - wider than the 10cm proposed by the AMA.
    However, the new law will only apply to new buildings.
    "It cannot be applied retrospectively so we still face this safety issue in existing buildings," Kidsafe NSW executive officer Christine Erskine said.
    "It's also not the 10cm restriction that we would be happiest with although it's a step in the right direction."
    Prof Owler is also unhappy with the 12.5cm compromise.  In his capacity as a paediatric neurosurgeon at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, he is, after all, the man who puts many of these children back together again.
    "Sometimes it's just broken bones but there are some significant injuries and a few deaths as well," he said.
    "Over the years I've seen serious head injuries that result in lifelong disabilities that require full-time care. Some have suggested that for a child and their family, that can be a fate worse than death.
    "All parents should buy these window locks immediately, don't wait for it to become law. The longer we wait, the greater the number of children who will die or suffer injury. They're very cheap and they could save your kid's life. Highrise falls are a seasonal thing – they mainly happen in the summer months and that means children are at risk right now."
    Strata Community NSW president David Ferguson said he shared concerns that the new law would not be applied retrospectively but said the move represented "huge progress".
    "In terms of the 12.5 cm rule versus the 10cm rule, I think that arguing over 2cm is really not what this is about," he said.
    "This is not going to stop children from injuring themselves in the home. How do you police it? How do you stop people from pushing objects up against balconies or windows that enable the kids to climb high enough to fall out or fall off?
    "There needs to be a holistic approach to the whole child safety issue at home."
    Prof Owler called on other states to take action.
    "The issues for NSW, particularly Sydney, are the same for other cities with high density housing like Melbourne and Brisbane," he said.
    "Wherever there are children in houses that are more than one story high, I think, it's an issue for everyone."
     Kids Don't Fly - prevent window and balcony falls - highrise safety checklist
    2 Comments

    Greens Want Aussie Parents to Share Child Care Stories

    1/22/2013

    1 Comment

     
    PARENTS are being invited to share their stories about dealing with Australia's child care system.

    The Greens have continued their push for reform of the child care sector by launching a national online survey today.

    Greens childcare spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said consulting parents was a necessary step in the reform process.

    "We want to hear what mums and dads across the nation to have a say about what works and what doesn't work when it comes to finding quality, affordable care for their children" Senator Hanson-Young said.

    A Greens survey of childcare centres was released on Sunday, which showed in the past three years waiting lists had grown and the number of available spaces had shrunk.

    The survey can be accessed at childcarepoll.com.

    Return to Homepage

    A video grab of PM Julia Gillard   talks with unions about the costs of Child Care and potential reforms in this report filmed by an Australian mainstream news television channel in August last year. 

    More Serious News

    Picture
    Greens childcare spokeswoman Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, pictured here with her daughter Kora, said consulting parents was a necessary step in the reform process.

    "We want to hear what mums and dads across the nation to have a say about what works and what doesn't work when it comes to finding quality, affordable care for their children" 


    Related Articles:

    No Room for Babies at Childcare Centres!


    Picture
    1 Comment

       Serious News

      You are a KindyNews reader who wants and expects to be informed about many of Australia and the world's most important and serious news stories. So, we put together the Serious News Section especially to accommodate articles, breaking news and issue features as they arise on a daily basis. The articles here may also contain and combine written stories from several sources, including  video clips as well as links to some other mainstream international and local news sites in order to be as well rounded and informative as possible. We will do our best to keep you informed and up to date. Your feedback and comments are most welcome!
       ... Editor

      Archives

      May 2013
      March 2013
      January 2013

      Categories

      All
      Medical
      Politics
      Social Issues

      RSS Feed

    Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.