Lead in painted toys reduces IQ level in kids

PUNE: The next time you buy toys for your kids, refrain from buying those having heavy paints. Doctors warn that high lead levels in the paint on toys can cause reduction in their Intelligent Quotient (IQ) scores, shorten concentration spans, increase hyperactivity and cause learning disabilities. Tiny tots are particularly at risk since they are known to place toys into their mouths and may swallow some paint particles in the process.

“Exposure to lead in any form can create neurological problems. So even if some toys have lower concentration of lead, they can pose problems for children,” said neurologist Dr Sudhir Kothari.

Whether it enters the body through breathing or swallowing, lead targets the nervous system—in adults and children alike. Long-term exposure is known to result in decreased performance in some tests that measure functions of the nervous system, added Kothari.

Again, exposure to lead can affect the haemoglobin content in blood. “Lead can create haemotoxicity in blood and affect the haemoglobin content. This can cause anaemia in children,” said haematologist Sameer Melinkeri.

Chinese and Indian toys – branded and unbranded – available in the city generally have high lead content, said Dr Avinash Bhondwe, president of the city chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA).

So how much lead is safe? That has been a matter of constant scrutiny. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been steadily reducing its safety levels. “What this means is that there are no safe levels,” said Bhondwe.

A shocking 65 per cent of the toys available in Indian markets are contaminated with lead, and 14 per cent are heavily contaminated, according to a special investigation conducted by Toxic Links, an independent research group.

India has no safety standards for toys. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) does have voluntary guidelines, but they are seldom followed, the report states.

from:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/Lead_in_painted_toys_reduces_IQ_level_in_kids/articleshow/3075046.cms

Cot death gran gives breath of hope

A GRANDMOTHER who has seen two babies in her family die from cot death has raised money to buy alarms to monitor infants’ breathing at Warrington Hospital.

Josephine Butterworth, of Pangbourne Close in Appleton, lost her first grandchild 29 years ago when she was just nine months old and her first great-grandchild in February from the syndrome, for which there is still no known cause.

Cot death, which can occur any time a baby is asleep, is the sudden unexpected death of an infant and can happen to babies up to the age of but is most common in boys under six months old, born prematurely or underweight at birth.

Mrs Butterworth said: “When I was 50 my son was 21 and two days after my birthday he found his first baby dead in her cot.

“My son was 50 in April and a few weeks before his birthday he lost his first grandchild as well.

“When you lose a baby in a cot it’s such a terrific shock. It is just terrible. If a baby is ill you can prepare yourself but with cot death, they go to sleep and don’t wake up.

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“It is absolutely devastating, there aren’t words to describe it and all you can do is give each other lots of hugs and be there for one another.”

Mrs Butterworth, a trader who has worked at Warrington Market for 56 years and runs a bedding and table cloth stall, has crocheted coats and hats for babies at Warrington Hospital for decades.

By raffling off one of her crocheted blankets and holding a coffee morning at her home, the grandmother raised £250 towards baby sleep apnoea alarms for the hospital.

She added: “I wanted to do something to raise money for monitors to hopefully prevent other families from going through what we did.”

from:http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/latest/display.var.2300245.0.cot_death_gran_gives_breath_of_hope.php

Kathy Ireland, Thank You Baby in crib bedding deal

By Staff — Home Textiles Today, 5/22/2008 3:08:00 PM

Kearney, Neb. –Thank You Baby has signed a licensing deal to produce crib bedding and other infant accessories under the Kathy Ireland name.

Under the agreement, Thank You Baby plans to introduce several new collections at the ABC Expo in September under the Kathy Ireland Home by Thank You Baby brand name. In addition, all of Thank You Baby’s current crib bedding and other infant-related products will co-branded under the Kathy Ireland name, said Tracy George, president of Thank You Baby. The manufacturer’s youth offerings will continue to be released under the Thank You Baby brand.

The deal adds to Kathy Ireland Worldwide’s licensing relationships with other manufacturers in youth bedding, rugs, lighting, furniture and other categories.

The sets being introduced at the ABC Expo are expected to be available in early 2009. George said the Kathy Ireland line will target a diverse group of retailers including big box, department stores and specialty boutiques.

“We will, however, offer exclusive collections for our big box and department (stores), so they are not competing with our smaller retailers and specialty boutiques,” she said. “We will also still be offering custom collections to our specialty stores that will continue to be produced in the USA for this specifically.”

Retail price points for existing four-piece collections start at $399, but George said pricing for the collections with be more competitive because of  manufacturing changes.

This story was written by Tanya K. Merritte for HTT’s sister publication, Kids Today.

Wausau mother given probation in baby’s death arrested again

WAUSAU, Wis. – A mother given a second chance by a judge after her child died while she was high on methamphetamine has been arrested again.

Everest Metro Police records say 26-year-old Jessica Kasten of Wausau was arrested Wednesday night and cited for drunken driving. Records say her two children, ages 2 and 3, were in the vehicle.

Kasten was sentenced to 10 years probation in April after she pleaded no contest to child neglect causing the death of her 6-month-old baby in 2007.

The mother told investigators she slept for about 18 hours after taking methamphetamine. The baby died of asphyxiation in a bassinet.

Police records say Kasten’s blood-alcohol level Wednesday was at least 0.11 percent. The legal limit to drive is 0.08 percent.

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Information from: Wausau Daily Herald, http://www.wausaudailyherald.com

Hip Haute Bassinet Set

Set Includes: Wicker Bassinet, Mattress, Liner/Skirt and Hood, Pillow, and Blanket Join the top ten with this fabulous Hip Haute Bassinet Set.The hip haute bassinet is the perfect place for you angel to place his tiny head. Its classic pleats are sure to satisfy your perfectionistic eye. Simple yet trendy, this bassinet set is guaranteed to be a real hit in your nursery

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Talking to the Mom on the Street to See How She Rolls

By Tara Swords

Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, May 18, 2008; Page N02

Parents-to-be have to make some big decisions. Breast-feed or bottle feed? Pick her up or let her cry it out? Go back to work or stay home?

Those decisions are tough, but perhaps nothing is more perplexing to new parents than selecting a stroller. For those in the market, here’s a friendly warning: You might want to set a budget before you find yourself in love with the idea of a limited-edition $2,000 stroller designed by a Dutch fashion icon you’ve never heard of. (That would be the Bugaboo by Bas Kosters.)

Stroller shopping involves an overwhelming set of choices. The varieties alone — bassinet, full-size, umbrella, convertible — can make your head spin. And just wait until you collide with the marketing messages that carefully appeal to new parents’ desire to give their families only the best and safest rides.

Silver Cross, a British luxury baby gear company, claims to design some of its strollers “in conjunction with leading road safety experts.” If that sounds perfect, just head over to HappyMothers.com and buy the Silver Cross 2008 Kensington Carriage in pink for $3,200. And, no, it doesn’t come with a baby.

In every price range, stroller marketers sell the idea of a lifestyle that parents might aspire to. Orbit Baby’s bassinet cradle, which retails for $240 and attaches to the $899 stroller system, offers an “extendable paparazzi shield.” Sure, it blocks out the sun, but that’s hardly as sexy as its ability to block the view of a hounding photographer. Even the Cleo stroller from perennial parental favorite Graco, which retails for about $260, claims “uncompromising luxury” and “the convenience and comfort you and your baby deserve.”

Fortunately, if you can resist the brand pressure, you can find plenty of high-quality strollers that won’t cost you the equivalent of two mortgage payments. While strolling through the Mall and Old Town Alexandria, we ambushed several kiddos in strollers and asked their parents to tell us all about their more modest purchases — the good and the bad.

Car Seat Combo

Mary Buck of Arlington and Adelina Sokoli of New Haven, Conn., both invested in car seats that snap into a stroller frame. Buck bought a Graco, and Sokoli has a Chicco. The big plus of this style is that you don’t have to interrupt a hard-won nap when moving baby from car to stroller.

The good: Lightweight and easy to haul out of the trunk. “It folds down fairly flat, and it even clicks to close,” Buck says. “So all I have to do is grab the bar to pull it out.”

The bad: Buck says she paid more than $100 for her stroller, which she says is too much considering that the baby will grow and need yet another stroller. “I don’t feel like they should charge what they do, because for car seats, you have to change them out so frequently,” Buck says.

Travel Model

Chanda Butler of High Falls, N.Y., travels a lot with son Skylar Rainier, 2. She has a Bugaboo, a higher-end brand that she says was worth the price because it came with a bassinet that enabled Skylar to sleep flat when he was smaller. But when she travels, she takes a Quinny Zapp stroller.

The good:“It folds down, and they proclaim it can go into the overhead” compartment in an airplane, Butler says. “It’s very easy to take to the gate, and it squashes down and travels fantastic.”

The bad: It’s not all-purpose. “I haven’t found the stroller that can really transition all the way through and is the everyday and the travel stroller,” she says. “I don’t think it’s out there.”

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Carousel Designs Expands Modern Baby Bedding Line

Carousel Designs has added two new designer baby bedding collections to its Modern Baby Bedding offerings. Beginning today the new designs, Blue Modern Dot and Pink Modern Dot, are available via their website, babybedding.com.

Designed by veteran Children’s Designer Rose Grove, the Modern Dot collections are the latest additions to the company’s product offerings. The Modern Dot crib bedding series is a response to the growing popularity of dot patterns and “minky” fabric in the baby bedding industry. “Baby bedding is an industry where trends change constantly,” commented Allan Sicat, President of Carousel Designs. “Having a full-time design staff allows us to spot those trends and adjust our product offerings quickly.”

The Pink Modern Dot crib bedding collection brings together shades of soft pink, chocolate brown and sage green. The Blue Modern Dot collection coordinates with shades of blue and brown. Both Modern Dot collections combine contemporary style with the luxurious feel of “minky” fabric. Carousel Designs has also created a line of nursery decor that matches each new collection including crib blankets, crib skirts, changing pad covers, fitted sheets, baby blankets, diaper stackers, window drapes, valances and lamp shades.

“Ms. Grove is working diligently on multiple baby bedding designs and creating new collections such as Damask, Shabby Chic, Safari and Sock Monkey”, added Sicat. “The release of the newest collections will coincide with our upcoming new website launch later this spring.”

About Carousel Designs
Carousel Designs is a leading manufacturer of quality infant linens, crib bedding, nursery décor and accessories. Since 1988, Carousel Designs has designed, manufactured and distributed its original designs to better baby specialty stores and has twice been selected as the “Manufacturer of the Year” by two different independent retail buying groups. All products are manufactured in the U.S.A. (Douglasville, GA).  Carousel Designs offers online purchase of their baby bedding and nursery décor via their website, babybedding.com.

info@babybedding.com
www.babybedding.com

from:http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=44186&cat=1

Child car safety seat check keeps kids safe

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Parents throughout Tippecanoe County got a few tips on how to keep their children safe in the event of a crash.  State Farm Insurance had dozens of car seat technicians looking at how area parents are traveling with their children.  Lafayette resident Radawna Louden said she knows the importance of strapping a child in a seat for a safe trip from experience.

“Eight years ago I flipped my car.  I fractured my tailbone and my pelvis.  Luckily, my son was in his car seat the right way, the proper way, and only got bruises from his car strap,” said Louden.

Parents waited patiently at Lafayette Fire Station Five to make sure their child’s ride is a safe one.  Jodi Tanksley, of Dayton, waited close to an hour for State Farm to inspect four of her car seats.  But she said knowing her little ones are not in any danger is what’s important.

“If we’re ever in a wreck I know that my children aren’t going to go flying out the window,” Tanksley said.

State Farm agent Laura Fitzgerald said parents need to make sure their child’s safety seat gets placed properly.

“These [car seats] are made to withstand a crash so you need to make sure that when you’re putting them in, you’re using your weight and making sure that it’s very tightly and snugly,” said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald warns parents not to make some common car seat mistakes.

“Parents are afraid so they move them forward facing a little too soon because their legs are long and they hit the seat.  That’s ok.  They’ve never died from having their seat hit against the back seat, but they have died from being face forward too soon.  Parents are afraid to make the harnesses too tight.  Children kind of get a little uncomfortable if it’s too snug, but they need to be snug,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald also said children should never be in the front seat of the car and should face the car’s rear window at all times.

“Their neck muscles aren’t as strong, neither is their cervical spinal cord.  With crash dynamics, if you’re facing forward, you’re putting a lot of pressure on that little neck and the shoulder and the spinal cord,” Fitzgerald said.

“Somebody’s got to look out for them and if the parents don’t.  I think that’s where it’s got to start is the parents keeping them safe,” said Christina Hancock, a Rossville resident.

State law requires children to ride in a car seat from birth to eight years of age.  But an agent from State Farm Insurance said height and weight should be considered first, which would confine a child to a car seat until 10-years-old.

The agent said the maximum weight for babies in an infant car seat is between 20 and 22 pounds.

Toddler car seats hold kids between 22 and 40 pounds.

Booster seats hold children as small as 30 pounds and a large as 100 pounds.

State Farm advises using an adult seatbelt only when the child’s knees bend over the edge of the seat.

“Report by Renetta DuBose, WLFI.”

The ride’s over, children. It’s time to walk

from:timeonline.com

Peta Bee

More surprising than David Cameron’s choice of primary school for his daughter Nancy, 4, were the accompanying pictures in some newspapers of him pushing her around in a buggy that looked far too small.

For a growing number of parents, the pushchair is no longer an item that is discarded not long after a child can toddle. Instead, they continue to wheel their children around until they are 4 or 5 either out of fears for their safety or because they are too busy and stressed to let them walk.

Paediatricians claim the attempts to “containerise” young children in this way can backfire even by the time they reach primary school. Around one third of children aged 10 and under are now overweight and many of those are products of the stroller generation who have grown up being wheeled rather than walked everywhere.

Dr Martin Ward-Platt, a paediatrician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, says: “One now takes for granted the sight of big children being pushed around in buggies [but] it is doing them no good … children need to be active as early as possible.”

In the US, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education has set guidelines for the physical activity levels of toddlers, which include minimising the use of pushchairs and playpens and encouraging walking and unstructured activity lasting between 60 minutes and several hours a day.

Joel Steinberg, a professor in paediatrics at the University of Texas, has noticed an increase in children as old as 6 still using buggies. “People think toddlers have limited physical ability, but that’s not true,” he says. “We should teach them the best way to go is to walk, not ride.”

Emily, Jacob again top list of most popular baby names

WASHINGTON (AP) — Emily again topped the list of most popular baby girl names last year, registering as No. 1 for the 12th straight time. Jacob led among names for boys for the ninth year in a row.

New parents didn’t stray far from past habits in 2007 when naming their babies. Only one name — Elizabeth — is new to the top-10 list, returning after a two-year absence. Samantha, which previously ranked 10th, dropped to No. 12, according to the latest list released Saturday by the Social Security Administration.

Biblical names continued to dominate the boys’ list. Besides Jacob, other top picks for boys were Michael, Joshua and Matthew.

For girls, Isabella, Emma and Ava came after Emily, which has been the most popular female name since 1996.

Rounding out the top 10 for girls, in order, were Madison, Sophia, Olivia, Abigail, Hannah and Elizabeth.

The list for boys also includes Ethan, Daniel, Christopher, Anthony, William and Andrew.

Name experts have said the staying power of the top names may have something to do with appealing to multiple ethnic or religious groups and having no widespread negative connotations. Emily also has literary associations, including Emily Dickinson, evoking images of a woman who is both beautiful and smart, professors say.

For male twins, parents were most likely to combine Jacob with Joshua, Matthew with Michael and Daniel with David. The most popular combination for female twins was Ella and Emma.

Also popular in 2007 were names for girls that were based on spiritual and philosophical concepts. Rising to No. 31 was Nevaeh, or “heaven” spelled backwards; it previously ranked 43rd. Also represented in 2007 were Destiny (No. 41); Trinity (No. 72); Serenity (No. 126); Harmony (No. 315) and Miracle (No. 461). Cutting against the trend was Armani (No. 971).

Parents were less likely to name their sons based on spiritual concepts, although the 2007 list includes Sincere (No. 622) and Messiah (No. 723).

Social Security began compiling the name lists in 1997. The agency offers lists of baby names for each year since 1880 on the agency’s Web site at http://www.socialsecurity.gov.