The great nursing debate… or not

Tales From the Nursery By Sydney Spiesel:The health benefits of breast-feeding may not be what you think….

I’m not the first to blog about this article. DaddyTypes has a post about an NPR interview with Dr. Spiesel. Curious, I went to the original post on Slate to see what the fuss is about. I was pleasantly surprised to find a reasonably well thought out article that displays simple common sense.

Posted on the walls of every clinic and hospital are posters entitles “101 reasons to breastfeed” or something similar. Some of the claims are right on, some of them are sketchy and some are just silly. I’ve talked before about the claim that exclusive breastfeedingTh reduces the risk of obesity later in childhood. It has recently been shown that by age five, the way a child was fed as an infant has no bearing on obesity.

If you read the article through, it is clear that the doctor is still strongly in favour of breastfeeding, no ifs, ands or buts – as am I. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take a closer look at the propaganda surrounding it.

ScienceDaily: Children Who Sleep Less Are Three Times More Likely To Be Overweight

ScienceDaily: Children Who Sleep Less Are Three Times More Likely To Be Overweight
The less a child sleeps, the more likely he or she is to become overweight, according to researchers from Université Laval’s Faculty of Medicine in an article published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Obesity. The risk of becoming overweight is 3.5 times higher in children who get less sleep than in those who sleep a lot, according to researchers Jean-Philippe Chaput, Marc Brunet, and Angelo Tremblay.

The study looked at over 400 primaryr school children (5-10 yrs) and found that those who slept less that 10 hours a night were 3.5 times more likely to be obese than those who slept 12 or more.
The logic is there. Tired kids eat poorly and don’t get as much physical activity. Although my son is only 3 months old, I am already a stickler for bedtime, and this encourages me to continue to do so.

CBC News: Parents warned about lead-laced Reebok bracelet

CBC News: Parents warned about lead-laced Reebok bracelet

Health Canada has issued a warning about a bracelet that Reebok handed out with children’s shoes because the charm could pose a severe risk to kids.
“The heart-shaped charm on the bracelet may contain a very high level of lead and pose a risk of lead poisoning to children if sucked, chewed or swallowed,” the federal agency said Wednesday.

I was stunned when I saw this on the news last night. Lead!?! I guess Nike doesn’t sit alone at the top of the evil shoe company list.

Music: Jel: Soft Money

Soft Money
Jel

anticon

Once again, I realize that commercial “rap” music has nothing to do with actual hip hop. Jel is a brilliant producer and MC. The music is layered and complex and the lyrics are cutting and insightful.

• Buy at iTunes Music Store

• Download “WMD” (MP3, 192kbps)

Music_

Help wanted

I’ve written on this site before about our brief (but worrisome) run in with Babywise and it’s Parent-Directed Feeding method. And wouldn’t you know, the nice people over at OmniNerd have invited me to write a comparison of Parent-Directed Feeding and attachment parenting. I would love to hear if any of you out there in the daddy blogosphere have tried PDF or know people who have. What are your feelings about the demands that attachment parenting puts on parents during the first year or so (during breast-feeding)?

Kids with Cavities Overweight, Not Underweight – UB NewsCenter

Kids with Cavities Overweight, Not Underweight – UB NewsCenter

– New evidence from pediatric dentists at the University at Buffalo has
shown that, contrary to previous findings, most young children with decayed
“baby” teeth are not underweight, and actually may be overweight or at risk of
being overweight.

Basically, kids who eat poorly have a tendency to be overweight and have cavities. I don’t think there is a cause and effect relationship. More likely these simply spring from the same source. The fact that many obese kids come from low-income families, means that their parents are likely to be less educated about proper nutrition and dental care – never mind the difficulty paying for regular checkups at the dentist.

Music Review: Saturday Looks Good To Me

Sound On Sound Saturday Looks Good To Me Redder Records

This is great pop in the vein of groups like Stars. Great melodies and all sorts of musical influences and arrangements. Super.

• Buy at iTunes Music Store

• Download “Can’t Ever Sleep” (MP3, 192kbps)

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Children’s Earliest Words Stem From What Interests Them

Children’s Earliest Words Stem From What Interests Them: “A recent study has found that younger babies learn words for new objects based on how interested they are in the object. Older babies attach more importance to whether the speaker is interested in the object. The study was conducted with 10-month-old babies. These findings suggest that parents should talk more about what their babies are interested in rather than what they, the parents, are interested in.”

Effects Of Preterm Birth And Early Environmental Risks Continue Into Adolescence

Effects Of Preterm Birth And Early Environmental Risks Continue Into Adolescence: “Researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey have found that individual differences in medical and environmental risks are related to patterns of brain activation in children that were born prematurely. The brain activities of ten teenagers performing attention tasks were measured. The findings suggest that different risk factors associated with preterm birth have different effects on brain function in adolescence, and that improvement in social environment can reduce these risk factors.”

Poor, Ethnic Children At Greater Risk For Exposure To Toxic Pollutants

Poor, Ethnic Children At Greater Risk For Exposure To Toxic Pollutants: “A study conducted at the University of Wisconsin found that African-American children living in poverty, and children of migrant farm workers have a higher risk of lead exposure compared to non-minority children living in non-agricultural settings. Although exposure to lead is associated with lower IQ levels in all children, this association is even more pronounced in African-American children. Such research has the potential to revise the socio-demographic variables associated with lead exposure.”