User login
Do you get annoyed when the grocery store tabloids are not adequately entertaining? I have, like, 3 minutes to stand in line looking at headlines and wondering if I should pick up a paper and try to turn the pages so gently that the cashier doesn’t insist I buy it; I don’t have time for old news! So I was relieved to hear Jennifer Aniston finally put to rest the rumors that she’s pregnant, rumors that have graced the cover of The Globe every week since 1994.
The 44-year-old actress explained to radio hosts in Australia that the most recent media frenzy over her “baby bump” resulted from her putting on “just a couple of pounds” before appearing in a sleek dress at the premiere of her new movie, We’re the Millers. At 45, I think it’s time I come clean about the appearance of my own midriff in certain items of clothing: I am pregnant.
To B or not to B
No one stays #1 forever, just ask Tiger Woods. This rule holds even in the tiny world of bacteria, where Escherichia coli has usurped Group B streptococcus as the reigning cause of newborn sepsis. After a career spent in constant vigilance against Group B strep, I know I should be celebrating, but for some reason, I just want to listen to Coldplay.
Dr. Rianna Evans told a crowd at the Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2013 meeting that surveillance of blood cultures from febrile infants reported by six different medical centers conducted between 2006 and 2012 demonstrated a pronounced trend toward E. coli as the dominant organism. She attributed the change in part to the introduction of universal Group B strep prophylaxis in pregnant mothers and to the use of new vaccines, adding, “but honestly, I just think Group B strep got overconfident.” In a further insult to Group B strep, Dr. Evans suggested treating febrile infants empirically with only a third-generation cephalosporin, leaving ampicillin, “in the dustbin of history, like Madonna.”
Reached for comment, Group B strep responded, “I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been a rough time recently. I’ve been struggling offensively. Maybe I didn’t bring my “A” game, but if I had I wouldn’t be true to myself; I’d be strep viridans.”
Out of date
My 13-year-old daughter has informed me that she’s “dating” a classmate, and I have to admit, I’m like, what does that even mean? It’s not like they can go to the mall or a movie together; I’d have to drive them, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t. As best I understand it means they text each other in class and announce to all their friends that they’re an item until, a week later, they’re not.
Now, Dr. Pamela Orpinas of the University of Georgia College of Public Health has helped me understand what it means. It means they’ll both drop out of school and abuse drugs and alcohol. What her publication in the Journal of Research on Adolescence does not explain is how to make it stop.
Dr. Orpinas’s group followed 624 Georgia students from 6th through 12th grade, finding that those who dated earlier had poorer academic skills and a substantially higher risk for dropping out and abusing substances, compared with those who dated later. I now understand how I made Honor Roll all those years: no one would go out with me until I was 29. And a half.
Baby Heisenberg
Even the name “Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC),” seems like a lost cause, doesn’t it? Do these people live in this country? How exactly do they intend to make childhood commercial free without moving the entire pediatric population of the U.S. deep into the Amazon rain forest for 18 years? And yet, if you tilt at enough windmills, every now and then you bring one home for dinner (I have no idea how to prepare windmill, but I’m not that quixotic). Recently, CCFC brought a mouse to its knees, compelling Disney to offer refunds to millions of parents who bought Baby Einstein videos under the impression that they would make their children smarter.
Now the folks at CCFC have turned their sights on the fast-growing world of mobile apps, rife with misleading or unproven claims about promoting children’s learning and development.In a new complaint filed with the Federal Communications Commission, CCFC alleges that Fisher-Price’s “Laugh & Learn” mobile apps may compel young users to laugh, but the learning piece remains completely untested, and therefore is deceptive. It’s too early to know the outcome of this complaint, but CCFC has a point in that screen time may actually distract toddlers from the sorts of real-world interactions proven to help them learn. But the folks at Fisher-Price have a secret defense: Unlike cartoon mice, Fisher-Price people don’t have knees! I honestly can’t tell whether they have baby bumps.
David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets.
Do you get annoyed when the grocery store tabloids are not adequately entertaining? I have, like, 3 minutes to stand in line looking at headlines and wondering if I should pick up a paper and try to turn the pages so gently that the cashier doesn’t insist I buy it; I don’t have time for old news! So I was relieved to hear Jennifer Aniston finally put to rest the rumors that she’s pregnant, rumors that have graced the cover of The Globe every week since 1994.
The 44-year-old actress explained to radio hosts in Australia that the most recent media frenzy over her “baby bump” resulted from her putting on “just a couple of pounds” before appearing in a sleek dress at the premiere of her new movie, We’re the Millers. At 45, I think it’s time I come clean about the appearance of my own midriff in certain items of clothing: I am pregnant.
To B or not to B
No one stays #1 forever, just ask Tiger Woods. This rule holds even in the tiny world of bacteria, where Escherichia coli has usurped Group B streptococcus as the reigning cause of newborn sepsis. After a career spent in constant vigilance against Group B strep, I know I should be celebrating, but for some reason, I just want to listen to Coldplay.
Dr. Rianna Evans told a crowd at the Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2013 meeting that surveillance of blood cultures from febrile infants reported by six different medical centers conducted between 2006 and 2012 demonstrated a pronounced trend toward E. coli as the dominant organism. She attributed the change in part to the introduction of universal Group B strep prophylaxis in pregnant mothers and to the use of new vaccines, adding, “but honestly, I just think Group B strep got overconfident.” In a further insult to Group B strep, Dr. Evans suggested treating febrile infants empirically with only a third-generation cephalosporin, leaving ampicillin, “in the dustbin of history, like Madonna.”
Reached for comment, Group B strep responded, “I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been a rough time recently. I’ve been struggling offensively. Maybe I didn’t bring my “A” game, but if I had I wouldn’t be true to myself; I’d be strep viridans.”
Out of date
My 13-year-old daughter has informed me that she’s “dating” a classmate, and I have to admit, I’m like, what does that even mean? It’s not like they can go to the mall or a movie together; I’d have to drive them, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t. As best I understand it means they text each other in class and announce to all their friends that they’re an item until, a week later, they’re not.
Now, Dr. Pamela Orpinas of the University of Georgia College of Public Health has helped me understand what it means. It means they’ll both drop out of school and abuse drugs and alcohol. What her publication in the Journal of Research on Adolescence does not explain is how to make it stop.
Dr. Orpinas’s group followed 624 Georgia students from 6th through 12th grade, finding that those who dated earlier had poorer academic skills and a substantially higher risk for dropping out and abusing substances, compared with those who dated later. I now understand how I made Honor Roll all those years: no one would go out with me until I was 29. And a half.
Baby Heisenberg
Even the name “Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC),” seems like a lost cause, doesn’t it? Do these people live in this country? How exactly do they intend to make childhood commercial free without moving the entire pediatric population of the U.S. deep into the Amazon rain forest for 18 years? And yet, if you tilt at enough windmills, every now and then you bring one home for dinner (I have no idea how to prepare windmill, but I’m not that quixotic). Recently, CCFC brought a mouse to its knees, compelling Disney to offer refunds to millions of parents who bought Baby Einstein videos under the impression that they would make their children smarter.
Now the folks at CCFC have turned their sights on the fast-growing world of mobile apps, rife with misleading or unproven claims about promoting children’s learning and development.In a new complaint filed with the Federal Communications Commission, CCFC alleges that Fisher-Price’s “Laugh & Learn” mobile apps may compel young users to laugh, but the learning piece remains completely untested, and therefore is deceptive. It’s too early to know the outcome of this complaint, but CCFC has a point in that screen time may actually distract toddlers from the sorts of real-world interactions proven to help them learn. But the folks at Fisher-Price have a secret defense: Unlike cartoon mice, Fisher-Price people don’t have knees! I honestly can’t tell whether they have baby bumps.
David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets.
Do you get annoyed when the grocery store tabloids are not adequately entertaining? I have, like, 3 minutes to stand in line looking at headlines and wondering if I should pick up a paper and try to turn the pages so gently that the cashier doesn’t insist I buy it; I don’t have time for old news! So I was relieved to hear Jennifer Aniston finally put to rest the rumors that she’s pregnant, rumors that have graced the cover of The Globe every week since 1994.
The 44-year-old actress explained to radio hosts in Australia that the most recent media frenzy over her “baby bump” resulted from her putting on “just a couple of pounds” before appearing in a sleek dress at the premiere of her new movie, We’re the Millers. At 45, I think it’s time I come clean about the appearance of my own midriff in certain items of clothing: I am pregnant.
To B or not to B
No one stays #1 forever, just ask Tiger Woods. This rule holds even in the tiny world of bacteria, where Escherichia coli has usurped Group B streptococcus as the reigning cause of newborn sepsis. After a career spent in constant vigilance against Group B strep, I know I should be celebrating, but for some reason, I just want to listen to Coldplay.
Dr. Rianna Evans told a crowd at the Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2013 meeting that surveillance of blood cultures from febrile infants reported by six different medical centers conducted between 2006 and 2012 demonstrated a pronounced trend toward E. coli as the dominant organism. She attributed the change in part to the introduction of universal Group B strep prophylaxis in pregnant mothers and to the use of new vaccines, adding, “but honestly, I just think Group B strep got overconfident.” In a further insult to Group B strep, Dr. Evans suggested treating febrile infants empirically with only a third-generation cephalosporin, leaving ampicillin, “in the dustbin of history, like Madonna.”
Reached for comment, Group B strep responded, “I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been a rough time recently. I’ve been struggling offensively. Maybe I didn’t bring my “A” game, but if I had I wouldn’t be true to myself; I’d be strep viridans.”
Out of date
My 13-year-old daughter has informed me that she’s “dating” a classmate, and I have to admit, I’m like, what does that even mean? It’s not like they can go to the mall or a movie together; I’d have to drive them, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t. As best I understand it means they text each other in class and announce to all their friends that they’re an item until, a week later, they’re not.
Now, Dr. Pamela Orpinas of the University of Georgia College of Public Health has helped me understand what it means. It means they’ll both drop out of school and abuse drugs and alcohol. What her publication in the Journal of Research on Adolescence does not explain is how to make it stop.
Dr. Orpinas’s group followed 624 Georgia students from 6th through 12th grade, finding that those who dated earlier had poorer academic skills and a substantially higher risk for dropping out and abusing substances, compared with those who dated later. I now understand how I made Honor Roll all those years: no one would go out with me until I was 29. And a half.
Baby Heisenberg
Even the name “Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC),” seems like a lost cause, doesn’t it? Do these people live in this country? How exactly do they intend to make childhood commercial free without moving the entire pediatric population of the U.S. deep into the Amazon rain forest for 18 years? And yet, if you tilt at enough windmills, every now and then you bring one home for dinner (I have no idea how to prepare windmill, but I’m not that quixotic). Recently, CCFC brought a mouse to its knees, compelling Disney to offer refunds to millions of parents who bought Baby Einstein videos under the impression that they would make their children smarter.
Now the folks at CCFC have turned their sights on the fast-growing world of mobile apps, rife with misleading or unproven claims about promoting children’s learning and development.In a new complaint filed with the Federal Communications Commission, CCFC alleges that Fisher-Price’s “Laugh & Learn” mobile apps may compel young users to laugh, but the learning piece remains completely untested, and therefore is deceptive. It’s too early to know the outcome of this complaint, but CCFC has a point in that screen time may actually distract toddlers from the sorts of real-world interactions proven to help them learn. But the folks at Fisher-Price have a secret defense: Unlike cartoon mice, Fisher-Price people don’t have knees! I honestly can’t tell whether they have baby bumps.
David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets.