My Surgery Is Tomorrow, and I’m Scared!

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My shoulder surgery is tomorrow. I have been pretty calm all week. In fact, I’ve been looking forward to the surgery, for two reasons. First, because it’ll finally fix my shoulder, which aches all the time, and that will be nice. Second, because while I’ll be in more pain for a few weeks post-surgery than…

Organic Versus Conventional Milk: Health Issues And Environmental Perspectives (Guest Post at Science of Mom)

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I’m guest-posting today! Alice at Science of Mom has recently featured two articles about conventional versus organic milk; the first claimed that milk from rBST-treated cows was the same as (or even preferable to) milk from non-rBST-treated cows, while the second claimed that conventional milk was just as good as organic. As a chemist with…

Should A Toddler Wear A Helmet On A Tricycle?

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My husband and I are both avid cyclists, recreationally and for commuting purposes. We both owe our lives, several times over, to helmets. Some of our crashes have been due to, shall we say, “operator error,” while others have been the result of collisions with vehicles. Aside from those crashes that were severe enough to…

Are Vaccines Safe?

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the week of April 21, 2012 to be World Immunization Week. The purpose of the initiative is to spread information about the importance and safety of vaccines. The question are vaccines safe and effective? weighs heavily on many parents. I’ll admit that even I, as staunch an advocate…

Pain Relief Techniques For Immunization Shots

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the week of April 21, 2012 to be World Immunization Week. The purpose of the initiative is to spread information about the importance and safety of vaccines. Immunizations protect children and save lives. However, the idea of a shot (or two, or three) can be intimidating to young…

2011 U.S. Measles Rates Highest In 15 Years

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Misconceptions and fear have been fueling the anti-vaccination movement in recent years, particularly with regard to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. This is in part because a study published in The Lancet that linked the MMR vaccine to autism (Wakefield et al). In addition to rampant misinformation spread via the Internet, the Wakefield…

Lessons In Chemistry and Physics From A Toddler

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1) 1st Law of Thermodynamics — the energy of the universe is constant. That is to say, if one system or object gains energy, another system or object must have lost energy. As the day progresses, I steadily lose energy, and W steadily becomes more and more energetic. 2) 2nd Law of Thermodynamics — entropy…

Sleep Training and Night Weaning a Breastfed, Co-Sleeping Toddler — Part 2

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Recently, I’ve blogged about my experience beginning sleep training with W. It’s been a week, and we’ve had both ups and downs, so I thought I’d post on our progress thus far. After the totally failed attempt to get W to sleep in her crib (in honesty, it’s a pack ‘n’ play) last Thursday afternoon,…

Breast Milk For Pain Relief

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There are two interesting studies on breast milk as an analgesic (pain reliever) in this month’s issue of Pediatrics. Each compares the effects of breast milk to those of oral sugar (either glucose or sucrose) for relieving pain during the ubiquitous neonatal heel stick procedure. The first study looked at late preterm infants (gestational age…

Sleep Training and Night Weaning a Breastfed, Co-Sleeping Toddler — Part 1

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We have sleep problems, as I’ve mentioned before. I’ve been sitting on the fence about sleep training for quite a while, and have been reading Alice’s posts on the topic (like this one) over at Science of Mom. I’m totally convinced that there are good reasons to sleep train W, which include (but are not…