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A parent’s guide to virtual doctor appointments (they’re here to stay!)

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Photo: Stocksy United
Video appointments have largely replaced in-person visits—and that might not change, even when the pandemic is over. Here’s everything you need to know.

Late on a Friday afternoon in June, Rebecca Liu’s son’s face was flushed and he felt hot. Liu took Oliver’s temperature and saw that it was 102F. Liu, a first-time mom who lives in Newmarket, Ont., had a fleeting thought that it might be COVID-19, but she wasn’t too worried because she and her husband hadn’t seen anyone outside their family since the lockdown, and neither felt sick or showed any symptoms. She gave the 16-month-old Tylenol to help him get some rest, and the fever dropped. But when he woke up with a fever of 103F the next morning, Liu started to grow more concerned. She called their family doctor only to be told the clinic would not allow patients with a fever to be seen in person, but they were offering virtual doctor appointments for kids.

“When the doctor called back, she asked if Oliver had other symptoms, which he didn’t. And by this point, his temperature had dropped again. She advised me that if his temperature went up a third time, to 103F, I should take him to the hospital’s emergency department,” says Liu.

Oliver’s temperature spiked again by early Saturday evening, but she was reluctant to go to the ER unless it was truly necessary. “I didn’t want my son to be exposed to COVID,” she explains. Her sister, a nurse, suggested she call the virtual ER clinic at the Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), in London, Ont. (LHSC will take virtual patients from all over the province.) After phoning at 7 p.m. and giving some basic information, Liu received an email with instructions to download the Cisco Webex Meetings app and was on a video call with a paediatric emergency physician within 10 minutes.

The doctor reviewed Oliver’s symptoms, answered all Liu’s questions, reassured her that she could wait overnight, and advised her on what to do if his fever continued or worsened in the morning. To everyone’s relief, Oliver woke up totally fine.

Interacting with an emergency room doctor over a video call is just one example of the explosion in virtual healthcare that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, patients are using smartphones, regular phones, tablets and computers to connect with doctors and other healthcare professionals, such as nurses, psychologists and dentists, for everything from emergencies to routine physicals. A fringe service before the pandemic, virtual doctor appointments for kids has practically replaced regular in-person visits in many instances—and it’s likely here to stay.

What types of virtual healthcare is available for families?

When the world shut down due to coronavirus, doctors’ offices in Canada had to quickly adapt to seeing patients virtually, as it would be too risky to bring potentially infected patients into a clinic. Virtual doctor visits are now being offered in some form by many family physicians, paediatricians and children’s hospital emergency departments, and by more than 20 privately owned virtual healthcare apps and services, such as Maple, Babylon by Telus Health, Tia Health, and Lumeca in various provinces.

The virtual emergency clinic at the Children’s Hospital in London was launched in early May. “Our ER visits were down dramatically. We were very worried that parents were delaying seeking medical attention and risked hurting their children. In New York and Italy, there was delayed presentation of cancer and undiagnosed type 1 diabetes because parents were afraid to visit the hospital,” says Rodrick Lim, medical director in the paediatric emergency department at Children’s Hospital.

Private virtual healthcare services, which typically charge a fee per visit or offer a monthly or annual subscription fee, were around before the pandemic, but the use of them has increased. Some of these are now temporarily covered by provincial health plans for residents with valid health cards in certain provinces, but they charge users fees in other provinces. Private virtual healthcare services are an option for parents to consider at times when their primary care doctor or a paediatric emergency hospital virtual service isn’t available. It’s also a potential alternative for parents who don’t have a family doctor, if they’re able to pay the fees.

These companies typically hire licensed Canadian physicians to work for them part-time to supplement their practice, or in some cases to work full-time for the company. The service is like a virtual walk-in clinic. You are connected to an available doctor and will get some basic information about their name and credentials just before or during the visit. You can also ask for the virtual consultation report to be sent to your regular family doctor.

A key difference between private virtual care apps and seeing your regular family doctor virtually is that your regular doctor knows your child and their medical history and you know the doctor has expertise and experience caring for kids.

What are the pros and cons of virtual doctor appointments for kids?

In some ways, the benefits of virtual healthcare are obvious—fast, easy and convenient access to medical advice is a big advantage. This is especially true for families who would have to travel long distances to see their family doctor or get to a hospital ER or for those who don’t have a family doctor. Private healthcare apps are often available 24/7, a bonus for parents when a kid spikes a fever in the evening. Of course, during the pandemic, virtual healthcare also means no risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus for you or your children. Using virtual healthcare services appropriately can also free up time and physical space for in-person visits to doctors and ERs that are truly needed.

But not all conditions can be successfully diagnosed without an in-person examination. Some conditions, like a rash or minor skin infection, can be safely assessed and treatment can be prescribed over a video call, while other health problems, such as a possible bone fracture, ear pain (the doctor needs to look inside the child’s ear) or a serious cough (the doctor needs to listen to the chest with a stethoscope) require one.

Kathryn Pasma, a mother of four young children in Edmonton, connected virtually with her kids’ doctor when her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter had a severe rash on her chest and collarbone. She sent him a picture of the rash before their appointment. “I tried a natural moisturizer for dry skin, but the rash kept getting worse and she was scratching it all the time. Our doctor looked at the picture, asked some questions and prescribed a steroid cream for eczema that cleared up the rash,” says Pasma. She appreciated not having to take her daughter to the clinic and arrange care for the other three during the visit, something that has gotten more complicated during the pandemic.

But when you see a doctor over a screen rather than in person, there’s a possibility that your child’s health problem may not be properly diagnosed or treated, causing their condition to worsen, or that an important health problem the doctor would have detected in person will be missed. The extent of that depends in part on who is providing the healthcare. Is it a family doctor or paediatrician who sees your child regularly, a paediatric emergency physician from a children’s hospital you trust or a private virtual healthcare service? It matters how much experience and expertise the doctor has in treating children, how well they know your child and whether they have good judgment in recognizing the limitations of virtual care.

However, a lot can be accomplished by a physician with specialized assessment skills and experience. “We can do a modified neurological exam through video and talking to the parent,” says Sarah Reid, a paediatric emergency physician at CHEO, a paediatric hospital and research centre in Ottawa. “So much of paediatric assessment is around how the child is acting, looking and behaving. We can also coach a parent if a baby falls, for example, to touch and feel and move the body in certain ways to do an assessment. But any doctor doing virtual care needs to recognize its limits.”

In some cases, a virtual doctor’s appointment for kids can lead to an in-person one—and that’s OK. Lim says that at the London virtual ER, 30 to 40 percent of families using the service ultimately go to the ER for tests and treatment of conditions such as sepsis infections, wounds that need stitches, bone fractures, or head injuries with concerning symptoms like vomiting or confusion. “Virtual visits ease parents’ anxiety about whether they need to see a doctor in person or not. For me, it also harks back to the days of house calls. There is something very personal about seeing a parent in their own home just after their kid falls,” he says.

Will virtual doctor appointments for kids be the new normal?

Like many doctors, Raphael Sharon, a paediatrician and associate clinical professor of paediatrics at the University of Alberta, only started providing virtual care during the pandemic, using apps such as Zoom and Doxy. His nurse sits in on the appointment and takes notes so he can give the parent and child his full attention. He also gets parents to help facilitate certain aspects of a physical examination by using their smartphone to observe the colour of the child’s skin, whether it’s jaundiced or pale, or look inside the throat to see if the tonsils are enlarged.

Sharon has done about 80 percent of visits virtually and 20 percent in the office since the pandemic started. He sees every newborn and baby up to three months of age in person, and babies older than three months if there is a concern about failure to thrive, as it’s important to weigh the baby and keep a close eye on growth and development. Regular immunizations for children are also important to maintain as usual to prevent common and serious childhood infections, he says.

“I think virtual care is a wonderful addition for advice, care and as an initial screening tool. But I don’t want it to replace my in-person practice, and there are many situations where you need to see the patient in the clinic. If you have a five-year-old kid who is often tired, peeing more than normal and drinking excessively, you want to bring them in to check their glucose on the spot for possible diabetes. It’s also important to see kids with developmental delays. You need to examine them to make sure there isn’t a neurological problem, such as autism,” says Sharon.

Pasma, whose children are patients of Sharon’s, values the convenience of virtual care and is comfortable knowing she can rely on her doctor’s judgment to determine whether and when her children need to see him in person. “He was also able to do a nine-month and one-year checkup virtually on my twins and was just as thorough as he would be in person. I don’t think I need to go into the clinic as often now that I know how easy and efficient this is,” she says.

The popularity of virtual healthcare among patients and doctors ensures that it is here to stay as a complement to in-person care, especially if governments continue to fund doctors to provide the service. And it will be a necessity as long as we’re still dealing with COVID-19. “I’ve become a big believer in the future of virtual care based on our experience. Parents are ecstatic about the virtual emergency service and our patient satisfaction rate is over 95 percent,” says Lim.

Rebecca Liu echoes that view: “There is a gap where you might have urgent concerns in the evening or on the weekend, but you don’t have access to your family doctor,” she says. “Injuries and illness don’t stop just because your family doctor isn’t in the office.”

Buyer beware

Not all private healthcare apps are created equal. When using a private virtual healthcare provider, it’s important to do your research to find one you can trust. Here are some questions you should consider:

  • How long has the service been in business?
  • What is its reputation, who are the doctors, and what is their training and experience in caring for children?
  • Is the provider Canadian or foreign-owned, and will your child’s health information be private and secure?
  • How long will it be between when you call and when you can see a doctor?
  • Do you have to pay a fee and if so, how much and for what type of service?

Tip: If possible, talk to other families that have used these services, and ask your family doctor for their opinion or recommendation about  using any specific apps.

Author: Mark Witten
This article was originally published on: todaysparent.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

Flu season, meet pandemic—here’s how parents can prepare

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Turns out, there’s one easy thing we can all do to stay healthier
Stephanie Rausser

This year’s flu season is unlike any other, because it is expected to coincide with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Flu season, which typically begins in the U.S. in October and peaks in February, sickens millions of people every year, sending hundreds of thousands to the hospital.

Taking measures to protect yourself and your family from the flu will be more important than ever for the 2020-2021 flu season. Here’s what parents should know.

How might the flu season starting in fall 2020 be different than in previous years?

Each flu season is unpredictable, but what we do know is that getting the flu shot remains the best protection against influenza and is something everyone can do to help keep themselves and their loved ones healthy. Getting your flu shot is even more important amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to help maintain respiratory health, prevent community spread of viruses, and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.

The good news is that many of the same protective health practices that have become second nature to so many of us during the pandemic are also helpful in preventing the spread of the flu. Other than getting a flu shot, families can stay healthy by washing hands frequently, avoiding close contact with those who are sick, avoiding touching your eyes, mouth and nose, and staying in good overall health by getting plenty of sleep, eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly.

The experience of getting the flu shot may be a bit different this year, too. Your pediatrician’s office will be taking measures to keep patients safe during in-office visits, and if you get your flu shot at a clinic or drugstore, you’ll also notice different protocols in place. You will be asked to wear a face covering, and you may also be screened for the presence of symptoms or illness, including getting your temperature checked before getting the vaccine. Staff and care providers will wear face masks and face shields while administering vaccinations for additional protection.

Should kids get the flu shot this year?

The CDC urges everyone 6 months and older to get a flu shot every year, and this year is no different. At Walgreens, where I serve as Chief Medical Officer, we recently lowered our pediatric flu shot age requirement to age 4 in eligible states so that our pharmacists can vaccinate even more children for influenza, as children are particularly vulnerable to serious flu complications.

As parents navigate the uncertainties of going back to daycare or school, flu immunizations are more critical than ever to ensure the health of their families and community.

Should pregnant women get the flu shot this year?

The CDC recommends receiving a flu shot during pregnancy. In fact, it is recommended that all women who are pregnant or may become pregnant during the flu season receive a flu shot at any trimester. Pregnant women are at greater risk of complications from the flu, and the flu shot has been proven safe during pregnancy. Plus, a flu shot protects both mother and baby from getting the flu, since the mother can pass some of the antibodies on to the baby.

We encourage getting a flu shot as soon as it becomes available in your community and if you develop flu symptoms during pregnancy, see your healthcare provider right away.

When is the best time to get the flu shot?

While in previous years, doctors have recommended getting the flu shot before Halloween, the fact is it’s never too late to get the flu vaccine.

We recommend getting your flu shot as soon as it is available to avoid missing an opportunity to get vaccinated. You can contact your local pharmacist or healthcare provider to determine what’s right for you.

It takes about two weeks to develop the antibodies to fight the flu after getting your flu shot, so it’s important to get it before the flu spreads to best protect yourself, your loved ones and your community. With this flu season coinciding with COVID-19, it is more important than ever to get vaccinated to protect from vaccine-preventable illnesses.

Can getting a flu shot impact your immune response or make you more susceptible to COVID-19?

No. According to the CDC, there is no evidence that getting the flu shot increases the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19. What we do know is that while we don’t yet have a vaccine for COVID-19, flu shots are available to help prevent influenza. Both COVID-19 and flu are contagious respiratory illnesses which can result in serious complications such as pneumonia, more severe infections and worsening of current conditions. Getting your flu shot may also reduce the severity of symptoms if you do get it, and help reduce the risk that you’ll be hospitalized—which is particularly important this season as hospitals may be overburdened during the pandemic.

If despite your best efforts to prevent getting sick, someone in your family does come down with the flu, don’t panic. Follow treatment advice for the flu from your doctor or pediatrician, and be aware of the differences in symptoms between the flu and COVID-19.

As always, your best first step is to be in touch with your health care provider about any questions or concerns. Be well.

Author: Dr. Kevin Ban, MD
This article was originally published on: mother.ly (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

I had to stop obsessing over my baby’s sleep schedule for my own mental health

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We couldn’t help ourselves: The shape of our days, and often our sense of parenting failure or success, hinged on how many winks our baby could catch.

“Marlo has been sleeping in her crib for over 30 MINUTES. I feel so alive…. Wait, do you think she’s still alive?” I sent my husband this text in a fit of disbelief when our daughter was 10 months old. She wouldn’t nap for more than 20 minutes when placed in her crib, so we’d spent the entire winter taking turns babywearing her for three back-aching 90-minute naps a day. Which means we spent the winter doing little else but obsessing over our baby sleep schedule and napping our daughter, no matter the weather.

This is not how I’d imagined my mat leave. I’d pictured my friends and I, all home with new babies, bringing our bundles to the brewery, strolling them to the farmers’ market, and forming our own team of tiny, unsynchronized swimmers at the community pool.

And for the first few newborn months, we were lucky: Marlo was a shockingly good sleeper who slept from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. most nights and snoozed not only through brewery visits, but also through two cross-Canada flights and the house-rattling renovations next door.

But then, at around four months, she started to fight sleep as if her UFC belt were on the line. I knew this was the four-month regression, when her sleep cycles would change forever, waking her up every 90 minutes or so. It was now my job to teach her how to self-soothe through those wake-ups and put her on a proper sleep schedule.

So I dutifully read all the baby sleep books, usually when I should’ve been sleeping. (“Sleep when your baby sleeps” should be at the top of the Things Not to Say to a New Parent list.) Instead of being a comfort, these books—combined with copious googling—kicked up a squall of anxiety. Not only because every expert makes a reasonably compelling case for his or her very different approach, but because they suppose that you, the parent, can crack the code to your baby’s sleep if you just find the right combination of total darkness, optimal room temperature, gentle white noise, time between sleeps, soothing shushes and pats and developmentally appropriate cry-it-out sessions.

The stakes felt astronomically high, because I knew—from reading all the books!—that a baby’s brain development happens during sleep. That’s the one thing the sleep experts agree on: not getting enough sleep is bad for a baby’s brain. One of the more vivid cautions comes from Marc Weissbluth, the author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child: “If your child does not learn to sleep well, he may become an incurable adult insomniac, chronically disabled from sleepiness and dependent on sleeping pills.” I pictured future Marlo downing Ambien with vodka and telling her therapist that her mother never managed to get her to nap for more than 20 minutes at a time.

The development of another human’s brain is a massive responsibility that makes every midday snooze fraught, particularly when almost all sleep schedule experts drill into you that daytime sleep begets good nighttime sleep. So basically: bad nap, bad night; bad night, bad nap again; and on and on until, apparently, your sweet babe is an Ambien-addicted insomniac who won’t return your calls. This is the kind of circular thinking that led my husband and me to babywear Marlo for naps-on-the-go, multiple times a day. She was waking up three or four times in the night, which was why we were desperate to “fix” the nap issue.

This is also how I ended up ankle-deep in snow, in my socks, last February, having gone out the front door of our house and walked around to the back door to avoid creaking the 100-year-old wood floors outside Marlo’s room. And how I ended up perched on a structurally unsound Ikea dresser tinfoiling the window of an Airbnb to block out any light.

It’s also how my mat leave friends and I ended up trapped in our own solitary nap jails. Unable to sync naps or leave our homes for long stretches, we didn’t do much brunching. Instead, we texted—mainly about naps:

“Are we still on for tonight?”

“Hope so, but it depends how this nap goes. If she doesn’t nap, tonight will be a shit-show.”

When we finally did get together, we talked nap math: When did your baby go from three naps to two? Is the 2-3-4 nap schedule really as magical as people say it is? How many hours does yours stay up for before the first nap? We couldn’t help ourselves: The shape of our days, and often our sense of parenting failure or success, hinged on how many winks our kids could catch.

My husband and I talk about having a second kid, and I have to confess that I don’t dread the nine months of hormonal havoc, or even labour. I dread the naps.

So what would we do differently next time around? The changes that would improve our lives most tangibly are tweaks to our perspectives:

Expectations vs. reality

Take whatever expectations you may have, whether about midday brunches or napping while your child naps (LOL), and stuff them in the Diaper Genie, along with the pre-baby bras you used to wear. Your new job is full-time sleep custodian. It’s an important and exhausting job that will consume a lot of your energy. Accept it.

Don’t devote every waking moment to baby sleep schedule research

Make a no-nap-talk rule for when you hang out with other new parents. It’s beautifully bonding to commiserate, but enabling a mutual obsession isn’t. Read anything other than sleep books (or just choose one science-backed book, commit to it, and spare yourself the endless googling of “help + baby won’t nap”).

Train someone else to help out

Get your kid comfortable with a partner, relative or babysitter who can put her down for naps, so you can go on vacation once in a while. (And by “vacation,” I mean escaping to a movie matinee where you can order nachos and forget about naps for two hours.)

Know you’re doing your best

Try not to stake your self-worth as a parent on achieving perfect naps, because so much of it is out of your control anyhow. Maybe your kid’s early wake-up was caused by the sliver of light seeping under the door, or maybe not. All you can do is provide a safe and comfortable environment with consistent opportunities for sleep, and trust that your baby will figure it out in her own time. She will sleep eventually. And so will you.

Author: Rachel Heinrichs
This article was originally published on: todaysparent.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

The CDC Sets the Record Straight for Parents Who Are Debating Masks for Babies

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Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people begin wearing cloth face masks while outside of their homes, parents shouldn’t necessarily be scooping up masks for their children of all ages. Only kids older than 2 should wear masks, according to the CDC. Here are some details parents of little ones need to know.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, people should wear masks in public to protect their community.

Because so many people who have COVID-19 don’t have symptoms, wearing masks can help reduce the possibility that someone with no symptoms could transmit the disease to others, the pediatric academy noted. Wearing a face covering can reduce the risk of a person’s spit or infectious respiratory droplets spreading the novel coronavirus.

But the CDC does not recommend masks for children younger than 2. 

This is because of their risk of suffocation. 

Dr. Kevin Dahlman, medical director of Aurora Children’s Health, explained to FOX6Now, “Infants should never wear a mask. Infants can accidentally suffocate since some masks can present a choking or strangulation hazard.”

This is why it’s crucial to steer clear of masks marketed toward infants.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital has asked mask makers to avoid targeting little ones, writing, “These products (infant masks, masks attached to pacifiers, etc.) may pose more harm than benefit in terms of safety for children under the age of 2 years old.”

Instead, parents are encouraged to protect infants by practicing social distancing measures.

The pediatric academy noted that if you must go outside or to a place where you are not able to practice social distancing with an infant, cover the infant carrier with a blanket, which helps protect the baby but still gives it the ability to breathe comfortably. (Dahlman emphasized that this blanket should be placed loosely over the baby’s car seat or stroller — never over the baby.) 

Do not leave the blanket on the carrier in the car or at any time when the baby and carrier are not in direct view.

Beyond that, parents should practice the same safety methods they did with their babies prior to the pandemic, according to Dahlman.

“Babies need to have nothing obstructing their breathing and should always be placed and sleeping on their back whether it is in bed or in a car seat,” he elaborated.

Ultimately, the best way to protect children from the coronavirus and to prevent spread of illness is by adhering to safer at home orders and practicing social distancing. As the pediatric academy noted, as long as children of all ages can be kept at least 6 feet away from others and not be in contact with surfaces that could harbor the virus, they do not need a mask for the protection of themselves or others.

Author: Maressa Brown
This article was originally published on: cafemom.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

The Shelter-in-Place Survival Plan for Parents

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New York may be on pause, but, as parents know, little kids have no such button. With city families confined in close quarters and with no release date in sight, the idea of trying to achieve any kind of work-life balance, much less an optimal one, just seems quaint. But desperation leads to innovation (and sometimes a little Xbox). We asked two dozen NYC parents for the tricks they’ve found most useful for allowing kids to learn and be entertained while grown-ups get a little work done — or finally have time to shower. Here are our favorite suggestions.

Learn how an astronaut bathes

Stewart and her son Adric, 7, in Bayside, Queens, love checking NASA’s site for a livestream from the ISS. You can also learn how astronauts cook in space and get a bathroom tour on the European Space Agency’s YouTube Channel. (Adric recommends paying special attention to the astronauts’ weightless hair.)

Check in on the animals

Livestreams at zoos and aquariums give animal fans of all ages a quick pick-me-up. Shima and her daughter Rhys, 10, in Morris Heights in the Bronx, enjoy the creature-filled open-sea cam at the Monterey Bay Aquarium — especially during feeding time. Kate of Forest Hills, Queens, says her kids, Marley, 7, and Adeline, 10, enjoy the Instagram videos of the Shedd Aquarium penguins, who’ve been allowed to waddle amok outside of their enclosure. And Erin of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, says her son Abram, 6, is so into the Cincinnati Zoo’s Facebook Live events that “he started jotting down notes that he shares during our closing circle at the end of the day.”

Hide in Frida Kahlo’s house

Unlike most museum’s virtual tours, which simply let you look at art, La Casa Azul gives you access to every part of the building. And more. Melissa of Washington Heights, Manhattan, says her kids, Lila, 7, and Sebastian, 5, ask, “‘Can anyone see us there?!’ They feel like they’re sneaking around the house.” They can even explore the garden and surrounding Ciudad de México streets.

Give your neighbors an art show

Like those Brooklyn families who created a rainbow trail, Stewart and Adric use art to uplift their neighborhood by taping each day’s creations to their front door. “I like to think people walking their dog and looking over and saying, ‘Look at that door!’ and smiling,” Adric says. “’Cause some people are not so happy, but the door could make them happy.”

Hang a playground from your doorway

They won’t miss restricted outdoor playgrounds when they have one inside. Two families raved about Gym1’s Deluxe Indoor Playground, affectionately known as the Gorilla Gym. “It hangs in a doorway and has a swing, rope climb, rings and other attachments that keep an active guy moving!” Stewart says. Allison of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, mom to Max, 9, agrees. “We live in an apartment, so we have to do physical stuff that doesn’t drive the downstairs neighbors crazy.”

Gym1 Deluxe Indoor Playground (Amazon.com)

You haven’t bought Magna-Tiles yet?!

Three different parents (with six kids among them, ageS 5 to 11), gushed about the classic open-ended building toy and the creativity it inspired. “They keep proving themselves as indispensable,” says Lauren of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, mom to twins Pia and Maewyn, 6.

Magna-Tiles (Amazon.com)

Check out the other babies on Zoom

A lot of parents of young kids might still be taking music and other classes online, but Erin of Astoria, Queens, has a fun way to keep her son, Xavier, 1, engaged: Instead of keeping the video of the instructor pinned to the screen, they rotate among the other families during class. “He loves seeing the other babies in the Zoom windows,” she says.

Build your own pinball machine (out of cardboard)

Hope of Sunset Park, Brooklyn and her son Dash, 8, had stored up a trove of make-your-own kits. One of their favorites is the PinBox 3000 DIY cardboard pinball machine. “You can customize the pinball board and add your own little obstacles and such,” Hope says. “It was just the right amount of challenge for an 8-year old. He actually got impatient and finished it without me. And it works, really well!”

pinbox game link
PinBox 3000 (Amazon.com)

Turn math into dessert

Two lessons in one, and all fun: Darren of Chelsea, Manhattan, says his husband mixes cooking and computations for their daughter Melina, 10, having her pick recipes and prepare the measurements for a smaller serving size. “Just a little math and we all had lemon bars!”

Watch Mo Willems with everyone else

Five families with kids ages 6 to 10 count the award-winning children’s author-illustrator’s 1 p.m. doodle tutorials as a must-watch livestream. Jody of Harlem, Manhattan, says the sessions are fun for her 6-year-old, Polly, and “oddly soothing for me. He brings a very Mister Rogers quality to it,” and the sessions are perfectly timed to allow parents to prepare lunch in peace.

But don’t forget LeVar Burton

Rachel of Forest Hills, Queens, is revisiting her youth by showing her daughter Aimee, 2, and Sabrina, 6 “very old episodes” of Reading Rainbow. “You can watch them on YouTube. Our absolute fave is when LeVar Burton visits the crayon factory!”

Bring sports indoors (even if they’re made up)

Mary of Woodside, Queens, says she’s cleared space in her kitchen so her sons Colin, 6 and Thomas, 8 can play soccer with a squishy ball. “We call it La Liga Cocina — The Kitchen League.” Meanwhile, Ken on the Upper West Side plays “slow-motion indoor football” with his son Jacob, 7. Things are even more unusual at Joanna’s home in Sunnyside, Queens, where her daughter Imogen, 8, and her stepdad have been doing “Ninja Training. It’s basically Fight Club if it had been about an 8-year-old girl trying to beat up a 46-year-old man,” Joanna says.

Create your own classes

Sure, there are seemingly an infinite number of online courses, but who better to teach the tykes life skills than Mom or Dad? Maureen of Flatbush, Brooklyn, hosts “Tool Time With Mama” for her twins, Ivy and Abe, 8. “Yesterday’s tools were Google docs and Google slides. The day before the tool was a hammer.”

Trust in the allure of a stopwatch

Timing is everything — especially to little kids. “Odysseus loves to be timed!” says Dawn of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, about her 7-year old. “He runs from the kitchen to his bedroom and back, and we time him. He runs to get his PJs, we time him.” Shima (in Morris Heights) has turned running up and down the stairs in her townhouse into a competition with Rhys. “We time each other to see who can do ten sets the fastest! Great cardio and great motivation.”

Teach them your favorite game from 9 years ago

Remember how much fun we had during the year of Cards Against Humanity? Joanna (in Sunnyside) introduced a more appropriate version to Imogen called “Kids Against Maturity.” Expect “lots of fart jokes,” Joanna says. “It’s been great for taking breaks (and having a few giggles) throughout the day when I don’t have long stretches of time to interact.”

card game link
Kids Against Maturity Card Game for Kids (Amazon.con)

Author: Raven Snook
This article was originally published on: nymag.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

First Steps

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On your mark, get set: Go, baby, go! From cruising to toddling to walking, your baby’s first steps kick off one fun ride.

Once your baby learns how to pull herself up to stand, she’ll be excited to learn what else is out there in the big wide world — and that means taking a big step forward. Your baby’s first steps might happen within a few days or a few months of when she first learns to stand. But once she does, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump (in other words, practice, practice and more practice!) to toddling and walking.

When to expect it: Many children graduate from pulling up to cruising (or walking by holding on to furniture) around month 9 or 10. When cruisers “reach altitude” and make their first attempts at letting go of whatever piece of furniture (or part of Mom or Dad’s leg) they’re using to stay upright, you could see your child’s first toddling steps. Most children don’t take their first independent steps until well after their first birthdays (around month 14, on average), although it’s not unusual for them to start as late as 18 months (or in some cases, as early as 7 months).

Some of it may be in her wiring: Your little one may follow in your or her dad’s (early or late) footsteps. Build and temperament play parts, too. A lean, high-energy baby will probably strut her stuff sooner than a mellow Buddha-baby. And some kids are more cautious and only want to take a step when they’re positive they won’t tumble; others are daredevils and will dive right in — literally.

One thing’s for sure: Your toddler will eventually learn to walk — but on her timetable, not yours. Sure, there are ways you can lend her a helping hand (and a couple of clapping hands as she racks up her triumphs!), but rather than focusing on the finish line, just embrace all the baby steps along the way — a journey that will make her victory lap seem that much sweeter.

How to help your baby discover it: You’ve heard of free-range chickens? Think free-range baby. Letting your little one get in lots of on-the-move time is the best way to encourage cruising and first steps. Let your child have plenty of open exploration time outside of the stroller or carrier — and away from the Exersaucer or swing — and let her see where her busy body takes her. A few other ways to encourage those first steps:

  • Leave a tempting trail. The same tricks that can entice a baby to crawl or pull up can also help motivate a beginning cruiser. Place tantalizing toys nearby but out of immediate reach when she pulls up to stand — say, a few couch cushions to the left — and your baby may try out new ways of getting at her prize.
  • Activate her cruise control. If your toddler can stand but seems afraid or unsure of what to do next, she needs plenty of practice figuring out how to balance her weight over her feet while she’s on the move. Help her by lining up stable furniture to steady herself as she goes (if you haven’t already done so, make sure your coffee table, TV stand and any other items your baby might use to maneuver herself are childproofed, with no sharp corners or risks of tipping). You can also encourage independent stepping by walking with her while holding her hands for balance — which means plenty of slow, bent-over walking around the room for you. But the joy on her face when she masters independent motion will more than make up for the occasional backache.
  • Get her a push toy. A small shopping cart, say, or a pint-sized lawn mower gives your child control as she grips and pushes it in front of her. Plus, it’ll give her the support she needs as she works those legs, refines her balance and boosts her confidence. Look for sturdy toys with a bar or handle she can lean on and big wheels that make it harder for the toy to tip over.
  • But don’t put her in a walker. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages walkers, and studies show that they can slow motor development and cause back problems. Even worse, walkers can tip over or roll down the stairs, causing injuries.
  • Limit time in the stationary activity center. While they don’t carry rough-and-tumble risks, activity centers don’t boost walking skills, either, even if your baby can stand up and play in one. Remember, she needs to develop her torso and arm muscles in order to walk — not just the leg muscles — so don’t keep her in there for longer than 30 minutes at a time.
  • Keep her tootsies bare. No need to invest in a shoe wardrobe for your little stepper: The best shoes for beginning walkers are no shoes at all. Indoors and on safe surfaces outdoors, let your baby walk barefoot (or, if you’d like, in non-slip socks) as much as possible to help build muscle tone in her feet and ankles, to help her arches develop, and to learn balance and coordination. For outdoor excursions, keep the shoes lightweight and flexible. Stay away from tall booties or groovy high-top sneakers — too much ankle support can actually slow down your walker by constricting her movement.
  • Expect some stops and starts. A child who’s decided to immerse herself in other developmental feats — such as sounding out the family pooch’s name or feasting on finger foods now that she can pick them up with her thumb and pointer finger — may take a break of a few weeks, or even a month, from walking. Or your little crawler may relish zipping around so much that walking may come later. After all, why stop to try something that, to her, seems slower? Other walking toddlers may suddenly go back to crawling after a bad tumble or an illness.

What not to worry about: Every baby develops differently and at her own pace, so if your baby is not cruising by month 10 or walking by her first birthday, it’s not a cause for concern. There’s not much that parents can do to speed up a baby’s development timeline besides providing lots of safe, fun, supportive opportunities to practice during playtime.

There are also a number of idiosyncrasies you’ll notice as your child waddles around — all of them perfectly normal:

  • Trips and falls. When your little one first starts walking, she may remind you of a boxer who’s fighting her way through a rough match: She bobs, weaves and sometimes takes a dive. Of course, she’s still refining her walking skills. (Plus she’s still nearsighted and doesn’t yet have the depth perception of an older child or adult. Add in an adorable lack of coordination, and it’s no wonder she probably didn’t spot that armchair before she bumped into it.) Make sure your home is childproofed, and watch her carefully at all times — then try not to stress over her inevitable (and numerous) tumbles. Sure, your little one may cry if she falls, but chances are she’s more frustrated than injured. Remember, she’s got built-in bumpers (that chubby tush and cushy diaper) and a still-flexible skull designed to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. She’ll likely forget her trips and tumbles long before you do.
  • Flat feet. Take a good gander at those chubby legs and little flat feet, and you might be amazed that she can get around at all. But even though her feet look flat, that’s just baby fat plumping them up. By age 2 or 3, the extra “fluff” should melt away and you’ll be able to see her natural arches. Her feet may also curve inward, almost like half moons. That’s another infant holdover, which likely started in the womb, and is taking its sweet time to straighten out.
  • Pigeon-toed feet. Also common is “toeing-in,” or being slightly pigeon-toed, which comes from “internal tibial torsion” — meaning that the shinbones are turned inward. Luckily, it will usually correct itself within six months of her first step and without any outside help. If it continues longer, your child’s doctor can give you stretching exercises to correct it. In another variation, some kids toe-out during their second year, only to pivot into toeing-in when they’re 3 or 4 years old. Even if the toeing-in doesn’t completely correct itself, it’s probably not a big deal unless it gets in the way of her walking and running. (If it does, talk to your doctor; corrective shoes can help.)
  • Bowed legs. After spending nine months curled up inside you, she may have slightly bowed legs, too. Bowed legs typically go away by about 18 months (but may also linger until she’s 3 years old). Even before she’s walking, you can help those gams straighten out by holding her while she stands.
  • Tiptoe walking. Some toddlers have an insatiable desire to totter around on their tiptoes — which, strangely enough, helps them develop their sense of balance. While in rare cases tiptoeing may indicate too-tight muscles in the heels or feet, it’s almost always a quirk that goes away on its own. To reassure yourself, just check to see that your child can physically flatten her foot. If she can’t, or if she’s still walking on her tiptoes past the age of 2 bring it to the pediatrician’s attention as it sometimes can be a sign of a developmental disorder.

Do talk to your pediatrician promptly if you notice your child repeatedly favoring (or stumbling to) one side, falling excessively, or if her legs seem unduly stiff, as these may possibly point to nerve, joint or spinal problems. Otherwise, just enjoy her jaunty gait (that phone video will come in handy now), and applaud her new adventures.

Have fun…and happy chasing!

Author: What to Expect Editors
This article was first published on: whattoexpect.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

Kids and Food Allergies: What to Look For

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Know the signs

Every parent knows that kids can be picky eaters, especially when it comes to healthy foods like broccoli and spinach.

Yet pickiness has nothing to do with some kids’ refusal to eat certain dishes. According to Food Allergy Research and Education, about 1 out of every 13 children is allergic to at least one food. About 40 percent of those children have experienced severe, life-threatening reactions.

The big problem is that most parents have no idea if their children have food allergies until they try the food for the first time and have a reaction. That’s why it’s important for parents — as well as teachers, babysitters, and everyone else who spends time with the child — to be alert for signs of a food allergy.

Which foods trigger allergies in kids?

When a child has a food allergy, their immune system overreacts, producing antibodies to the food as if it were a virus or other dangerous foreign invader. This immune reaction is what produces allergy symptoms.

The most common food allergy triggers in kids are:

  • peanuts and tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios)
  • cow’s milk
  • eggs
  • fish and shellfish (shrimp, lobster)
  • soy
  • wheat

Food allergy symptoms

A true food allergy can affect your child’s breathing, intestinal tract, heart, and skin. A child with a food allergy will develop one or more of the following symptoms within a few minutes to an hour after eating the food:

  • congestion, runny nose
  • cough
  • diarrhea
  • dizziness, lightheadedness
  • itching around the mouth or ears
  • nausea
  • red, itchy bumps on the skin (hives)
  • red, itchy rash (eczema)
  • shortness of breath, trouble breathing
  • sneezing
  • stomach pain
  • strange taste in the mouth
  • swelling of the lips, tongue, and/or face
  • vomiting
  • wheezing

Young children can’t always clearly explain their symptoms, so sometimes parents have to interpret what the child is feeling. Your child might be having an allergic reaction if they say something like:

  • “There’s something stuck in my throat.”
  • “My tongue is too big.”
  • “My mouth itches.”
  • “Everything is spinning.”

When to get emergency help

Some kids develop a severe allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, in response to foods like peanuts or shellfish. If your child has trouble breathing or swallowing after eating something, call 911 right away for emergency medical help.

Signs of anaphylaxis include:

  • chest pain
  • confusion
  • fainting, unconsciousness
  • shortness of breath, wheezing
  • swelling of the lips, tongue, throat
  • trouble swallowing
  • turning blue
  • weak pulse

Kids with severe food allergies should have an epinephrine (adrenaline) auto-injector with them at all times in case they have a reaction. Both the child, and the people who care for them, should learn how to use the injector.

Food allergy vs. intolerance: How to tell the difference

Reacting to a particular food doesn’t necessarily mean your child has a food allergy. Some kids are intolerant to certain foods. The difference is that a food allergy involves the child’s immune system, while food intolerance is usually based in the digestive system. Food intolerance is much more common than food allergy.

Food allergies tend to be more dangerous. The child will usually need to avoid the offending food entirely. Food intolerance often isn’t as serious. The child may be able to eat small amounts of the substance.

Examples of food intolerances include:

  • Lactose intolerance: This occurs when the child’s body lacks the enzyme needed to break down the sugar in milk. Lactose intolerance can cause symptoms like gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
  • Gluten sensitivity: This occurs when the child’s body reacts to a protein called gluten in grains like wheat. Symptoms include headache, upset stomach, and bloating. Although celiac disease — the most severe form of gluten sensitivity — does involve the immune system, its symptoms are usually centered in the gut. Celiac disease can affect other systems of the body but doesn’t cause anaphylaxis.
  • Sensitivity to food additives: This occurs when a child’s body reacts to dyes, chemicals like sulfites, or other additives in foods. Symptoms include rash, nausea, and diarrhea. Sulfites can sometimes trigger an asthma attack in someone who has asthma and is sensitive to them.

Because the symptoms of food intolerance are sometimes similar to those of a food allergy, it can be hard for parents to tell the difference. Here’s a guide to distinguishing a food allergy from intolerance:

SymptomFood intoleranceFood allergy
bloating, gasX
chest painX
diarrheaXX
itchy skinX
nauseaXX
rash or hivesX
shortness of breathX
swelling of the lips, tongue, airwaysX
stomach painXX
vomitingXX

What to do if your child has a food allergy

If you suspect your child has a food allergy, see your pediatrician or an allergist. The doctor can identify which food is causing the problem and help you develop a treatment plan. Your child may need medicines like antihistamines to treat the symptoms.

Author: Healthline.com
This article was first published on: healthline.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.

The Secret to Keeping Your Kids Happy, Busy and Learning if Their School Closes Due to Coronavirus

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Author Susie Allison recommends getting creative to keep your kids occupied during the coronavirus outbreak.
 Susie Allison

Susie Allison is a former teacher and mom of three. She is the creator of Busy Toddler and author of Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting: From the First “No” to Their First Day of School (and Everything in Between).

As millions of children are displaced from their schools due to the coronavirus, a sub-crisis has risen for American parents: What will the kids do all day? The widespread school closures have sent a ripple effect into parent communities as many scramble to find ways to smoothly transition kids into at-home life. It’s one thing to entertain them all day on the weekends. It’s another when you have seven days a week to fill for an indefinite period of time.

The secret is one that schools know well: Make a routine. Kids are used to following a schedule, so making a blueprint for the day will help everything fall into place. It’s a lot easier than you might think. Grab a pen, paper and actually map out how the days will look at home. The goal is to keep kids busy and learning while allowing you to get other things done too.

Here’s how to set a routine for your child:

Start with their school routine

Use school as the framework and honor what had been your child’s routine:

  • When are they used to having breakfast? Snack? Lunch?
  • When is recess?
  • Break the day into small chunks much like school does with subjects.
  • If your child has assigned schoolwork, do they work best in the morning or afternoon?

Dedicate time for play

Once you’ve mapped out times for things like food and school assignments, you’re ready to fill in the rest of the day, and actually carving out time for dedicated child-led play is huge for kids. When a child is imagining, creating, building or inventing, they are doing some serious learning.

In your new daily schedule, have a few 15- to 30-minute blocks (more or less time depending on your child’s age and play development) of dedicated child-led play. The more a child plays, the more they learn to play.

A few tips for effective playtime:

  • Weed out the unused and broken toys: If it’s hard to find the good toys, it’s hard to find the good play.
  • Move the “open-ended toys” to the front: Toys with lights and batteries that sing and talk won’t hook your child into play as well as simple toys (think toys from your childhood – blocks, cars, dolls, kitchens…).
  • Limit adult involvement: play is the child’s job, not the adults. Accept some play invitations, but don’t feel guilty about skipping others. Kids need to play independent of adults (independent doesn’t mean unsupervised).

Schedule in some easy indoor activities

While you can just put out toys for unstructured free play, kids also get excited when parents facilitate some of the fun. Think of activities as “invitations to play.” Easy indoor activities can be a lifeline, a great way to practice school skills and a way to quietly entertain kids. These activities do not need to be complicated or take hours to set up. As you plan your schedule, think of places where an activity might be helpful to transition from one time block to the next, like after snack time or before dinner.

Here are four easy indoor activities perfect for breaking up a day:

Box Road – Flatten out a box and draw a road in marker. Add blocks, trucks and other toys for kids to build a city.

Toy-Washing Bin – Let your kids wash their plastic toys. Add tear-free bubbles, sponges, towels and other supplies.

Susie Allison

Trash Art – Find some recycled materials and let your kids paint them. Kids love painting random objects and making beautiful creations from them.

Susie Allison

Sticky Match-Up – Draw shapes, letters, numbers, words or math problems on sticky notes and hide them around the house for your child to find. Then have the child match them up on a “key” that hangs on the wall.

Susie Allison

Build in reading

Study after study shows the importance of reading to kids. Being home all day is a great chance to increase that habit.

Put in reading blocks. Fifteen to 20 minutes a day is a great place to start (remember, that’s total minutes, not all at once. Break it apart). Consider structuring this reading block in a few different ways: parent reads aloud, child reads aloud (if the child can read), and family silent reading time. And if your child wants to extend a reading period, don’t worry too much about messing up the schedule. There’s no such thing as too much reading, and you can always save a planned activity for the next day.

Go to recess

If possible, add in two to three recess times for your child to explore outside. Remember that recess time is a part of school life and kids are used to a little cold and a little rain. While there is no official guidance in the U.S. on how much time to spend outside these days, some experts have recommended open spaces like parks over playgrounds, where the equipment isn’t necessarily the most hygienic. Or, if you have a backyard, let the kids run around there. Outdoor time has lots of benefits for kids – and a key one for you: If they burn off steam, they may be more tired and willing to go to sleep at night.

Make a screen time routine

If you choose to have screens available to your kids while school is closed, use them wisely, as a parenting tool.

To keep your kids from “over-indulging” on screens:

  • Make screen time predictable: have a set time in the schedule so children know when to expect screen time (like while you make breakfast or before nap time) and for how long.
  • Turn it off: Follow through when the scheduled time for screens is over, and don’t leave TV on as background noise. If the house feels too quiet, turn on some music instead.
  • Outside of the scheduled time block, only use screens when you (the parent) chooses it because you need it. Save screens for big moments, like when you have a conference call or dinner prep isn’t going well.

Of course even with the most perfectly planned schedule, you will still have days when you just can’t muster the energy to come up with even the simplest activity and instead let them watch another episode of their favorite show. That’s O.K too. Do what you need to do to get through that day. You’ll have your routine to go back to the next day. And the one after that, too.

Author: Susie Allison
This article was originally published on: time.com (here)

Kids & Heirs Blog – A “hub” of curated posts with valuable content, so you spend less time searching and more time with your little heirs.