What you need to know about Vicks Vapo Rub.

I'm copy and pasting this from CBC.ca.  I've saved a lot of stuff on Pinterest, and this is one of the things I think I need to share.  I came from a generation that had this stuff crammed up my nostrils, and I'm sure some of you lived that too.  Certainly putting it on a child's chest can't be bad, right?

Well, sometimes it is bad...
*I want to mention that this article did not specify whether or not it included "Vicks BabyRub".  I would have to imagine that the menthol smell could still do exactly the same thing as the Vaporub, though I don't know for sure.

Avoid applying Vicks VapoRub to babies, pediatricians say
CBC News Posted: Jan 13, 2009 8:12 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 13, 2009 8:09 AM ET

Parents should not apply Vicks VapoRub, the salve used to relieve symptoms of cough and congestion, to children under the age of two, doctors warn.

Dr. Bruce Rubin, the lead author of a study on the ointment, from the department of pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston Salem, N.C., and his colleagues became interested in the effects of Vicks VapoRub on young children when they cared for an 18-month-old girl who developed severe respiratory distress after the salve was put directly under her nose.

Procter & Gamble's product label warns it is not indicated for children under two. But Rubin said some parents may still choose to use it for a sick child, usually by rubbing the salve on the feet or chest.

"The ingredients in Vicks can be irritants, causing the body to produce more mucus to protect the airway," said Rubin.

"Infants and young children have airways that are much narrower than those of adults, so any increase in mucus or inflammation can narrow them more severely."

In the January issue of the journal Chest, Rubin and his colleagues published the results of tests of the effects of Vicks VapoRub on the respiratory systems of ferrets, laboratory animals with a similar airway anatomy and cellular makeup to humans.

Test tube results showed Vicks VapoRub exposure increased mucus secretion in the animals' airways, whether the tracheas were normal or inflamed to simulate a person with a chest infection.

"Some of the ingredients in Vicks, notably the menthol, trick the brain into thinking that it is easier to breathe by triggering a cold sensation, which is processed as indicating more airflow," he said. "Vicks may make you feel better but it can't help you breathe better."

"This may be of little physiologic consequence in older children and adults, but in infants and small children, this potentially can lead to respiratory distress," the study's authors concluded.
Vicks safe 'when used according to package directions'

Crystal Harrel, a spokesperson for Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, said complaints are rare and the product is sound.

"Vicks VapoRub has a long-standing history of being safe and effective when used according to package directions. Where marketed, it is in compliance with the applicable health and safety regulations."

Rubin said he recommends never putting Vicks in or under the nose of anyone, regardless of age. Parents should also follow the directions and not use Vicks or similar generic products on children under two, he advised.

On Dec. 18, 2008, Health Canada said children under six years old shouldn't be treated with cough and cold medication, citing reports of misuse, overdose and rare side-effects.

The best treatments for congestion are saline (salt water), gentle suction with a rubber bulb, warm drinks or chicken soup, and time, the researchers said, noting if a child is struggling to breathe, then it's a medical emergency.

At his pharmacy in Bay Bulls, N.L., Tom Kennedy said from now on, he'll discuss the product with parents before they make a purchase, adding he won't hesitate to offer them a chicken soup recipe instead.

Circumcision Disrupts Breastfeeding

I'm stealing quotes to pin on Pinterest, but there's no image (AGAIN), so I need to re-post it with an image.

This all came from NOCIRC.ORG.

Postoperative Pain, Stress, and Exhaustion

Human milk is the best food for babies.1,3 Babies who are breastfed are more likely to experience optimum health and well-being throughout life than babies who are given a substitute for mother's milk. It is imperative, therefore, that nothing be done that would interfere with successful initiation and completion of breastfeeding during, at least, the first year of life. Mothers need full information, well in advance of birth, so that they may avoid the pitfalls and snares that prevent success in breastfeeding.

We now know that newborn babies are born with fully functioning pain pathways.23 Infants exhibit greater physiologic responses to pain than do adult subjects.23 Male neonatal circumcision has been documented to be an extremely painful, distressing, traumatic, and exhausting experience for a newborn male infant.24-28 Circumcision disrupts the baby's normal sleep patterns.25,27 Post-operatively, the circumcised infant is in pain and is in an exhausted, weakened, and debilitated condition.28 Most importantly, the circumcision procedure frequently causes the newborn to withdraw from his environment,25 thus interfering with his process of bonding and breastfeeding.28

La Leche League International (LLLI) first reported problems with breastfeeding by circumcised male infants in 1981.30 Circumcision has long-lasting postoperative pain that continues for days after the surgical event.29 Howard et al. found that some male babies are unable to suckle the mother's breast after circumcision,29 thus confirming the LLLI report.30

The Workgroup on Breastfeeding of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that stressful procedures that interfere with breastfeeding be avoided.3

Breastfeeding problems among circumcised male infants have been verified by lactation consultants.31,32 Parents may avoid creating this problem simply by refusing to consent to the circumcision of their baby boy. In doing so, they would also be adopting the recommendations of the AAP and LLLI to avoid stressful procedures.3,30 Mothers who protect their new baby from circumcision are more likely, therefore, to be

successful in breastfeeding and less likely to have to resort to providing breast milk substitute.3,29,30
I'm not posting all of it, because this is what I need. Click THIS LINK to find what I was looking at.

Getting To Know Me...The Person Behind "Know Better, Do Better".

So for a long time I've...edited...my opinions on this blog.  I've done it because my intentions for my blog and my FB page are not to hurt anyone more than they've been hurt all ready.  I fully believe we all really DO do the very best we can with the information we have at the time.  I believe no one intentionally makes mistakes, and that it's part of living and part of growing and part of raising children.  There's no actual handbook with all the answers in it.  It just doesn't exist, and it couldn't exist because there are different ways to do this...living, growing, raising children.  And it's not all black and white.  I know that some people who follow this blog, and who follow the FB page are carrying the burden of guilt with them.  My intentions are not to hurt, but to help, and it's been that way from the start.

But.

I am someone who has STRONG opinions, which I'm more than willing to share with anyone who feels the need to share their opinion with me.  That's the thing.  If you get to have your say, I get to have mine.  And sometimes mine is riddled with curse words.  But it's because I'm passionate about the things I speak of.  I can't promise I won't use a curse word from time to time.  I trust that you can handle it.

I'm going to post more about circumcision, and the insanity that it is.  I'm going to give my two cents on things I read online.  I'm going to talk about spanking and CIO.  I'm going to talk about randomness sometimes too.  This blog is about more than mistakes made.  It's about preventing other people from making them too.  A little bit of information can make all the difference sometimes!
I'm going to give my opinion in the buff, without any of the rainbows and butterflies I've feel obligated to include in the past.  Sometimes it might not rub you the right way.  But see, that's another thing.  I feel that since we DO all make mistakes, it is pointless to spend our lives being sorry for not being perfect.  Grief is something we need to work through, not live within.  It can swallow people right up if we let it.  So I don't encourage people to dwell in the darkness, and I can't stand around waiting for people to be ready to move forward before I hit on certain topics.  I'm just going to do it, and if it's too much for you, or you're not at a place in your life where you're ready to hear it, just skip that post.
The whole idea behind "know better, do better" is that we make mistakes.  Of course we do.  But once we know better, we can change the future, and do better.  We need to apologize for the mistakes we made in the past, and touching on something I read yesterday on FB from "Boys Deserve Better", we also need to do what we can to fix our mistakes, and then not make them again.  We do get a free pass for not having all the answers, but when we get the answers, we need to change our approach, change our thinking, change our actions, and DO better.  It's NOT "knowing better and doing the same dumb things again".  I will not ever intentionally hurt someone with anything I post, and if you are hurt by it, please know that it was NOT intentional.  

*This will be the one and only time I'm going to say this, as well.  When I say something someone has done is dumb, or that a choice that was made was ridiculous, or something along those lines, I don't mean YOU are dumb, or that YOU are ridiculous.  You and your choices are two different things.  I don't judge you on the choices you've made in the past, and expect the same in return.  I may judge the action that was taken (circumcision is barbaric and brutal and unnecessary), but I'm not saying you were a horrible person believing that it needed to be done.  No one has all the answers, and because of that, sometimes we do things that later on, we wish we didn't do.
So this is my heads up to you that I'm going to say what is on my mind, without editing my thoughts, and I'm going to go ahead and assume that grown adults can handle it.  I will not "attack" you.  I will not "bash"  you.  But you can bet your ass I'm going to attack and bash misinformation.
I want you to share your opinions too.  This is not just me being authentic.  I want YOU to be authentic with me as well.  I want you to say what's on your mind.  I want you to stop editing your opinions.  I want to hear your heart, and I can't hear it when you're afraid to offend.  Say it.  I'm a big girl, and I can handle it.  
FTR, I will also not sit back and let anyone (including myself) be "attacked" or "bashed" either.  Aim your cannon at ideas, not people.  (My definition of "attacking" and "bashing" is simply direct name calling.  I'm pretty easy to get along with otherwise.)
So yeah.  There it is.  I am going to give you all of me, and I'd like all of you in return.  My honesty and authenticity will show you my heart, and who I am as a person.  
I want you to let me see you too.

It took me a long time to be comfortable in who I am.  To those who stuck around from the start, I thank you.  Being completely authentic in who I am, what I believe, and how I feel, was a process that needed time to happen.  I've spent too much of my life worrying about what other people think of me, and I'm past that now.  I can't worry about whether or not people like me.  Because if they don't like me for who I really am, they don't like me at all.  To me, this is freeing.  I finally, after 34 years, feel like I am comfortable in my own skin, and I want to share it with you.  I was considering just deleting this blog because I don't feel like I was ever able to say what I wanted to say, because I so badly don't want to hurt anyone that I kept a lot of things to myself.  But I have come to realize that the person that you probably think I am is a shell of the person I actually am.  And I'm not deleting the blog because I've done a shit ton of research that I've posted on here and I'm not losing it.  Instead, I'm just going to give you all that I am...the good, the bad, the bitchy-before-coffee.
I'm done walking around on tip toes, worrying about saying something that isn't "right".  I am who I am, and I know that without a doubt, there are some of you who are going to think I'm too outspoken for your personal tastes, and some of you are going to lift your hands up to the sky and say "thank you for saying it!"  LOL  Whatever happens, I'm fine with it.  

Thanks to all who took the time to read this, and don't forget what I said.  I want some of you in return.  

~Katie.
xoxoxo