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.

How I Feel About Circumcision Regret

Lately I've read a lot of stories of parents regretting having their sons circumcised.  I wish I didn't have to ever read one.  Some of the things I read just bring tears to my eyes, and it hurts my heart!  These parents spent months getting ready to bring this little boy home with them, talking about how he'd grow up to be amazing...how he'd play in the NHL, or how he'd grow up to be someone who changed the world.  Dreams for their perfect little guy.

And then when he was born, and they looked at him and knew they'd been given something wonderful.

The next day as their little one looked up at them from their arms, they were asked a question they weren't prepared to answer because they had never been given all the information they needed to make a fully educated choice.  They believed the doctor when s/he listed all the "reasons" it should be done.

"It's cleaner."
"Your son will thank you for it later."
"He'll be the only one in the changeroom with foreskin.  He'll be laughed at."
"It's a useless flap of skin anyway."
"He won't even feel it.  Most don't even cry."
"It'll keep him from having UTIs now, and when he's old."
"No woman wants a man with extra skin on his penis."
"It'll stink if we don't."
"Foreskin is a lot of work and gets infected easily."
"It's better for him to have it taken off."
"He'll never remember it if you do it now."

So much bullshit.  Parents are so rarely being told the truth by the doctors about what circumcision really entails.

I really do believe that if parents knew exactly what happens behind those closed doors, we wouldn't have to read all of these horribly sad stories from fathers and mothers who wish they could turn back time and protect their sons.  

Parents are not being told of long term effects of circumcision by their doctors.  Parents are making choices on minimal information, trusting that the medical "professionals" are telling them what they need to know.  And they're being left to make a decision for their son that should never even need to be made in the first place.  You can't take back what's done, and these medical professionals are leaving the guilt and pain for the child and his parents, while lining their pockets with the blood money.

Parents aren't being told how circumcision can negatively impact the mother/child bond, or that it's quite common for a circumcised baby to refuse breastfeeding afterward.  They aren't being told how this one traumatic event could forever alter their tiny son's opinion of them, and of himself.  They aren't being told the whole story, and they're making a choice for their son that should never have been made by anyone but that boy.

I have people ask me all the time why I "care so much" about circumcision, and it's for two reasons.  First, it's because I have to speak up for the little ones who don't have a voice, and whose cries are being ignored.  People have to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves.
The second reason I do this is because of the fact that so many parents are left shattered after finding out too late what they allowed to be done to their son(s).  The guilt is intense, and forever.  Even when parents are able to understand that they did the best they could with the information they had at the time, so often they still carry the guilt of not knowing better, sooner.

I hate that there are people hurting forever for something that doesn't need to be done.  I hate that there are children being violated, and adults being lied to.  I hate that doctors aren't recognizing or acknowledging that foreskin is meant to be there, and that to cut off a functional body part makes no common sense.

To those who made the best decision they could make with the information they had at the time, and who went on to find out that the decision they made was not the one they'd have made if they knew more, I want to tell you that I'm sorry you weren't fully informed.  I am sorry that you carry guilt.  I am sorry that you even have to.

Our sons deserve better.  By not informing parents of the full and total truth, doctors are denying these boys of their right to an intact body, free of unnecessary and dangerous medical procedures.  They are allowing parents to believe half-truths and total lies, and to be left with the burden of guilt.

As the parents of intact and circumcised boys, we need to stand together and educate others.  We need to take what we know, and share it.  Knowledge is power!  Sometimes we can give parents information their doctor never gave them, and it can save their child from that trauma, and it saves those parents from knowing too late.  

We, as a whole, need to stand up and speak out.  We need to end the suffering for those little boys, and we need to make sure that guilt-baggage is a thing of the past.

I'm sick of knowing that there are people who live in pain everyday because of this.  I'm so sorry it wasn't different.

Welcome To Irritation Nation.

I'm sure by now you've realized things irritate me.  A lot.  Especially when people fail to recognize that their children have RIGHTS.

They are smaller than we are, and that means it's our job to protect them from harm.
When they can't talk, it doesn't mean they shouldn't have a say in what happens to their own bodies.
Their voices are quieter than ours, so that means it's up to us to make sure they're heard.


Children have the right to not only feel safe, but to BE safe.  They have the right to unconditional love.  They have the right to voice their opinions.  They have the right to be angry.  They have the right to be happy and to sing as loud as they want.  They have the right to live without fear.  They have the right to have everything they need, and some of the things they want.  They have the right to an education, no matter what form that comes in.  They have the right to bodily autonomy.  They have the right to say no, and for that to mean something!  They have the right to clean clothes, a warm house, and food at EVERY meal.  They have the right to have parents that are excited to see them, and who take joy in those little moments that shape them into who they're going to be as adults.  Children have the right to make choices for themselves, as long as they aren't going to get hurt.  Children have the right to play.  Children have the right to be treated the way we expect to be treated...as human beings with feelings.

When I see things like this...it was in regards to piercing a baby's ears...

...it irritates me.  She states clearly that it was "against her will".  Lovely parenting there.  And you know why she didn't touch them?  Getting your ears pierced HURTS, and she probably did touch them as soon as it was done, and was afraid to touch them again!

I generally try to keep my nose out of "Would You Pierce Your Daughter's Ears?" discussions because I tend to get so mad I have to stay of the computer for a week until I know that thread is loooong gone.

FTR, my stance on it...


NO, I WOULD NEVER HAVE ANYONE PUNCH A HOLE IN MY CHILD'S PERFECT EARS AGAINST THEIR WILL.  EVER.


I have four holes in each ear.  I got the first ones when I was...about 5, I think.  And I wanted them.  Well, atleast I thought I did.  My mom had cut my hair in that boy-style that was oh-so-popular in the '80s, and people were asking me if I was a boy.  (I was a hater of pink, so my clothes were all blue or brown.)
I asked my mom to get my ears pierced so people would stop asking me if I was a boy.  It hurt my feelings.  So, being a good mom, she took me.
(Could have just STOPPED CUTTING MY HAIR, but whatever...)

Anyways, I got them pierced.  I wanted to stop after the first ear, but my mom (and grandma) made me get the other one done.  My mom told me that I'd had one done already, I HAD to get the other one done.

FTR, I would NEVER make my child get the 2nd ear done if they decided after the first one, that they wanted to stop.  It's effing MEAN.

Well, as much as that memory irritates me, I did go on to get three more holes in each ear...as an adult.  


But is that to say I would want the same for my girls?  (Or my son for that matter?)  Not a chance.  I love their little ears exactly like they are.  They're perfect.  And I'm not going to alter my children's bodies to look like mine...or my husbands...or anyone's.


If they want their ears pierced they will not only have to be able to want them, but they have to be old enough to understand that it IS going to hurt, that they CAN get infected, and be able to care for them themselves.  There will be no 5 year olds getting pierced in this house!

I know it's "just ear piercing", and that this is probably going to piss off a few people, but I just can't take it anymore!  Children are not our PROPERTY.  They are not ours to change.  We should be protecting them from unnecessary pain, and telling them that they are perfect exactly as they were made.  And the fact is that ears DO get infected.  It DOES hurt.  And every time I see a little baby with earrings, it makes me sad.

So if you want to get angry because I'm speaking out about this, go ahead.  Be mad.  I can't stop you, and you have the right to whatever feelings you have.  But so do I.  

Children have the right to believe that they were born perfect...because they WERE.

The World Needs To See This

As much as I wish this wasn't the way it is, it just is.  Television doesn't show circumcision the way it needs to be seen.  It doesn't show it for what it is.  This video really needs to be seen by everyone.  Maybe it would make it sink in a bit more...make people understand why they think the way they do about circumcision.  It's been treated as a joke, and it's SO not a joke.

My hope is that one day people will be overwhelmed with facts, and no longer be able to ignore them.

And I have a dream.  I dream that one day we won't have to even discuss this, because it'll just be common knowledge that circumcision is a violation of a child's human rights...and all people, regardless of age, gender, race, or religion, have rights and should be protected from genital cutting.  All people have the right to genital autonomy.  ALL people.

I dream of a world that knows our children are born perfect exactly the way they are, and don't need to be "fixed" by mutilating their bodies without their consent, and most often, as they scream for help only to be ignored.

I dream of a world where mothers will follow their instinct to protect their young, and never ever ignore that to please an adult.

I dream that one day I will be able to be excited when I hear of people having a son, instead of feeling this horrible dread...did I tell them enough information?  Did they listen?  Are they going to ignore the facts and listen to the lies and old wives tales they've been told?

I dream of a world where babies aren't strapped down to a table and have their foreskin clamped, torn, and then cut away, when they should instead be safe in the arms of their loved ones being told just how perfect they are.

I believe that all dreams can come true, and that a few small voices can make a big difference.  We need to stand together and fight for the rights of the people who are unable to say NO, but who deserve to live their lives with their WHOLE body, perfect and complete, as they were designed.  The inability to say no does not mean yes.

Babies are born perfect.  Lets keep them that way.

I want to warn you, this is graphic.  But it needs to be seen.  Circumcision is graphic, and is a reality for millions of baby boys every year.  If these tiny newly born babies are forced to live it, it's only fair that adults are forced to see it for what it really is.

Hypospadias

I'm only going to refer you to a fantastic post by Peaceful Parenting on this.  It's full of wonderful information, and I couldn't have done it better myself!

For information about Hypospadias, please click HERE.

Baby Boys Make My Stomach Ache

You know, before I became an intactivist a parent, I used to see babies and just oogle over them.  Oh, I'm telling you, the sweet face of a newborn baby was just enough to bring me to tears.  I just thought they were the most amazing creatures that have ever been created.  Well, I still feel that way when I see them, only now...now I cringe when I see a baby boy.  And I hate it. 

I hate looking at these precious babies and worrying about whether or not their parents were educated before they brought their son home.  I hate worrying that the little angel in front of me was strapped down to a circumstraint board and had his genitals torn and clamped and cut off of him while his screams for help were ignored.
I hate knowing that at least where I come from, only about 50-60% of baby boys make it home with all of their parts.  I hate knowing that even when their parents are told the truth, they are so often more worried about proving their son will be "just fine", and worry more about their own false opinions (like he "should look like daddy") than they do the FACTS.  They argue with me about truths...though their "truths" are far from fact.  They are generations of mis-information.  And their son pays the price for their inability to put HIS needs before their own.

The truth is that a baby boy with an intact penis is MUCH easier to care for than one with a huge, gaping, open wound on his freshly peeled penis.  All I had to do with my son was wipe the outside of it.  I can manage to wash my own hands, and washing his penis was 1/10th of that amount of work.  I didn't have to continuously peel back the raw skin and apply Vaseline on it.  I didn't have to worry that my son would bleed to death when I pulled the bandage off.  I didn't have to worry that when I woke up in the morning, my son would have filled his diaper with enough blood to kill him.  And I didn't have to worry about hearing that scream...that horrible screeching cry that they make every time feces or urine burn that raw area in their diaper.

The truth is that baby boys with an intact penis will grow up to have better sex than any of their cut peers.

The truth is that cutting a piece off of your child's penis doesn't somehow give it super powers.  It doesn't prevent STDs or HIV.  Only abstinence or condoms can do that.


The truth is that a father and son share DNA.  They don't need matching penises to be father and son, and a REAL man will want his son to have something he never had the chance to have.  And he'll protect him, not force the same fate on his precious baby boy.

I hate knowing that even after they've done it to one son, so many people still defend what was very clearly the wrong choice.  I hate knowing that they ignored that instinct to protect their infant, and I know we all have it!  I hate that someone let them do it in the first place, and then to allow it to happen again...makes me sick to my stomach.

I understand all too well that our first children are kind of guinea pigs for the rest to follow.  We do our best with them, but have very limited amounts of experience.  That lack of experience leads us to do things that later on, after more children, we look back on and think "what the hell was I doing?!" 

I also understand that sometimes people don't even THINK to look into circumcision, and when they do, it's very common to just ask other people they know that have boys what they did.  And if the people they asked about it had a son who was cut, chances are if they never looked into it further, theirs will be too.  Because we all think that someone with a child older than ours will know better than we do.  Sadly, that's not often the case.

I try to hope for the best...hope that every little boy I see has been saved...that someone took the time to put themselves out there and tell their parents the truth.  I hope that the fear of being told to mind their own business wasn't so scary that someone who knew the facts failed to speak up.  I hope that the little guy has been given the opportunity to live his life with every part of his genitals, that he might go on to then protect HIS children, and his grandchildren.

If it wasn't for hope, I'd have to stop looking at babies altogether.  Because the thought of those little wonders being strapped down and mutilated...it's just too much for me.

Infant circumcision causes 100 deaths each year in US

April 26th, 2010 by ICGI

A new study published yesterday in Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studiesestimates that more than 100 baby boys die from circumcision complications each year, including from anesthesia reaction, stroke, hemorrhage, and infection. Because infant circumcision is elective, all of these deaths are avoidable.

The International Coalition for Genital Integrity applauds that, for the first time, a rational attempt has been made to estimate the scale of the problem, and is simultaneously appalled by how many baby boys needlessly die each year in the United States.

The study concluded: “These boys died because physicians have been either complicit or duplicitous, and because parents ignorantly said ‘Yes,’ or lacked the courage to say ‘No.’” And called the deaths “an unrecognized sacrifice of innocents.”

The study found that approximately 117 neonatal (first 28 days after birth) circumcision-related deaths occur annually in the United States, one out of every 77 male neonatal deaths. The study also identified reasons why accurate data on these deaths are not available, some of the obstacles to preventing these deaths, and some solutions to overcome them.

Previous studies estimated the death rate as low as two per year to as many as 230. The study collected data from hospital records and government sources to attempt to provide a more accurate magnitude of the problem.

To put this in perspective, about 44 neonatal boys die each year from suffocation, and 8 from auto accidents. About 115 neonatal boys die annually from SIDS, nearly the same as from circumcision.

Because of the inadequacies of the death-certificate system and the apparent lack of investigation, it is easy to see how the medical system could either unwittingly or intentionally obscure the true cause of these deaths.

To hospital residents, the birth of a boy is celebrated as an opportunity to practice surgery, but a resident’s first surgery upon a live human being does not always go as planned.

Many factors combine to explain the lack of reliable mortality data or why this problem has not received more attention. To ignore or hide the likely cause of so many infant deaths for so many years requires a significant amount of denial or obfuscation—by: parents, physicians, hospital staff, insurers, medical associations, and legislators.

Boys have been lost to circumcision in the United States from the time it was first practiced to the present day, for a variety of reasons, as the following examples illustrate. The first two, known reported circumcision-related deaths were in New York City, in 1856 and 1858, where circumcision was introduced.

For more information on this study, inquire here.