Under current guidelines sanctioned by the United States government, there are 27 doses of immunization and vaccination shots a child should receive by his or her second birthday party.  This might seem like an incredibly large number of shots to be giving to the littlest, most delicate children but public health officials consider the recommended series of vaccines to be vital to eradicating and preventing some diseases once known as childhood killers.

The more kids in a family, the more complicated the mission of the parents to maintain the proper schedule for immunization and vaccination for each and every single child.  They grow so fast, time for a booster shot comes around so quickly.

When immunization and vaccination booster shots are missed, immunity to disease is diminished.  When an initial vaccine is missed, the child has no immunity at all to the ravages of the disease or diseases in question.

Each time immunization and vaccination boosters are missed, it is important to take the vaccine even if it is late and out of schedule.  The child’s pediatrician will need to re-calculate the correct dosage and formula according to many factors, including your child’s age, weight, time elapsed since last vaccine, and the vaccine itself.  The missed vaccine may be delayed even further, if the pediatrician’s calculations say it’s better to wait till the next round of vaccines are due.

Formulating missed immunization and vaccination booster shots is tricky business, due to the many, many differences in growing toddlers.  Thankfully, a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology has come up with a computerized tool developed to help pediatricians and parents stay on track with these life-saving vaccines.

The vaccine calculator works online and is accessible to both doctor and parent.  Each time a child is vaccinated, his or her vaccination records are edited to include the very best time to schedule the next booster, all things considered.  For every child and for every vaccine.

The immunization and vaccination schedule recommended today includes protection against diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, Hepatitis types A and B, measles, meningitis, mumps, pertussis, polio, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus, and varicella.

Recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate about 28% of all American toddlers haven’t been fully vaccinated.

An article in the December 2007 issue of the medical journal, Pediatrics, voices concern over the increasing number of children who are developing allergies to peanuts.  Many of them are showing symptoms of peanut allergy at a significantly younger age than children of the 1990s.

Lead researcher, Todd D. Green, MD, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and his colleagues, examined medical records of children diagnosed with peanut allergy from the 1990s to 2006.  Some alarming findings:

—  In 1990s, age when child first ate peanuts:  22 months;
—  In 2000s:  14 months.

—  In 1990s, age when first bad reaction to peanuts was noted:  24 months;
— In 2000s:  18 months.

Children often outgrow their peanut allergy without any medical intervention.  One theory as to why this happens is that children’s immune systems strengthen as the child grows but also as the child is exposed to more environmental elements of daily living.  As he or she gets bigger, little things like peanuts don’t seem to be such a bother anymore.

For this reason, a growing number of pediatricians is urging parents to wait until a child is at least three years old before introducing peanuts into the diet, especially if the child or either parent has a family history of peanut allergies.  The idea is that, by age three, the child’s immune system is probably strong enough to allow peanuts without triggering any peanut allergy symptoms.  The effect is thought to be life long.

To provide the most protection possible, women should avoid eating peanuts during pregnancy and nursing, especially if there is a history of peanut allergies in her family.

Symptoms of peanut allergy often become apparent as soon as ten minutes after eating peanuts.  Immediate medical treatment is advised if the child is experiencing his first allergic reaction or if the severity of his allergies is such that his life may be jeopardized.

Peanut allergy symptoms frequently begin as atopic dermatitis, one form of eczema that signals food allergies.  Some children experience gastrointestinal distress and others develop breathing difficulties.

The breathing difficulties are caused when the immune system responds to the peanut allergy by closing the airway in the throat.  The dangerously swollen tissue lining the airway blocks breathing to such a degree that a child can die from anaphylaxis shock.  Anaphylaxis shock can kill a person of any age within minutes.  It is vitally important to seek emergency medical assistance immediately.

For one reason or another, fruit juice has acquired a bad reputation as a source of nutrition for children.  In fact, fruit juice is sometimes blamed for the epidemic of obesity that is endangering the lives of our children at an alarming rate.

The truth of the matter, however, is that fruit juice is an excellent source of nutrition for children of all ages and is associated with a better diet and healthier lifestyle in general.

The trick to drinking juice and not gaining excess weight is to make sure the juice your child drinks is 100% fruit juice.  And nothing more.

There is little to claim as nutrition in a beverage made of high-fructose corn syrup, other sugars, and food dyes, colors, and additives even when the label reads 100% fruit juice.  There may be no more than a drop or two of 100% fruit juice in a can or bottle of a beverage casting the illusion that it’s healthy when, in fact, it isn’t.  Advertising pays off in the beverage business and identifying even microscopic quantities of a single healthy ingredient on the label is legal, although misleading, and it makes people feel good about buying it.

There is little or no level of nutrition in these artificially sweetened and chemically flavored beverages.  They satisfy no nutritional needs, leaving the child still hungering for the missing nutrients.  This leads to excessive hunger, which leads to excessive weight, which leads to a life-long array of medical woes.

Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine recently studied the diets of 3,618 children aged 2 to 11.  They found the average child drank 4.1 fluid ounces of 100% juice, or just over half a cup, each day.  Four ounces of 100% juice is a nutritional powerhouse, with very few calories, no fat, and no artificial stuff to reverse the nutrient quality.  All that for just 58 calories.

According to the Baylor research, the children who drank 100% juice were not more likely to be overweight than children who didn’t drink juice, nor were they more likely to reach for unhealthy foods.  Juice-loving children have a tendency to enjoy eating whole fruits and vegetables, too.

Dietary recommendations and guidelines for optimum nutrition during childhood are developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), who recommends children drink 4 to 6 ounces of 100% fruit juice every day until they turn seven years old.  At age seven, the AAP recommends doubling intake of 100% fruit juice.

Kids are eager for instant gratification.  A favorite candy bar tastes great right now.  One last story before bedtime right now.  A new toy from the supermarket.  Right now.

Exercise is something most American children need more of but it’s almost impossible to sell them on the value of exercise as a means of instant gratification.  After all, the only instant returns on an exercise session are fatigue, sore muscles, and a lot of perspiration.

The gratification may come sooner than later, however, when regular exercise becomes a part o a child’s life at an early age.  A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) monitored 400 children from the time they were just entering school until they became teenagers.  The researchers claim their research proves early childhood exercise makes for a healthier teenager.

In the UNC study, all children were enrolled while attending grade school.  Their aerobic fitness and activity levels were assessed and each child was weighed, measured, body mass index (BMI) calculated.  Blood pressure and cholesterol levels were recorded.

Seven years later, the entire regimen of tests and measurements was done again.  Researchers were astounded by the findings.

The children with the most inactive, or sedentary, lifestyles were at significantly greater risk for developing metabolic syndrome.  Metabolic syndrome has long been considered a disease of overweight, middle-aged people at high risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Children getting the lowest level of exercise, identified in the study as fewer than 20 minutes of daily exercise, were at significantly higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome than their schoolmates who exercised more.  The inactive lifestyle during early childhood raised the risk of disease during the teen years by five or six times.

Close to 5% of the sedentary children had already developed at least three of the risk factors associated with metabolic disorder.  Those risk factors include:

• Obesity.
• High blood pressure.
• Low levels of the good (HDL) cholesterol.
• Glucose intolerance.
• Elevated triglyceride levels.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children of every age enjoy at least one hour of exercise, at a moderate rate of intensity, every day for optimum health during childhood and beyond.

Autism is once again in the news.  And well it should be.  Diagnosis of this truly heartbreaking disease is coming with more frequency than ever before.  Treatment options are lackluster.  A cure is not in sight and the disorder’s origin is under increasingly heated debate.

Autism is both heartbreaking and devastating.  Heartbreaking because it strikes in early childhood.  And it strikes with devastating symptoms that vary wildly from one autistic child to the next.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) have recently explored the connection between the mental health of parents who have a child diagnosed with autism and the likelihood that they’re offspring will develop autism.  They scrutinized the records of 1,237 autistic children for comparison against the records of 30,925 children without the disorder.  For research purposes only, the mark of mental illness in a parent was defined as one that required hospitalization at some point during life, either before or after the birth of the autistic child.

The research team discovered that a parent with schizophrenia is twice as likely to have a child with autism than a parent without a history of mental illness.  Mothers who battle depression and some personality disorders are also more likely to give birth to children who develop autism.  There is no increased likelihood of autism in his offspring, however, when a father suffers from the same personality disorders and depression.

This UNC study on autism and parental mental health used records dating from 1977 to 2003.  The study group consisted of children who had been diagnosed with autism before their tenth birthdays. 

There is no conclusive answer thus far as to what, exactly, is the cause of autism nor is there a universally accepted reason for the rise in diagnoses in recent years.  Autism is a very complicated disorder and its cause is proving to be just as complicated.