Most constipation problems in young children are diet-related. Unfortunately, many children don’t eat a varied diet and don’t get near enough fiber in their diets. This, along with a tendency for parents to offer milk or juice as a comfort food (bottles in bed or as a soothing device) can cause nutritional deficiencies like anemia as well as constipation (not to mention serious dental problems) I once had a little patient who demonstrated this in the extreme. She was 3 years old and her entire diet consisted of whole milk and the odd bite of a pancake. Her iron deficiency was so severe that she just sat in one place all the time. She had no energy to play or even to laugh. I remember being shocked at how pale her skin was.

Many parents are surprised to find out that the recommended amount of whole milk for toddlers after they have stopped breastfeeding is 2 cups per day. That’s only 16 ounces every 24 hours. After age two, they no longer require the extra fat in whole milk and can be switched to 2% or 1% milk. Of course, if they are breastfeeding this is also a healthy choice.

Children who drink large amounts of milk tend to eat much less solid food and are less likely to try new foods. A child’s stomach is roughly about the size of their own clenched fist, so you can imagine that a bottle (or glass) of milk can fill it completely, not leaving much room for other foods.

Toddlers who take a milk bottle to bed for sleep, and/or drink a bottle upon waking in the morning are less hungry for breakfast and are less likely to eat a healthy meal to start their day (they are already full!) Unfortunately, milk is not the “perfect food”. Milk is low in iron, so kids who drink too much often become iron deficient which can cause problems with their growth and development.

Toddlers will generally only eat the amount calories their bodies need, so if they drink too much milk, they won’t have room for the healthy food they need to meet their nutritional needs. Water is the preferred drink for between meals and with snacks. Offering small amounts of milk with meals only and in a cup rather than a bottle is a good way to set limits on milk consumption for toddlers. Juice is not necessary for a healthy diet and is high in sugar (natural sugar is still sugar as far as the body is concerned) It is far better to offer the actual fruits as a snack rather than juice.

Feeding toddlers can be a tricky business! If you’re looking for some more tips and guidance, check out ‘Toddler’s First Steps’ which is a resource provided by the Province of BC in print form or online. You can click HERE to see the PDF version. This publication is for parents of babies and toddlers aged 6-36 months. It has current and medically approved information about all aspects of parenting toddlers.

If your young baby under the age of 6 months is having constipation problems, it is best to consult with your family doctor for advice. Exclusively breastfed babies will not become constipated, but the introduction of solid foods or the switch to formula or whole milk can cause temporary problems for some babies. Start solids slowly and in very small amounts, gradually increasing the amount over weeks. Offer only one new food every 4-5 days so you can watch for any problems. It can take some time for the baby’s digestive system to adjust to the new foods.

* As always, the information I share here is general, current and comes from reliable sources, as well as my own pediatric nursing experience. It doesn’t replace a doctor’s advice and is not meant to diagnose. If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, you should always contact your doctor for specific advice- or you could start by calling 811 from within BC or the Yukon to speak to a nurse at Healthlink BC *

Update: This auction has ended and was won by Mindy! Thanks for bidding and supporting my cause Mindy!

Deb from Gracies Eggies has donated 4 dozen polka dot cascarones. As always, the proceeds from the auction will go directly to my fund for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.

Cascarones (ka-ska-ron-es) are colourful confetti-filled eggshells that are cracked over the heads of friends and family at celebrations. Cascarones are very popular in the southwest United States, especially in South Texas. The word is derived from the Spanish word “cascara” which means shell. Cascarones aren’t just for kids. Adults love to surprise their friends with an un-eggspected shower of confetti. Deb has been making cascarones for all types of celebrations, including Valentine’s, Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, and weddings.

Choose pink, aqua, yellow, light green, violet, grape or tangerine. These can be all one colour or an assortment.

Each clean eggshell is painted then filled with confetti. The hole where the the egg is filled is covered with a round of tissue in a coordinating colour.

Follow these steps to surprise your mom-to-be and guests with a cascaron shower:
1. Hide the egg behind your back.
2. Approach unsuspecting friend.
3. Lift your hand about 2 inches above their head. Crush the cascaron in your hand, letting the confetti and eggshell cascade over their head.
4. Rub the eggshell and confetti on their head.

Warning: you can’t crack just one! Once you start, it is hard to stop!

Deb buys the empty shells from a local small egg farm, so your purchase helps to support this family operation. The eggs are carefully packed to avoid breakage during shipping.

Please also visit Deb’s blog HERE

~Deb will ship anywhere for this wonderful cause!~

1: Visit Gracies Eggies Shop at Etsy.  Browse around and choose your favourite item there.

2. Come back here and leave a comment, telling us:

a) The name of your favourite item.

b) The $ amount of your bid for this set of four dozen Cascarones.

3. Check back often during the 2 weeks, to see if you’ve been out-bid. You may bid as often as you like.

4. Bid increments for this item will be $1 minimum (for example: if the highest current bid is $15, you must bid $16 or more)

5. Bidding starts at only $10.00 for this auction.

All payments for items won can be paid via my online donation page at the End Cancer website (or you can pay via my Paypal donation link if you prefer) Net proceeds from the walk go directly to the BC Cancer Foundation.

Want to see your products here?
Please contact me by using the ‘Contact Me’ tab at the top of this page if you would like to donate something for the weekly auction. I would love to showcase your shop and products. Let’s help each other!

Update: This auction has ended and was won by Deronda from Deronda Designs. Thanks for the bid and your support Deronda!

Leslie from E.L.Bowz has donated these adorable hair bows and hanger for this auction. As with all my auctions, all proceeds will go to my Weekend to End Breast Cancer fund to benefit the BC Cancer Foundation.

E.L.Bowz personalized bow hangers make wonderful and unique birthday presents that will make any little girl feel special.  Custom made hair bows brighten up any outfit.  Order enough and you have wonderful party favors for her birthday party.

Auction winner will win a pair of customized bows and a hanger. Photos are samples only. Leslie can match the bows to an outfit- just send her a photo.

1: Visit E.L.Bowz at Etsy.  Browse around and choose your favourite item there.

2. Come back here and leave a comment, telling us:

a) The name of your favourite item.

b) The $ amount of your bid for this custom pair of bows and a hanger.

3. Check back often during the 2 weeks, to see if you’ve been out-bid. You may bid as often as you like.

4. Bid increments for this item will be $1 minimum (for example: if the highest current bid is $10, you must bid $11 or more)

5. Bidding starts at only $5.00 for this auction.

~Leslie will ship anywhere in the US~

All payments for items won can be paid via my online donation page at the End Cancer website (or you can pay via my Paypal donation link if you prefer) Net proceeds from the walk go directly to the BC Cancer Foundation.

Want to see your products here?
Please contact me by using the ‘Contact Me’ tab at the top of this page if you would like to donate something for the weekly auction. I would love to showcase your shop and products. Let’s help each other!

It sounds like my daughter is settling in Calgary pretty well. She and her friend have moved into their shared townhouse (2 other roomies) and she’s working quite a bit at her hostess job at a restaurant. She’s even looking for a second job! She’s lost her debit card (for about the millionth time) so of course it’s going to be mom to the rescue again going to her bank here to get her a new one and mail it out. Luckily I’m still joint on her account, so they should let me do it.  The best part about her living there is that we don’t argue anymore- AT ALL. I guess it’s difficult to argue with someone when your only contact is text, facebook and phone:-)

I just finished my set of 4 shifts and now I’m off for 5 days. I’ll be doing some local pick-ups of garage sale donations and some more trolling for more. I’m hoping I can get a helium tank donated for balloons and maybe some coffee from Tims or Starbucks. Anyone have a connection? I think my brother can hook me up for some tables. I’m going to need LOTS. I can’t believe all the stuff I’ve collected for the sale. Now to try to figure out how to display it all effectively. I have SO many books. Still trying to work out how to put those out without taking up too much space. I have some great free-standing display grids that I can use to hang clothing on and some hangers my mom gave me. No idea how I’m going to find time to sort through all the stuff and pricing it all?? Yikes…I really hope this sale goes well after all this work.  One thing I thought I might try: I sent a request to the local mall to see if I can set up outside one of the entrances on the Sunday prior to the sale and hand out flyers about it and sell my homemade treats. It’s a short notice request: their website states that non-profit requests need to be made 90 days prior. I guess it was worth a try anyway.

I took my goodies in to work the other day when I had my in-office day. I sold them for $1 a piece as donations to the walk, and I made $60! Everyone raved over the homemade marshmallow Smores. Now, I’m working on getting more marshamallows made to supply trays of goodies in the volunteers’ office at the hockey rink during my son’s Spring Break Tournament next week.  If I have to be there nearly everyday helping out, I might as well troll for donations too, right?

Last night it was pretty quiet on the phones, and I was playing on Twitter a bit and posting some new auctions. I found Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Shaquille O’neil and MCHammer! They all tweet, and it was fun watching everyone try to chat with Ashton and Demi for a while. I just wish I could get any ONE of them to re-tweet about my blog auctions. Can you imagine the clicks I could get? Ashton has something like 250,000 followers! I can dream anyway:-)

Ok, not quite wordless…

Photo credit to our amazing photographer Signy from Shine Photography in Vancouver.

My guess is that most meals have been consisting of peanut butter on toast or ramen noodles….oh, I remember those days:-) 

*giggle*

Here’s the situation now:
Since Sunday, they have been ‘winging it’, staying at some random friend’s house and sometimes sleeping in the underground car park under the apartment building. This is where I started getting “nervous”.

Ok, a bit more than nervous maybe:-) My brain was screaming “ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY? YOU COULD BE RAPED OR KILLED!!” but I restrained myself slightly and said something like “I bet that’s cold.”

Then I talked to her today and she was hanging out in her friend’s car all day while her friend was at work. When asked where they were going to go tonight, she had no answer.
My brain screamed again “MY CHILD IS HOMELESS! I MUST SAVE HER!”
but I said something like “do you guys have any idea where you could go?”
Of course, she had no ideas and said they would probably stay in the car park tonight.
Well, my maternal super-hero couldn’t resist. I started looking up hostels in Calgary online and found one not too far from where they were. I ended up faxing my credit card info to the hostel so they could stay there tonight. *sigh* Of course, Aly was all teary and thankful and sorry they hadn’t planned it all better, etc, etc, etc…

So now my brain is screaming (a little less loudly now) “what are they going to do tomorrow?” and then my sweet, wonderful husband sent me an IM saying ‘what about couch-surfing?’

So, off I went on my google search, and found Couchsurfing.com which is an online community of folks all over the world who offer up their couches, extra beds, and sometimes a room to travelers for a night or a few nights….for FREE! What a neat concept. I had read a bit about it on SparklytoSingle’s blog. She had an interesting experience in Europe with couch surfing, (and stirred up quite a controversy on her comments) but I’m not going to think about that right now:-) Besides, I’ve only sent requests to couch-offering females. Now, I’m just waiting to hear back from a (hopefully nice, kind, sweet, friendly) person who will allow my child to crash on her couch for free.

Whew, this teen stuff gets more and more challenging. Moms of 20-somethings keep telling me it gets better…I sure hope so. This has got me sprouting grey hairs everyday.

Update: I got a reply back from a very kind person from couchsurfing.com who is letting Aly and her friend stay with her for a couple of days. Can’t wait to hear how it all went:-)

Update:

I’ve decided to start posting the auctions more frequently than once weekly because I’ve been getting lots of wonderful donations of products and I can’t wait that long to share them all with you!

All of the proceeds from these auctions goes to my 3-day 60km Walk in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer, which benefits the BC Cancer Foundation. I thank you kindly for helping me reach my goal of $2000 in donations!

Don’t forget that the Love Letters Wall Monogram auction is still continuing to take bids until Feb 23rd, so get your bids in quick.

Today’s auction was very generously donated by Cindy from Ooh La La Mama! a very unique clothing store for kids. Cindy has offered up for auction ANY ITEM on her site! The winning bidder can choose his or her very favourite item and in the perfect size:-)

Cindy is a full-time ER doctor, as well as a mom of two little ones herself. You can read all about how she got her clothing line started on her website. If you browse around there a little, you might find some pictures of the celebrities who love her kids’ apparel too:-)

1: Hop over to Ooh La La Mama! Have a look around to choose your favourite item from the shop.

2. Come back here and leave a comment, telling us:
a) the name of your favourite item
b) the $ amount of your bid for the item you want!

3. Check back often during the week, to see if you’ve been out-bid. You may bid as often as you like.

4. Bid increments for this item will be $1 minimum (for example: if the highest current bid is $10, you must bid $11 or more)

5. Bidding starts at only $10.00 for YOUR CHOICE of any item from this shop!

All payments for items won can be paid via my online donation page at the End Cancer website (or I can invoice you via Paypal if you prefer) Net proceeds from the walk go directly to the BC Cancer Foundation.
Your item will be shipping directly to you from the donating shop owner.

Want to see your products here?
Please contact me at helen(at)triagefromhome(dot)com if you would like to donate something for the weekly auction. I would love to showcase your shop and products. Let’s help each other!

Myth #1: Fever causes brain damage and seizures

The truth is, a normal childhood fever won’t cause brain damage. The brain controls how high a person’s temperature can go. Occasionally, a young child can have what is called a febrile seizure, meaning a seizure caused by fever. It is believed that these seizures are caused by the body’s temperature rising rapidly. A seizure like this may look very frightening, but is not dangerous or damaging. It usually lasts less than a few minutes and the child recovers quickly. It is always a good idea to seek medical attention for a seizure, especially if it lasts longer than a few minutes or it is the first one your child has had, just in case the fever is not the only cause.

Myth #2 : High fever = more serious illness than a low-grade fever

This is not always true. Children and babies often have more frequent and higher fevers than adults. Rather than focusing on how high the fever gets, it is more important to notice whether or not the fever responds to home treatment (does the fever come down at least 1 degree celsius an hour after giving fever medicine and other cooling measures? does the child ‘perk up’ after the fever comes down?) and to notice what other symptoms the child might have:

Things to check for:
Breathing: Is your child breathing rapidly and shallow? Is she wheezing or having other noisy sounds with breathing? Is her colour pale? Is she having a hard time nursing from the breast or bottle because she has to break suction to breathe? Does he have a persistent cough?
Hydration: Is your child still drinking fluids well? Having wet diapers or urinating at least once every 6-8 hours? Is the urine pale or dark? Is your child having vomiting or diarrhea?
Level of Alertness: Is your child alert when awake? Confused or very irritable? (It’s fairly normal for a child to be a bit clingy and tired when the fever is high, but he should perk up somewhat when the fever comes down) Does your child respond to you normally?
Any other symptoms: Complaints of pain, excessive crying that is hard to comfort, pink/cloudy or foul-smelling urine. A new rash or bruising. Neck stiffness or pain and headache. In babies- is there a bulging or sunken area over the soft spot on the scalp?
Prior Medical history: Any prior medical conditions, such as being born prematurely or having a congential heart condition, diabetes or asthma can make your child at higher risk in cases of milder illnesses.

Myth #3 : It Is Urgent to Bring a Child’s Fever Down to Normal

As mentioned, since fever is not dangerous, it’s not urgent to bring it down. If your child is sleeping comfortably there is no need to wake him to give medication for fever. Simply remove any extra layers of blankets and keep the house at a comfortable temperature. A hot environment and too much clothing will make it difficult for your child’s body to let off the extra heat to cool itself. If he becomes too hot and uncomfortable, he will wake up to let you know.
Cold or even cool baths are not necessary and are actually very uncomfortable when a child has fever. They will usually cry and resist, get goose bumps all over and start shivering. Shivering is actually the body’s way of trying to warm the skin, so this will work against trying to bring the fever down. If your child wants a bath, make sure the water is warm enough that it doesn’t cause shivering.
Dress your child lightly in enough clothing to cover and prevent shivering. Give fever medicine if the child is uncomfortable and re-check the temperature after an hour.
Sometimes older children with a fever will find it soothing to have a cool cloth on their forehead, but just for comfort, not to try to cool their body down.

IMPORTANT note about babies under 3 months of age:

ANY fever (37.6 C or higher, measured under the armpit) in a baby under 3 months of age should be evaluated by a doctor immediately, even in the absence of other symptoms. Very young babies don’t have a well-developed immune system and are at higher risk for serious illness.

Here is a really helpful website to refer to if you’d like to use an online tool to go through a symptom checklist to decide if your child needs medical attention for any symptom. Just type the symptom into the ‘enter health topic’ field and click on the GO button.

For example:
If I type in “fever” the first 2 results are:

‘fever, ages 3 and under’ and ‘fever, ages 4 and older’

Choose the appropriate topic, then click on “check your symptoms” in the right hand list. This will guide you through a list of yes/no questions which will help you decide if your child needs more than just home treatment. It’s very easy to navigate.

There are over 3000 topics to choose from with lots of detail and resources listed, and all the information is updated regularly to keep it current. It’s a fantastic resource for any parent to have in their bookmarks.

* As always, the information I share here is general and comes from reliable sources, as well as my pediatric nursing experience. It doesn’t replace a doctor’s advice and is not meant to diagnose. If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, you should always contact your doctor for specific advice *