One day you wake up and all your kid’s eyes are pink. Pink eye, or pinkeye, is a common name for a condition known medically as conjunctivitis. It’s really contagious and can be passed from sheets, towels, pillowcases, hand to eye contact, Kleenex…you name it. Basically it is an inflammation of the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids. It becomes bumpy and irritated and starts discharging pus sometimes too.

Pink eye looks worse than it is because suddenly your kid has the eyes of an albino rabbit. There is also an infectious version of it but the infectious pink eye is much more common.

The same viruses that cause colds, sinus infections, ear infections and sore throats usually cause infectious pink eye. The same types of bacteria that cause gonorrhea and Chlamydia also cause pink eye.

Non-infections pink eye is the consequence of long term inflammation and irrational. It tends to occur more among children who have allergies. All kinds of allergens like ragweed, pollen, grass, animal dander and dust mites can also cause pink eye.

The culprit can also be substance from the environment. This includes soaps, perfume, makeup and chlorine. If you are smoking and your kid has pink eye then you are probably the culprit.

There is another type of pink eye known as giant papillary pink eye or GPC (Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis). Usually, this type occurs only to those who wear contact lenses.

Pink Eye symptoms generally depend on whether you have infectious pink eye or non-infectious pink eye.

Symptoms caused by viral and bacterial pink eye include red watery eyes (and irritation. It is likely to start in one eye and spread to the other. Keep your kids away from each other while this is going on, as it can be really hard to get rid of. Don’t let older children with pink eye handle babies.

Get your kids to a doctor if you suspect pink eye. It is only treated with antibiotics. This is no time to fool around with natural remedies. You can also get antibiotic ointments over the counter. If the pain is really severe or if the eyelids are sticking together in the morning after sleeping try using warm water over the eyelids.

There is a viral type that does not cause pink eye except in small children. Special drops are sometimes prescribed by a doctor to help relieve the swelling, pain and inflammation. The redness is unattractive but some kids don’t find it painful. Thankfully it is harmless and very rarely causes any kind of long term damage to the eye. Still it should be treated just in case of complications that could compromise the vision.

Lazy eye is a confusing disorder. This is because the eye does not always look “lazy.” It is a disorder between the coordination of the brain and eye and it usually starts in childhood. It causes the body to favor one eye over the other.
Lazy eye is a disorder of the coordination between the eye and the brain, usually Amblyopia is the medical name for it. The problem is one eye does all the work while the other gets weaker and weaker.

Poor blurry vision in an eye that otherwise seems normal is the main symptom. It is caused by poor transmission of the visual image to the brain from eye in childhood. It is a temporary condition in most cases — thank goodness!

By the way it is possible to suffer form this in both eyes. That is very rare. The one eyed ambyopia is more common. About five percent of kids (one in twenty) might suffer from it. Many people are not even aware they ever have it. This is because it is normal to have slightly stronger vision in one eye.

Sometimes this eye looks so lazy it can actually stray. Mainly it causes poor depth perception. This is rare. Having a crossed eye or turned eye is a completely different eye condition. It is called strabismus. However lazy eye and crossed eyes and turned eyes seem to be used all the time to describe both ambyopia and everything else.

The way to determine whether or not your child has this condition is to take him or her in for a special test called a visual acuity test. It is not done with the letter chart we usually associate with determining eye problems.

A large number of kids with lazy eye go unnoticed until they have their eyes examined when they get older. Therefore, comprehensive vision evaluations by a trained and qualified vision professional are the best idea even for pre-school kids. You don’t want your child going through school with undiagnosed compromised vision! Yet it can so easily happen.

Treatment options for lazy eye include glasses, drops, and certain vision therapies, possibly including the use of a patch. Sure you’re kid will look like a pirate but at least he will be able to see the chalkboard. Good thing Pirates of the Caribbean was such a hit and pirates are so cool. However expect little girls to have a harder time with corrective eye patch than boys.

You also need to catch this early. Recent research has shown it can be treated until the kid is seventeen. Improvements are possible at any age but the best chance of correcting completely is catching the lazy eye while your child is still a kid.

Summer is coming which means its time for swimmer’s ear. This is the casual name for an infection called otitis externa, which is an infection of the ear and outer ear canal.

The tell tale signs you kid has it a red or inflamed appearance to the ear. It can also be very itchy and your kid won’t stop scratching it. Moving the head can be difficult. Even just touching the area can cause a kid to yelp. In serious cases there may be pus draining from ear.

This kind of otitisis often caused by infection with a germ called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This germ is everywhere – including ins oil and water. It can only be seen with a microscope. Anyone can get it but kids are more prone to getting it.

Most kids get it by swimming in the contaminated water. However you can also get it by handling a contaminated object. Contaminated object could be absolutely anything and not necessarily anything that was around the pool either. The symptoms usually begin within a few days of contact with the bacteria.

So0me of the more common symptoms of swimmer’sear include diminished hearing, pus draining, fever, pain radiating to the neck face or side of the neck. Your child may also complain that the ear feels block or full and the ear may even appear to be distended from the head. The lymph nodes may also appear to be swollen. An ordinary ear infection is not the same as Swimmer’s Ear. If you can wiggle or press the outer ear without pain or discomfort then it is probably an ordinary infection. If pulling on the ear causes a problem then it is the swimmer’s ear infection.

To prevent it dry your kid’s ears completely after swimming. Applying several drops of an alcohol based ear product can also help. I actually blow dry the insides of my kid’s ears out with a blowdryer.

Another way to prevent them is simply stay out of polluted rivers, ponds or streams and pools that are known for being unsanitary.

It also helps to minimize your use of Q Tips. Putting anything in the ear can make infections worse. Even sterile cotton swabs can scratch the inside of the ear and cause and infection to grow. You can even end up pushing germs deeper inside the ear canal if you are not careful. You should also avoid putting hot olive oil or anything else like that in the child’s ear as this problem is not the same as real block with earwax.

Sometimes you can treat an infection that sets in with antibiotic ear drops or mildly acidic solution such as boric or acetic acid.

The other day I met a baby named Taylor. Do you think it was a boy or a girl? It was a girl.

The trend nowadays is to choose names that leave the sex of the child to be a bit of a mystery. Not to many boys are named Shelagh. However there is a lot of naming girls with the little boys names. There is also a lot nicknaming this way. For instance a little girl named Roberta easily becomes “Bobby.” It is also easy for a James to become a Jamie.

One way to get a truly unisex name is to choose something unique and different for their babies. An older name that is more ambiguous works. A good example would be the name Forrest that is both a male and female name. Some of these names come from the family. For instance a girl named Danny might actually have a grandfather named Daniel. Same thing goes with a girl name Alex or Frankie. Sometimes a little change such as adding an “a” as in Alexa can help.

Some baby boy names or masculine names used these days to name a baby girl are Troy, Tom, Donnie, Gabby, Wilson, Ritchie and Wilson. Some boy or male names can be modified in their spelling and pronunciation so that they sound more girly. Daniel becomes Danielle. Oliver becomes Olivia. Gabriel becomes Gabriella. In fact that is an excellent way of feminizing a male name. A very common examine of that is how Paul becomes Paula. Anton becomes Antonella. Lowell becomes Lowella. Robert becomes Roberta and Albert become Alberta. You see this a lot in fraternal twins. An example would be Ivan and Ivana. When in doubt add an a!

Going to very ancient place names can also be unisex. For instance Paris can either be a male or female name. In fact Paris Hilton went out with a multi-millionaire man also named Paris last year. Michael Jackson also named his daughter Paris. Another good example is Madonna’s kid who is named Lourdes.

Other unisex names are derived from celebrates. For instance a child named Jagger could be either male or female. Famous weird unisex names are the Frank Zappa kid names – such as Moon Unit. Xavier is also a good example of true unisex name.

One of the few examples I can think where a male name is actually quite female sounding is Marion. In fact, John Wayne – the biggest tough guy ever was born as Marion. Also, remember the boy named Sue? It is actually spelled Su.

Another interesting phenomenon is people naming their children after objects. For instance the name Diamond could be either male or female. A good example of this is Gwyneth Paltrow’s child, which is named Apple.