Your medicine chest looks like a place where candies are stored to most kids. The fact that most medicines for kids taste pretty good also doesn’t help. This is why it is important to clean it out as often as possible and put harmful medications under lock and key if you can. 

You should get rid of left-over or half use prescriptions as well as over-the-counter or prescription medicines that are past their expiry date.  If your kid doesn’t finish his or her medication you should probably be throwing it out anyway.  It is dangerous to have old prescriptions around unless your pediatrician specifically told you to keep them. 

To make it a little safer you should also get rid of all the medications that do not have child resistant caps or packaging.  Even better yet don’t keep any kind of medicine chest or medicine storage in your child’s room at all! 

There are also some medications that you may have on hand that are not recommended for use by doctors or the American Pediatric association.  A good example is syrup of ipecac as the Academy of Pediatrics no longer says this is a good item to keep in the home. It used to be used to induce vomiting in kids that were accidentally poisoned. 

You should also get rid of any old mercury thermometers and trade them in for the newest sensor digital thermometers. The old fashioned ones can break and expose your kid to mercury and mercury vapors.  S

urprisingly the Academy of Pediatrics also recommends getting rid of hydrogen peroxide. We typically use it to disinfect cuts or wounds but apparently instead of helping to heal hydrogen peroxide may actual damage healthy skin cells. Try not to keep any aspirin in your medicine cabinet. Both very young children and adults are at risk of developing Reye’s syndrome if they even take just one pill.  This is not a matter of overdose!   It is also common knowledge that you shouldn’t give your child, or even your teenager, aspirin unless there is no other option and you are stranded at a cottage. Start with half a pill if you have to and watch for any reactions (such as a rash.) 

When you are done cleaning out your medicine cabinet you should not just throw everything in the trash.  Don’t flush them into the toilet either. These medicines are getting into our groundwater (especially the antibiotics.) As we are consuming antibiotics unnecessarily through water sources we are becoming more and more resistant to them. This can result in flesh eating diseases such as MRSA and illness from ordinary bacteria like staph. 

One way to keep your kid out of the medicine chest is to never give him or her the idea that is okay to go in there in the first place. Never say to your teen “go get it yourself.” You don’t want to end up with a Little Lindsay Lohan on your hands who has no idea about how to handle drugs.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics kids don’t need extra vitamins. If you are feeding your little one a diet based on the Food Guide Pyramid then they should be getting all of the food that they need. 

However sometimes you end up with a kid who is a picky eater (such as my little boy who won’t eat anything but tomato soup and bananas) and supplementation is necessary.  Some kids will stick to eating just one or two foods for months or even years so it is necessary to make sure that they are getting all of the nutrients that they need. Also if you are a vegetarian and raising your child to be one you don’t have a diet that meets all of your child’s nutritional needs as your child may be lacking in B12 or iron. Babies that are breastfed only may also need 200 IU of Vitamin D each day as breast milk is not fortified with Vitamin D. This is especially crucial if you live in a climate where there is not a lot of sun or if your child is confined to the indoors because of an illness.  

Older children who don’t drink at least 500ml (about 17 ounces) of Vitamin D fortified milk will also need Vitamin D supplements if they don’t get regular sunlight exposure.  Iron is very important to prevent anemia. Those most at risk of iron deficiency are infants who are not given extra iron after six months of age (usually in the form of an iron fortified infant cereal), and babies who drink low-iron formula, cow’s milk or goats milk. Good sources or iron include meats, fish, legumes, and fortified foods, such as breads and cereals.

Adolescent girls are also at risk of anemia once they begin having their periods so make sure your daughter is getting enough folic acid and iron. Your child also can’t grow healthy bones with out calcium. It is an essential mineral that is necessary for healthy teeth and bones.

Kids who drink enough milk and eat enough yogurt, cheese and ice cream are never calcium deficient. Calcium supplements are poorly absorbed by children so you need to give them orange or grapefruit juice that is fortified with calcium.  Look for a juice that his high in calcium as many of them only have 20% of a daily value added.  You can also get chewable candies with calcium in them like Calcium gummy bears or Herbasaurs Calcium for Kids. Multivitamins for infants are available as drops and usually contain Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D. They may also have iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, Vitamin B12, and Vitamin E.  Good brands are Poly-Vi-Sol Drops, Gerber Vitamin Drops and Tri-Vi-Sol Drops.   

Keep in mind that many ‘complete’ multivitamins do not have all of the recommended amounts of the vitamins and minerals that your child needs each day and most don’t have enough calcium so you might have to look at supplementing your supplements depending on what brands are available. 

Let’s face it. If you have had a kid you probably have stretch marks. These stretch marks occur when the skin is pulled to the extent that it loses its elasticity. This of course in inevitable after you have a baby.  

The white marks are simply evidence of your skin cells trying to heal themselves. The striped looking marks mostly occur on the breasts, thighs, abdomen, buttocks and groin. When you first get them they look like red stripes. You know your skin has begun the healing process if they start to look like white stripes or bands.  

Stretch marks are also common in people who have lost a lot of weight. The marks are the result of your skin’s collagen and elastin breaking down under stress. Sometimes weight lifters get them too.  Stretch marks are usually treated with surgery, steroids or topical creams and ointments. These are meant to bleach, thicken or shrink the skin’s tissues.  Whether or not these treatments will work for your stretch marks depends on a lot of factors.

Not everybody gets a positive result using these creams. Also some only get temporary relief using cream. Lasers are the newest technology for removing stretch ward. Lasers work well on scars and stretch marks because they stimulate the skin under the scar or stretch mark. This stimulates cells to start healing. This can also stimulate the production of collagen in the area, which causes the skin beneath the scar to thicken so that it is a closer match to the surrounding skin. 

The really great thing about laser treatments for scars and stretch marks is that they are in-office procedures that don’t require painkillers or anesthesia. You can get treated in less than hour Some people note that they feel a slight tingling or a feeling similar to the “snapping of a rubber band” against their skin when they get the procedure done.  Taking a couple of Advil afterwards easily relieves the discomfort. 

Will laser treatment for your scars and stretch marks work for you? The good news is that about 70% of both males and females do see a real improvement in the appearance of stretch mark after laser treatment so your odds of getting rid of them are actually pretty good.  However you have to get the stretch mark sooner rather than later.  The laser will not work if it has been on your body along while. The older the scar or stretchmark is the harder it will be for the laser to diminish it.

To help speed up the results you might be asked to use a trentinoin cream or a glycolic acid cream before and after your treatments to help reduce redness and thicken the skin.  Keep in mind that not everybody’s scars and stretch marks can be removed with laser treatments. Laser treatment works best on shallow scars and stretch marks and also on people with fair ski. The darker your skin, the less likely this treatment is to work. It is not recommended for people with a history of vitilago, pigmentation disorders or dark tans. 

Sponsor: Stretch Mark Cream

Even though most of you are thinking, “oh I don’t have the time to do something as ridiculous as grow sprouts” you need to know how it easy it is. In fact you could say it is as easy as growing grass.  It is so simple that a child could do it which is exactly why I am telling you all about it. 

The reason you want to grow sprouts is because they are a whole food. They contain everything a human needs to survive in one little plant. Also growing them is a really nice project for you and a kid. These plants grow so easily and fast that it gives your child a real sense of accomplishment. Better yet after they are grown you can teach your child how to make a sandwich or salad with them. So you kill two birds with one stone by teaching cooking and gardening at the same time. 

If you are a person who is concerned about the environment and issues such as global warming then you might be interested in growing sprouts.  Did you know that if you juice them, as many people do with wheatgrass sprouts, you can live on just the juice for the rest of your life if you had to?  Also if you are sick the juice from fresh sprouts is incredibly healing. It is best to mix sprout juice with tomato juice to improve the flavor. I

f you could sneak a little sprout juice into your children’s beverages you would be doing them an incredible favor as it is full of all kinds of friendly enzymes and growth promoting vitamins and minerals. They are one of these foods that leaves a minimal carbon imprint when produced. Fresh sprouts can be grown almost anywhere and for pennies. 

Another good reason to grow your own sprouts is to reduce global warming. It is a good idea to teach your kids how to be ecologically correct early on in the game. For all you know you are teaching them survival skills – who knows what could happen to agriculture in the next twenty now. By now you have probably heard of the 100 mile rule which says that you should eat foods grown within a 100 miles of where you live to prevent the pollution caused by food transportation.  Sprouts can be grown right in the same room that you are.  All you need is water and sunlight (or the grow lamp.)  Growing them is environmentally a very nice thing to do for Mother Earth.   

When I say that sprouts can be grown anywhere I am completely serious. You can grow them under a grow lamp in under a week so you are enjoying a beneficial and fresh food source all year long. I really love onion sprouts. Furthermore onion sprouts have allicin in them which helps boost the immune system. They might be a little strong for children. The same thing goes for radish sprouts which can have a real bite to them. For kids play it safe by sticking to alfalfa sprouts which are blander.