Ask pediatricians whether infants and young children can travel by air with ear infections and the likely answer is, no, they cannot.
Ask pediatricians if they have ever seen a child with serious ear issues resulting from air travel and the likely answer is, no, they have not. 
There is virtually nothing in the medical literature to [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Outdoor Recreation, Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel No Comments »
Tags: Air Travel, Ear infections, ear problems, ear problems air travel, flight, Infants, pediatric travel advice, safe to travel, travel safety, young children

Blame well-meaning parents for many an infant’s miserable air travel. 
Conventional wisdom says that infants become dehydrated in flight unless you keep pouring fluids into them. Columnists write, “Make infants drink a bottle for every hour in the air.” “Never let a flight attendant pass by without asking for fluids.” “Make them drink, drink, drink.”
In-flight dehydration [...]

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Hi Readers. This is a first for our website, a posting by someone other than myself. This posting is by Chris Van Tilburg, MD, author of Introducing Your Kids to Outdoor Adventure (Stackpole, 2005). 
The question I get most often regarding adventuring with kids is, is it safe?  When people read in magazines about my [...]

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Tags: adventuring, backpack, biking, breast-feed, camping, child-carry backpack, Chris Van Tilburg, Columbia River, exploring outdoors, Health, hiking, Infants, kids, nutrition, Oregon, safety, skiing, Vancouver Island, young children

To prevent children from being burned at cookouts, establish a “circle of safety” or a “forbidden zone” around cooking grills and campfires. Draw the line in the ground (literally, if possible) or delineate the area in some other way. 
Even though such burns are preventable with reasonable precautions, each year more than 3,000 American children experience [...]

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Tags: barbecues, burns, campfire safety, campfires, campgrounds, children, circle of safety, coals, cooking grills, cookout-related burns, cookouts, grills, kids, kids campfire, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, marshmellows

Picnics/Food safety/Kids
According to the dictionary, a “picnic” is a relaxed, pleasurable event, often family-oriented, at which meals are eaten outdoors, preferably in idyllic surroundings.
The meaning of the phrase “It’s no picnic” is a non-pleasurable event. (Perhaps, referring to becoming ill from eating spoiled food at a picnic?)  According to the Centers for Disease Control, meals [...]

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Tags: bacteria, food preparation, food safety, gastrointestnal illness, irradiated food, kids, kids health, kids travel, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, kidstraveldoc.com, non-refrigerated, picnic basket, picnics, safety

Mother Nature provides us with an infinite array of wonders. But it seems that she also possesses a mischievous streak, perhaps to remind us that “natural” is not synonymous with “beneficial,” as many people like to think. Poison ivy is a case in point. It affects countless millions of Americans each ear.              
Here what you should [...]

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Tags: poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, rash, urishiol

In the Northern Hemisphere, June is the month that the sun is most hazardous for eyes, especially the eyes of infants and young children.  
The sun is closest to Earth, is straight above and there are more hours of sunshine. And the weather is generally cooler than in July and August, lulling adults into thinking that [...]

Posted in Outdoor Recreation, Prevention, Sun No Comments »
Tags: alert, kids sunglasses, Sun, sunglasses, ultraviolet, UVA, UVB radiation

Well-designed and well-maintained playgrounds may be the safest outdoor areas for young children to play. Yet mishaps occur even here: each year about 200,000 children are seen in American emergency rooms with injuries sustained in playgrounds.
Here’s how to keep your kids safe and healthy while they climb, swing, and seesaw to their heart’s content. [...]

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Keeping kid’s feet dry in snow country is no easy task when kid’s favorite activities include walking in the deepest snow in sight and looking for puddles to step into, or more fun yet, stepping through the ice that may cover puddles.
 
Here is what you should know:
 
1. The difference between frost bite and [...]

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Tags: children snow boots, Cold weather, cold-inflicted, cold-related injuries, dry footwear, frost bite, frost nip, Frostbite, frostnip, frostnipped areas, insulated, kid's feet, my feet are freezing, snow boots, snow country, snowboots, thumb toe, traction, warm feet, water resistant, winter boots, woolen socks

Choosing the most effective cold weather clothing for your kids is becoming more of a hassle – ironically, because such clothing is becoming more protective. Some garments, if not used correctly, are counterproductive, actually increasing a child’s risk of experiencing cold-related problems. 
 
Here is what you should know:
 
1. Sophisticated clothing increases perspiration. Modern garments are [...]

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Tags: absorb moisture, cold air, cold weather. cold weather clothing, cold-induced coughs, cold-related problems, cold-water immersion, cotton, diaper, freezing point, garments, gloves, headwear, inner layer, insulation, kids, layers, loose-fitting, middle layer, mittens, moisture, muscular activity, outdoor activities, perspiration, polyester fabric, rain, rapid cooling, scarf, scarves, serious cold-related problems, skin, snow, snow suit, sweating, synthetic fibers, waterproof, waterproof mittens, wet clothing, wick, wind chill, wind chill factor, windchill, windchill factor, young children