Ten biggest child health & safety myths

Keeping our kids safe causes lots of stress for moms and dads. Are you doing everything right? Will my mistakes hurt my kids in the log run. The best advice anyone ever gave me when I was about to be a mom for the first time was "go with your gut." If something doesn't feel right - don't do it or seek another opinion. That advice definitely holds up.

Along these lines, to ease your worries, I asked Dr. Lara Zibners, who is board certified in both pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine and author of If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay to share her Top 10 Biggest Child Health & Safety Myths. Here they are...

Myth #10. Getting stabbed with a “lead” pencil can cause lead poisoning. Pencils contain graphite, which is non-toxic but may cause permanent discoloration.

Myth #9. If a child’s bone is really broken, he won’t be able to move his limb. Kids have bones that are softer than an adult’s, which means they are more likely to break them than to injure a ligament or tendon. A small fracture (or break) doesn’t mean the arm or leg won’t move and there may be nothing more than a small amount of swelling and pain over the broken point.

Myth #8. Most household poisons are obvious. The things that are most dangerous are probably the most surprising. For instance, vanilla extract has more alcohol than many liqueurs and baby oil can cause severe breathing difficulty or even death if ingested.

Myth #7. My kid has “too many” colds. Kids have, on average, more than 10 colds a year. That means a kid who has a cold every month is actually normal. Since a cold lasts about 10 days, this means maybe 20 healthy weeks in a year. Wait, not counting every other viral infection he’s going to catch…

Myth #6. The car seat isn’t really that important, we’re only going around the corner. Car seats save lives, period. I’ve cared for completely uninjured children found ejected from the vehicle but properly strapped into a safety restraint system.

Myth #5. Ear infections always require antibiotics. In fact, many countries have adopted a policy of withholding antibiotics for several days, in lieu of complications, because most healthy kids will clear an ear infection without any treatment. The only absolute is pain control.

Myth #4. Cow’s milk is an essential part of a child’s healthy diet. Actually, what kids need is fat and calcium. Excessive cow’s milk consumption can lead to nutritional deficiencies, including severe anemia (low blood iron), that may even require hospitalization.

Myth #3. A dehydrated kid needs an IV. Multiple studies have shown that for most children with mild to moderate dehydration, a specific protocol of oral (by mouth) rehydration is more effective, results in a faster resolution of symptoms and is associated with greater satisfaction on the part of the family.

Myth #2. A kid needs to be kept awake after hitting his head. Despite what TV says, there is no danger to allowing a child to fall asleep after a head injury. What is important is whether the child is easily reawakened and if this is a time when he would normally be sleeping. Purposely keeping a child awake does nothing except make him cranky, making it impossible to judge his mental state and level of alertness.

Myth #1. Fever is dangerous. There is no such thing as a fever that is too high. The brain tells the body to create fever in response to infection, as a way of stimulating the immune system. A small number (3%) of children will have a seizure in response to the fever but this in no way means that a fever was dangerously high. Fever makes you feel cruddy, that’s why we treat it.