People with the flu are most infectious during the 24-hour period before symptoms appear and also on the days when the symptoms are at their worst.

Good hygiene and regular housecleaning are the best ways to prevent the flu from spreading. The following are more ways to help prevent the spread of the flu:

• Teach your children to always cover their mouths and noses when they cough or sneeze and how to use a tissue.
• Use tissues for wiping runny noses and to catch sneezes. Throw them in the trash after each use. Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing frequently.
• Avoid kissing your child on or around the mouth or face.
• Make sure everyone washes their hands before and after coming into close contact with someone with the flu. Everyone should wash their hands with soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds (about as long as one verse of “Happy Birthday”). You may also use a waterless hand cleaner in addition to hand washing or if soap and water are not available.
• Don’t let children share pacifiers, cups, spoons, forks, washcloths, or towels. Never share toothbrushes.
• Use paper cups in the bathroom and kitchen. Throw them in the trash after each use.
• Wash dishes, forks, and spoons in hot, soapy water or the dishwasher.
• Change cloth towels often and wash them in hot water.
• Wipe all surfaces, including toys, with a disinfectant or soap and hot water. Viruses can live for more than 30 minutes on doorknobs, toilet handles, countertops, and even toys.
• Keep children, particularly infants, away from secondhand tobacco smoke. Don’t smoke around your children. Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke cough, wheeze more, and have a harder time getting over the flu.

What types of flu vaccines are available?

There are safe and effective vaccines to protect against the flu. The 2 types of influenza vaccine used to immunize both children and adults are inactivated influenza vaccine and live, attenuated influenza vaccine (also called LAIV). Inactivated influenza vaccine is given by injection and LAIV is sprayed into the nose (nasal spray).

Who should get the flu vaccine?

Inactivated influenza vaccine is recommended for the following:

• All children 6 months of age or older with serious health problems, such as lung disease, heart disease, a weakened immune system, or cancer
• All healthy children aged 6 through 59 months
• Household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of all children with high-risk conditions and of all healthy children younger than 5 years
• All health care professionals

For children younger than 9 years who have never before been vaccinated, 2 doses of vaccine, given at least 1 month apart, are required to provide adequate protection against the flu. After that, only 1 dose of vaccine is needed each year. Children younger than 9 years who were immunized for the first time last flu season, but only received 1 dose of vaccine, will need 2 doses this flu season.

LAIV is currently approved only for healthy children aged 2 through 17 years and healthy adults aged 18 through 49 years. It should not be given to any child who has asthma or recurrent wheezing.

The best time to get the flu vaccine is before the flu season starts, beginning early in the fall. Find out from your child’s doctor when the vaccine is available in your area. Because the flu season often lasts well into March and beyond, the flu vaccine is recommended through late winter to early spring.

Who should not get the flu vaccine?

Both types of flu vaccine should not be given to anyone with known allergic reactions (like hives, angioedema, asthma, and anaphylaxis) to chicken or egg proteins, or any other parts of the flu vaccines. This is because eggs are used to make them. Your child’s doctor may recommend skin testing before giving the vaccine to any child who may have had an allergic reaction to eggs in the past.

Published online: 11/07
Source: The Flu (Influenza) (Copyright © 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics, Updated 10/07)

Healthcare professionals may order this publication in multi-copy packs.
Parents can find more information on this topic in Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5. To order a copy of this book visit the AAP Bookstore.

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The information contained in this publication should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Most children with mild diarrhea can continue to eat a normal diet including formula or milk. Breastfeeding can continue. If your baby seems bloated or gassy after drinking cow’s milk or formula, call your pediatrician to discuss a temporary change in diet. Special fluids for mild illness are not usually necessary.

Special fluids for moderate illness

Children with moderate diarrhea may need special fluids. These fluids, called electrolyte solutions, have been designed to replace water and salts lost during diarrhea. They are extremely helpful for the home management of mild to moderately severe illness. Do not try to prepare these special fluids yourself. Use only commercially available fluids—brand-name and generic brands are equally effective. Your pediatrician or pharmacist can tell you what products are available.

If your child is not vomiting, these fluids can be used in very generous amounts until the child starts making normal amounts of urine again.

Reminder–do’s and don’ts

DO

• Watch for signs of dehydration which occur when a child loses too much fluid and becomes dried out. Symptoms of dehydration include a decrease in urination, no tears when baby cries, high fever, dry mouth, weight loss, extreme thirst, listlessness, and sunken eyes.
• Keep your pediatrician informed if there is any significant change in how your child is behaving.
• Report if your child has blood in his stool.
• Report if your child develops a high fever (more than 102°F or 39°C).
• Continue to feed your child if she is not vomiting. You may have to give your child smaller amounts of food than normal or give your child foods that do not further upset his or her stomach.
• Use diarrhea replacement fluids that are specifically made for diarrhea if your child is thirsty.

• Try to make special salt and fluid combinations at home unless your pediatrician instructs you and you have the proper instruments.
• Prevent the child from eating if she is hungry.
• Use boiled milk or other salty broth and soups.
• Use “anti-diarrhea” medicines unless prescribed by your pediatrician.

Published online: 3/07
Source: Diarrhea and Dehydration (Copyright © 1996 American Academy of Pediatrics, Updated 7/04)

Healthcare professionals may order this publication in multi-copy packs.
Parents can find more information on this topic in Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5. To order a copy of this book visit the AAP Bookstore.

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The information contained in this publication should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infects almost all children at least once before they are 2 years old. Most of the time this virus only causes minor coldlike symptoms. However, for some babies infection can be more dangerous.

For certain infants who are extremely preterm (infants born before 32 weeks of pregnancy) or who are born with severe heart disease or severe lung disease, RSV infection can be especially serious. Preterm infants often have underdeveloped lungs and may have difficulty fighting an RSV infection once they become infected.

There are important steps you can take to prevent exposure to RSV and other viruses, especially in the first few months of your child’s life. These precautions include

• Make sure everyone washes their hands before touching your baby.
• Keep your baby away from anyone who has a cold, fever, or runny nose.
• Keep your baby away from crowded areas like shopping malls.
• Keep your baby away from tobacco smoke. Parents should not expose their infants and young children to secondhand tobacco smoke, which increases the risk of and complications from severe viral respiratory infections.
• For high-risk infants, participation in child care should be restricted during RSV season whenever possible.
• All high-risk infants and their contacts should be immunized against influenza beginning at 6 months of age.

There are medications that your pediatrician may prescribe that could reduce the risk of developing serious RSV infection. These medications are used only for the small number of babies who are in the highest risk groups for hospitalization. The American Academy of Pediatrics has developed specific criteria for use of these medications. You should consult with your pediatrician regarding specific details on who is at highest risk and which high-risk infants are most likely to benefit from receipt of these medications.

Published online: 2/07
Source: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (Copyright © 2003 American Academy of Pediatrics, Updated 8/03)

Healthcare professionals may order this publication in multi-copy packs.
Parents can find more information on this topic in Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5. To order a copy of this book visit the AAP Bookstore.

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The information contained in this publication should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Having a seven month old, who has been on formula since he was 3 weeks old, has made us all too familiar with a constipated baby. From difficult bowel movements (BM’s), to the gas and stomach discomfort associated with it, we have had some challenges in keeping him regular and comfortable.

When we first put him on formula we were using Enfamil Lipil with iron, which really stopped him up. This gave him infrequent BM’s and terrible gas. Our pediatrician recommended Enfamil Gentle Ease, which really helped get him back to a regular cycle. During that stretch of constipation, we also had to deal with his gas and stomach discomfort until he would have a BM. We found that Infant Mylicon and Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water were the best remedies for his gas pain.

He still has occasional battles with constipation, especially since we started him on Gerber Stage 1, solid foods. The oatmeal and bananas really seem to have the worst effect on him. We try to limit his consumption of these foods.

From the first time he experienced the constipation, through now, we had great success in relieving his constipation with prune juice (we use Sunsweet Prune Juice). This was suggested by our pediatrician, either in his formula or straight, giving him 1 oz. per feeding until he had a BM. It worked wonders, 100% success rate.

Here are some signs and symptoms of constipation: Infrequent bowel movements with stools that are hard and hard to pass; infrequency alone is not a sign of constipation and may just be your baby’s normal pattern. Also, blood streaked stool or a cracked anus from passage of hard stools, gas or abdominal pain and irritability.

If your baby is experiencing any of these symptoms, especially for the first time, you should really consult with your pediatrician to check for any other underlying causes.

One other note: Be sure your baby has plenty of exercise to keep their insides moving. You can even facilitate these movements by moving their legs in a bicycle motion, while they lay on their backs.

Lastly, you may get suggestions from people who believe in holistic and natural ways of healing your baby. Be sure to consult your physician first, because many of these remedies are unregulated by the FDA, and could be more dangerous the regular methods. Before we gave our baby the Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water, we got approval from our pediatrician.

We hope this may have helped. Best of luck, and good parenting!

Early on, my wife and I decided to bottle feed our son. We used the Enfamil Lipil formula, which is iron fortified. The iron in the formula created a lot of gas and constipation in our son. When we approached our pediatrician, he suggested we try the Enfamil Gentle Ease formula, which helped reduce the discomfort. However, he still had a lot of gas and pain, so we were looking for something else to help. My cousin recommended Gripe Water from her own experiences. Thank the lord! We used the Baby’s Bliss brand, and it worked wonders. It not only helped with his stomach pains, but it was excellent at getting rid of his hiccups. He gets hiccups all the time, even when he was in the womb. We followed the recommended dosages and they worked fine. He has grown through the stomach issues, although we still have him on Enfamil Gentle Ease formula. We tried to go back Enfamil Lipil, but it made him constipated again. He still gets the hiccups, and Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water gets rid of them immediately. Although the Gripe Water worked for his stomach, and hiccups we haven’t had much success with it for his teething. We still use infant Tylenol for that. So I can definitely say that Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water was a real lifesaver. The following is some info from Baby’s Bliss website www.babysbliss.com

Baby’s Bliss GripeWater is America’s first all natural herbal supplement used to ease occasional gas and stomach pain often associated with colic, hiccups, and teething. Made with organic Ginger and Fennel, Baby’s Bliss GripeWater is recommended by pediatricians nationwide as an effective herbal alternative to traditional medications.

Here is a link to there FAQ’s: Baby’s Bliss FAQ’s!