Not so loveable stuffed animals

Sure, stuffed animals look cute! But what do they do for those of us with allergies and asthma?

They're full of dust! And dust just happens to be one of the most common allergies, so if your kids are sneezing and wheezing, the stuffed animals could be to blame.

I just read an short article about stuffed animals in the April issues of Womans Day Magazine, and it said stuffed animals could be harboring millions of dust mites and making your family's allergies worse.

Of course most kids love stuffed animals on their beds (no matter how old they get.......) so we wash Kitty's stuffed animals once a month in the washing machine in hot water. (their suggestion was every two weeks-guess I should be a little better at that)

But I always feel like a murderer when I'm trying to push the stuffed animals down into the water in the washing machine so they get clean, they always seem to bob up to the surface.

One of the things they suggest is putting stuffed animals into the freezer for 24 hours every two weeks. Now that's an idea. Kitty gets really angry when I wash her stuffed animals and it ruins the long mane of fur on her stuffed horses. In the past, I have tried washing them in a lingerie mesh bag, or inside a pillow case. But it still seems to mess up the fur. And heaven forbid I annoy a pre-teen. I already get enough sighing and eye-rolling as it is!

So, try freezing your kid's stuffed animals. Of course, the trick is getting them away from the kids and explaining why you are putting the stuffed animals in the freezer. I can't help you there. I always had to sneak the stuffed animals off Kitty's bed after she went to school and try to run them through the washer and dryer and get them back to their spots.

The things we do as parents........but if your kids seem to sneeze and wheeze when they are in their rooms, check out the stuffed animals. Sure they look cute, but boy do they get dusty!

Let me know if any of you try freezing the stuffed animals or if washing seems to work better.

Babies Don't Come with Cavities.

We don't inherit “soft teeth” from our parents and babies don’t come with cavities.

Cavities are caused by a bacterial disease called “caries.”  We catch this disease from our close family and friends.  Like any other contagious disease, how we take care of ourselves determines how our body will handle the disease.  How the family takes care of oral health will affect the cavity rate of the infant and toddler.  Correct family oral care will limit the contagion of the disease.  Correct oral care for the infant and toddler will limit the survival of the bacteria that cause cavities.  Diet and beverage patterns for infants and toddlers will either limit or support the cavity causing bacteria.  The disease, “caries,” establishes its lifetime pattern while the baby teeth are emerging from age 6 months to 30 months old.

Establishing a dental home with a dental office that offers well baby exams will give you the information you need to create a lifetime of dental health for your baby.  Other advantages of establishing an early dental home with your family dentist or pediatric dentist are:

1)      Money savings.  Children who visit the dentist before their fast birthday have an average 40 % lower dental cost during their first 5 years.  These savings will continue through life.

2)      Enamel defects, if addressed early, can be remedied with simple techniques to prevent tooth deterioration.

3)      Early dental cavities can be healed rather than filled if detected early enough and addressed at home with proper information and prevention.  Infants don't come with cavities.  Creating a no cavity environment for your baby can lead to a no cavity environment for a lifetime.

The first tooth deserves a dental home.

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