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Taking the kids: Squeezing in some adult time
CNN.com Travel February 11, 2008
by Eileen Ogintz
(Tribune Media Services) -- Five years is too long between vacations. Just ask Amy and Matt Wilcher.
The Ohio couple hasn't had a vacation since their Caribbean honeymoon five years ago. Now that they're parents, they're contemplating an entirely different kind of getaway with their 2-year-old daughter, but Amy Wilcher acknowledges, "We simply can't think of anywhere to go that would be easy and baby friendly."....
Showing the kids that they can manage without their parents -- whether for a few hours or a few days -- is also a good life skill for the kids, notes Omaha pediatrician Laura Jana, the mother of three, and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She worries that ....
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Get ready for summer travel, celebrity style: What to pack
Celebrity Baby Blog June 20, 2008
by Danielle, Senior Editor
Whether it's by car, train, boat, or plane, your first trip with your kids or your fifth, the preparation can be daunting. Unlike celebrities, most of us don't have an entourage of nannies and personal assistants to help us manage the process, or access to private jets, but we came up with some of our favorite travel tips to help you travel like a celebrity....We asked Dr. Laura Jana, pediatrician, American Academy of Pediatrics spokesperson and Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention section member, author and mother of three, for her best road safety trip. She said, "When hitting the road....
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New Britax harness has audible strap tension indicator
Kids Today Online July 16, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Britax Child Safety’s Boulevard CS introduces the Click & Safe snug harness indicator, which affirms that the baby is snug by audibly clicking when the harness straps are fastened.
The tangle-free, five-point harness seat accommodates children rear facing from five to 35 pounds and forward-facing children from at least one-year-old and 20 pounds up to 65 pounds.
The Boulevard CS responds to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that found 59 percent of all harness straps to be dangerously loose.
“Loose harness straps should be a critical safety concern for all parents,” said Laura Jana, pediatrician and child passenger safety technician. “The harness straps serve the very important and ultimately life-saving purpose .....
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Car seat safety: Do not make these mistakes!
GeoParent Tips & Tricks, June 30, 2008
Tracy B. McGinnis
Did you know that 73% of child safety seats and boosters are not installed properly? Experts tell GeoParent the top mistakes parents make and how to fix them to decrease the chances of your child being injured in a car accident....
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Is Your Car Seat Properly Installed?
The Mommy Files, May 24, 2008
By Amy Graff
Car seats frustrate me. They're heavy and awkward and nearly impossible to install. The only time I ever mutter four-letter words in front of my kids is when I'm trying to latch a safety seat into the car.
But I also know that correctly installing a car seat is one of my most important jobs as a parent. Thousands of children die in car accidents every year, and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 6, according to a 2005 NHTSA study. Proper use of car seats helps keep children safe.
Since Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of family road trip season, I decided to check in with an expert on car seat safety. Dr. Laura Jana is a pediatrician, a consultant to Britax car seat manufacturer, and a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician......
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Take Off and Stay Fit: Tips for Healthy Travel
Forbes Traveler, March 26, 2008
By Adam McCulloch
Rich or poor, no one can actually afford to get ill while traveling. Planes, trains, automobiles-and the destinations they service-are full of potential health hazards. Just answering the boarding call and observing the fasten seatbelt sign raises the risk of death by deep vein thrombosis or a killer flu. Of course, not all health pitfalls while traveling will buy you a one-way ticket to the hereafter. Most will just ruin your vacation. You'll almost certainly recover, but it may be just in time to endure the plane ride home.....
....."It's doubly important for parents to stay alert," claims Dr. Laura Jana M.D., a pediatrician and co-author of "Heading Home With Your Newborn." "As an adult traveling with children, you have to be able to make decisions and be in charge.
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Getting Kids to Eat Their Vegetables
US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, Dec. 3, 2007
By Nancy Shute
Want your kids to eat their veggies? Start putting vegetables on the plate when they're tiny babies, and don't take a wrinkled nose to mean "no."....
...The eat-your-veggies war has escalated recently, fueled by two new books that encourage parents to sneak vegetables into treats like brownies and chocolate pudding. Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (wife of the comedian Jerry) and The Sneaky Chef by Missy Lapine have evoked howls from chefs and nutritionists for suggesting that slipping pureed cauliflower into macaroni and cheese (or mashed sweet potatoes into hot cocoa!) is a good idea. There are two big problems here. One, this sends kids the message that brownies are sustenance, not an occasional treat. And two, it never gives children the chance to learn to appreciate vegetables for their own merits.
That last point makes Mennella ballistic. "You can't mask the flavor if the goal is to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables," she says. Plus, by not being shown the pleasures of eating produce, children miss out on one of life's delights. Who wouldn't want to swoon over artichoke hearts or savor a sun-ripened fig? All the research points to this common-sense realization: the earlier and broader a child's experience with a wide variety of foods, the healthier the diet. (A new book, Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed With Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup by pediatricians Laura A. Jana and Jennifer Shu, offers practical strategies, such as asking children to take a "no thank you" bite of new foods.) Children like what they know, and they eat what they like...
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Top 10 Things Kids Stick Up Their Noses
Babyzone, December, 2007
By Marisa Bardach
Curious babies explore their bodies, and nostrils are no exception. We got nosy about baby behavior and consulted Dr. Laura A. Jana, MD, a pediatrician, childcare center owner, mom of three kids, and author of "Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup". Here, she explains the top items stuck, the real risk factors, and how you can help your little one—and have a good laugh afterward....
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Top 10 Things Kids Accidentally Swallow
Babyzone, Jan. 31, 2008
By Marisa Bardach
Guilty of chewing on pen caps or biting your nails? Freud called it oral fixation, but babies consider it exploration. Pediatrician, mom, and author of Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth To Reality, Dr. Laura A. Jana, MD, reveals the top items accidentally swallowed, plus how to avoid serious health concerns...
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Homemade Baby Food Rich in TLC
Omaha World Herald - Jan. 9, 2008
By Julie Anderson
Jill Manhart started making homemade baby food for her first daughter because she wanted to know what was in the foods she was spooning into her child.
Her young Omaha family tries to eat healthfully, so Manhart typically chooses organic produce. But then steaming, pureeing and freezing brightly colored blueberries, sweet potatoes and green beans became kind of fun...
...interest in making baby food appears to be stirring. A number of cookbooks and Web sites can guide those who want to give it a try. "It's got more of a buzz around it in the new-parent world," said Johnson, a private practice registered dietitian in the Phoenix area.
Dr. Laura Jana, an Omaha pediatrician, said it's part of a move some families are making away from packaged and convenience foods and toward home cooking, family meals and even gardening. The shift fits with concerns about obesity and with the green movement.
"I do see it as a trend, and a good one on several levels," said Jana, co-author of the new book ""Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup", published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Jana, in fact, recently talked with the makers of the Beaba Babycook, a device that combines steamer and food processor in one unit, about the possibility of working with them on a baby food cookbook...
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ABCs of Healthy Eating
Parent to Parent - Jan. 21, 2008
By Betsy Flagler
Q: "My grandson will only eat French fries and chicken nuggets."
"My son only eats pizza, no fruits or vegetables."
"My child has not been able to move from the bottle to solid foods." Picky eaters have landed at the top of daily parenting challenges.
A:The biggest food fight making headlines as I write this column is The Sneaky Chef author Missy Chase Lapine's lawsuit against Deceptively Delicious author Jessica Seinfeld. Both books include similar ideas for sneaking veggies into kids' foods.
While the two authors duke it out, check out these books to cope with your picky eater:...
Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup (American Academy of Pediatrics, $14.95, 2007), by Laura A. Jana, a pediatrician in Omaha, Neb., and Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician in Atlanta. Both doctors have children.
The authors' goal: To minimize food-related conflicts and take the fight out of food. Their practical tips include:
1. If a child is playing with his food, he's not hungry.
2. Don't force a child to eat, but let him explore the various textures and tastes of foods.
3. Don't offer milk or juice right before meals. Your child will get full and not be interested in eating.
Teach healthy eating by example, says Jana, who operates a childcare center. The curriculum there includes healthy food habits for life....
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Physician-Author Serves Up Reality Parenting
Omaha World Herald - Jan. 2, 2008
By Jason Kuiper
Omaha pediatrician Laura Jana offers practical advice on "food fights" with kids
Dr. Laura Jana's 6-year-old niece is pretty proud of the new book "Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed With Insight, Humor, and a Bottle of Ketchup."
Jana's book is dedicated to her brother's daughter Sydney. At 18 months, she walked around with her ever-present bottle and polished off a gallon or more of whole milk daily.
Jana told her brother it was the bottle, not the milk, she was addicted to. Within a week, the toddler was off the bottle.
Now Sydney's folks aren't the only ones getting big, healthy servings of parenting advice from Jana.
The Omaha doctor recently finished a 10-city book tour for "Food Fights." She has doled out advice in major magazines and on news shows...
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5 Wierd Things About Newborns
CNN's The Empowered Patient - Nov. 8, 2007
By Elizabeth Cohen
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It's hard to believe now, but once upon a time, Michelle Duggar was a new mom. Now the Arkansas mother is famous for having 17 children, but she can still remember how her first child had a huge belly button when he was born 19 years ago...
Huge belly buttons, acne befitting an adolescent, and swollen breasts (on boys, too!) are just a few of the surprises that sometimes await parents. "I can get some really panicked parents," says Dr. Laura Jana, pediatrician and co-author of "Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality." "There are many things that look so dramatic...
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How Sick Is Too Sick for School? Decoding Symptoms Can Be Tricky For Parents
ABC News Medical Unit - Feb. 22, 2007
By DAN CHILDS
It's a familiar scene for every parent of a child in elementary school.
The lethargic, shuffling steps into the kitchen. Coughs and complaints of a sore throat and the hint of a feverish forehead...
Determining whether or not a child has a fever offers a fairly reliable way of judging whether or not a child is truly too sick to go to school. Additionally, it is one of the few symptoms that can actually be quantified.
"States often have requirements regarding the exact temperature at which children need to be sent home, especially in early childhood and child care settings," says Dr. Laura Jana, pediatrician and owner of a 200-child private child care center in Omaha, Neb.
"We use above 100.2 at my school, but I have seen..."
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Celebrities Behaving Badly: How To Talk To Your Tween About Hollywood's 'Bad Girls'
ABCNEWS.com - June 15, 2007
By CHRISTINA LaROSA
They are everywhere you go -- on the news, billboards and covers of magazines. It is difficult to imagine a world without constant reminders of Paris Hilton's DUI and jail time, Lindsay Lohan's addiction struggles or Britney Spears' pantyless car exits...
Pediatrician Dr. Laura Jana said one of the best ways to keep kids from confusing good and bad behavior is to make sure they fully understand Paris or Britney's latest scandal.
"What [tweens] hear is often very incomplete...
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Youngest Children Becoming Habitual TV Viewers
ABC News Medical Unit - May 7, 2007
By DAN CHILDS
There is a common stereotype that exists concerning children and TV -- namely, that most parents who allow their children to watch television are simply looking for an electronic babysitter.
It is a stereotype that Dr. Laura Jana, media spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has heard many times -- and which she says, as a mother of three, is not entirely accurate...
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The Impact of Car Seats: A New Prescription for Prevention?
ABCNEWS.com Health Page - Jan. 24, 2008
OPINION by LAURA JANA, M.D.
As a pediatrician, I am quite aware of the power of the prescription pad. I have written countless prescriptions for everything from diaper creams to inhalers to antibiotics, all in the name of improving the health and lives of children.
Last week, however, a highly regarded pediatric journal reported on a study for a new type of prescription that instantly caught my attention...
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