Fever is no fun, but it’s also usually nothing for parents to be afraid of. That’s the message in a report released today by the American Academy of Pediatrics, offering the first consensus guidelines for pediatricians and parents on the issue.
“We looked at the most common reasons children are seen by a pediatrician, and fever was right at the top of the list,” says report co-author Janice Sullivan, M.D., a critical care pediatrician at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Kentucky. But while fever makes kids uncomfortable, a fever alone won’t do a child any harm. That means a parent’s first priority, rather than just getting the child’s temperature to “normal,” should be to look for other signs of illness.
“It’s important for parents to understand that fever is a sign of an illness,” says Sullivan, “but they need to look for other signs that might tell them what is going on with their child.” A child with fever and earache, for instance, might have an ear infection and should see a pediatrician. A child with fever, vomiting and diarrhea, on the other hand, might be just fine with some extra fluids and a few days of rest.
There’s no need to reach for medication to bring the fever down – unless you’re just hoping to make your child feel more comfortable. If you are going to use a fever-reducing medication, Sullivan stresses that you should:
• Know the correct dose for your child. Dosing by weight is better than following the age-based guidelines listed on the packaging, so ask your pediatrician or your pharmacist for help.
• Use an appropriate measuring device. If you don’t find one packaged with the medication, you can buy one at the pharmacy.
• Don’t wake a sleeping child to take their temperature or give them fever-reducing medication.
Make sure a child with fever drinks plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. Seek medical attention if the fever lingers beyond a few days, or if your child is lethargic, has trouble breathing, or has a rash or other symptoms that indicate a serious illness. Exceptions include infants under 2-3 months of age with fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, who should always be seen by a pediatrician right away, and children with certain chronic medical conditions.
The report appears in print in the March issue of Pediatrics.
Winter officially ends in about three weeks, which gives you and the kids plenty of time to indulge in some great winter sports. But as the snow falls, so fall the sledders, skiers, skaters and boarders – especially the boarders, who account for a quarter of ER visits this time of year according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Hockey. Neck, shoulder and knee injuries, and cuts and bruises, are common, though many are minor. You’re less likely to be injured if you master basic skating skills and gear up appropriately. 
I love that you’re trying to incorporate more vegetables into your child’s school lunch. I would start with the ones you know your child already enjoys and broaden out from there. My kids are big fans of raw veggies like red bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans and carrots, which I put in their school lunch with a dipping sauce to boost the “fun factor.” I just mix plain Greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon and a touch of herbs to make a dip that tastes just like ranch dressing, but is a lot more nutritious.
Exercise is most likely to get done when it’s easy and fun. The 
More than 9,500 children a year are seriously injured, and more than 100 killed, in accidents involving their cribs, playpens or bassinets, a review of government injury data found. More than 11 million cribs have been recalled, and a prohibition on the manufacture, sale or lease of cribs with drop-sides begins in June.
The time crunch in families where Mom works seems somehow to be boosting her children’s weight. That’s the upshot of a new study lead by public policy professor Taryn W. Morrissey of American University, who suspects family meals and sleep schedules could be at the heart of the issue. “This is not meant to bash working moms,” Morrissey says of the study, reported in the January/February issue of Child Development. 
Valentine’s can be an emotional day. And while our emotions can deliver delight, they can also do us dirt. James Blumenthal, Ph.D., Duke University psychology professor, says that people riding the emotional roller coaster (calm to irritated to angry) are risking their heart’s health. Here are tips for smoothing things out from his book Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
4. Create an emotion vs. reason list. For any sticky issues, list what your emotions are telling you to do on one side of a sheet of paper, and what reason is saying on the other. Let your lists help you decide how to handle things.
Show your love, and protect your true love’s heart, by spending a little time at the table together. Here are some suggestions from Susan Ofria, R.D., clinical nutrition manager at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Illinois.
Salmon and tuna:
Blood lead levels well below government safety standards – levels the CDC suggests could be found in 10%-25% of U.S. women of childbearing age – can raise a woman’s blood pressure during pregnancy, a study in this month’s edition of Environmental Health Perspectives 
