Seattle Mama Doc™

A blog by Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson.

A mom, a pediatrician, and her insights about keeping your kids healthy.

Reducing BPA and Phthalates in Your Everyday Life

June 1, 2017  |  Doctoring & Healthcare, Podcast 1 Comment

Chemicals are a part of our environment in the modern world, of course, thanks to the conveniences afforded to us by farming, manufacturing, and industry. Every parent wants to reduce exposures for their children as they grow. No question that developing babies and children may be more vulnerable to the effects of toxins as their bodies and organs and minds form. There are 80,000 chemicals in commerce (yikes!) with 3,000 being high volume meaning they can be found ubiquitously in some of our lives. There is no way to completely avoid them, but there are ways to reduce exposure to specific chemicals you’ve likely heard about, like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates and other pesticides and toxins found around your community.

Four quick tips for reducing toxins in your home below.

My colleague (from way back in residency), Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana is an expert in understanding the effects of chemicals on developing and growing babies and children. She joined me for two podcasts to discuss chemical exposure, what the effects are and how you can reduce your family’s exposure. Dr. Sathyanarayana is a pediatrician at Seattle Children’s Hospital and a pediatric environmental health scientist at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Her research focuses on exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals such as phthalates and BPA and their impact on reproductive development.

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Limit The Juice: None for Babies, Only Ounces For Kids

May 24, 2017  |  Infant, Toddler Post Comment

Not news that pediatricians recommend against juice. But the news this week is clearer: no juice for babies, only tiny bits for toddlers, and less than a cup a day for the rest of us. Fruit juice is widely thought of as a healthy and natural source of vitamins and hydration. And although I won’t vilify having juice in the diet of an older child, I can’t endorse it’s ever good for a child. Pediatric recommendations for juice got stricter this week. Juice is never really recommended in an a child’s diet past ounces to a cup a day but now it’s recommended as a NEVER during infancy.

Although whole fruit (i.e. an apple or an entire avocado or apricot) is one of the main focus foods in the Dietary Guidelines of Americans, fruit juice may feel a thoughtful substitute, but it’s not. In fact, even 100% fruit juice offers no real nutritional benefit and it’s never needed. The short list for why?

  • Juice is just a bunch of water and simple sugars (naturally occurring sugar is sugar) and lacks fiber or protein.
  • When you obtain calories from juice you take them in at a faster rate than is ideal. Juice is known to contribute to overweight and excess energy imbalance in children. We don’t need to drink these calories.
  • Whole fruit has the advantage of containing quality fiber that’s good for us.

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A Few Recommended Rules For Fidget Spinners

May 18, 2017  |  Parenting, School Age 6 Comments

Fidget spinners are everywhere. The photo here was captured this morning on the way into school. That little blue wonder spinner showed up in our home without us even knowing it last week. My 8 year-old got it at the 2nd-grade market our school put on! And I’ve even heard about a set of savvy middle-school students in the midwest using a 3-D printer to make their own. Hello, New World of Toys and Toy-Making. This just a reminder that these fidget toys are often cheap and easy to get ahold of so parents may not even know when one’s safely tucked in a backpack of a school-aged child or teen.

I played with one for the first time this morning and lemme say this: I get the draw.

Spinners are here to stay, at least for the rest of this school year, and teachers/parents/schools are making up the rules as we go. But yesterday when I interviewed with TODAY.com about potential choking risks after a 10 year-old needed surgery to remove a piece of a similar spinner from her esophagus, and I later learned the (now, not confirmed story — urban legend aka “fake news?”) tale that a teacher sustained a serious eye injury when one spinner went flying and fell apart. Although the injury is likely theoretic I got to thinking about what to know and how we can parent with the latest craze. The Facebook shares on this story have gone viral with over 700,000 shares and 75,000 comments in the past few days (*update 5/22/17: Facebook link has since been taken down). Clearly, spinners are on many of our minds.

The choking events will hopefully be exceedingly rare, as will the injuries from fidget spinners, but we can think clearly about how to enjoy these silly little objects and not go bananas or have anyone get hurt. Read full post »

Tips for Reducing Hearing Loss From Earbuds And Earphones

May 17, 2017  |  Podcast, Teens 1 Comment

I’ve started to use earbuds a lot. Like a lot a lot…like every day. Just like so many other people you see on the street, and many teens, I use earbuds daily to make phone calls, listen to music or podcasts or engage while I stream videos. On the plane, always. And on a bad day or a sad day, no question I love to turn the music way up when I go for a run.

Turns out I’ve got to make some changes. The 60/60 rule has gotta start soon (keeping volume no more than 60%, listening for no more than 60 minutes at a time).

I’m not alone. We’re seeing more and more adults and teens with hearing-loss related to earbud use and loud sounds from digital devices. This problem is growing. Data on how using earphones and earbuds, in particular, they change what we hear, how we hear it, and how the placement of a speaker deeper into your ear can contribute to irreversible hearing loss is worth our attention. Hearing loss from loud sounds isn’t recoverable  — meaning once you damage the little hair cells deep in your ear they don’t grow back — that hearing is lost for good. When it comes to our hearing, we do therefore really matters at any time in our life.

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5 Days of Mindfulness: Day 5 – 3 Beautiful Guided Meditations

May 12, 2017  |  Mindfulness, Podcast 3 Comments

It is day five of our 5 Days of Mindfulness series with Dr. Hilary Mead, but remember, you can re-listen to any of these guided practices as many times as you need. Mindfulness is a great technique that can enhance how you, your children and teens cope with pain-related conditions or emotional, behavioral or mental conditions. By teaching them to observe their feelings and thoughts, mindfulness practices can help them slow down their feelings by observing their urges and thinking about them instead of immediately acting on them.

To finish off the week I’m sharing three new guided practices. As with the others, I invite you to do these with your family to help incorporate mindfulness into your everyday routine.

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5 Days of Mindfulness: Day 4 – Guided Meditation Waking Up as a Robot

May 11, 2017  |  Mindfulness, Podcast Post Comment

If you haven’t been able to follow us this week, you’re coming in at a great time as we’re in the middle of a 5 Days of Mindfulness series with Dr. Hilary Mead. The guided meditation below is a paired guide for your mind and your body with movement, meaning you’ll not only be moving your body but you’ll be more conscious about how you’re doing that. This practice was originally developed by John Kabat-Zinn, but Dr. Mead added a twist of being a toy robot that has been on a shelf (think being stiff or the tin man from the Wizard of Oz that needs a little oil in his joints to get going).

This is a great mindfulness practice to do with your kids especially in the morning to help all of you wake up your body and imagination!

We’ll be finishing off our series tomorrow via the Seattle Mama Doc podcast and blog with three new guided imagery and meditation practices. My absolute favorite one (I got so lost in it I was a little transfixed) rounds out the series . There’s a water slide involved….

More from Dr. Mead about mindfulness:

5 Days of Mindfulness: Day 3 – Swinging Meditation

May 10, 2017  |  Mindfulness, Podcast Post Comment

Welcome to day three of our 5 Days of Mindfulness series with Dr. Hilary Mead where she leads a guided imagery of swinging. She is a guru at helping children, teens and their families learn how to incorporate mindfulness and guided meditation into their everyday lives to help cope with the various difficulties of life. Today’s guided practice was created/adapted by Dr. Jim McKeever of Seattle Children’s to help listeners focus on their breathing by imagining they’re on a swing. While on the swing you’ll not only concentrate on each breath, but also on the pause between your inhale and exhale.

Invite your kids to join you as you enjoy your time on the swings!

Learn more about mindfulness from Dr. Mead:

Stay tuned for more podcasts and blog posts as we continue our 5 Days of Mindfulness series.

5 Days of Mindfulness: Day 2 – Becoming a Tree

May 9, 2017  |  Mindfulness, Podcast Post Comment

Dr. Hilary Mead continues with our 5 Days of Mindfulness series with this 15-minute guided imagery meditation. Listen as she walks you through being (or watching) a tree rooted into the ground as it changes throughout the seasons just as we change over time. This mindfulness practice can be done alone or with your family or friends. You can use what you learn during this podcast to help when you’re not able to fall asleep.

As mindfulness is about being in the moment, aware, accepting and non-judgmental, this exercise helps hone your focus and find ways to practice it.

I personally went through this guided practice with Dr. Mead and the landscapes and vistas, trees and colors kept changing in my mind. During the middle of the imagery I started to wonder if I was messing it all up. Turns out you can’t. Dr. Mead reminded me there is no failing in mindfulness! Phew.

More on mindfulness from Dr. Mead:

I hope you’re enjoying these guided mindfulness practices. Tell me what you think about these so far in the comments below and come back each day this week for more podcasts and blog posts as we continue our 5 Days of Mindfulness series.

5 Days of Guided Imagery: Day 1 – Send Love, Feel Better

May 8, 2017  |  Mindfulness, Podcast Post Comment

Today marks day one of our 5 Days of Mindfulness with Dr. Hilary Mead, a child clinical psychologist at Seattle Children’s. Throughout the week we will be sharing seven guided meditations and imagery via the Seattle Mama Doc podcast. We invite you to include your children and your entire family for each of these episodes as they’re great for all ages!

In the first of seven podcasts, Dr. Mead leads a meditation via guided imagery that helps create a greater sense of connection, well-being and love for others and yourself. This meditation practice has data to support its effectiveness in increasing the daily experiences of positive emotion.

For this meditation, you will begin by focusing on sending loving-kindness to someone else as it can be difficult to give it to yourself first. It is such a lovely thing…

Learn more about mindfulness from Dr. Mead here:

Stay tuned for more podcasts and blog posts this week as we continue our 5 Days of Mindfulness series.

5 Tips for Teaching Mindfulness to Children and Teens

May 4, 2017  |  Mindfulness, Podcast Post Comment

As promised, Dr. Hilary Mead, a child clinical psychologist in Outpatient Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Seattle Children’s, is back to share her tips on using and teaching mindfulness to our kids. If you missed her first podcast on mindfulness, listen to get a better understanding of what it means to be mindful. And how easy it may be to build it into your everyday life.

Mindfulness is about being in the moment you’re in, aware, accepting what’s unfolding and being non-judgmental of yourself and your relationships. Using mindfulness with children and teens can help them cope with pain-related conditions or emotional, behavioral or mental conditions. This includes depression, panic disorders or trauma. Children can use mindfulness to boost mood, improve coping and gain a sense of control over their experiences with mental challenges.

With that said, here are Dr. Mead’s tips for teaching and incorporating mindfulness into your entire family’s life: Read full post »