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One of the things that bothers me the most as a pediatrician is seeing how many mothers and fathers give in to baby marketing and end up buying things that are not necessary to raise a child, especially from a health point of view. It is common to hear phrases such as 'We already have such a thing…' or 'Our cousin Maricarmen has given us this other one and has told us that it is essential now that we are already parents'. However, most of these items will not have an impact that improves the health of your children, so in the end they translate into wasted money and the false feeling that you have to have something for everything to go well.
In this sense, we pediatricians run away from certain products that are not necessary and we do not have them in our catalog of things that we use during our children's childhood. In this post I intend to explain to you what those pots are so that you take them into account when you see an advertisement for I don't know what product or when they recommend it to you in the park, it is the best for the little ones in the house.
1. A bottle sterilizer
We all know that breastfeeding is the best food for a child, but it is also true that most of them end up drinking formula milk at some point. And for this, a bottle is essential.
The truth is that I don't know who came up with the brilliant idea of having to sterilize the bottles, since no scientific society or the World Health Organization itself recommends it, since what is indicated is to wash the bottles and teats well with water and soap and dry them so that there are no traces of milk. With this simple act it is more than enough for the containers with which you feed your little ones to be clean.
In addition, trying to sterilize a container is absurd, since when it is removed from the sterilizer it would begin to come into contact with the bacteria in the environment, so no matter how clean it came out of the aforementioned device, it would immediately cease to be sterile. And on the other hand, as a good friend who is dedicated to breastfeeding said, why should bottles be sterilized if mothers do not sterilize their breasts when they breastfeed their children?
Well, that, you can use it because it is not harmful, but what is certain is that it is not necessary.
2. A snot aspirator
And if the one who thought that a bottle sterilizer is necessary for the health of children is a genius, the one who said that every family should have a snot vacuum cleaner is right behind.
It is true that small children do not know how to blow their snot and that when they have a cold they are very uncomfortable, but a snot remover is not the best formula to carry out this task. In the first place, because it is very difficult for them to suck in the entire nostril and, therefore, the child will continue to have mucus; and secondly, because those snot vacuum cleaners in which mom or dad suck from a tube so that pressure is generated for the snot to come out are dirty (I don't know about you, but I don't see myself sniffing anyone's snot with a straw).
And then you will wonder what we pediatricians do to clean the snot of our children. Well, when there really is a plug of mucus that doesn't let the child breathe, we perform nasal washes with saline solution, which would be like cleaning the pipes. You have many devices on the market, but we prefer to use a large physiological saline bottle and carry a 5 or 10 mL syringe.
3. A humidifier
And speaking of snot, it seems that if you don't have a state-of-the-art humidifier, you're stuck in the last century...
It is true that humidity can help the airway to be more lubricated, but from there it is necessary to have a humidifier to make your houses look like the banks of the Thames when the fog falls in London there is a stretch. We do not have a humidifier despite living in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, which, as you know, in the middle of summer it is so hot that it seems like the Sahara, and when we want there to be a little more humidity in the environment we put some bowls of water on top from the radiator (if it's winter) or hang a wrung-out wet towel in the children's room. This is usually enough for the ambient humidity to increase and that our offspring do not dry out their noses at night.
And well, if a humidifier is not essential, you will understand that three quarters of the same thing happens to the most modern devices to which you add liquids with essences and scents.
In any case, a humidifier is not a device that is necessary to raise a child, since there are simpler, cheaper ways to increase the humidity of a home without so much hardware.
4. A cherry-shaped pacifier
Pacifiers can be a very interesting tool for calming a baby, as the non-nutritive sucking causes young children to release endorphins with a calming effect. However, like everything in life, all that glitters is not gold, since pacifiers alter the development of the jaw, teeth and oral cavity.
It is true that if the pacifier is withdrawn in time, ideally before 2 years of life, most of these alterations will disappear, although everything will depend on their intensity. And as you can imagine, there are pacifiers that generate more deformity than others.
Without a doubt, the pacifiers that are so fashionable now and there is no Instagram influencer who does not use it for their children are those with a rounded cherry-shaped nipple. The problem with these pacifiers is that they have a very large nipple and, above all, a very wide neck (the area of the pacifier that joins the body of the nipple with the shield), just the two things that most influence the development of alterations mandibular.
Therefore, in the event that your option is to offer your children a pacifier, choose those that have the smallest anatomical or physiological teat and the neck as narrow and thin as possible.
5. A device to monitor heart rate and oxygen saturation at night
I admit that with our first son we had a baby monitor in which at night or when he was taking a nap we could see if he had woken up when he made a noise or moved. We used it to know if he had woken up and turned around and fell asleep again or if he had woken up to the point of having to pay him a visit.
But what never crossed our minds is to monitor their heart rate or blood oxygen while they slept, since these data do not provide a better quality of sleep for parents, nor could they warn us that something could be happening. I know that these gadgets are sold with the premise of generating peace of mind, but what would fatherhood or motherhood be without uncertainty? Especially when these devices have not been shown to reduce the risk of sudden infant death or to be able to anticipate that something is wrong with the child. Come on, modern technology at the service of nothing.
If what we are really looking for is a safe environment for your children to sleep in, what the Spanish Association of Pediatrics recommends is co-rooming (children sleeping in the same room as their parents) until they are 12 months old as the way safer for a young child to sleep at night. As pediatricians we fully agree with this recommendation.
Let's take a short break to remind you that our book went on sale almost a year ago and is being of great help to all fathers and mothers who are looking for simple explanations for their children's illnesses. If you are interested, you can buy it in bookstores or through the following links: Amazon, La Casa del Libro, Todos tus Libros, El Corte Inglés and from the publisher's catalogue.
Source: Two Pediatricians at Casa GO
6. A cushion for plagiocephaly
Plagiocephaly is a disease in which the cranial mass is deformed by excessive support of the head at the same point in its back and that has been much more frequent for about 30 years than in the past, especially since In the early 1990s, the campaign “Put him to sleep on his back” was launched to prevent sudden infant death. The best way to prevent plagiocephaly is to let the child move freely so that the support of the head is distributed equally at different points in the occipital area.
It is true that in selected cases, and always after having ruled out a series of things, such as congenital torticollis, the famous anti-plagiocephaly cushion, yes, the one that is shaped like a butterfly and is very soft and leaves a hole in its center, can help. to distribute the weight of the head in a child who already has plagiocephaly and that it does not progress. However, it is not necessary for all healthy children to use it. In fact, if you place a normal head on the famous cushion, it may prevent the child from moving it normally, which can mean that it always remains supported in the same area and then the plagiocephaly that you want to avoid occurs.
In any case, if you are concerned about the shape of your children's heads, before doing something that could harm them, consult your pediatrician.
7. A roll cushion
If we continue with the topic of cushions, the anti-roll cushion, one that is placed next to the child to prevent him from turning face down or face up, it is not that it is not recommended, it is that it is even dangerous.
As I said in the previous section, what is currently recommended is that children sleep on their backs to prevent sudden infant death. Many parents believe that this position could predispose to choking if the child regurgitates a little milk.
But hey, just because they're on their back doesn't mean they can't turn their heads to the side. In any case, some of those concerned parents think that to prevent this aspiration of milk, it is best to place the child on his side, and so that he does not turn on his back again, they place the anti-roll cushion that I was talking about. The danger of this is that if you place a child on his side, you will have placed him halfway to face down, which is what has been closely related to sudden infant death. In addition, it is also not recommended that there be cushions or loose stuffed animals in the bed under which a baby can end up trapped, so clearly I do not think that any pediatrician in their right mind has bought this object to have it in their children's crib.
8. The arnica bar for bumps
I have to admit that one of the things that amuses me the most is the surprised look of other parents when I refuse the arnica bar offered to me in the park after my son trips and hits his head on the ground. There is no scientific evidence that these bars prevent a bump from coming out or that they improve the inflammation of a blow and, of course, that they prevent the child from having a serious injury after a head injury, beyond the placebo effect.
When my children get a blow, what I do is apply ice or give them an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen, which is what is recommended in the clinical guidelines for caring for a child with a blow to the head. It is true that in the park we do not have ice, but passing them the arnica bar only generates the feeling that you are doing something, without really causing any effect on the bump. Come on, what is the healthy healthy frog ass of a lifetime. Of course, what is certain is that there is someone in his house rubbing his hands with the fortune he is making based on arnica bars sold to parents who are looking for the best for their children.
So I would venture to say that no pediatrician carries the famous bar for blows in his bag, although I may be wrong, because there is everything in the vineyard of the Lord.
9. An anti-choke device
In this parenting, fear is one of the things that sells the most. Anything that claims to prevent the death of a child has every chance of being a bestseller. However, one thing is the marketing of a product and quite another is that it has shown that it serves what it is designed for.
The care protocols for a child who chokes are constantly reviewed and today are very clear: in the event that a child has a choking that compromises his life (when he coughs without force or becomes unconscious), what must be What to do is the Heimlich maneuver (if over one year old) or apply interscapular shocks or chest compressions (in under one year old), and in the event of cardiac arrest, start with the CPR sequence.
Despite the fact that anti-choking devices have been on the market for years (due to their appearance they are like plungers), these have not been conclusively shown to improve the survival of a person who chokes, so using them can even be counterproductive when delay the maneuvers that have proven to be effective. And this is not what I say as a pediatrician, but also, but it has been exposed on several occasions by the different organizations that are dedicated to evaluating and deciding what to do in these cases.
I don't want to go any further on this point, but unlike the other articles commented on in this post, it would be the same as you would use them because they won't cause harm to your children, when it comes to anti-choking devices I have it very clear: no they are recommended and what people who regularly work with children should do is train in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
10. A net to try new food and flavors
In the previous point I said that choking is one of those things that parents are most afraid of. And to prevent them from occurring, someone thought that designing a net in which food is put and the child sucks it in order to extract the juice from the food was a good idea.
From our point of view, this gadget is unnecessary as there is no harm in children trying new foods directly without having to put a hairnet in between. In fact, as long as the food is prepared so that there is no risk of choking, that is to say, that it is soft so that the child can crush it with the gums or with the tongue against the palate and that it is neither very fibrous nor round, it is can offer from the start of complementary feeding.
So get out of your hairnets and let your children touch, suck, smell and experiment with food as soon as possible, as it is a guarantee that in the future they will willingly accept a wide range of textures and flavors.
EXTRA BONUS: A ride-on or taca-taca
And finally, something that has proven to be dangerous and that, as much as it may seem, does not improve children's psychomotor development.
Well, yes, ride-ons and taca-taca are dangerous because they give the child abilities that he is not yet able to control, for example, moving at full speed around the house or being elevated to pick up things that would not be available if they were on the ground. your reach. In fact, both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Spanish Association of Pediatrics discourage their use due to the high rate of accidents they cause.
In addition, one of the things that this type of gadget seems to promise is that your children will walk sooner, as if they were a kind of trainers for the future life. However, a child walks when he is ready to do so and before that he has to go through a series of stages that cannot be skipped. In this way, the taca-taca do not accelerate this process, in fact, they could even interfere with this psychomotor development.
And here is the summary of those things that are advertised with great fanfare and that seem to be essential when a little one arrives in the family, but that from the point of view of health are not necessary and can even become dangerous. I know that many of you will be thinking that all this is an exaggeration, and perhaps it is, but just like in consultation I do not recommend syrups for cough or mucus because they have not been shown to be effective or I tell many parents that their children do not need vitamins to improve defenses, this post includes the list of things that I would not recommend either in the event that they ask me if this or that device that they have been suggested is interesting for the child.
Tags: babies, Parenting, children, pediatrics | Filed under: Opinion
