This is a nice short article by a father of a child with autism.  The title says it all: Try reason, Not “Everything”

Our daughter started wearing glasses when she was a year and a half. We’ve had a long road of patching, drops, surgery, and eye examinations to treat her amblyopia. There was a steep learning curve for my husband and myself about her condition and eye health in general. Mommy Mythbuster has a great article on the myths and facts of children’s eye health.

Some of the myths discussed include sitting too close to the television, eating carrots, and contact lenses. My favorite nugget of information:

“If a child is sitting too close to the TV or computer screen, it is probably because he needs glasses to see well. Sitting very close to the screen will not cause them to need glasses,” said Dr. Borchert.

To make your child’s computer station more comfortable, make sure the screen is at eye level. Reduce screen glare by using a desk lamp with a dimmer so there isn’t a big contrast between the brightness of the screen and the room. Make sure your child can’t see her own reflection on the screen.

Pretty cute, huh?

I’ve been hearing a lot about Baltic Amber Teething Necklaces, and here’s a little photo of one from this site, which is just one place you can buy them.  The idea is that the succinic acid in the amber is released by the warmth of the baby’s skin and is a natural analgesic.

I couldn’t find any studies about this at all and I think I’ll stick to Infant Tylenol.  The obvious drawbacks of a baby wearing a necklace seem to have been noticed on this particular site, which states in a disclaimer:

Although we have never had any any incidents that have resulted in harm to infants, there is always a chance they will break the necklace apart and perhaps swallow one of the beads.

Um, duh.

If anyone does have any reliable information about how this necklace might actually work, I’m curious to read it. But since many of the sites selling these things also claim that the necklace will align my baby’s energy, I just have to be extremely skeptical about this one.

We recently installed this cool feature on the blog that lets us see how many people are visiting and tracks how they arrived.  It looks like many people find us via Google searches for accurate information, which I now have uppermost in my mind as I’m writing this.  I keep thinking, “Stop stalling, get to the links!  If you go on and on and try to demonstrate your skill with prose, you’re gonna lose your reader!”  So if you are, like myself, a compulsive Googler looking for facts beyond the fear mongering surrounding the H1N1 vaccine, let’s get some accurate sources up front before I start ranting and raving about the power of the internet to spread dangerous lies. » Continue reading “H1N1 Vaccine Information Resources”

duncan @ five minutes

By Dean Cameron

This past August 1, 2009 at 10:45am, my son, Duncan Huxley Cameron was born.

Not only is he quite a bit bigger now than he is in that photo, his ability to melt me with a look, has increased.

We are raising him as rationally as possible. Obviously, he’ll make his own decisions about how to interact with his world, but we’ll tell the truth as we see it and let it go. There’s plenty of woo out there for him to encounter and deal with on his own, so we don’t need to burden him with more at home. It’s going to be intersting as, even before he was born, people I consider rational were saying really weird and irrational things.

» Continue reading “Guest Dad Post – HAVIN’ MY BABAY”

This has been all over the skeptic blogosphere, but I just had to get in on the fun. Newsweek published this article with lots of negative things to say about woo, Oprah, Jenny McCarthy, Suzanne Somers, and The Secret.  The article is refreshingly critical of Oprah and her pushing of woo “experts” on her show.  Since we’ve been discussing vaccines so much, here’s a nice, juicy quote about Jenny McCarthy’s guest appearance on Oprah: » Continue reading “Newsweek Criticizes Oprah and Woo”

There’s a great local legend where I live, in the Los Angeles area. A local restaurant serves a salad that is supposed to make overdue women go into labor. It is called “The Salad.” And it’s delicious. Even if you are not expecting a baby, I recommend it! The restaurant actually has piles and piles of journals with entries from women who have tried The Salad. Some come back after they give birth to update that The Salad worked for them. » Continue reading “The Salad: A Tasty Logical Fallacy”