That Paper Cut is Not Going to Give You Tetanus

That Paper Cut is Not Going to Give You Tetanus

Over the last several weeks (months, really), I have seen two related stories increasingly pop up in my natural health and natural parenting groups.

They go like this:

#1: “I visited the emergency room today because I cut myself pretty deeply with a knife while cooking dinner. The doctor recommended a tetanus shot. Should I get one?”

and

#2: “My kid just got a cat scratch/paper cut/other tiny and non-serious abrasion. Should I rush him off to the ER to get a tetanus shot?! How many different essential oils and homeopathics do I need to give him to ensure he doesn’t get tetanus?”

Please, please, please. Just stop already.

That Paper Cut is Not Going to Give You Tetanus

Look, tetanus is serious, but it’s not lurking around literally every corner, ready to kill you.

Tetanus used to affect a few hundred people per year, or fewer than 1 in 100,000. And today, it kills about 10% of people (who catch it). That is astronomically high compared to, say, the 1 in 2 million people who die of chicken pox, but it’s not exactly 100% fatal, either.

Tetanus is found in soil, animal feces, and rusty implements. Chances are, if you’ve been cut by something other that’s relatively clean, and you don’t go rub your open wound in feces or soil, you basically can’t catch tetanus. And even if you do get your wound dirty (say, if you cut yourself while gardening), wash that bad boy and watch for signs of infection. But if it’s a shallow cut, the chances of tetanus are almost impossible.

On the off chance you do show any signs of tetanus, get thee to an emergency room and get a tetanus immunoglobin (anti-toxin) shot to stop the disease, and follow medical procedure until you are well. This is most likely on deep puncture wounds that don’t bleed well, and which get dirty in soil or with animal feces (like on farms). Even then it’s not a certainty, but I would definitely care for such a wound very carefully.

Fear Sells

This nonsense about fearing every little cut and scrape is just not realistic. It’s based on fear, and not on fact.

If your child is running outside, and trips and skins his knee, he does not need a tetanus shot. You also do not have to rub the skin raw, cleansing it with every antibacterial you have, every hour on the hour, until it is healed. I have seen some parents nearly describe such things….

I have seen parents flip out about small cuts they didn’t even know their children had…after they are well scabbed over, already healing, and showing no signs of infection.

Please, for the love. Learn what really is worth worrying about and what is not. Minor, everyday, shallow wounds are simply not something that should even be on your radar.

Of course, doctors are not helping by suggesting a tetanus shot for basically everything. Glass sliced your leg open? Tetanus shot! Stapled your finger? Tetanus shot! Bumped your head on your car door slightly? Tetanus shot!

(I sincerely hope you do not go to the ER for a slight bump on the head. A serious one that causes loss of consciousness or vomiting, okay, I get it. But the bump that causes you to say “ow” and rub it for a minute, please. Don’t.)

Stop letting doctors scare you. Not every single tiny cut is going to put you at risk for tetanus. This is a technique to scare you into just getting the vaccine. And if you have reasons why you are not getting it, why are you letting people scare you? Why have you not armed yourself with enough real information that you don’t fall for it?

Get Informed

Please, if you are opting to delay or forego vaccines, get informed.

Learn about each disease. Learn the signs and symptoms, and where each comes from. Learn the possible complications. Learn the likelihood of those complications. Learn how to treat the disease naturally and when to call a doctor for help.

If you know all of that…then you will not be scared when someone tries to give you false and over-the-top information. Because you’ll know they’re full of it, and it won’t even give you pause.

We have a great series on vaccines (cited from pubmed, CDC Pink Book, and WHO) to get you started. If you’re still feeling uneasy, read through it today.

Just, please. Let’s stop giving in to the scare tactics and flipping out about things that are never going to happen. Because I promise you, that tiny little paper cut? It won’t give you tetanus.

Do you worry about tetanus a lot?

Original article and pictures take modernalternativehealth.com site

Ten Creative Christmas Letter Ideas

Ten Creative Christmas Letter Ideas

“It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year!” Can you hear the music?

For some of us, it’s time to figure out if we’ll send out Christmas cards, letters, family pictures, or all three. Sending out a Christmas letter doesn’t have to be a chore.

Here are ten creative Christmas letter ideas.

1. Have a child write it.

Even if they are young, a child’s perspective, along with their singular spelling habits, can be quite entertaining. You can type it up when they’re finished, or even better, simply photocopy their letter in their very own handwriting, and it makes a unique snapshot of this time in your family history.

If you have more than one child, have them all participate. With each one writing a paragraph about their experiences the previous year, you’ll have a letter whipped up in no time. Make it even simpler by having each child write one highlight and one lowlight of their year.

2. Write the letter TOGETHER with your younger child.

Write a letter with your family highlights, but leave blanks. You can ask your child to fill in the blanks with the words that come into his/her head. These can be pretty funny sometimes. For example:

“In May we added a new family member. He weighed ______ pounds and looked just like ______ when he was born. He loves to ______ and _______ all day long.”

3. Announce that year’s awards for the various family members.

This is not supposed to be pretentious. Be charming. For example:

Pretentious: “The award for the most straight A’s in school AND solos in choir AND Bible verses memorized in Sunday School for 57 months straight goes to the Amazing Wanda.”

Charming: “The award for the most artistic TP job goes to Penelope (2), who carefully decorated the master bathroom AND bedroom 7 times for us this year.”

Notice how one example tells the reader what the little girl DID and makes us want to roll our eyes, while the other example gives the reader a glimpse of what the little girl IS LIKE, as a person. And it makes us smile.

4. Write a poem.

The sky is the limit here. You can be corny and make it rhyme, like Dr. Suess, OR you can make it more free flowing – as if you are writing a serious piece, but of course, you aren’t.

You can also select a famous poem, nursery rhyme, or Christmas song and change the words to tell your own family story.

5. Lay out your letter like a newspaper.

Again, you can have different family members be the different reporters if you want to minimize your own time investment. Otherwise, just select some of that year’s highlights and write a news story for each one.

For more holiday inspiration, click here!

6. Use an acronym.

Pick “MERRY CHRISTMAS,” or the last name of your family (we did “KLEJWA 2010” one year), or something like “PEACE, JOY, LOVE.” Write the letters down the side of the page and have each one begin a sentence that tells something about your family that year.

Alternatively, you can do a 12 Days of Christmas countdown with each number representing something about your family. For example:

12 puppies born to Rover this spring.

11 bags of poop in our garbage every Saturday.

…and so forth. (That one could really go places, I think.)

7. Write from the perspective of your dog, cat, bird or hamster.

Have you ever listened to Hank the Cow Dog? Oh dearie me. I almost wet my pants listening to Hank. If you ever have the misfortune of needing to be in a vehicle with lots of kids for several hours at a time, I highly recommend taking Hank along. (Make sure you haven’t recently sucked down a Super Slurpy. Just sayin’.)

An added bonus is that you’ll find out how animals think, and then you can write your next Christmas letter from their point of view.

8. Do a “Famous Quotes” letter.

If you already write down the funny things your kids (or your husbands) say, then you’ve got a Christmas letter! They can tell a lot about your family and make for very entertaining reading. (If you don’t already write them down, consider doing it for the following year.)

Not only does this make a great Christmas letter, but these quotes provide endless kicks for the kids when they grow older.

9. Write a Family Recipe.

For example:

Makes One Big Batch of Jones’s

“2 Cups of Ballerina: Cleopatra and Geraldine dance the days away in tutus.

1 teaspoon of Temper: Maxwell blew out our eardrums 285 times this year.”

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/409546159835321709/

10. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

See how this adorable picture tells a story? I love that. And the picture at the very top of this post is going to be our “family letter” for 2013. I usually write a letter every other year, and since this is our “in-between” year, we decided to do something different.

It was simple. I looked for ideas on Pinterest, found this one HERE, and we set it up using a square of our bookshelf and Photoshop.

What are some creative Christmas letters you’ve either sent out or received?

Original article and pictures take keeperofthehome.org site

Teaching Kids Where Real Food Comes From {and 20+ Strawberry Recipes}

Teaching Kids Where Real Food Comes From {and 20+ Strawberry Recipes}

I’m thrilled to have my dear friend Tiffany from Don’t Waste the Crumbs join us to share her tips and encouragement on how we can teach our kids about where real food really comes from.

By taking a family field trip to a beautiful u-pick farm, Tiffany documents how easy and FUN it is to teach your children about real food!

And she’s also sharing more than 20 delicious and nutritious ways to enjoy fresh, ripe summer strawberries! YUM!

P.S. Incase you missed her inspiring post “A Real Food Journey: Small Steps in the Right Direction,” I highly encourage you to take a minute to read it and learn how small steps forward really do lead to healthy changes that last a lifetime.

Learning Where Real Food Comes From …

by Tiffany, Don’t Waste the Crumbs

As a mother who also happens to be a real food blogger, it should be a given that my kids know what real food is, and where it comes from.

That’s why I feel like cringing when one of my kids pipes up with “we can just get more from the store,” if we happen run out of something. Yikes!

Thankfully, I had a hands-on opportunity last week to teach them where food really comes from – God’s beautiful and bountiful earth.

We traveled to a local u-pick farm where the kids were able to walk through row after row of beautiful strawberry plants – giving us all the opportunity to observe the berries in their various stages of development and better understand the connection between these fields and our kitchen table.

As we journeyed, plants overflowing with strawberries surrounded us on both sides. The kids quickly learned how green and pink berries aren’t yet ready to be picked, but to look for the big, “red red red” strawberries instead. With each step, they excitedly found more and more ripe strawberries and with a little bit of muscle, were able to pick them off of the plants themselves. Their red stained faces were evidence that a few strawberries were “accidentally” eaten, yet their buckets were still nearly full before we even made it to the end of the first row!

Conversations in the field were easy – they already knew that God made the earth and everything in it. But this trip helped them to understand that God causes food to grow from the ground, that people have to use their hands and work to get cultivate and pick it – all so we can eat it and nourish our bodies.

When our buckets were full, we took them to be weighed. Between three adults and two kids, we managed to pick just under 11 pounds of strawberries!

We brought our bounty home and our real food education continued … the kids helped me wash the berries using homemade natural produce wash and we talked about how nutritious strawberries are and what kinds of ways we might enjoy them.

The kids had permission to eat as many as they wanted, yet even with their little hands continuously reaching into the bowl (and mommy continuously refilling it), the flat of berries still looked to be completely untouched!

It was clear that if we were ever going make a dent in the 11 pounds of fresh strawberries we brought home, I would need to get serious about gathering a lot more healthy and delicious strawberry recipes (and I would also need to get serious about Freezing, Blending and Dehydrating them too)!

After talking to a few of my favorite real foodie friends, I’ve put together a plethora of strawberry recipes – more than enough to cover our bountiful pickings AND yours too!

20+ Strawberry Recipes Your Whole Family Will Love!

Delicious real food recipes perfect for using with fresh ripe strawberries:

• Strawberry Shortcakes (GF)

• Strawberry Shortcake Muffins (GF)

• Strawberry Pancakes

• Sourdough Pancakes

• Strawberry Summer Cake

• Strawberry Feta Salad (GF)

• Strawberry Key Lime Cheesecake

• Strawberry Shortcake Pie (GF)• Very Berry Pie

• Fabulous Fruit Pizza (GF)• Roasted Strawberry and Goat Cheese Ice Cream (GF)• Strawberries and Chocolate Sauce (GF)

Wholesome recipes perfect for using overripe strawberries:

• Strawberry Apple Fruit Butter (GF)• Strawberry Lemonade Slushy (GF)• Smoothies (GF)• Strawberry Cacao Milkshake (GF)• Crock Pot Sugar Free Strawberry Chia Jam (GF)

• Jumbleberry Jam (GF)• No Cook Strawberry Freezer Jam (GF)• Strawberry Maple Jam (GF)

• Strawberry Cream Pops (GF)• Wholesome All-Fruit Pops (GF, DF)

• Strawberry Topping (GF) for Cheesecake, Ice Cream, Pancakes & more!

There are so many ways you can teach your children about real food – from something as simple as visiting a local farmers market, to getting hands-on and planting a garden together or visiting a local u-pick farm.

In the mood to pick real food?

Start here to find a u-pick farm in your area. Be sure to call ahead for availability, and don’t be afraid to ask the farms for recommendations of other u-pick sites too, if one close you isn’t listed. Our local farm gave us a huge map of all the u-pick farms in our area – many more than we were able to find online and this enabled us to find a few more farms to visit that are closer to home!

P.S. Visiting a u-pick farm is not only a great way to teach your kids about where real food comes from, but it’s also a great way to save money too. This field trip taught us that by doing the work ourselves and eliminating the cost of packaging, handling and shipping we were able to enjoy far more fresh produce for far less. At left are the same strawberries, picked by the local farm, for sale in their local shop. As you can see, by picking the berries ourselves and bypassing the packaging, we saved over $17. The cost of the kids learning where our food comes from? Priceless.

Meet Tiffany!
Tiffany is a newbie real foodie who is trying to master real foods and incorporate them into her kitchen without breaking the bank. She documents her baby-sized strides at Don’t Waste the Crumbs and Google.

You Might Also Like:

Original article and pictures take thenourishinghome.com site

Teach Your Kids To Cook! (Free Mini-Class)

Teach Your Kids To Cook! (Free Mini-Class)

Me: Hey guys, you need to go clean your playroom and then you can do whatever you want until Levi wakes up.

Micah: We can play with sharp knives !?!!?!?!?

Me: . . . .

Maybe it’s just me, but the thought of giving my kids knives makes me cringe a little. Unless you count “baking” a potato in the microwave along with a few other – ummm, skills? – the reality is that I didn’t really learn to cook until after I got married. I can’t pull from personal experience about what helped me learn as a child, so I’ve struggled a lot with trying to figure out where to start and what’s age appropriate.

And yet, MY KIDS REALLY NEED TO LEARN . . . for their own good and my sanity!

That’s why I was so excited when my real-life friend Katie from Kitchen Stewardship gave me behind-the-scenes access into her new class, Kids Cook Real Food. If you don’t already know Katie, she’s a former teacher who totally gets how to break things down for kids (and their parents.)

Why Kids Need To Learn To Cook Real Food

There are so many reasons, really. It can help with:

• Math (measuring ingredients, tracking cook times, etc.)
• Developing fine motor skills (cutting bananas, peeling carrots)
• Teaching responsibility (my personal goal is for my kids to make breakfast at least one morning a week)
• Building self-confidence

Here are a few of my personal reasons for going through this class with the potami:

1. I’ve noticed that the they’re more willing to try foods that they’ve helped prepare, so by welcoming them more into the process I’m helping them learn to love real food. Not just a handful of ingredients, but a huge variety that changes with the seasons . . . and their mama’s mood.
2. I want to send them to college with a good understanding of how to care for themselves, both in solving everyday problems and taking care of their bodies. Teaching them to cook is fundamental to that.
3. I can really use the help, provided it’s actually help and not just my preschooler rubbing butter in my hair.

That’s why I love this class. It’s practical and doable, and there suggestions for children of all skill levels. With Katie’s help, I can keep my toddler busy with a simple task while I work with the older kids on more advanced techniques. We’re all getting more comfortable using knives – turns out I needed to work on my technique as well!

How To Get The Free Mini-Class

You guys, this class has me SO PUMPED about getting into the kitchen with my kids. Yes I said pumped. No I am not sure what decade that’s from. But seriously, my family needed this, and my guess is that some of you need it, too.

Right now Katie is giving away a three-part series that covers:

• Basic Knife Safety and Techniques (Appropriate for ages 2-teen)
• Challenges & Developmental Readiness
• The Biggest Mistake Parents Make

So are you ready to do this?

Original article and pictures take www.mommypotamus.com site

Tart Cherry Juice to Help Kids and Toddlers Sleep {Naturally raises melatonin levels}

Tart Cherry Juice to Help Kids and Toddlers Sleep {Naturally raises melatonin levels}

Sleeping dominates many a mother’s group discussion.

Is your baby sleeping through the night? (no), sleep training? (no again), when will they move out of your bed (I moved mine when I weaned them – around 2.5-3).

What time do your kids go to bed? (7-8).

When do they wake up? (until now at 5:30-6 every.single.day.)

Until now.

Then a couple weeks ago I was in the grocery store with only one child (as opposed to 3 – when I do it with 3 I’m not reading labels or looking at anything except for exactly what is on my list). I saw this tart cherry juice on the shelf, checked quickly for other juices in it (the cheaper version had apple juice – you want 100% tart cherry), and then I gave about 2 ounces to my kids.

They wanted to know what ‘tart’ meant, I explained it was kind of sour. They didn’t think so, and they’ve been thrilled to have it daily since then, other than the times that we’ve run out.

How did it work?

It worked great- The kids who had been consistently up with the sun no matter what time they had gone to bed (even after watching fireworks for the 4th!) have been sleeping til 7 or so. They’re also sleeping deeper.

I love mornings, I’m a morning person and I’m most productive then. But I had given up getting up before the kids a couple years ago since no matter how early I got up, they woke up when they heard me get out of bed, no matter how quiet I tried to be. When they have the cherry juice I”m able to sneak downstairs and work, cook, clean, do laundry, and they still stay asleep until 6:30 or 7, so they’re able to get the rest they need to learn and play all day long.

I’m hooked!

Real placebo controlled studies

I love it when there are placebo controlled studies for things that I try, and there are for this. See the study here, showing the increase in sleep quality associated with taking tart cherry juice.

What we buy

I’ve bought the juice pictured above, and I just added this tart cherry juice concentrate to my Amazon subscribe and save order to keep on hand. My kids are thrilled because we rarely buy juice. I’ve added a little to smoothies as well.

How we use it

I just give my kids a couple ounces in the morning or afternoon – for us we seem to see the benefits regardless of the time they drink it.

And a recipe

I like to make this into gummies, they’re super easy to make, and the gelatin is good for their skin and gut :) See my Superhero Gummie Recipe here.

Curious about eating grain-free? I want to show you how easy and delicious it can be!

Try our best-selling meal plans... for free!

Just enter your information and I'll email it to you right away.

Original article and pictures take healthhomeandhappiness.com site

Tandem Nursing Your Infant & Toddler

Tandem Nursing Your Infant & Toddler

From the very first time I was at a La Leche League meeting and encountered a mother who was tandem nursing her toddler and infant, I knew it was something I wanted for my children someday.

Tandem Nursing Your Infant Toddler 4 Questions Answered

My oldest was only four months old at the time, but the adoration these two young siblings had for one another was so beautiful and sweet. I knew I wanted that for my children someday. I was thankful that my first daughter was still nursing when I became pregnant with her sister. She was two-and-a-half when our second was born. We tandem nursed for two more years and it was an amazing bonding experience for the girls.

There were some questions I was asked frequently by curious family members and friends.

Tandem Nursing: Question 1

One question I was asked many times was, “Doesn’t the toddler drink all the baby’s milk?” Our amazing bodies were designed to make as much milk as our children demand. Unless you have an extenuating circumstance and a history of low supply, your body will make enough milk for both of your babies without concern that the newborn will not be getting enough.

Tandem Nursing: Question 2

Many people wondered whether I made “toddler” milk or “baby” milk. It is pretty well known that breastmilk changes as our babies grow. What does that mean for those who have babies of two different ages nursing? Our bodies make milk specific in nutrients for the youngest baby. Typically when we’re nursing an older child they are eating solid food in addition to breastmilk to cover any gaps from the “younger” milk.

Tandem Nursing: Question 3

Booby Button 2

Several people wondered if I fed one child, then the other. Many moms choose to do this. Sometimes, I nursed them together and sometimes I nursed them separately.

A follow-up question to this was often how do I fit a toddler and newborn on my lap together. Every mom has to work this out for herself and find her most comfortable configuration.

• One of my favorite ways to tandem nurse were to put my toddler on my lap in the cradle position then to lay the newborn in her lap in the football position. I was able to hold her head and help her latch on and they were able to snuggle and bond.
• The other way that worked well for us was to put both of the girls in the football position. When they lay like this they held hands and were able to look at one another.

Tandem Nursing: Question 4

I’ve heard people wondering about their toddler being gentle with the baby during tandem nursing. During pregnancy, I ended the nursing gymnastics due to nipple tenderness. By the time baby was born, my toddler knew to be still if she wanted to continue nursing. If she was less than gentle during nursing sessions, I stopped nursing her and finished nursing the baby.

Overcoming Tandem Nursing Problems

We didn’t have any issues until our baby became six months old and began to poke her older sister in the hair and pull her hair. At this point, I stopped nursing them at the same time and began nursing one then the other, preferring to nurse baby first then toddler since my oldest was eating plenty of solids and my baby was not yet eating any. If gentleness is an issue with your children, it can be preferable to alternately nurse.

Some moms prefer to nurse one at a time while others feel this leads to nothing but nursing all day. As with all things, it is important to find what works best for you and your nurslings. If you are feeling overwhelmed, there are different ways to alleviate many of the issues that may arise such as limiting the number of times per day your toddler nurses or changing positions.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to tandem nurse my girls. Their relationship is very strong. My youngest has always looked to her sister for comfort if I couldn’t get to her as quickly as I would have liked. They are best friends and thoroughly enjoy one another. This, for my family, has been the greatest benefit of tandem nursing.

Megan Rabideau lives with her husband, Don, and their two daughters, Lydia and Charlotte. She is a certified childbirth educator. She enjoys crocheting and sewing in her free time.

Original article and pictures take www.intoxicatedonlife.com site

Take this Herb Daily to Boost Immunity

Take this Herb Daily to Boost Immunity

This time of year may people get sick, especially kids. I am often asked the question, “what can I do to boost my immune system in the winter?” There are many dietary upgrades that can help keep your immune system strong as well as some herbs that can be taken daily to keep the immune system strong. For all of my dietary recommendations read my post, Preparing for Cold Season. Most of these things need to be done year round and not just in the winter. During the summer, the last thing you might be thinking about is the flu but that is the time when immune boosting regimes should be started to prepare for the Fall and Winter. Personally, we use this immune boosting herb all year long.

Elderberry

The elderberry (Sambucus Nigra) is a dark purple or blue berry that grows on the elderberry bush or elder tree. Elderberry is very high in antioxidants and is a good source of potassium, vitamins A, B and C and nutrients like, amino acids, carotenoids, tannin and rutin. Anthocyanins, one of the most powerful antioxidants known to man, are found in these remarkable berries in far higher quantities than either Vitamin C or E alone. This accounts for the excellent health benefits of elderberry. Elderberries have been a folk remedy for centuries in North America, Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. Greek philosophers also believed in the medicinal value of elderberry. Hippocrates called elderberry his “medicine chest.” It was used for centuries on those suffering from constipation, the common cold, arthritis, and asthma.

In 1995, a study was done on the effectiveness of elderberry during a flu epidemic in Panama. In a placebo controlled double blind study of influenza B, a complete cure was achieved within 2 – 3 days in nearly 90% of the elderberry-treated group compared with at least 6 days in the placebo group. More recently, a study done in 2004 published in The Journal of International Medical Research found similar results to the study in Panama. The results showed that elderberry syrup is also effective against both influenza A and B virus infections. It showed that the duration of the illness can be reduced by 3 – 4 days with elderberry syrup compared with placebo.

Elderberry boosts the immune system, and helps to heal coughs, colds, flu, viral and bacterial infections and it has also been known to treat sinus infections, sinusitis, and tonsillitis. This powerful herb is gentle enough to be take daily as a preventative and when an illness is present it can be take more then once a day to help fight off infection.

How to Take Elderberry

The easiest and most common way to take elderberry is elderberry syrup. Elderberry syrup, like this one Sambucus for Kids, can be purchased already made and would be found in health food stores or even some drug stores in the cold medicine section. Elderberry syrup can also be made at home very simply, read my tutorial here How to Make Elderberry Syrup. I use this recipe to make my syrup and sometimes add cloves or rose hips for added benefits. These are the elderberries I purchase and I keep them on hand to make batch after batch. Making your own syrup with raw local honey increases the health benefits even further.

What do you do daily to boost immunity?

Original article and pictures take theholisticmama.com site