Posts from ‘Health’
A new book about potty issues for little and big kids. Accidents, bed wetting, constipation, UTIs... all covered with important facts and hope for parents and kids.
I ignored the first e-mail that came my way asking if I’d like to review a new book about potty issues for kids called It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions to Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, UTIs, and Other Potty Problems. Nobody really likes talking about this issue, and even if I’m struggling with some of these issues in my home, I really didn’t want to talk about it publicly.
The truth is… I really needed to read this book. And if you are a parent with a child who struggles with any of these issues — bed wetting, accidents, constipation or UTIs — you should read this book, too.
I’m glad I finally said yes when the PR folks came around the second time. Here are some of the topics covered in the book:
Allina Health is giving out these awesome "Wellness Kits" to the first 500 families to attend the kickoff event at the Mpls Farmers Market, Sunday 4/29.
I get pretty excited about giving back to support the health of the community, both personally and professionally, that’s why I’ve focused my career on non-profits and healthcare. Occasionally I share some of the cool things happening where I work on this blog if there’s a way for you to get involved or benefit from a cool program.
This week Allina Health is launching Neighborhood Health Connection- a new program to help communities get healthy, one neighborhood at a time. If you live in Minnesota or western Wisconsin, watch this short video about the program and the cool Wellness Kits we are giving away at the kickoff event at the Minneapolis Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.
Our food allergy friend Leslie traveled to visit our family, all because of food allergies
Thanks so much to all of you who offered support, suggestions and comfort over the past week about our food allergy scare. We still don’t know what caused it (cross contamination or possibly a new allergy to watermelon). We are in limbo until we meet with our allergist. Unfortunately, to my shock and dismay, we experienced a second scary food allergy reaction just a few days later. This time it was a food mix up in my home where she accidentally drank out of the wrong cup and ingested cow’s milk – an allergen we thought she had almost outgrown. I don’t know how many swallows of the milk she had, but I caught her within seconds of putting the cup to her mouth. Still, she had a reaction, involving severe swelling and redness of her face, rubbing of the eyes, some coughing and a touch of wheezing here and there. It was terrifying for me, as I knew we were getting closer and closer to needing to call 911. Whereas the reaction a few days earlier subsided quickly, this one took a long time – upwards of 20 minutes to calm down. The longer it took, the more terrified I became. (EDITED TO NOTE: Upon reviewing this reaction with the allergist, he pointed out that in the future this type of situation WOULD require administering the EpiPen and calling 911. I had misunderstood the term “repetitive coughing” and the severity of the situation. Fortunately she is okay, but I was very disappointed to learn I had not acted swiftly enough. I’ll save all the emotional baggage that comes with this for my therapist, but felt an obligation to share it with my readers). Continue Reading
I had no idea what I was in for when we first found out my daughter has life-threatening food allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and milk. And while food allergies definitely became a big part of our daily lives, after about a year we found a “new normal” and most of my energy was spent on the daily management of food allergies (the food, the safety, training other people).
Unfortunately, over the past week, we’ve had two food allergy scares that have really thrown me for a loop. One was a call I received from daycare worrying about a possible food mix-up. Everything turned out okay and Avery didn’t have any symptoms (which leads me to believe she didn’t get the wrong food after all), but the fear of our daycare provider and my need to stay calm and give information and instructions really took it’s toll on me. After I got off the phone, I broke down in tears. It was my first emergency food allergy phone call and I realized the gravity of how scary it is when my child’s life is at stake. I also flashed forward to her attending school someday and losing even more control of her environment and the realization that I’ll probably get more of these emergency calls. So tough.
I am now a part of the club of people who have had an EpiPen injection.
Marketing Mama® features articles on parenting as a working mom, health, family activities, cool products, my two adorable children and sometimes I even talk about marketing.
