The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) used to recommend that children begin swim lessons at the age of 4 – the age at which they’re considered to be developmentally ready to learn to swim. But now more children are starting lessons as young as 1 to 2 years old, and that’s OK says the AAP.

“While the AAP still recommends that all children who are 4 years old and older begin to take swimming lessons, pediatricians are no longer against swimming lessons for younger toddlers and preschoolers between the ages of 1 to 4 years old,” Susan Helms, director of Injury Prevention and Safe Kids Mid-South, said.

Safe Kids reminds parents swim lessons don’t make kids “drown proof.” Parents should still keep a constant watch over little ones when they’re in and around water. Swim lessons do not necessarily reduce the child’s risk of drowning.

Le Bonheur and Safe Kids helped launch Make a Splash Mid-South, a community-wide, volunteer initiative created to give more children the opportunity to learn to swim. Make a Splash has partnered with area aquatic centers to offer free and low cost swim lessons to at-risk children ages 6 to 12 years old.

For information about water safety, check out our post that explains what parents can and should do to keep their kids safe near water.

This time of year, sore throats are a common occurrence in children. We asked Pediatric Otolaryngologist Jerome Thompson, MD, what parents need to know about this symptom.

“Ninety percent of sore throats are viral and require no antibiotics,” said Thompson. Kids will usually recover from the virus within seven to 10 days.

However, if your child has strep throat, it needs to be treated. Common signs of strep throat include a fever of more than 101 degrees Fahrenheit, a severe strep throat and swollen tonsils with white patches on them, according to Thompson. Symptoms of strep can present differently depending on the child’s age. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), infants may have only a low fever and a thickened or bloody nasal discharge.

“A missed strep throat can cause kidney or heart illnesses,” said Thompson.  If your child shows any of the symptoms of strep, make sure he or she is seen by a pediatrician.

To determine whether or not your child’s sore throat is a strep infection, doctors will perform a throat culture, using a cotton applicator to collect bacteria from the back of the throat and tonsils. Results are generally known within 24 hours. A prescribed antibiotic can treat a strep infection.

Other common causes of a sore throat include tonsillitis (swollen tonsils) and mononucleosis, which usually occurs in people ages 15 to 30.

The AAP says that most throat infections are contagious, so make sure your child stays award from people with symptoms of one, and if your child has a throat infection, keep him or her home. As always, hand washing is a great way to prevent the spread of infection.

The November 2011 issue of Pediatrics publishes a revised and expanded American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement on safe sleep.  Safe Kids Mid-South, led by Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, supports these recommendations from the AAP:

• Sitting devices, such as child safety seats, strollers, swings, infant carriers, and infant slings, are not recommended for routine sleep in the hospital or at home.  Infants who are younger than 4 months are particularly at risk, because they might assume positions that can create risk of suffocation or airway obstruction.
• Child safety seats and similar products are not stable on a crib mattress or other elevated surfaces.
• The recent AAP clinical report also discusses strategies to avoid flattening one side of the infant's head -- such as avoiding long periods of time in child safety seats and changing the infant’s orientation in the crib.

Many parents aren’t sure when to have their child’s vision screened. Is this something that pediatricians check during routine physicals, or do parents actually need to schedule a visual exam? We asked Dr. Kip Frizzell, a local pediatrician and director of Coordination of Care at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, to give our readers those answers.

“Pediatricians are looking for signs of vision problems with every exam.  Parents should be sure to let their doctor know if their child seems to have a squint, head tilt or if they see an eye deviate inward or outward.  Formal eye screening can begin as early as age 3. School-aged children can be tested with a Snellen wall chart, and most schools actually perform this screen,” said Frizzell.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), middle childhood is a common time for the recognition of vision problems, especially when children first have assigned seats in classrooms. Children may complain of having trouble seeing the blackboard or squints at the pages of a book while reading. He or she may also sit closely to the television in order to see clearly. All of these are signs of vision problems, says the AAP.

The AAP also offers these tips to keep in mind:

• Even though visual difficulties can sometimes cause headaches, this pain is most often associated with problems unrelated to the eyes.
• If your child wears glasses and participates in competitive sports, the glasses should be secured in place by attaching a strap that connects the two earpieces and stretches behind the head. Also, special sports glasses are available.
• Some optometrists recommend eye exercises to help treat learning disorders like dyslexia. However, carefully controlled studies have failed to demonstrate any benefits from these eye exercises—or from wearing colored lenses—to treat these disorders.

Children should remain in a rear-facing car seat until the age of 2, according to new recommendations released today by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

It is not uncommon for parents to move their child’s car seat to face forward at age 1, but now the AAP is saying that’s too soon. The lead author of the AAP policy statement said the recommendation should serve as a guideline to help parents.

The recommendation is based on a 2007 University of Virginia study in the journal Injury Prevention that found that children younger than age 2 are 75 percent less likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries in a crash if they are facing the rear.

Susan Helms, RN, MALS, Le Bonheur’s director of Injury Prevention and Safe Kids Mid-South, says she knows parents are reluctant to keep their toddlers facing backwards because of potential injury to lower extremities. Still, she advises parents to follow the new AAP recommendation.

“To date, no injury has been reported by this mechanism, but even then, the risk of serious injury to the head, neck and spine which occur in infants forward-facing far outweigh the potential risk of injury to the lower extremities up to their second birthday,” said Helms.

Additionally, the AAP’s revised recommendations call for older children to ride in a booster seat until 4 feet 9 inches tall, or 8 to 12 years of age. Booster seats allow for proper fit and positioning of the seat belt.

If you’re uncertain about the proper way to buckle your child’s car seat or booster seat, Le Bonheur-led Safe Kids Mid-South offers free car seat check-up events. You can also call Safe Kids Mid-South at (901) 287-6730 to make a personal appointment to have your child's safety seat checked.

Most trampoline injuries are muscle injuries or broken legs, not fatalities, but serious head and neck injuries do occur. A concussion or upper spine injury can be devastating to a child.

In 2004, approximately 93,000 children ages 14 and younger were treated in U.S. emergency departments for trampoline-related injuries.  More than 90 percent of these injuries happened on home trampolines, and Safe Kids Mid-South joins the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in recommending that no child under 6 years old should use a full-size trampoline.  Safe Kids supports these recommendations:

• Make sure there is only one person on the trampoline at a time.
• The frame, springs and floor around the trampoline ar appropriately padded and the equipment is inspected frequently.
• Trained spotters are always used and a safety harness or spotting belt is available.
• There is no ladder near the trampoline where it could be used by unsupervised children to gain access.  The trampoline should not be accessible when not is use and there is no active adult supervision. 
• Jumpers do not attempt stunts or skills beyond ther training and capability.