This month, Tastybaby is delighted to present parents with a wonderful way to get rid of their worries over their children’s health and well-being.  Dr. Cara Natterson, our Consulting Pediatrician, will be answering questions from readers in her new “Ask Dr. Cara” column.  Each week, we will feature at least 3 questions, along with Dr. Cara’s expert responses.  So please see below for her insights, and remember to write in with your own questions.

INDEPENDENCE FROM...WORRY

 
- Dr. Cara Natterson, Consulting Pediatrician

1. Grass Allergies

During the summer, our kids love to play outdoors, but often when they roll around on lawns at friends houses or at the park, my children get rashes on their legs and arms.  The obvious solution is to dress them in long pants and sleeves, but that’s tricky when the weather heats up.  Also, I’m concerned because I know it’s not an allergy to grass – they never have a reaction to our own lawn at home – but to some sort of chemicals that other people spray on their lawns.  Can these chemicals be damaging my children in other ways that I should be afraid about?

A rash related to playing in the grass is called “contact dermatitis”. Something that comes into direct contact with the skin causes irritation or inflammation. In medical lingo, anything that involves inflammation is an “-itis”… like liver inflammation (hepatitis), intestinal inflammation (colitis), tonsil inflammation (tonsillitis), and so on.
Think of contact dermatitis as an allergy of sorts: the grass causes the skin to turn pink or red, to swell a little, and to itch. Most children who develop contact dermatitis from rolling in the grass are not really allergic to the grass though, they are just sensitive to it. Maybe a certain species of grass or a certain way the grass has been cut or a bug that is living in the grass is causing the reaction. This is why most children who develop contact dermatitis have been fine rolling around in the grass at home and will be fine in the future as well.
 Sure it is possible to blame insecticides and fertilizers. However, grass rashes have been around for a long time, longer than many of the chemical sprays now used to treat lawns. While it is possible that a child is having a reaction to a chemical used on the grass, it is just as likely that the rash has nothing to do with this.
Environmental chemicals are currently under heavy scrutiny. There are ongoing studies on all sorts of chemical exposures, including toxins in our air, in our water supply, and in our food chain. In order to understand the potential danger of any given chemical, you must know some basic facts like the name of a given chemical, how it has been applied, the concentration of the chemical in the treatment, and so on.
While long sleeves and pants can be a drag for some kids, especially at the peak of summer, they really do provide the best protection. They also serve as an extra layer of sunscreen and as a barrier against bug bites. If the weather permits and your child won’t become overheated, loose-fitting long sleeved shirts and pants are quite beneficial.
  

2. Picky Eaters

My daughter loves food!  She actually has a surprisingly varied palette, but even though she enjoys a variety of foods, she usually doesn’t eat more than one thing at a time.  She’ll insist on “only tomatoes” one day, or “only avocado” the next.  When you add it all up at the end of the week, she’s eaten a lot of different foods, but I’m getting worried that on a day-to-day basis, she isn’t getting a balanced diet.  Should I be concerned?

Children—toddlers especially—go through phases. What you describe is extremely common… a child might love broccoli one week and refuse it for the next two. In order to ensure that a child will be well nourished, you don’t have to insist on a perfectly balanced diet three times a day. This is a nearly impossible goal.
Rather, food types can be balanced over the course of several days. This means that your child might eat a lot of protein one day and not much the next or she might eat fresh fruit like it is going out of style for a few days and then none at all. Children really do have an ability to self-modulate. If left to their own devices and offered a selection of healthy foods, most children will balance their own diets over a week-long stretch so that their overall protein, carbohydrate, vitamin and mineral needs are met.

3. Daredevil Children

I have a dare-devil child!  He is constantly jumping off things & bumping into others.  My husband thinks it’s good for him & that “kids have to fall down & hurt themselves – it makes them tough.”  I’m a nervous wreck.  Who’s right?!

Some children are risk-takers and some are risk-averse. This is in-born and it is usually plainly obvious from infancy. Cautious parents typically have cautious children while parents who enjoy sky-diving in their spare time are more likely to have a child who climbs onto the dining room table and tries to fly for fun. Temperament is simply part of our DNA.
The problem comes when one parent is more risk-averse than the other. In your situation, your husband is more comfortable with the bumps-and-bruises of childhood. He was probably a dare-devil when he was a child, too.
Regardless, neither of you is right or wrong. A child needs to learn how to be safe, but in doing so he will likely get hurt. It is critical to teach your child limits because a dare-devil in a safe environment (like home) cannot be a dare-devil in an unrestricted environment (like the sidewalk or near a swimming pool) where he risks getting seriously injured. It is okay to let your child take the normal knocks, to come home with scraped knees and bruised shins. But it is not okay to reinforce your child’s sense of limitlessness because there will be many scenarios that are just too dangerous.