As a public health professional in Milwaukee, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Children’s Health Education Center in some capacity over the last decade. I recently transitioned to the private, nonprofit sector and serve as director of Health & Life Skills for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.

One of my primary functions is to assess needs and develop health programming for more than 30,000 youth members. The Health & Life Skills department is one of five core service areas that educates youth about key issues that affect our community. We cover topics such as childhood obesity, teen pregnancy prevention/sexually transmitted infection, substance abuse awareness and healthy relationships. The majority of interventions are provided to youth via traditional instruction, such as classroom lectures, small group style facilitation, hands-on activities and service learning. I’m an avid fan of technology and incorporating innovative tools such as iPads, social networking and video messaging to increase teaching efficiency.

I quickly realized one issue that impacts our department’s ability to reach our youth is how we use technology. We needed to make our health messages relevant and engaging. I found the solution to my dilemma at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Best Practice conference.

The staff from Children’s Health Education Center conducted an interactive session about the BlueKids.org e-learning programs. I was very impressed with the interface and ease of use of the program from the adult perspective. Shortly after the presentation, I met with Bridget Clementi and Clay Anton to explore opportunities for our club members and BlueKids.org. We decided It’s UR Choice youth substance abuse prevention model was the best fit for a pilot, because it neatly fit into an existing substance abuse prevention program we were offering called Smart Choices.

Mr. Jamar Wills, Milwaukee Reality Check Coalition coordinator, organized and facilitated the Smart Choices program, which includes peer education and positive peer modeling. The Boys & Girls Club has received funding from MillerCoors to provide the Smart Choices program to youth members with this program, they have demonstrated increased resistance to drugs and alcohol, greater abuse awareness and positively changing social norms of substance use.

Currently, It’s UR Choice is being piloted at three club sites in the urban area. Our goal is to enable 20 youth members per site to complete the entire program. Use of It’s UR Choice for middle school students has been well received. I am very impressed with the pilot’s progress to date. It is our intent, once the pilot has been successfully completed, to expand access to It’s UR Choice, to all youth in the Smart Choices program.

~ Jeanette Kowalik, MPH, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee

This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with updated recommendations regarding our children’s car and booster seats. If you’ve had your seat installed or checked by a certified car seat technician with Safe Kids Southeast Wisconsin Coalition or  Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, then you already may be familiar with these recommendations. They aren’t laws, but they do mirror the best practice messages we teach parents served through our car seat clinic and car seat check events.

The recommendations can get a little confusing, so here’s a breakdown:

• Rear-facing: Your child should stay rear-facing until at least age 2 (longer if he or she still fits within the weight and height of his or her rear-facing seat). If your child outgrows his or her rear-facing infant seat before age 2, move the child into a seat that can remain rear-facing but accommodates higher weights and heights. Many seats now have rear-facing weight capacity that go up to 30-40 pounds. Rear-facing seats offer much more protection in a crash protecting a child’s back, neck and head. One-year-olds are 5 times less likely to be injured in a crash if they are in a rear-facing car seat than a forward-facing seat, according to a 2007 analysis of five years of U.S. crash data.

• Forward-facing: Once a child has outgrown his or her rear-facing seat and is at least 2 years old, he or she may be turned forward-facing in a harness seat – preferably a five-point harness. The child should remain in the forward-facing harness seat as long as the child is within the weight and height requirements of the forward-facing seat. Many forward-facing seats now have harnesses that can accommodate children from 50-80 pounds and are taller than they’ve ever been in the past. The five points of contact the harness provides the child offers much more stability in a crash, reducing the risk of injury, than the three points of contact a seat belt provides. Minimum requirement by Wisconsin law says your child must stay in a harness seat until he or she is 4 years old and 40 pounds. If he or she is in a higher weight harness seat, your child can stay in a harness much longer than this minimum requirement. (more…)

I am the mother of two strong sons who got their healthy start when I committed to breastfeeding them when they were born.

I’m also a nurse and I’ve worked for many years with new mothers and their premature babies. One of the things research has shown – and we’ve seen through our experiences – is that newborns have a better chance of survival – and actually thriving – when they receive their nutrition through their mother’s milk. In fact, we feel so strongly about it at Children’s Hospital that we’ve invested in a Lactation program staffed by specially trained nurses.

I work for an organization that is committed to healthy employees. Children’s Hospital and Health System, of which Children’s Hospital is a part, has more than 5,000 employees in more than 100 locations across the state and in northern Illinois. We support women who return to work after giving birth by providing them resources – including lactation rooms to accommodate breast pumping. Clover Barnes, a manager with our clinics, said breastfeeding was the best gift she could give her son. When he was born in November of 2008, Clover talked to her manager about the resources to allow her to continue breastfeeding when she returned to work. Clover says, “I was given a private space, a place to store my milk and the time I needed to ensure my milk supply remained sufficient to nourish my son. I even spoke with one of the lactation consultants at Children’s Hospital when I was having a problem pumping. I was able to successfully breastfeed my son until he was 10 months. I am now 34 weeks pregnant and plan to breastfeed this child as well.”

The City of Milwaukee Health Department in collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin actively supports breastfeeding as the preferred method of providing nutrition to infants. Breast milk contains everything that a baby needs for proper growth and development.

In February 2011, both agencies partnered with Serve Marketing to launch a campaign aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates among Milwaukee mothers, particularly those in the African American community.

Thank you for the opportunity to share the important and positive messages about breastfeeding.

~ Lisa Jentsch, director of Newborn and Fetal Care Services at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin

Spring is here! It’s so nice to have brighter, longer days, but it might mean that you’re having a hard time getting your kids to sleep in the evening.

You probably know that adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. But how much sleep do kids need?

Infants (birth to 12 months old) – 10 ½ to 18 hours (total of nighttime and naps)
Toddlers (1 to 3 years old) – 12 to 14 hours (total of nighttime and naps)
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years old) – 11 to 13 hours
School-age kids (6 to 12 years old) – 10 to 11 hours
Teens (13 to 18 years old) – 9 to 9 ½  hours

Here’s a helpful sleep checklist:

• Set a regular bedtime and wake-up time. Kids with bedtimes before 10 p.m. are much more likely to get enough sleep than kids with later bedtimes. If necessary, the schedule can be adjusted at a gradual pace (about 15 minutes every two days) to ease the transition.

• Be consistent with your children’s sleep schedules, even on the weekends. Emphasize activity and bright light in the morning; these help to train the brain to be wide awake in the morning. Whenever possible, send them outside to play, rather than allowing them to sit watching TV and eating snacks – it’s better for their brain and their body!

• Establish a relaxing evening routine. Avoid exercising or stimulating activities in the last few hours before bedtime.

• Create a sleep environment that is cool, dark, quiet and comfortable.

• Limit caffeine, especially after lunch.

• Avoid having a TV or computer in the bedroom and turn them off at least 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime.

Make sleep a priority for yourself and your family.

~Megan Grekowicz, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, pediatric nurse practitioner, Sleep Center, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Clinics-New Berlin

In early October 2007, we welcomed a new addition to our family, my daughter Anastassia. Despite everything my doctors and I did to prolong the pregnancy, Anastassia was born too early. As I was given the news that she was about to make her entrance, I tried to convince myself that it was not happening. My goal with her was 28 weeks, and I still was not there.

My husband was squeezed into a corner of the huge labor and delivery room, the only place he had to stand. The room was filled with doctors, nurses, the transport team and equipment. I saw a brief glimpse of my baby right before she was whisked away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. My husband looked pale and scared. He followed them. I was alone. Tears of fear, frustration and anger overwhelmed me. This surely was not the birth story I imagined.

She did well the first day, and the following days and weeks were filled with little victories and few setbacks. We watched the monitors when she slept and marveled as she learned things that full-term babies know from the start. We looked forward to the precious moments of holding her, and our hearts broke every time we had to leave her behind the NICU doors. We watched her little body grow stronger and bigger. In mid-December, we finally took her home.

Three years later you would never know that you are looking at a 27-weeker, and you would never guess the effort it took to get her here. We were blessed with wonderful doctors and nurses that took care of Anastassia. They eased our worries and took care of all of us. We were lucky that she did so well and we never will take a day with her for granted.

When we finally were home, we wanted to get involved and give back. A postcard about the 2008 March for Babies came in the mail at just the right time. Since then, we raise money and walk every year. The money raised at this event goes toward education, research and family support, which helps reduce prematurity rates in this country.

Watch our video and join the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin team for the 2011 March for Babies. Registration is free and easy. Click here to register for the Milwaukee event on April 30. Click here to register for the Fox Valley event on April 16.

~ Natalya Morrow, PhD