I am pleased to announce that for the second year in a row, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is one of six hospitals to win $5,000 worth of breastfeeding products in an online contest sponsored by Medela, a leading maker of breastfeeding and breast pumping products. During November, people were asked to visit the Medela website and vote for their favorite Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in recognition of national Prematurity Awareness Month. …Continue reading this post

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week on a study that found having older siblings already vaccinated for chickenpox reduced the likelihood of infants developing chickenpox by 90 percent. Other medical studies have shown similar large decreases in the number of infants who got sick with measles, whooping cough and the flu when their families were up to date on vaccinations. These studies are a reminder that young infants are more vulnerable to many diseases. The younger infants are when they get sick, the more likely …Continue reading this post

A number of children in the Milwaukee metro area recently have been diagnosed with pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough. Whooping cough is particularly worrisome for parents of infants, because children have to be 2 months old to receive the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory infection. Although it first seems like a regular cold, whooping cough can turn more serious. It causes coughing so bad that it’s …Continue reading this post

Recently, there have been a lot of TV programs and newspaper stories discussing infant safe sleep, especially the debate about co-sleeping. Despite much research, we still aren’t sure why some babies die during co-sleeping and others don’t. Every infant death is tragic and involves a unique set of circumstances.

Here’s what we do know: between 2005 and 2008, 88 babies in the Milwaukee area died from accidental overlay, suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome. These cases involved boys and girls of all …Continue reading this post

Our daughter Ella’s birth was a planned C-section at 34 weeks – 6 weeks early – due to a complicated prenatal diagnosis. The day of Ella’s birth, we held our breaths as Ella took her first. The highs were high and the lows were low, and it often seemed that just when we had a handle on our daughter’s condition, something would change and there was a new concern to address. …Continue reading this post