A lot goes into the decision to get pregnant with a baby. More than being a physical, mental, and emotional decision, it’s also become a larger financial decision that parents must weigh before starting or adding to their families. And the costs don’t stop after you bring the baby home from the hospital. Many parents are burdened by the rising costs of childcare. What’s more, the decision is also heavily influenced by access to prenatal care, postpartum support, affordable healthcare, childcare, and other community resources. A new report by WalletHub ranked the states by how expensive having a child is and health care outcomes based on access to care. Let’s break down the report’s findings, what they mean for child and maternal ...
As summer come to an end, children and families are gearing up for another school year. Between the school supplies, new clothes, and getting back into the routine of things, it’s important to ensure students and families are healthy and safe! With this in mind, let’s look at helpful reminders for back to school.
1. Keep a Sleep Schedule
Having a consistent sleep schedule can impact one’s health and wellbeing. For example, studies show an association between insufficient sleep and obesity. “Poor sleep is also linked with the likelihood of developing diabetes and, over a longer term, with heart problems,” according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Consistent sleep schedules also support emotional regulation and mood stability, cognitive ability, immune ...
August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, a time that highlights the importance of protecting children’s vision. With this in mind, Salud America! has put together a list of helpful tools and resources for parents and families to learn more about children’s eye health and vision.
1. Prevent Blindness
Through Prevent Blindness, the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health is a place where parents and caregivers can find a multitude of support. Health education resources, including vision and eye health presentations and webinars and children’s vision fact sheets, posters, reports, and publications. There are also plenty of resources for parents and caregivers with children who have vision problems or impairment. In collaboration with the National ...
Quality childcare plays an important role for parents, children, and the economy. Yet America has a fragmented childcare and early learning system that doesn’t meet the needs of families, businesses, or early educators, according to a new report from the organization Child Care Aware of America. The report unpacks the childcare funding landscape throughout the U.S. “Families struggle to find and afford child care, the child care workforce is woefully underpaid, child care programs operate on razor thin margins, and businesses are suffering lost productivity and workforce turnover due to child care issues,” according to the report. Let’s dig deeper into these issues and how they can impact children and their families.
1. States Are Still Not on an Even Playing Field ...
From breastfeeding to solid foods and vegetables, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) address childhood food issues in a new report, Early Childhood Nutrition. The report covers: Breastfeeding
Support for Infant Feeding
First Solid Foods
Healthy Eating
Affordability of Nutritious Foods Let’s dive deeper into the report and how it impacts families with children.
1. Most Infants Don’t Receive Full Health Benefits from Breast Milk
The CDC report found that only 2 in 5 infants born in 2022 were still being breastfed on their first birthday, meaning that most infants do not receive the full health benefits that breast milk can provide. “Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for most infants. It helps protect babies and moms from ...
About three quarters of Latino children received medical care in the past year, according to a new report from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families. However, the remaining 1 of 4 Latino children had not seen a doctor, nurse, or urgent/emergency care personnel in at least one year. Let’s dig deeper into this report and how it impacts families.
What Does the Report Say about Latino Children’s Medical Care?
The National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families report found that receipt of medical care in the past year varied by child age. Younger Latino children (birth to age 5) more likely to have received medical care (85%) than older children (ages 6-12, 75%) and teens (ages 13-18, 65%). Children living in families with low incomes were ...
Breastfeeding has many health benefits for both mothers and babies. For mothers, breastfeeding can help speed up the recovery process after birth, reduce long-term health risks, including breast and ovarian cancers, and help with postpartum weight loss due to the extra calories being burned. For infants, breastfeeding contains optimal nutrition for immune protection from illnesses helps with brain development, and reduces risks of chronic health conditions like obesity. Unfortunately, without access to Spanish-language lactation resources, too many Latinas give up breastfeeding too soon. That’s where the Mama Sana Program comes into play. The program offers mothers Spanish-language support to help them navigate the difficult journey that is ...
Type 2 diabetes has increased at an alarming rate in children, increasing to between 24% and 45% (compared to 1-2% before the mid-1990s), with the average age of diagnosis being around 13 years old, according to research. This can deeply effect young Latinos, as more than 22% of Latino youth and 28.7% of Latino young adults have prediabetes. Many factors contribute to this rise, including childhood obesity, genetics, and diet. Now, researchers from Florida Atlantic University have found that where a child lives can also factor into their risk for type 2 diabetes. Let’s explore this research and see how it impacts children and their communities.
Behind the Research on Diabetes in Children
Researchers for Florida Atlantic University’s ’s Charles E. Schmidt College of ...
Your eye health is important. In fact, when left unchecked, poor eye health can lead to serious complications for your overall health and quality of life. This is especially true for children. One of the biggest threats to eye health is myopia, or nearsightedness, which is a very common eye condition, affecting many children. Here are five facts about Myopia you should be aware of and how to tackle them to make sure your child kicks the school year off on the right foot. You can also donate to help families afford eye exams for their children!
1. Myopia Affects Many Children
Myopia, or nearsightedness, affects 40% of people in the US, according to Cleveland Clinic. However, the condition is rising in school-aged children. Experts anticipate that this will ...
