Of course reducing toxic exposures is an important way to reduce risks from unhealthy chemicals, but a growing body of research suggests paying attention to positive habits – such as good food, healthy sleep and active play can often reduce or even eliminate harm when exposed.

An update on this emerging field of research appeared in October 2011 in the NIH journal Environmental Health Perspectives, focusing on the physical effects of stress and relaxation.

Psychological stress can change how chemicals affect the body. Stress has been demonstrated to change the effects of lead exposure and of exposure to air pollution in children. But much remains to be learned about other chemicals and other types of exposures. And about how this all works.

We know that some stress is good for children; a little adrenaline or cortisol can fuel kids to reach new heights of achievement. And we know that when stress becomes too prolonged, too severe or too frequent the immune system can be altered in a way that increases the impact of chemical pollution.

Sadly, sometimes the most stressful environments are also the most polluted.

In January 2011, Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research grants totaling $7 million were awarded by the EPA to work on new approaches to understanding how stress changes what happens when kids are exposed – and what we can do about it.

I’m excited about this, and expect it to uncover valuable new knowledge. But in the meantime, common sense makes sense. Follow Healthy Child Healthy World’s Five Easy Steps: Minimize pesticide exposure; use nontoxic products; clean up indoor air; eat healthy; and be wise about plastics. And do what it takes to minimize un-useful stress. Have fun together!

Cooney CM. Stress-Pollution Interactions: An Emerging Issue in Children’s Health Research. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2011; 119:a430-a435.

Colic can be very distressing both for babies and their parents. Parents often feel their baby’s screaming is an indictment of their parenting ability: there’s something wrong with me; there’s something wrong with my milk; or there’s something wrong with my baby! It’s no wonder that so many feel frustrated, exhausted, guilty, angry, or helpless.

Many solutions to colic have been proposed. Some remedies have been tested and found not to work (such as simethicone drops, one of the most common given to babies). Most colic solutions help in about one third of babies, but it’s hard to predict which babies will benefit. Combining remedies is often the most helpful. Here are 10 tips:

1. Motion. Some families report relief with gentle movement, whether from a swing, a car ride, a ride in a jog stroller, or a parent’s arms.
2. Massage. Baby massage in general and belly massage in particular. A warm bean bag can be a nice tool for this. Some babies are helped with the addition of one of the infant vibrating products during massage.
3. Changing mother’s diet. For breastfed babies, eliminating certain foods can help. Cow’s milk, eggs, nuts, or wheat are the most likely to make a difference – especially if there is asthma, eczema or allergies in the family.
4. Changing to a hypoallergenic formula. For formula-fed babies, the switch is sometimes powerful.
5. Changing bottles.  Any bottle change can produce improvement in some babies. In one clinical trial, switching BornFree bottles with ActiveFlow made a significant difference for 80 percent of babies.
6. Changing feeding technique. Switching from nursing at both breasts at each feed to prolonged emptying of one breast cut colic in half in one study. Sucking on a pacifier or thumb between feeds can help whether a baby is breast or bottle fed.
7. Soothing noise. Heartbeat recordings, white noise machines, recordings of babies yawning, or the gentle voices of parents sshhing, humming, or singing a lullaby.
8. Swaddling. Being wrapped snuggly comforts some babies.
9. Herbal remedies. Chamomile, fennel and balm mint have appeared effective in some studies.
10. Probiotics. Compared to placebo, taking beneficial bacteria reduces crying for some.

Dr. Greene is a consulting Pediatrician for BornFree.

You may be more exhausted than you have ever been. Whenever people are sleep deprived they are more subject to swings of emotion and to feelings of inadequacy. This, by itself, is enough to cause a blue period (ask any practicing pediatrician).

To make matters worse, research has shown that women with the postpartum blues tend to have babies who cry significantly more than those of their counterparts. It hasn’t been proven whether the fussy, crying babies make moms sadder, or whether the sad moms make the babies less happy – but it seems to me that both are true, and that the crying can become a vicious cycle.

A true grief reaction, at a time of great stress (and insistent noise), in a person who is chronically sleep deprived, all built on a shifting foundation of tremendous hormonal surges – it’s a wonder that postpartum blues aren’t more of a problem. Most of the time, though, the powerful positive feelings that also accompany this time of new beginnings soon displace the sadness.

But if the ride is turbulent, and the oxygen masks should fall from the ceiling of the plane, first put on your own mask, so that you will be able to help your children. If the sky is falling, do the same thing – taking care of yourself is often the first step to being better able to love your baby. This is also a good principle to follow if you are having the best time of your life.

Get as much sleep as possible. If you are breast feeding, you will probably feel sleepy just after nursing. Sleep when the baby sleeps. Once nursing is well established, you may want to give your baby some bottle feedings (ideally of pumped breast milk), both to give Mom a break, and to allow Dad the treat of feeding his baby. If you are bottle feeding from the beginning, share the responsibility, if practical.

Eat delicious, healthy food – hopefully that somebody else prepares!

Get out of the house. Even brief breaks (particularly if it’s time the two of you can spend together) can be very restoring, especially if you get outside.

Clearly, this requires teamwork. Teamwork as a couple, as an extended family, as a community, or as baby care support such as a Doula that you arrange to work with you. An online community can be another source of support and wisdom. We’ve found the online community at DrGreene.com to be a great way for new parents to connect with new and experienced parents when they need it most, right from their own homes, without having to get dressed, go out, or look presentable.

Wherever you turn for teamwork, you don’t need in-laws or anyone else to come in and seem to be bossing you around. On the other hand, little is more valuable than concrete, loving assistance in caring for their baby – on your terms and in your timing.

Would you like someone to change more diapers? To join you in reading baby care books? Do the laundry? Call your pediatrician with questions? Rock the baby to sleep? Run out and buy supplies? Ask.

You have just done something magnificent in creating a new life. It’s normal and fine for parenthood to be an unfolding process. It doesn’t have to feel great right now to feel great in the future. You might feel like smiling all the time. You might not. But, take time to smile at your baby even if you don’t feel like it. Smiling may make you feel a little better, and your baby a lot better – which in turn will help you. You might also try laughing until it is funny. Seriously, try laughing out loud until you get tickled! If you have a hard time doing it, grab your partner by both hands, look into each others eyes, and laugh. Soon you won’t be able to stop.

This is an excerpt from: From First Kicks to First Steps: Nurturing Your Babys Development from Pregnancy Through the First Year of Life, McGraw-Hill, 2004, Pp. 200-201

Bouts of asthma come and go, brought on by various triggers. How might stressful life events affect asthma attacks? To find out, researchers tracked the frequency and severity of asthma attacks in school-aged children at a specialist asthma clinic at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow. None of the children in the study were felt to have chronic high stress at the start of the study.

For 18 months, separate teams of researchers, who did not have access to the other team’s findings, independently evaluated the children’s asthma or stressful life events. The children’s breathing was tracked with twice daily peak-flow recordings, a symptom diary, and quarterly physician evaluations. The results were published in the December 2004 Thorax. Children in the study averaged 2 major stressful life events during the study – events such as the death of a pet, a close friend’s family moving away, parents’ divorce or separation, the death of a grandparent, or becoming the victim of a serious bullying incident.

What might surprise many parents is that these stresses had both immediate and delayed effects on the children’s asthma. Within two days of each stressful event, the risk of having an asthma attack skyrocketed up nearly five-fold. After the first 48 hours, there was no increased risk – until 5 to 7 weeks later, when the risk of another attack nearly doubled. The stress effect was even more in the girls in the study. This delayed effect from stressful events is consistent with other studies, even though we don’t fully understand it. Maybe the surge of stress-related hormones changes young cells that will take their place on the front lines in 6 weeks. Whatever the mechanism, perhaps when the kids we care for are going through difficult times, we can take steps to prevent a worsening of their asthma (or other illnesses) from adding to their problems.

At moments of stress, such as getting ready for bed or for school, some kids feel the need to touch certain objects, say certain words, or to wash and wash their hands. Some children have an overwhelming desire for sameness. For some, their thoughts keep returning to lurking fears, such as something bad is about to happen. When these thoughts or rituals get in the way of enjoying day-to-day life, this is called obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Sometimes OCD starts following a strep throat infection, suggesting a physical cause.

About 1 in 200 kids in the United States are diagnosed with OCD, and most of these are treated with a medicine; some receive cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University decided to evaluate what works better, 12 weeks of CBT, drug therapy alone, or a combination of the two. The important results appear in the October 27, 2004 Journal of the American Medical Association. The kids who did the best were the ones who got 12 weeks of CBT, either alone or with the drug in addition (with the edge going to the combination at one University, but not at the other). This suggests that, rather than most kids being treated with a drug, and some getting therapy, the norm should be for kids to get 12 weeks of cognitive-behavior therapy, and that some of them should also receive a medication. Even if the cause is physical, learning new ways to cope with stressful situations can be more important than medicines!