I decided to look for more information on Rotarix and the rotavirus, in light of the Rotarix advisory in the US, and this is what I've found.
According to Wikipedia, by the age of five, nearly every child in the world has been infected by the rotavirus at least once. In young infants who are not immunized, the rotavirus can cause severe diarrhea which in turn causes dehydration, which can be fatal. Rotavirus in fact is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants: each year around 2.4 million children under the age of five are hospitalized due to rotavirus, and this leads to more than half a million deaths. According to the American Society of Microbiology, around 5% of all deaths worldwide of children under the age of 5, are related to the rotavirus. Around 138 million additional cases are milder, though, requiring only home care or clinic visits.
As the person gets older, the severity of a rotavirus infection decreases. Immunity builds up each time a person gets infected, so that adults are rarely infected.
The rotavirus vaccine is an orally-administered vaccine that helps prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis. The first rotavirus vaccine was Rotashield, used in the late 1990s. It was found to be 80% - 100% percent effective at preventing severe diarrhea caused by one of the strains of rotavirus, but it was pulled off the market in 1999 because of worries that it might contribute to a type of bowel obstruction in 1 out of every 12,000 infants. In 2004 two new vaccines, Rotarix (manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline) and Rotateq (manufactured by Merck) were introduced to the market. These were both found in studies to be safe and very effective in preventing diarrhea caused by rotavirus.
Last week, the US FDA advised physicians to temporarily suspend use of Rotarix after impurities were found in some batches of the vaccine. Specifically, they found fragments of a certain virus called PCV1. The virus was described as a "non-disease causing strain," and no harmful effects have been reported yet in relation to its presence in Rotarix. Two days ago the European Medicines Agency said they had no safety concerns about the oral vaccine and there was no need to restrict the use of Rotarix. It was explained that PCV1 is commonly found in meat products, and is not known to cause disease in either animals or humans.
As of now, some other countries aside from the US have also suspended the use of Rotarix including the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
Countries that have not restricted the use of Rotarix include the EU nations, South Africa, Australia.
From anecdotes shared on the Newlyweds@work mailing list, it seems that a lot of Filipino pediatricians are now offering Rotateq to their patients instead of Rotarix, while further studies are still being done on Rotarix.
Share
Earth Hour 2010 is tonight. We're all being asked to switch off our lights at 8:30 PM (whatever your local time is) as a symbolic gesture against climate change.
Earth Hour began in Australia in 2007 and has since become an annual tradition. Hopefully our own personal commitment to ecological awareness does not end with a symbolic gesture, though, but is expressed in our very lifestyle.
There are a lot of ways that we can live greener lives. Some of them are as simple as making different choices when we go to the supermarket:
1. Buy energy-saving CFL lightbulbs instead of regular incandescents.
2. Buy local instead of imported vegetables.
3. Eat less beef. Raising cattle for beef is one of the biggest contributors to global warming.
4. Buy products with less packaging.
5. Choose reusables over disposables (e.g., use reusable plastic containers instead of foil or cling-wrap for leftovers, cloth rags instead of paper towels, etc.).
6. If you must use disposables, look for environment-friendlier alternatives. Throwing a party? Instead of using styrofoam plates, use biodegradable plates made from corn-husk instead.
7. Bring your own reusable bag when shopping.
8. If you do use plastic bags when shopping, choose the biodegradable kind (many big groceries use these now), and reuse them before throwing them out. Share
My husband and I both drink milk regularly, and for years we settled with the typical commercial tetra-brik brands. However, my son started drinking fresh milk a few months ago, and I became more conscious about the type of milk that was going into his body.
One concern of mine is the presence of added growth hormones in cow's milk. An article about bovine growth hormones on Babycenter.com explains that additional hormones are often given to dairy cows "to make them mature faster and produce more milk."
US government agencies, including the FDA, have concluded that milk produced this way is safe for humans. However, many critics are still wary about it and point to conflicting studies on the subject. The use of artificial bovine growth hormones is banned in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, and the European Union. It is not banned in the US nor in China. The use of added natural growth hormones (taken from dead animals) does not seem to be banned anywhere. Most brands of Philippine commercial milk source their milk from Australia, New Zealand, or China.
To be honest, I don't mind drinking regular milk myself. However, I'm a little more worried about what effects it would have on my young son's developing system. So for the past couple of months I've been looking for alternatives to the regular commercial milk brands.
I've seen "natural milk" (i.e., milk from cows not injected with growth hormones) imported from the US in some supermarkets, but it is very expensive. Fortunately, some local dairy farms sell "natural milk" too.
The brand I buy most often is Hacienda Macalauan, because that's what is available at my nearby supermarket. Hacienda Macalauan's dairy farm is in Laguna. According to what's written on the bottle, Hacienda Macalauan milk is "produced without added antibiotics, growth hormones, [nor the] use of pesticides." Aside from regular full cream milk, Hacienda Macalauan also produces low-fat, fat-free, and flavored (vanilla and chocolate) milk, apart from other dairy products like yoghurt. The price of a liter -- around P70 --is almost the same as commercial brands.
Another brand of local milk I've tried is Mr. Moo's milk, which I discovered on the way to Tagaytay. I asked the salesgirl if Mr. Moo's milk is organic/natural and she said, "yes," so I just took her word for it. Mr. Moo's milk is produced by the GenTri Dairy Raisers Multipurpose Cooperative in General Trias, Cavite, and is available in full cream, low fat and chocolate varieties. They have two small retail stands along the Sta. Rosa Road to/from Tagaytay, and they also have outlets in Silang and Alabang South Mall. Mr. Moo's milk is pricier than Hacienda Macalauan's but they give discounts for milk that is nearing the expiry date. The fact that Mr. Moo's is run by a coop is a plus for me: it's always heartening to know that more of the profits of a business is going to the people who work the hardest on it.
Rizal Dairy Farms and Organic Farming, Inc. are sister companies that produce and sell organically-grown vegetables and natural dairy products. I haven't tried their milk yet, but to find out where Rizal Dairy products are available, you can check their website.
Finally, I read about Holly's Milk in an issue of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine a few months ago. Their website says that Holly's milk is "natural milk," but it does not specify exactly what they mean by that. Produced by Real Fresh Dairy Farms in Laguna, Holly's Milk is available from various distributors around Metro Manila and some surrounding provinces. Holly's Milk is available in full cream, low fat and chocolate milk varieties.
Natural or not, it's wonderful that milk from local dairies is becoming more available. My husband swears that milk from local dairies tastes better than the commercial brands - probably because they're fresher. I on the other hand am more than happy to lend my support to Filipino dairies to help the Philippine economy. It's also better for the environment to buy local because the carbon needed to transport the milk to you is a lot less. Finally the fact that some of these local dairies produce natural milk gives me some assurance against the bovine growth hormone scare. Share
The Expanded Breastfeeding Act was signed into law last week! (Thanks to Jenny for the heads-up.)
I've been looking forward to this news for a long time. I even used to follow Senator Pia Cayetano's blog (she's the principal author and sponsor of the bill) about this. (You can read Sen. Pia's own breastfeeding story here.)
The new law requires employers to allow lactating moms additional short breaks to express milk. Under the new law, all government institutions are required to have lactation stations. The law also requires health workers to make sure that new moms receive are well-informed about breastfeeding. Employers are likewise encouraged to support lactating mothers, assess their needs, and provide them with information about breastfeeding.
This is truly great news for all nursing moms and all nursing moms-to-be! Share
Baby-wearing is wonderful. I have carried my son in a baby pouch since he was an infant, and I love the convenience and bonding experience of baby-wearing!
Now, we all know that there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in one's arms. In the same way, there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in a sling or pouch. 
First of all, make sure that the sling itself is safe. One particular kind of sling, the "bag type sling" with straps like this one, has been embroiled in some controversy. After the unfortunate death in the United States of a newborn infant, experts have criticized the bag-type sling for bending baby into a "C" position that can make it difficult for newborns to breathe.
This leads to the most important rule of all. When carrying your newborn in any type of sling or pouch, always make sure that baby can breathe freely. Babies under the age of four months do not have control of their necks yet and if their chin collapses down to their chest, this can obstruct their airways. Parents of preemies, low birth-weight twins, and babies in fragile health should take extra precautions, and the CPSC encourages such parents to talk to their children's pediatricians about baby-wearing.
For more safe baby-wearing tips, look here and here. The CPSC also has some helpful pictures of the right and wrong ways to use the cradle hold here.
My personal view is that if you're nervous about using a sling or pouch for your newborn, just wait a few months until your baby has developed better neck control (around 4 months of age), then you'll be able to use a sling or pouch with greater confidence.
Baby-wearing is a wonderful experience. But I reiterate: just as there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in your arms, there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in a sling or a pouch. Safety first!
Photo of Infantino bag-type sling from AP Photos. Share
Another art workshop for children is in the offing! Global Art center is opening in the Katipunan area in Quezon City this summer. They run an international art and creativity program for children 4 years and up. And in their words, "by up, we mean that no one's too old to have fun and learn with us!"
Global Art Katipunan will be at Unit CU-4 Prince David Condominium, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City (across Ateneo). Interested parties contact 383-6084, 0916-7396237, or globalart.katipunan@gmail.com. Share
A friend of mine, Dr. Philip Tan-Gatue, has a unique perspective on medicine. He is a Western-medicine trained physician, but he is also a trained acupuncturist and a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. He teaches Integrative Medicine at the UP-College of Medicine.
On his blog, Dr. Tan-Gatue recently posted a very interesting article on cow's milk and children. "Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that cow’s milk is too rich for the delicate digestive system of children," he argues, and feeding (cow's) milk to children after the age of two years is, from the view of Chinese medicine, unnecessary and can actually be harmful. He adds that "if God had intended for children to drink milk all their formative years, then their mothers should naturally produce milk for more than two years."
So where should children get their calcium, according to traditional Chinese medicine? From fruits and vegetables. The rule of thumb, then, is simple. Make sure your children have enough calcium. From where? From milk, for babies. From veggies, for children.
I wonder, though, how easy this is for Filipinos to do. Many middle-class Filipinos do not like to eat vegetables. And many children, in particular, are averse to vegetables. I often wonder--purely from anecdotal evidence--whether the reason why Filipino physicians prescribe vitamin supplements to children is because they know it's a losing battle to expect most parents to feed their children a well-balanced meal.
At any rate, a few months back, Jenny posted an article that also argued that cow's milk (including formula) can be harmful for young chidren. Jenny, a breastfeeding consultant, advocates breastfeeding and lauds the benefits of extended breastfeeding. However, she also says that based on the data, children from 1-year-old who are not breastfed do not need to drink formula milk. By that age, they are expected to be getting their nutrients from solids. If parents decide to give them milk, they can give them fresh milk and switch to low-fat milk at the age of 2 (unless they are malnourished).
On the whole, I find the milk debate a very interesting one. My son is 16-months-old and he is still breastfed. However, he also occasionally drinks fresh cow's milk. I try to get organic or natural milk for him when I can, but it isn't always easy to find in the grocery.
As someone who grew up drinking milk, I'll probably continue offering milk to my son as he grows up, unless he demonstrates symptoms of lactose intolerance. I will, however, bear the experts' advice in mind and I'll try to be more meticulous in making sure he eats a lot of calcium-rich vegetables.
This article is not meant to replace the medical advice of your child's pediatrician. Share
