Trippy! Two of the original Blue Men of the Blue Man Group are opening a nursery school in New York, called Blue Man Creativity Center (at least until accreditation). From the New Yorker profile:

Every day at the center will end with a ritual called Glow Time, during which the shades are lowered, the regular lights are turned off, and black lights are turned on, illuminating the parts of the room (including work created by the students) that have been painted with special UV paint. The collection of Blue Man-inspired educational gewgaws on hand is a far cry from flash cards and Play-Doh. There’s a hypnotic Bubble Machine, with kid-controlled colored lights; a futuristic Water Machine, with a mini-whirlpool; and a trippy installation, left over from the B.M.G.’s 2003 tour, of giant computer-animated dragonflies that can be made to light up, flap their wings, and fly.

Blue Man Matt Goldman explains: “We wanted to create the school that we wish we’d had.” The plan is to keep adding classes to the school until it covers at least to grade five.

(Via ODIM.)

It’s fun to nurse at the Yyyyyy-M-C-A… A Pickering, Ontario woman has filed a human rights complaint after she was told by a YMCA employee not to nurse her baby on the premises. (We love the mother’s recounting of how the incident was initiated: “She wondered if I might be more comfortable in an alternate location…I explained to her that I was really comfortable where I was, and that I wasn’t interested in moving.”) The VP of Communications for the YMCA later told the media that the employee made an error in judgment.

A bill has been introduced in Venezuela that would restrict parents to a list of 100 government-sanctioned names when choosing a moniker for their newborns. 100!

The bill’s ambition, according to a draft submitted to municipal offices here for review, is to “preserve the equilibrium and integral development of the child” by preventing parents from giving newborns names that expose them to ridicule or are “extravagant or hard to pronounce in the official language,” Spanish.

The bill also aims to prevent names that “generate doubts” about the bearer’s gender.

Talk about a nanny state. The NYT article emphasizes that Venezuela has a strong cultural tradition of bestowing whimsical names on children, such as Haynhect, Olmelibey, Yan Karll and Udemixon. (I’m taking their word for it that these names are indeed whimsical. Ugly American that I am, I’m pretty much mono-lingual…)

Less whimsical: The fact that 60 currently registered Venezuelan voters are named Hitler.

Not everyone is sour on the name restriction measure. 27-year-old Temutchin del Espíritu Santo Rojas Fernández, whose first name is a variation on Genghis Kahn’s birth name, is frankly tired of having to spell out his name every time he makes a purchase (in Venezuela, a name and national identity number are required for every purchase that generates a receipt).

But popular opinion is generally resistant to the law and supportive of parental rights.

So…do you suppose “Hugo” is on the proposed list of approved names?

(Via DaddyTypes.)

Posted by MommaSteph.

Breastfeeding does not protect against allergies, asthma? A new study published in the British Medical Journal challenges the notion that breastfeeding lowers the risk of asthma and allergies for children. The randomized trial followed 14,000 mother/infant pairs in Belarus, starting in the mid-1990s, some who gave birth in hospitals that actively encouraged breastfeeding, and some in hospitals with no such program. Follow-up questionnaires were given six and a half years after the mothers gave birth, asking about asthma, wheezing, hay fever, and eczema. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups of children, although the children of the mothers who were encouraged to breastfeed were slightly more likely to have tested positive for common allergies. However, the researchers warn against concluding that breastfeeding and allergies have a causal relationship; they merely feel confident from their study that breastfeeding is not a preventative against allergies.

Lead Toys, International Cooperation: The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision has agreed to take action to eliminate the use of lead paint on toys exported to the US. In addition, the two agencies agreed to more cooperation in four product categories: Toys, Fireworks, Cigarette Lighters, and Electrical Products. “This is an important signal from the Chinese government that it is serious about working with CPSC to keep dangerous products out of American homes,” said Acting Chairman [Nancy] Nord. “We will be looking for meaningful cooperation on the ground - that means not just with the Chinese government, but also with industry at both ends of the supply chain.”

No Show Biz Baby: Simon Cowell made one preggo pretty angry when he and his fellow judge passed a singer along to the next round of the UK show The X Factor - only to change his mind upon reflecting that the contestant would be at delivery time when the finals were being filmed. Said the 24-year-old mom-to-be, “He knew I was carrying a baby. He knew I was five-and-a half-months pregnant. He knew the complications. At the end of the day, that’s my decision and if I want to enter this competition and go all the way to the end, I will do that.” Mr. Cowell countered, “This is a girl who would have given birth to her baby in the middle of the X Factor finals. The stress she would have been under would have been unspeakable. You cannot put a competition like this or your ambition over the fact you’re about to have a baby. It is crazy.”

The latest, surprising, chapter in the ongoing toy safety story: Major toy manufacturing companies in the US are asking for the federal government to impose mandatory safety-testing standards that would apply to all toys sold in this country.

Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who recently co-sponsored legislation that would impose such testing requirements on all children’s products, said he welcomed the request.

“What a dramatic turn,” he said in an interview Thursday, adding, “These news stories have really shaken the confidence of American families in toys.”

The proposal, which was approved by the board of the Toy Industry Association at a private meeting last week, does not envision a broad federal inspection program.

Instead, companies would be required to hire independent laboratories to check a certain portion of their toys, whether made in the United States or overseas. Leading toy companies already do such testing, but industry officials acknowledge that it has not been enough.

To address these shortcomings, the proposal calls for uniform standards for frequency of testing, to determine at what point during production the tests would be conducted, and what specific hazards, whether lead paint or small parts, must be checked for.

The uniform standard would also establish global requirements for laboratories that do this testing.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has not yet taken a position on the proposal. The agency would be expected to have a key role in enforcing the mandate. Currently, the CPSC has only one full-time employee who tests toys for safety concerns.

In the meantime, the CPSC and representatives from the Chinese government are to meet this week to discuss the recent recalls of toys manufactured in China.

Stay tuned.

Posted by MommaSteph

Another public breastfeeding kerfuffle, nicely covered over at The Lactivist.

The dispute with Applebee’s began June 14. [Brooke] Ryan chose a booth in the back of the restaurant away from other customers. When her baby, Michael, got hungry, she began to nurse him discreetly, she said.

But a waitress came over and said that if she wanted to breast-feed, she had to cover the baby with a blanket. Ryan said it was so hot that she didn’t have a blanket. The waitress then repeated her request. Ryan said she then asked to see the manager and handed him a copy of the 2006 Kentucky law that prohibits interference with a woman breast-feeding her baby in public.

The manager said he knew about the law but a customer had complained about indecent exposure, so she had to cover the baby with a blanket.

Kentucky’s breastfeeding law, which, as we’ve noted before, like other state laws, merely reiterates a woman’s already established right to breastfeed in public anywhere in the US, states:

Breastfeeding a child or expressing breastmilk as part of breastfeeding shall not be considered an act of public indecency and shall not be considered indecent exposure, sexual conduct, lewd touching, or obscenity.

And:

No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be.

Which means the waitress and manager effectively broke the law.

Ms. Ryan and her lawyer sent a letter to Thomas and King, the company that operates the Applebee’s in question. No response at first, but their second letter got a reply, in which the company noted that they were considering keeping blankets in the restaurant so that breastfeeding women could cover themselves.

Seriously.

There’s been a campaign afoot to contact Applebee’s proper. Their apparent canned response:

“[The] corporate response to the breastfeeding in Lexington, Kentucky is that Applebee’s and its franchisees love having families dine together at our restaurants. We believe that this franchisee made a reasonable and lawful request of this guest in order to promote a pleasant and comfortable experience for all of its guests.”

The BWB Lactivist Yahoo group is organizing nurse-ins at Applebee’s on September 8, 12-1:00. Can’t say I blame them. Check their site for more information.

Posted by MommaSteph.

Eczema Clues: Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have found an association between eczema and two specific blood chemicals. For the study, 24 children wore wrist monitors that recorded their movements at night. Blood tests found that when the children were itchier at night, “brain-derived neurotrophic factor” (BDNF) and “substance P” were found in the blood at higher levels. The hope is that by honing in on the root causes of eczema, doctors will uncover better therapies to relieve suffering.

Breastfeeding and Obesity: A new study out of Denmark finds that the heavier a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the less likely she is to successfully breastfeed. “Among women who were morbidly obese (body mass index of 40 or greater), 14.4 percent had stopped exclusive breast-feeding by the time their child was a week old, compared with 3.5 percent of normal-weight women. Throughout the course of the study, the likelihood of stopping breast-feeding rose with BMI.” Because breastfeeding in Denmark is almost universal and has many social supports, researchers speculate that there could be a biological mechanism triggered by obesity that interferes with breastfeeding. They also note that some the heaviest women in their study were able to initiate and establish breastfeeding; it may be that for some heavy women, more breastfeeding support, such as from lactation consultants, would help them successfully nurse their babies.

Battle SCHIP: New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced that his state may sue the federal government over its plan to impose restrictions on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that would require states to insure 95% of poverty-level children before expanding the program to offer coverage to middle-income children in need of health coverage. Also at issue is the proposal that middle-income children remain uninsured for a year before becoming eligible for SCHIP. Governor Spitzer argues that the new regulations conflict with the existing law and with the “moral imperative” the government has to make sure children have access to health insurance.

Toy wooden train recalled for lead: The CPMC announced the recall of magnetic letter and number train sets sold by Johnson Smith Company, The Paragon Gifts Inc., and Starcrest Products of California catalogs from December 2005 through last month. The paint on the trains contains excessive amounts of lead. The trains were manufactured in China. “Consumers of record” can obtain a free replacement train by contacting the firm. See Hampton Direct’s web site for more information.

First of many? A Philadelphia law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against Mattel in a attempt to compel the company to cover the expenses for lead tests for children exposed to lead paint through the company’s recently recalled toys. The tests would cost roughly $50 each, the suit alleges. If children are identified as having been poisoned through the toys, more legal action is to be expected. The toy company had no comment on the pending litigation.

Formula and Over-feeding? A new report published in the the Journal of Human Lactation looks at weight loss patterns of newborns and finds that exclusively formula-fed babies lose the least amount of weight in their early days. Because of the “overhydration” of newborns, a 5-7% loss of birth weight is apparently considered normal. When formula-fed babies lose less than this, it may be a sign that they are over-feeding, which may lend support to theories that formula feeding is linked with later obesity risk, the report contends.

Universal Moms: A new study published in the journal Psychological Science concludes that “baby talk”, also known as “infant-directed speech”, is a universal phenomenon. The researchers recorded English-speaking mothers talking to their children and talking to other adults, and with various intentions (prohibitive, or giving approval, comfort, or attention). They then played the recordings to adults in a remote village in Ecuador. The participants were able to distinguish between adult-directed and infant-directed speech 73% of the time; they were also able to distinguish the intention of the speech, but they were more successful with this task when the mothers used baby talk.

Would make for an interesting email address… A Chinese couple wishes to name their new baby “@”. Many Chinese speakers pronounce the symbol “ai ta”, roughly sounding out the letters “a” and “t”, and this resembles a word that means “love him” in Mandarin. The new dad did not report whether or not the name has been approved, but the Chinese government has been cracking down lately on names that use foreign or non-traditional characters.

Botched Sterilization Lawsuit: An Oregon woman is suing a hospital because she became pregnant after she believed she was given a tubal ligation. Alba Avendano underwent the surgery after the birth of her third child. She subsequently learned that she was pregnant. After giving birth again, Ms. Avendano underwent a second surgery, where doctors learned that one of her fallopian tubes had been left intact. She is suing for $1 million for raising the child, $1 million for emotional distress, and $30,000 in medical expenses. (Via Feministing.)

Toddler Pool Discrimination? An Ohio mom has filed a civil rights complaint against her condo association because a rule was passed that bars the under three set from swimming in the community pool. The new regulation was passed after she first took her 19-month-old for a swim. A board member approached her and asked if her son was potty trained. (Mom says the boy was wearing a swim diaper and is potty trained.) The condo association has twice before been sued for discrimination against families with children. Both suits were settled. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is investigating this current complaint.

Obesity and Education: New research out of the University of Pennsylvania finds that obese elementary students miss an average of two more days of school per year than their normal-weight classmates. The lead author notes that childhood obesity concerns therefore go well beyond immediate health consequences: “It’s clear in all the literature that the more days of school you miss, it really sets you up for such negative outcomes: drugs and AIDS and (teen) pregnancy.” The researchers did not look at the reasons for the missed school days, but they theorize that the absenteeism is likely related to the social stigma of being overweight.

The Morton the Merrier: British actress Samantha Morton (Sweet & Lowdown, The Minority Report) announced that she is pregnant with her second child. Dad is fiancé Harry Holm. Ms. Morton has a seven-year-old daughter Esme from a previous relationship.

Pregnancy Discrimination News: The city of San Antonio has agreed to settle a Department of Justice lawsuit that alleges that its police department discriminated against a pregnant detective by reassigning her even though her pregnancy did not impact her ability to perform the requirements of her job. “Women must be allowed to perform their jobs without being subjected to unlawful policies or practices, simply because they are pregnant,” says Wan. J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

The Benefits of Preschool: Over at Working Dad, word of a new University of Minnesota study that finds that children who attend top-quality preschools are more likely to graduate from high school and continue to college, to be employed, and to have health insurance, and less likely to wind up in prison or depressed. The study focused on a Chicago public eduction program serving low-income families. Note the researchers, “Because expenditures for the medical care and justice systems comprise roughly 20 percent of the gross domestic product, the potential cost savings to governments and taxpayers of early childhood prevention programs are considerable.”