Health Tip: Choosing a Child Safety Seat
A child safety seat could save your youngster's life in the event of a serious automobile accident.
The Nemours Foundation offers this list of safety features to look for in a child safety seat:
- The product should be labeled as meeting or exceeding Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213.
- If you can, invest in a new child safety seat rather than accepting a hand-me-down or buying a used one.
- Never use a child safety seat that was made more than 10 years ago or one that was in a car accident.
- Make sure that any infant younger than a year old and weighing less than 20 pounds is in an infant safety seat facing backward. Toddlers 1 year and older and weighing 20 pounds to 40 pounds can ride in a forward-facing safety seat. Children who are between 40 pounds and 80 pounds should use a booster seat.
- Make sure your child's safety seat is a good fit -- don't get one that's too small or too large.
Health Tip: Testing for Allergies
If you're allergic to one or more things, your doctor may recommend allergy testing to find out what's behind your symptoms.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers this look at different types of allergy diagnostics:
- Skin tests, which involve placing potential allergens under the skin to look for any reaction. Skin tests can gauge pollen, food, mold and other potential allergens.
- An elimination diet test looks for foods that can be causing allergy symptoms, and involves removing foods from the diet one at a time.
- Blood tests can be used to detect antibodies to potential allergens in the blood.
- Provocation (challenge) testing exposes someone to particular allergens in a controlled environment to see if there is a reaction.
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