15 Old wives tales

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Saturday, September 01, 2012

15 OLD WIVES' TALES DOCTORS BELIEVE

(Netscape) Parents expect their pediatrician to be an expert on children's health and development. Those expectations may be too high. When asked if 15 old wives' tales were true or false, only 17% of the board-certified pediatricians surveyed correctly said all of them were indeed false. That is the finding of a study of 1,000 board-certified American pediatricians in primary care practice that was conducted by Dr. Andrew Adesman of the Children's Medical Center of New York and author of "BabyFacts: The Truth About Your Child From Newborn Through Preschool." The good news is that these are all relatively benign old wives' tales and won't actually harm a child. But holding fast to facts that are false won't help a child who really needs medical care. Adesman found that pediatricians who practiced in urban settings and never had children of their own were most likely to believe the old wives' tales. All 15 of these old wives' tales are false. Did you think any of them were true?

17% said vitamin C helps ward off colds.
16% said eating carrots will improve a child's vision.
15% said children should not swim until 30 minutes after eating.
15% said wounds heal quicker when exposed to the air.
11% said listening to Mozart will make a baby smarter.
11% said sugar causes hyperactivity.
10% said caffeine can stunt growth.
9% said sleeping with a night light causes nearsightedness.
8% said eating chocolate causes acne.
7% said reading in the dark causes visual problems.
7% said sitting too close to the TV will damage vision.
4% said drinking milk causes an increase in phlegm.
3% said adding rice cereal at bedtime helps babies sleep through the night.
3% said a child with diarrhea should not be given dairy until the diarrhea resolves.
1% said iron in baby formula causes constipation.