Parent alert: the Walt Disney Company is now offering refunds for all those “Baby Einstein” videos that did not make children into geniuses.

They may have been a great electronic baby sitter, but the unusual refunds appear to be a tacit admission that they did not increase infant intellect.

“We see it as an acknowledgment by the leading baby video company that baby videos are not educational, and we hope other baby media companies will follow suit by offering refunds,” said Susan Linn, director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which has been pushing the issue for years.

Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/education/24baby.html?_r=2#

Weston Designer Show House
Public Viewing:  Tuesday, October 6 – Sunday, November 1
When:  Tuesday to Saturday, 11 AM to 5 PM and Sunday, Noon to 5 PM (closed Mondays)
Where: 44 Ridge Road, Weston, CT  06883
Show House Office Phone:  203.293.4817
Event Information:
The momentum is building in Weston, CT where something special will be happening this fall.  Franco Grimaldi, Show House Producer and President & CEO of Talent Resource Centre, LLC is happy to announce that his upcoming Show House event will benefit one of Connecticut oldest charities…The Connecticut Humane Society!

Located in Fairfield County at 44 Ridge Road in Weston, Connecticut the house will be featuring designs from some of the tri-state areas most talented and respected designers, suppliers and manufacturers. Over a dozen design spaces will be open for public viewing in this 9,000 sq. ft. magnificent stately residence which is presently on the market.  Daily admission is $30.

http://tylenol.com/?s_kwcid=kids%20tylenol%20recall

You may have heard that McNeil Consumer Healthcare (the makers of TYLENOL®) is voluntarily recalling certain lots of Children’s and Infants’ TYLENOL® liquid products that were manufactured between April, 2008 and June, 2008. All products manufactured met internal specifications. However, the company is implementing this recall because during this period, an unused portion of one inactive ingredient did not meet all quality standards. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it was decided to recall all Children’s and Infants’ TYLENOL® liquid products listed below, which were made during this time.

Parents and caregivers who have questions or concerns should contact their child’s health care provider or our consumer call center at 1-800-962-5357 (available Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time). Consumers can find the lot numbers on the bottom of the box containing the liquid product and also on the sticker that surrounds the product bottle. The lot numbers of the affected products are listed below.

These actions do not apply to Children’s TYLENOL® Meltaways and Junior Strength TYLENOL® Meltaways. The voluntary recall applies only to select lots of Children’s and Infants’ TYLENOL® liquid products.

Recalled Products – Full List

The study, to be published in the Aug. 8 issue, found about one in eight people who died after contracting the new virus was pregnant. The hospitalization rate for pregnant women was more than four times that of the general population, the study showed.

The findings support advice from health authorities including the World Health Organization that pregnancy may put women at greater risk of developing complications from the pandemic H1N1 flu. The data collected and analyzed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are the most comprehensive available to date on the impact of this novel flu virus among pregnant women, the Atlanta-based agency said in a statement today.

“If a pregnant woman feels like she may have influenza, she needs to call her health-care provider right away,” Denise Jamieson, lead author of the study, said in the statement. “Clinicians who treat pregnant women should have a system in place for triaging pregnant women with influenza-like symptoms and they should not delay in initiating appropriate antiviral therapy.”

“Teaching new mothers how to breast-feed could save 1.3 million children’s lives every year, but many women get no help and give up trying, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Fewer than 40 percent of mothers worldwide breast-feed their infants exclusively in the first six months, as recommended by the WHO. Many abandon it because they don’t know how to get their baby to latch on properly or suffer pain and discomfort.

“When it comes to doing it practically, they don’t have the practical support,” WHO expert Constanza Vallenas told a news briefing in Geneva, where the United Nations agency is based.

This is a problem in both rich and poor countries, she said, calling for more assistance in hospitals, health clinics and communities for new mothers who need information and help.”