Health, Safety and Nutrition for Young Children: Information Resources

HEALTH AND SAFETY

     Over thirty sites present health guidelines and a Government health insurance initiative, safety in child care, medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical information, parenting, disease prevention, nutrition and safety.

American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.aap.org
     Publications and information about child health, health policy, parenting, and pediatric practices. The site also offers a searchable collection of journal abstracts.

American Public Health Association
http://www.apha.org
     APHA is the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world, representing more than 50,000 members from over 50 occupations of public health.

Babycenter
http://www.babycenter.com
     Offers timely information on topics covering pre-natal to toddler development, including health, nutrition, parenting, childcare among others. Parenting chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards are available. Includes a “shop our store” section that can be searched under many categories of baby products and equipment.

Bright Futures
http://www.brightfutures.org
     Bright Futures is sponsored by Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, supported in part by Pfizer Pediatric Health. Bright Futures material is produced by National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health and is not copyrighted. “The goal of Bright Futures is to respond to current and emerging preventive and health promotion needs of infants, children, adolescents, families, and communities.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov
     Contains information on current disease prevention topics. There is a wonderful section on Infants and Children in the Health Information Area (see next reference).

CDC's Infants and Children's Health Page
http://www.cdc.gov/health/nfantsmenu.htm
     This section is part of the CDC Web site. This site addresses a long list of topics that includes airbag safety, baby bottle tooth decay, playground injuries, and childhood diseases.

Children's Health Insurance Program
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/schip/
     Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) informational website on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Dr. Greene's Housecalls
http://www.drgreene.com
     Pediatrician Alan Greene provides detailed answers to medical and parenting questions. The site also includes a searchable medical encyclopedia.

Drug Infonet
http://www.druginfonet.com
     Contains both information and links to areas on the web concerning healthcare and pharmaceutical-related topics.

Head Start Region IV Health & Nutrition Home Page
http://www.wku.edu/Info/General/TTAS/health/index.htm
     From the Region IV Training and Technical Services pages at Western Kentucky University, this resource offers a great selection of dental, general, infant and children, medication, and nutrition sites. See below for health listserv address.

Head Start Region IV HealthListserv
http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wer4health
     Join the listserv devoted to discussing a wide variety of health issues in Head Start programs.

Healthanswers
http://www.healthanswers.com
     Contains a section of videos on children's health topics.

HealthFinder®
http://www.healthfinder.gov
     This free gateway to consumer health and human service information, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leads to selected on-line publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the Government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce health information.

Healthy Child Care America
http://nccic.org/hcca/index.html
     This Federal Government initiative works to increase collaboration between the early childhood community and the public health community to create the best care for children in childcare. A newsletter is available full-text on-line, from 1997 to the present..

Healthy Childcare-Health and Safety Ideas for the Young Child
http://www.healthychild.net/index.html
     For parents and professionals who work with parents, this is the on-line version of the magazine by the same name. The site includes reproducible parent information sheets and mini-posters.

HRSA Information Center
http://www.ask.hrsa.gov/Instructions.cfm
     On-line service provides access to a catalog of maternal and child health publications and links to state level maternal and child health contacts.

Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute
http://www.pediatricinstitute.com
     For parents and professionals, the site includes information on infant development, pregnancy and postpartum care, early infant care, and newborn behavior.

KidsHealth
http://kidshealth.org
     For parents and educators, KidsHealth provides doctor-approved health information about children ages 2 through 18, created by The Nemours Foundation Center for Children's Health Media. The site has separate areas for kids, teens, and parents - each area designed with age-appropriate content.

KidSource OnLine
http://www.kidsource.com
     Parents founded KidSource OnLine to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of parents and their children. It contains education and healthcare information for parents.

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau
http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov
     The Maternal and Child Health Bureau's site provides full-text factsheets on the dangers of looped window cords, SIDS, nutrition, bike safety, hepatitis B, and other subjects. Many of the publications provided are available in several languages..

Mayo Clinic Family Life Center
http://www.mayoclinic.com/index.cfm?
     Click on Family Life Center for up-to-date information from the Mayo Clinic physicians, scientists, writers and educators on a wide variety of health related topics.

National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health
http://www.ncemch.org
     NCEMCH provides national leadership to the maternal and child health community to improve the health and well being of the nation's children and families.

National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM)
http://www.infanthearing.org
     NCHAM's 2-year Hearing Head Start Project demonstrates model strategies for enhancing the capacities of Migrant, American Indian, and Early Head Start providers to screen children 0- to 3-years of age for hearing loss using otoacoustic emissions (OAE) technology. The project, supported by the Administration for Children and Families, the Head Start Bureau and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau is located at Utah State University. NCHAM conducts research studies and provides training and technical assistance that focuses on ensuring that all infants (newborns) and toddlers with hearing loss are identified as early as possible and provided with timely and appropriate audiological, educational, and medical intervention. Its activities are disseminated through a newsletter – Sound Ideas – available on its web site.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
http://www.nichd.nih.gov
     Primarily for professionals, NICHD administers a multidisciplinary program of research and public information on reproductive, neurobiological, developmental, and behavioral health processes that determine and maintain the health of children, adults, families and populations.

National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
http://nrc.uchsc.edu
     The site provides information to promote health and safety in out-of-home childcare settings, and includes the National Health and Safety Performance Standards and child care licensure requirements throughout the nation. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services funds the Resource Center.

National Safe Kids Campaign
http://www.safekids.org
     For parents and professionals, not only does the National Safe Kids Campaign's page provide links to additional health and safety sites, it also has an extensive collection of fact sheets on topics that include prevention of bicycle injuries, drowning, scald burn injuries, poisoning, and sports injuries.

NOAH: New York On-line Access to Health
http://www.noah-health.org/index.html
     The NOAH project is the result of a joint effort between City University of New York, Metropolitan New York Library Council, New York Academy of Medicine and New York Public Library. This site is bilingual--providing health information in both English and Spanish, and has extensive information on all aspects of healthcare.

Parentsplace.com
http://www.parentsplace.com/health
     Designed for parents, this site contains a broad and comprehensive range of health topics. Many topics encourage questions and answers by an identified expert in the field, complete with references and related links. Choose the site's Health link to access a list of health topics.

PDR.net
http://www.pdr.net
     A site by the publishers of the PDR (the Physicians Desk Reference) that provides drug information and more. Allows access by type of user: nurses, pharmacists, and consumers.

Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Information
http://www.druginfonet.com/index.php?pageID=manufacturers.htm
     Link to the Web sites of drug manufacturers.

RXList--The Internet Drug Index
http://www.rxlist.com/
     This site will help you find out about specific drugs and their actions. Just typing in the name of the drug yields a wealth of information.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Children's Health Protection
http://www.epa.gov/children
     Information for professionals and parent education materials on protecting children from environmental health threats are provided. Topics include helping children to breathe easier, protecting children from lead and carbon monoxide poisoning, pesticides and other toxic chemicals. The site also includes find information about childhood cancer, asthma, and developmental and neurological problems.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health
http://www.omhrc.gov
     Provides information on subjects related to cultural competence, including the provision of health and other services to minority children. Telephone: 800-444-6742

NUTRITION

     A sampling of sites on school nutrition, nutrition-awareness information for children and parents, and other nutrition-related sites.

American School Food Service Association (ASFSA)
http://www.asfsa.org
     Founded in 1946, the ASFSA has been improving the availability, quality and acceptance of school nutrition programs. The association strives to see that all children have access to healthful school meals and nutrition education. This site provides links to regulatory, legislative, and industry nutritional news, as well as an electronic newsletter and helpful recipes.

Dole 5-A-Day
http://www.dole5aday.com
     This site sponsored by the Dole Food Company focuses on the National Cancer Institute's recommendation to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. The site has a section for children and one for educators. Included in the educators' section are nutrition-related classroom activities and materials as well as a “Fruit and Vegetable Encyclopedia” that provides nutritional information, as well as fun facts.

Education World
http://db.education-world.com/perl/browse?cat_id=1530
     Nutrition page provides an extensive list of nutrition web sites for teachers. Also on this page are direct links to web sites containing lesson plans on the topic of nutrition.

Feeding Young Children in Group Settings
http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/feeding
     This educational program is aimed at childcare professionals, educators, food service workers, and anyone who trains staff or parents on issues related to feeding. The series includes four sessions that will be broadcast live via satellite and may be taped for later use.

Food Safety
http://www.foodsafety.gov
     FoodSafety.gov is a gateway web site that provides links to selected government food safety-related information. Included is information on food borne pathogens, tips on cooking food to ensure safety and the importance of hand washing. There is a section for kids and educators, which includes materials written in language that children can understand.

KidsFood
http://www.kidsfood.com
     Child appealing and nutritious recipes, as well as links to other materials for parents and teachers are provided.

KidsHealth
http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/index.html
     This Health and Nutrition page is aimed at parents and provides information on feeding children from newborns through age two, information about reading food labels, children's weight, and tips on food safety at home.

KidSource OnLine
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/pages/health.nutrition.html
     KidSource OnLine is maintained by a group of parents who want to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of parents and children. The KidSource Nutrition page lists and “rates” articles on the topic of nutrition, addressing such issues as osteoporosis prevention, childhood obesity, and breastfeeding.

National Agricultural Library Food and Nutrition Information Center
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic
     The National Agricultural Library's Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) is part of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In addition to general information about on topics such as nutrition, food safety and food allergies, childcare professionals will be interested in the Child Care Nutrition Resource System, which provides recipes and resources specific to the child care industry.

Nutrition Explorations
http://www.nutritionexplorations.org
     Sponsored by the Dairy Council, this site includes resources and activities for young people, families, school cafeteria staff, and teachers.

TeachFree
http://www.teachfree.org
     TeachFree, which is sponsored by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Beef Board, is a web site providing educators with access to high-quality, peer-reviewed, free supplemental classroom kits. Nutrition, health, food safety and food production are examples of the topics covered.

U.S. Consumer Information Center's Food Information
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/food.htm
     In addition to providing links to the full-text of fact sheets and pamphlets on a wide variety of food and nutrition topics, this page also provides information on how to order multiple copies of the pamphlets.

USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/cnrc
     CNRC is a cooperative venture between Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital and the US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS). The CNRC is dedicated to outlining the nutritional needs of children, from conception through adolescence, as well as the needs of pregnant women and nursing mothers. Their web site provides scientific data that will enable healthcare providers and policy advisors to make dietary recommendations that will benefit the health of today's children and that of generations to come. Also offered on the web site is the opportunity to subscribe to the Center's free electronic nutrition newsletter.

USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
http://www.usda.gov/cnpp
     The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion is made up primarily of nutritionists, nutrition scientists, and economists. The Center is responsible for developing and coordinating nutrition policy within the USDA; preparing periodic updates on the expense of family food plans and of raising children; and investigating techniques for successful nutrition communication for Americans. Their web site provides links to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as well as recipes and tips for healthy and inexpensive meals.

USDA Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children
http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/KidsPyra/LittlePyr.pdf
     Found on the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion's web site, this page provides links to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, in a variety of formats for use in the classroom. Also on this page is background information about the pyramid and contact information for those needing additional information.