Thoughts on family health.

I found this article this morning in the New York Times, and it's spurred me on to writing a post about kids and health and our family in particular. A brief synopsis of the article: assuming there aren't other symptoms, a fever in a kid over three months old is a good sign of a healthy immune system. Despite this clear evidence of the immune system at work, many parents still see a fever as a "bad" thing that necessitates calls to doctors or even E.R. visits.

There's a little section of Dr. Sears's The Baby Book that I remember reading nearly five years ago, before Maia was born, in which he emphatically explains the points that the NY Times article is making. This little section of his book is one of the most important tools in my parenting toolbox, because it's broadened over the years into a general principle of trust in my kids' bodies to take care of themselves (absent signs of illness or distress, of course).

Brian and I don't tend to medicate for fevers unless they are creeping up to higher levels. We've never gone to the doctor's office for a fever alone (even when Maia had one that was over 104 degrees back in the day), and we've never had a doctor suggest that we do so.

This has been a sea change in my adult life, and part of the purpose of reflecting on it here is to put into black-and-white words the difference between who I was and who I am. I used to view my body with suspicion and skepticism. I used to take medicine for every headache, every fever, every sneeze. No longer. Perhaps my resistance to medicating everything originates, in part, in the recall after recall of various medications over the years, both for adults and kids. My previous trust in these meds to be safe and do their jobs was, in fact, unfounded. (Duh.)

Also, though, is yet another way in which birthing and breastfeeding two kids has shifted my perspective. I have a visceral knowledge of the wonder of a well-functioning body; I've seen, time-and-time again, the remarkable transformations that our bodies can undergo. If I can produce enough milk to keep a 22-pound baby happy and growing, then you bet I can fight off a measly cold. If I can grow and nourish and birth an eight-and-a-half pound boy without the assistance of any meds at all, then you bet I can handle a headache without meds.

Now, of course, there are bumps in the road, and occasional days when Eli's teeth are giving him fits (and Tylenol can help), or my headache is impeding the progress of my day (and Tylenol can help with that, too). I'm not a Luddite when it comes to medical technology and assistance.

But still, it seems we might collectively be taking the technology and assistance too far. I remember an article I read just a few weeks ago about new evidence that might indicate that using antibiotics to treat various illnesses in babies increases the chance that those babies will deal with asthma later on. Over-use of antibiotics is a well-known problem that a lot of doctors struggle with--there's even a poster about this issue up on the wall in our family doctor's waiting room.

I wanted to record my philosophy about all of this here, in the middle of winter, as three of the four of us (Brian, Maia, and Eli) are fighting off a mild cold. I bet I'll be turning to this post again (and the articles I've included in it) when the next illness sweeps through preschool or Eli's up five times a night with a stuffy nose. I like the process of working through my core thoughts on something when I'm feeling strong--I can then "talk" to myself again through these same words when I'm feeling weak. :)