Swimmer’s Ear Season

Summer is coming which means its time for swimmer's ear. This is the casual name for an infection called otitis externa, which is an infection of the ear and outer ear canal.

The tell tale signs you kid has it a red or inflamed appearance to the ear. It can also be very itchy and your kid won't stop scratching it. Moving the head can be difficult. Even just touching the area can cause a kid to yelp. In serious cases there may be pus draining from ear.

This kind of otitisis often caused by infection with a germ called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This germ is everywhere – including ins oil and water. It can only be seen with a microscope. Anyone can get it but kids are more prone to getting it.

Most kids get it by swimming in the contaminated water. However you can also get it by handling a contaminated object. Contaminated object could be absolutely anything and not necessarily anything that was around the pool either. The symptoms usually begin within a few days of contact with the bacteria.

So0me of the more common symptoms of swimmer'sear include diminished hearing, pus draining, fever, pain radiating to the neck face or side of the neck. Your child may also complain that the ear feels block or full and the ear may even appear to be distended from the head. The lymph nodes may also appear to be swollen. An ordinary ear infection is not the same as Swimmer's Ear. If you can wiggle or press the outer ear without pain or discomfort then it is probably an ordinary infection. If pulling on the ear causes a problem then it is the swimmer's ear infection.

To prevent it dry your kid's ears completely after swimming. Applying several drops of an alcohol based ear product can also help. I actually blow dry the insides of my kid's ears out with a blowdryer.

Another way to prevent them is simply stay out of polluted rivers, ponds or streams and pools that are known for being unsanitary.

It also helps to minimize your use of Q Tips. Putting anything in the ear can make infections worse. Even sterile cotton swabs can scratch the inside of the ear and cause and infection to grow. You can even end up pushing germs deeper inside the ear canal if you are not careful. You should also avoid putting hot olive oil or anything else like that in the child's ear as this problem is not the same as real block with earwax.

Sometimes you can treat an infection that sets in with antibiotic ear drops or mildly acidic solution such as boric or acetic acid.

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The Unisex Baby Names

The other day I met a baby named Taylor. Do you think it was a boy or a girl? It was a girl.

The trend nowadays is to choose names that leave the sex of the child to be a bit of a mystery. Not to many boys are named Shelagh. However there is a lot of naming girls with the little boys names. There is also a lot nicknaming this way. For instance a little girl named Roberta easily becomes 'Bobby.' It is also easy for a James to become a Jamie.

One way to get a truly unisex name is to choose something unique and different for their babies. An older name that is more ambiguous works. A good example would be the name Forrest that is both a male and female name. Some of these names come from the family. For instance a girl named Danny might actually have a grandfather named Daniel. Same thing goes with a girl name Alex or Frankie. Sometimes a little change such as adding an 'a' as in Alexa can help.

Some baby boy names or masculine names used these days to name a baby girl are Troy, Tom, Donnie, Gabby, Wilson, Ritchie and Wilson. Some boy or male names can be modified in their spelling and pronunciation so that they sound more girly. Daniel becomes Danielle. Oliver becomes Olivia. Gabriel becomes Gabriella. In fact that is an excellent way of feminizing a male name. A very common examine of that is how Paul becomes Paula. Anton becomes Antonella. Lowell becomes Lowella. Robert becomes Roberta and Albert become Alberta. You see this a lot in fraternal twins. An example would be Ivan and Ivana. When in doubt add an a!

Going to very ancient place names can also be unisex. For instance Paris can either be a male or female name. In fact Paris Hilton went out with a multi-millionaire man also named Paris last year. Michael Jackson also named his daughter Paris. Another good example is Madonna's kid who is named Lourdes.

Other unisex names are derived from celebrates. For instance a child named Jagger could be either male or female. Famous weird unisex names are the Frank Zappa kid names – such as Moon Unit. Xavier is also a good example of true unisex name.

One of the few examples I can think where a male name is actually quite female sounding is Marion. In fact, John Wayne – the biggest tough guy ever was born as Marion. Also, remember the boy named Sue? It is actually spelled Su.

Another interesting phenomenon is people naming their children after objects. For instance the name Diamond could be either male or female. A good example of this is Gwyneth Paltrow's child, which is named Apple.

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