children's furniture

Choosing the right Bed

If this is a first bed I am guessing that your child is about two years old, so you have the option of purchasing a small starter bed. This will have the same mattress size as a standard baby-bed of 1400 x 700mm. The advantage of buying a bed this size is that it leaves lots of floor-space in the room, and an average child [what is an average child?] will be able to use a bed this size until the age of seven or eight. (Another advantage of this size bed is that the mattress is readily available in sprung format with a wipe-clean body and breathable foam head area; this means that those tiresome bed-wetting days while junior gets used to getting out of bed to pee are not such a burden for cleaning up.)

Ordinary beds have a choice of mattress sizes. The standard mattress is [in the UK] 1910 x 900mm. A Twin mattress size [preferred by Americans] is 990 x 1930mm.

The benefit of the larger bed is that your child can have a friend to sleep-over and simply share the bed. The other option is a trundle-bed or pull-out bed which is stored below the bed. It all depends on the size of room you have to work with.

Hardware

Beds come in many shapes and forms. When you find one you like, take a closer look. A child's bed will be a sofa, a trampoline, a den and, occasionally a place to sleep, it will take more abuse than any other bed in your house so check out the materials, and double check the hardware that holds it all together. Get onto the bed and sway left-to-right and up-and-down; give it a bit of a bounce; now pull back the mattress and keep an eye on the corner connectors while you push and pull on the joint. If there is movement when the bed is new, you can bet that it won't get any tighter with age;there should be no unacceptable movement, no creaking or cracking. The best bed connectors I have found are the Australian Maxi-Lock bed connectors which key together and tighten up with a threaded bolt. Most UK beds still use the traditional ‘hockey-stick' type connector which are okay if they are fitted correctly. Regardless of the type of fitting, check it for strength and slackness.

Mattress Foundation

There are two main types of foundations:

The Box Spring bed utilises a sturdy upholstered wooden frame containing springs or some other form of torsion. The box-spring serves three main purposes: To help raise the mattress's height; to help absorb shock and reduce wear to the mattress; and to help create a perfectly flat and firm structure for the mattress to lay upon.

Wood Slats are common, and these usually consist of at least a dozen solid wood planks strung together and fixed to the bed-rails. The slats should have soft edges, not machined to a sharp corner edge, or they will damage the mattress. They should be of good knot-free timber and preferably no more than 50mm apart. The main benefit of using a slatted bed is that you have much better access to below the bed for storage, retrieval and cleaning. And it allows the space for the pull-out trundle-bed.

Theme beds, such as car-beds, train-beds, digger-beds, fairy-tale designs, etc. Pay particular attention to these beds. These bed designs cost more to manufacture, so it is not unusual to discover that the manufacturer has attempted to save a little money and compromise the quality which will effect stability, and seviceable lifetime of the bed.

Buying a bed online is made really easy nowdays, but there is nothing to beat going to a shop and handling, kicking, lying on the bed to check it over before you part with your money. If you buy online be sure that you have the option of a full refund for ANY reason; and that refund shouldinclude pick-up from your home. Most retailers will demand that the goods are returned in original condition and that the original packaging is used, so if in doubt, hang on to the packaging when you first recieve the goods.

Childrens health care

This year there will be two different influenza (flu) vaccines: the usual, "seasonal" flu vaccine, and the H1NI or "swine" flu vaccine. These will be completely separate immunizations.

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Seasonal Influenza (Flu) Vaccine

At this time, the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academey of Pediatrics recommend that the following groups of people receive the SEASONAL flu vaccine:

• All children aged 6 months to 18 years
• People with chronic medical problems that put them at risk for more severe flu, including:

o Asthma

o Diabetes

o Cystic fibrosis

o Heart or lung disease

o Sickle cell anemia

o Kidney disease

o Children receiving long-term aspirin therapy

o Conditions or medicines that weaken the immune system

• Women who will be pregnant during influenza serason
• Household contacts and caregivers of children under 5 years old (and particularly under 6 months old)
• Household contacts and caregivers of other people at high risk for severe influenza
• Residents of long-term care facilities
• People aged 50 years and older
• Health-care personnel

Please Note: Supplies permitting, children under 9 years old need two shots (spaced at least one month apart) if it is their first season receiving the flu vaccine, or if it is their second season and they only received one shot last year.

Our seasonal influenza vaccine has begun to arrive, and all of our offices are taking appointments for flu shots on a first-come, first-served basis, supplies permitting. For your convenience, we are also planning a few evening or weekend "flu shot clinics" in our offices. Shots at all of these times will be by appointment only. Please contact any of our offices for further information or to schedule a flu shot for your child.

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H1NI "Swine" Influenza (Flu) Vaccine

We are hoping to start receiving H1N1 "swine" flu vaccine some time in October. Unfortunately, it is expected that the supplies will be limited. Because of that, the final recommendations from the Department of Public Health as to which groups will receive the vaccine are still in question. The current Centers for Disease Control recommendations give the following groups priority to receive H1N1 influenza vaccine:

• Children aged 6 months to 4 years
• Children aged 5 to 18 years who have high-risk chronic medical conditions (see list above for examples)
• Pregnant women
• People who live with or provide care for infants aged less than 6 months
• Health-care and emergency medical services personnel

If there are adequate supplies of vaccine, all people aged 6 months to 24 years old will also become a priority group.

Again, these guidelines are very tentative and subject to change. Ultimately, it will be up to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control to decide which groups will receice H1N1 flu vaccine. Because of this uncertainty (and the fact that no vaccine has been distributed), we cannot make appointments of reserve immunizations for any patients at this time for H1N1 flu vaccine. Please check back with one of our offices in October for updated details.