Temperatures are warming up, which means kids are spending more and more time outdoors. Staying safe while playing outside means they can have even more fun!

Riding a bike is a fun activity for all ages. Keep it fun by staying safe. Here some essential tips for Bike Safety we want to share:
• Always wear a helmet that fits. While helmets are not required by Colorado law, having your child wear one can help prevent serious injury. In addition, parents should be good role models and wear a helmet when they ride.
• Check your bike to make sure everything is working properly before riding. Do the ABC Quick check: Be sure there is enough AIR in the tires, the BRAKES are working, the CHAIN isn’t rusty or squeaky, and the QUICK release bolts are secure on the wheels.
• Know and follow the rules of the road, obeying the same laws as cars. Use hand signals, obey all traffic signals, yield to pedestrians and use lights at night.
• Wear reflective, comfortable clothing, and closed toe shoes.
• Always stay alert to your surroundings.

Visit Children’s Colorado for more information.

Parenting can be rewarding and challenging at the same time. There’s no such thing as the “perfect parent” or the “perfect child”, but having positive strategies to deal with tantrums and meltdowns can help. Treating discipline as education helps children learn appropriate behaviors and can have lasting benefits.

Drs. Antonia Chiesa and Dena Dunn from Children’s Hospital Colorado will be available today from 9 a.m. to 4 pm to answer your questions about positive parenting.

About our Experts

Dr. Antonia Chiesa, MD
Dr. Antonia Chiesa is currently an attending physician with the Kempe Child Protection Team at Children’s Hospital Colorado and has an academic appointment as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is board certified in Child Abuse Pediatrics.

Dr. Dena Dunn, Psy.D.
Dr. Dunn is an Instructor in the Irving Harris Program for Infant Mental Health and Child Development in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is a bilingual licensed clinical psychologist practicing at the Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her clinical and research interests focus on child development, early childhood mental health, and global health. She is also interested in integrating behavioral health services into medical settings, breastfeeding support, and Latino mental health. Dr. Dunn is the Director of Fussy Baby Latina, a branch of the Fussy Baby Network Colorado, providing support to families with fussy babies in the first year of life.

Your home sweet home should also be a home safe home. Safety doesn’t have to take a lot of time - there are quick, easy ways to help you and your family stay safe at home.
This month, Ask the Experts tackles tough home safety questions about Burn and Poison Prevention, Carbon Monoxide and Fire Dangers, and Window and Gun Safety. Remember, it’s okay to ask friends and relatives if they are taking appropriate safety precautions.

Please post your questions below between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on March 15, 2013 when Dr. Joan Bothner, Chief Medical Officer at Children’s Hospital Colorado, shares her answers to help keep your kids safe.

About Dr. Bothner

Joan Bothner, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO)
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Associate Dean, Clinical Affairs at Children’s Hospital Colorado
University of Colorado School of Medicine (UCSOM)

Dr. Joan Bothner is the Chief Medical Officer for Children’s Hospital Colorado, consistently ranked one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation. In her role, Dr. Bothner oversees the medical staff, and she is intricately involved in strategic clinical program development, clinical operations, research operations, relationships with the UCSOM and its faculty as well as with community providers and partners, and she is responsible for the assurance of the delivery of high quality, effective and efficient patient care.

Dr. Bothner joined Children’s Colorado in 1990 as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and as the Medical Director of the CHCO Emergency Department. Since joining Children’s, she has served as the Section Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine for the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the Medical Director of Ambulatory Services at CHCO, the Associate Medical Director of University Physicians, Inc., and as the Vice President of Physician Services for Ambulatory and Network Operations for CHCO, She assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer in 2007.

After earning her medical degree and completing her pediatric residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston TX, Dr. Bothner discovered that pediatric emergency medicine was her true passion. After a pediatric emergency medicine fellowship in Akron, Ohio, she relocated to Colorado, and developed the emergency medicine program at CHCO. She has served on the Executive Committee for Pediatric Emergency Medicine for the American Academy of Pediatrics, as the Chair of the Mile High Regional Emergency Medicine and Trauma Advisory Council. She has numerous publications in the field of pediatric emergency medicine.

As an emergency medicine physician who routinely interacted with hospital operations and executive administration, early in her career she developed a keen interest in understanding and balancing the interests and critical needs of the medical staff, faculty, and hospital administration. With the goal of alignment and achievement of mutual strategies and objectives, she has continued to focus her career within the institutions with which she is affiliated on that aim, as well as continuing to practice emergency medicine.

Infant Sleep Safety: Prevent Accidental Suffocation of Infants!

Here some essential tips for Infant Sleep Safety we want to share, based on previous “Ask the Experts” questions:
• Babies should sleep alone in a bed made for babies, not with another child or an adult (known as “bedsharing”).
• Keep your baby safe in a bassinet at arm’s reach and at bed level, not in your bed. This is a safe alternative to bedsharing.
• Babies should always sleep on their back.
• Use a Onzie or sleep sack instead of a blanket to prevent head covering and overheating
• Propping babies on pillows is high risk, lay them flat on the back.
• Do not use sleep positioners, pillows, crib-bumpers, or blankets in a baby crib.
• Consider using a pacifier, these are protective.
• Provide a smoke-free environment.

Why these new warnings? Read more from Children’s Colorado.

Please check back for dates our Experts will be available to answer your questions.

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Children’s Hospital Colorado Ask the Experts is available one day per month for various pediatric health and injury prevention subjects. You can always browse through previous questions and answers on popular topics at any time.

Here is our upcoming schedule. Check back often for updates on dates and times, and feel free to leave a comment with suggested topics for future Ask the Experts blogs below:

· Friday, March 15th, 9am–4pm: Home Safe Home
· Friday, April 12th, 9am–4pm: Positive Parenting
· Thursday, May 2nd, 9am–4pm: Bike Safety and Outdoor Fun
· Friday, June 14th, 9am - 4pm: Toddlers 101
· Monday, July 8th, 9am - 4pm: Summer Fun
· August: Back to School and Back to Sports
· September: Teen and Preteen 101
· October: Halloween Nutrition and Safety
· November: Happy Holidays – even with cranky or picky kids!
· December: Babies 101

From diapers to family dinners, helping with homework to college goodbyes, Dr. Harley Rotbart from Children’s Hospital Colorado has tips and answers on how to turn long days and short years into cherished moments with your kids.
Dr. Rotbart (@NoRegretsParent) will be available today from 12 p.m. to 4 pm to answer any questions you have.

About Dr. Rotbart
Dr. Rotbart is a Denver native and has been a pediatric specialist in Colorado for the past 30 years. Named to Best Doctors in America every year since 1996, he has more than 175 medical and scientific publications. No Regrets Parenting is his 3rd book for parents.
Harley serves on the Advisory Boards of Parents Magazine and Parents.com. Dr. Rotbart is a regular monthly contributor to Parents Magazine’s GoodyBlog and writes for The New York Times Motherlode Blog. He speaks to parent, school, and community groups around the country, and regularly appears in major national media as an authority on child health. Harley and his wife Sara have 3 almost-launched kids.
For more tips and information on Dr. Rotbart, visit his website here.

Playing with the kids and having fun as a family can burn more calories than you might imagine. No gym membership required, and it doesn’t even feel like exercise! Exercise expert, Michel Witten, from Children’s Hospital Colorado is available today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to answer your questions about how to get more exercise and incorporate it in to each day. Post your questions as comments below.

For more tips and information on exercising as a family and how many calories you can burn doing fun activities, visit the Children’s Hospital Colorado website here.

About our Expert: Michael Witten, MS, CSCS, is an exercise physiologist and director of the Children’s Hospital Colorado Wellness Center.

Babies cry, sometimes a lot. Not only is it normal, it’s healthy. As frustrating or overwhelming as that crying may be, shaking a baby is never an option. Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is a leading cause of trauma death for children under the age of two in Colorado. So when your baby cries, you need a plan and resources.

Pediatric experts from the Fussy Baby Network and Children’s Hospital Colorado are available today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to answer your questions on ways to deal with crying.

For more tips and information on how to calm a crying baby and to make your plan, visit the Children’s Colorado Calm a Crying Baby website here.

One of our Children’s Hospital Colorado pediatric experts is available today to discuss the adventurous subject of traveling with kids and toddlers. Make sure your family has smooth and easy travel this holiday season with tips from our early childhood psychologist, Dr. Ayelet Talmi.

Find out what to pack, how to prepare for any traveling situation, and how to get back to your normal routine when you return. Post your questions as comments here today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to continue the conversation.

SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year old, and claims the lives of about 2,500 each year in the United States. There are tips for keeping your little one safe during sleep and things to do to help prevent SIDS. Our pediatric experts from the Children’s Hospital Colorado are available today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to answer your questions.

For more tips and information on how to keep your baby safe during sleep, visit Children’s website here.