Oh great, another food ingredient for us to worry about. Did you know that carrageenan is like poison ivy for your intestines -- supposedly? FAN-TA-STIC! Carrageenan is a thickener made from seaweed that you'll find in ice cream and -- dammit -- those yogurt tubes every single toddler ever just loves. So let's have it. How bad is carrageenan? How much damage does it do?

Numerous studies have shown carrageenan to cause everything from intestinal inflammation to colon cancer. Apparently the body considers it an invader. Concerned doctors have tried to get the FDA to ban it from foods, they're so freaked out over it, but so far no luck. Meanwhile, the European Union has banned it from baby formula. Wait -- it's in baby formula?!?

Wow, there are a lot of constipated kids out there. In a recent study, researchers found that having backed up bowels is the most common emergency room diagnosis for kids.

They found that 25 percent of kids who are diagnosed with anything when visiting the ER are diagnosed with plain old constipation. Talk about feeling like a crappy parent when the doctor gives you that news (sorry). But really, it's got to be a shock to find out that something you thought was serious enough to warrant an ER visit was something so basic. 

There's good news though. Constipation rarely warrants any kind of major medical treatment, and you can often treat and prevent constipation on your own with very simple methods. Here are seven natural ways to treat and prevent constipation in kids.

Another ad campaign against childhood obesity has landed the creators in hot water. This time the folks at First 5 California have taken an image of a child model drinking milk and enhanced it to make the child appear overweight. The milk, of course, has been traded out for a big cup labeled "sugar."

Seeing the problem here? Me neither.

Hi Sweetie!

So you and Xavier are about to visit Grandpa, your first solo flight with our little guy. It's going to be great! And since I’ve done the solo flight thing twice, I’m here to offer you some tips on making it through the plane ride.

First up: People will help you. The first time I took Xavier on a plane, he couldn’t walk. When it came time to fold up the stroller to go through security, I needed two hands. I couldn’t just plop him on the ground, could I? Luckily, this very nice woman behind me saw my plight and offered to hold our boy. Oh, I never told you I let a complete stranger hold Xavier, that I didn’t first drown her in hand sanitizer? Well, we can laugh about it now, right?

I just read the most amazing article about an emergency room doctor who stitched up a gash in a little girl's forehead. The amazing part -- she wasn't even aware that he was stitching her forehead and left the hospital feeling like it had been a fun experience. Crazy, right? No, he did not hypnotize her. And the only chemical pain relief he used was Novocaine gel rubbed on her wound. Everything else was just skillful doctoring.

When Rachel Zimmerman took her daughter Julia to the ER, her daughter was treated by Dr. Baruch Krauss. Rachel was so impressed by Dr. Krauss' technique she had to share it: "When the Doctor Says This Won't Hurt a Bit -- And Incredibly, It's True." But I think there's a lot from Dr. Krauss' technique that parents can use when we're helping our kids deal with pain, too. 

Oh Toddlers and Tiaras, you're always good for some judgy parental shockers. In the first episode of the new season we meet two-tear-old Alexa, the coffee-drinking pageant girl. She's been chugging the black stuff since she was nine months old -- and she doesn't even add milk, which would sort of redeem her coffee habit. But don't worry, her doctors are totally okay with it! I would like to meet these doctors because that's bananas.

Supposedly caffeine isn't the worst thing in the world for kids -- but it's not great for them, either. What in Sam hell would put it into your head to feed a NINE MONTH OLD BABY coffee, anyway? Did Alexa's mom look at her daughter one morning and think, "Huh, kid looks a little lethargic this morning. Better fuel her up with some coffee for her important job of being a baby." Was she constipated? Is that how this started? I just... I don't get it. But that's not even the worst thing Alexa drinks.

Swimming season is here, and some of us are getting ready to watch our kids like hawks when we're at the pool or the beach. But do we really know what we're looking for? Here's something I read recently in Slate that scared the bejeezus out of me: Drowning doesn't look like drowning.

No joke -- I had no idea. When we picture someone drowning, we imagine them splashing around noisily, but nope. It's silent and deadly. Drowning is the number two cause of accidental death for children. Even scarier, over half of the children who die from drowning will do so within 25 yards of a parent. So! Wouldn't you like to know what drowning DOES look like?

We all know a crazy, overprotective helicopter mom or two; some of us might even admit to a little hovering of our own. But you'd be hard pressed to find anyone quite as determined to keep her kid safe, as mom Julie Cook, who calls herself "the world's most over-protective mother."

In an article in the Daily Mail, the first-time mother writes about the extreme efforts she took to keep her son Alex safe during his early years. Besides padding nearly every inch of her house, she said when he began moving about, she started making him wear a "crash helmet" full-time. He wore the thing at home, out running errands, and even to Cook's own wedding.

When her fiance asked that if just on their one special day they could remove it, she balked. "'The town hall is huge,' I protested, ‘and it’s full of sharp edges and polished floors. What if he hits his head?’"