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Aug. 28, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:42
Overcome Anxiety & Fears with Dr. Oz & Iyanla Vanzant | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 87 | Full Episode
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Time Text
The threat of terror attacks has all of us on edge.
We don't understand how powerful our minds are.
Life coach Iyama Van Zandt helps you overcome your fears.
My son was shot in the head.
My son suffers every day.
What you focus on grows.
And right now you're focusing on the fear.
Iyama's life-changing tip coming up next.
I want you to give some concrete steps for Dawn and everybody else out there to help them lower their fear, their worry.
We'll save lives today.
We are ready to get healthy!
Health and safety, they go hand in hand.
Thank you all very much.
These days, we are bombarded with headlines of tragic news, and that affects our health.
So today, we're starting our show with a look at how the events around us make us anxious.
You've probably heard about the poll that says Americans are more fearful about terrorism now than at any other time since 9-11.
And who better to help us understand it and learn to control it?
We've got life coach Iyana Venzant here.
Thank you.
Then there's a raging debate over the safety of crib bumpers for babies.
They are marketed to new moms at almost every store, but are they safe?
We conducted a Dr. Oz investigation to find out what is going on.
And finally, the much debated question, how do I calm a crying baby?
One doctor says he's got the answer, and you know what?
Millions around the world have made him and his solution to this age-old problem a viral video.
So, we're going to begin with one of the world's great spiritual life coaches, the amazing Iyanla Van Zandt.
Who's here today with tips for dealing with the worries and the fears that are crippling so many people?
I want to ask everyone a question.
With all the scary, bad news happening around the world, and right here in the United States, how many of you have been feeling a higher level of worry and fear than you normally do?
Let me just say a show of hands.
It's a lot of people.
A lot of people.
So, how do you know if your anxiety level is a cause for concern?
And what can you do to lower it?
I'm about to give you some answers with help from the host of Iyanla Fixed My Life.
She's unknown, of course, and the one and only Iyanla Vincent is right here in the studio, so come on out!
- Woo! - Thank you for being here.
It's good to have you back.
Thank you for having me.
It's good to be had.
I don't mean like that.
I'll interpret it the right way and the wrong way at once.
It's good too.
You saw a lot of people put their hands up.
A surprising number, actually, when I asked if there was fear, if there was worry about what's going on in the world around us.
What's going on, do you think?
Well, fear cells.
Fear cells.
And so we focus on those things.
You know, the human mind is set up to increase pleasure and decrease pain, discomfort.
But in order to decrease pain and discomfort, you've got to focus on what might hurt me, what's going to hurt me, what's going to harm me, what's uncomfortable.
So that's where we focus our minds.
Not realizing that we are creating the fear and the anxiety by focusing on what we don't want.
Do you have fear about all this?
No, I do not.
Not at all?
Not at all.
I don't have fear because I know most of what we worry about never happens, and worrying doesn't stop anything from happening.
And worrying makes you wrinkle.
LAUGHTER And I do.
I'm against wrinkles.
A lot of it does come down to trust, though.
It comes down to trust, trusting yourself, trusting the benevolence of the universe, trusting that...
Everything happens the way it needs to happen.
You know, Dr. Oz, we don't understand how powerful our minds are and how we will create an energetic invitation.
Now, I'm in no way saying that people who have been victims of tragedy brought it on themselves by their mind.
I'm not saying that at all.
But at the same time, I am saying that we have the power in our minds to change.
To surround ourselves, to shield ourselves, to move through difficulties, because worrying about them is not going to keep them from happening.
But this trust issue, which is the foundation of getting past the worry, you know, from the moment we're in our bedroom a month after being born, it begins to get broken down.
Well, not in the bedroom, in the womb.
Some of us marinate in an environment of mistrust.
Is my baby okay?
Am I gonna have an easy delivery?
What's gonna happen?
We marinated in the womb.
This is how I tell a story.
I say the baby is born.
Brand new.
No teeth, no hair.
How does that baby know when you put it to the mother's breath?
If it sucks, something good is going to come out.
How does the baby know?
It trusts that if it sucks, something good is going to come out and that happens.
So that establishes that if I just show up and do what I'm supposed to do, which is for the baby suck, everything will be okay.
So let's say that baby sucks for three months, four months, and then one day the mom is in the bathroom just doing normally what she does.
She's got to do.
And the baby lets out, it's a time to suck cry.
Mom is in the bathroom doing her wonderfulness.
She can't get out.
I'm coming, I'm coming.
He don't understand you.
And now, this innocent thing makes up its mind that what I need isn't there.
I can't trust my environment.
It starts just that simple.
And then evidence on top of evidence on top of evidence, we begin to learn that we can trust.
Let's talk about you for a second, because you've had some difficult times in your life.
Yeah.
From the beginning till today, we're all struggling, but you've had some bigger struggles than many.
How do you keep your trust?
How do you keep your faith?
How do you avoid the fear and the anxiety that comes along with those challenges?
What I learned, not as a child, but through the many difficulties, is that I cannot control.
The number one human addiction is control.
And when we can't control, we don't trust.
And what I learned through my life experiences, I can't control, so let me surrender.
Let me go back to just trusting that no matter what happens, I'm going to be okay.
How do you get to a place when you say it's okay to relinquish?
That's your power.
That's something that's so instinctively ours to have and desire.
But it's an addiction.
We want it this way at this time.
And if it doesn't come that way, we immediately go into fear that something horrible is going to happen.
There's a phrase called awfulizing.
Awfulizing?
Awfulizing.
We awfulize because we have false expectations that appear real.
That's what fear is.
False expectations that appear real.
And then we awfulize.
Oh, that's coming.
Oh, the bus is coming.
It's going to run me over.
And then I'll be dead.
And there won't be a surgeon.
And I'll be in the hospital.
We focus on the most negative.
But I learned to trust and keep my faith when my daughter died.
Because there was absolutely nothing I could do.
I couldn't make the cancer go away.
I couldn't make her pain go away.
And when she took that last breath, there was absolutely nothing I could do.
And I had to trust that things are happening the way they need to happen.
I don't like them, but I'm going to survive.
Because I had her daughter.
You'll stay with us?
I will.
We need to take a quick break.
Coming up, Iyanla's going to help a woman crippled by fear and trust issues, and her advice can help you too.
Stay with us. - Next, overcome with angst and anxiety.
A desperate mother seeks Iyanla's help.
Not eating, not sleeping, being afraid.
How does that protect you or your children?
Learn how to trust again before fear takes over your life.
Dr. Oz investigates the hidden danger that can kill.
I didn't even know this was that big of an issue.
The video every family needs to save.
And they have these warning labels.
Do they make any difference at all?
The at-home accident you can avoid.
Why did the family decide to release this video now?
Plus, can these dogs really step out cancer and MS? All new laws.
A 90% accuracy rate is extraordinary.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Just let your heart break.
I started getting the butt injections and I just kept going.
The place you don't want to go, that's where your healing is.
You pick your hand up and put it to hit your mama.
You raised a woman who abandoned her child.
Do you know she's in trouble?
Drunk in the backyard is one thing.
Dead in the casket is another.
Are you aware that your life has become unmanageable?
You can be a lot of things in the black of church, but Lord, do not be gay.
Y'all are gonna have to do this together.
Tomorrow you're gonna come out to your community.
Are you ready?
Knowing that some people may get up and walk out.
Oh, my goodness.
Those are scenes of Iyanla Van Zandt doing what she does best, helping people on our hit show, Iyanla Fix My Life.
Now, in those clips, we saw a brief moment of her working with Olympic medalist Debbie Thomas, who's also an orthopedic surgeon, a doctor.
And a lot of folks, I was personally shocked to see where her life has gone, how it's turned out.
So, if you don't mind, I'm just curious about her in particular.
How's it going?
I think she's doing better.
You know, we're not victims.
No.
And we choose moment by moment.
And some choices that she's made have led her to where she is.
And when I work with her, one of the things we talked about was she kind of lost faith and trust in herself in her quest to live up to the expectations of others.
Yeah.
She just lost faith and trust in herself.
So it's going to take time, you know, for her to get back and grounded in her center where she can trust herself again.
Yeah.
I must say, to be an Olympic athlete and have gone to medical school, become a surgeon, these are all things that require a tremendous amount of self-confidence.
Yes.
And yet you get tripped away.
Well, do they require self-confidence or do they require drive?
You know, sometimes I say, do you drive or are you driven?
If you're driving, you get to choose and determine and have dominion.
But if you're being driven, either for external validation or living up to someone else's expectations, if you're being driven, you don't get to say where you're going when you get there.
I'm going to ask my colleagues that question.
Young's got a great book, insightful as always.
It's got an important and powerful title.
It's called Trust, which is one of the reasons we were talking about it today.
We were contacted by many women who wanted her help with trust and fear issues, including Dawn.
When I saw the recent shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, it took me back to 9-11.
I had friends that worked there, and I'll never forget how I felt that day.
It also reminds me of when my son was shot in the head.
He was 21 at the time.
It was devastating.
Thankfully he's okay, but the fear of something like that happening again is overwhelming me.
You just never know.
I am so overcome with panic and anxiety about my family that I suggest that my kids homeschool my grandkids.
I mean, what if the next school shooting is at their schools?
I'm angry and sad that we live in a world today when I have to be so fearful of these possibilities.
My children shouldn't have to face this.
I shouldn't be so fearful all the time or cry whenever I look at the news.
I don't want to feel like this anymore.
Donna, I'm hearing stories like this all the time.
Are you angry that this has become the new normal?
I'm very angry that individuals choose to not play by the rules.
Now, you can't even go to school without something happening.
It's devastating to me that someone decides they want to control my life.
They take everything away from me and I feel like that my life is being controlled by other people's decisions.
I can't eat properly.
I can't sleep well.
I have nightmares.
I worry and obsess about my kids all the time and my grandkids.
I worry about them being hurt.
I just worry about everything.
If I go to the store, you know, if they go to work, what's going to happen today?
You're not alone.
I'm hearing in different ways people express that same issue.
And the anger part's the part that sort of surprised me.
People do feel this was our birthright and it's taken from us.
You know, there are a lot of folks like Dawn right now.
What do you have to say to her and everybody else out there?
You know, life is a beautiful buffet and there are 50 things on the table.
And you go and you can choose and pick whatever you want.
And somebody says, how was the buffet?
And you say, oh, it was nice, but the beans were salty.
You don't talk about the other 49 things.
You focus on the one thing that was unpleasant or uncomfortable, which makes you then a victim.
So you have now totally embraced and taken on the victim consciousness, and you're embodying it.
You've taken on the victim role.
I don't want to be a victim, but I don't know how to get past.
I don't trust anyone outside of my kids.
I don't trust anyone.
Well then, that's about control.
Because you can't control what's going to happen.
How is this state you're in, not eating, not sleeping, weeping, being in your house, being afraid, being angry, how does that protect you or your children?
How does it?
It doesn't do it.
And how does you weeping, crying, feeling bad, being angry, stressing your body out, how does that then prevent someone with a mental illness or someone who's out of balance from doing whatever they're doing wherever they're doing it?
It doesn't, but how do you get past it?
How do I? How do I get past it?
First of all, give yourself permission to be angry.
But be clear about what you're angry about.
You're angry about the fact that you can't control what other people do and you feel victimized.
Tell the truth about that.
And then get a vision.
Because see, what you focus on grows.
And right now you're focusing on the fear, the anger, the possibility, the possibility.
But there are greater possibilities.
What's your vision?
What's your vision?
Let me hear it.
What is it?
Don't have one.
I want to live, and I want to be happy, and I want to be at peace, and I want my children...
Those are wants.
What do you see for yourself, for your children?
You see, my grandchildren, I see them walking to school in peace and calm under a tree.
And I don't care if a bus...
Prashes into a helicopter in the middle of the road.
That don't have nothing to do with my grandchildren because I see them covered and protected.
But that means that you are clear about your power as a mother and a woman.
That means that you have an intimate relationship with your creator.
Something bigger than you, grander than you.
Because no matter, all your worry is not what made your son survive.
And the minute you say, I did what I had to do because nobody else was going to do it.
Eh!
Problem.
Yes.
Yeah?
Take it off of you.
How about it's not your job to protect them?
How about it's your creator's job to protect them?
Your job is to love them.
Yes.
How about that?
Yes.
You think about that.
Let's take a short break.
When we come back, we'll give you Eanna's tips for Dawn on how you can lower your levels of fear and worry.
It works for everybody.
Stay with us.
Next, Iyanla shares concrete steps for Dawn to help put her fear and anxiety in check.
Because you're not in control.
All of that worry is not going to change anything.
The number one thing Iyanla says can change your life.
Next.
We're back now.
Now obviously we can't fix someone's life in such a short amount of time, but Yala, I want you to give some concrete steps for Dawn and everybody else out there to help them lower their fear, their worry.
What got me through my most darkest days was a daily spiritual practice.
Breathe, pray, sit in stillness and silence, and ask for what it is that you want.
Every single day.
Because there's something greater than you going on.
The other thing is change your vision.
Change your mind.
The vision will pull you forward.
As opposed to you looking here and being a victim of what did happen, create the vision that will bring you forward.
And I have a prescription.
It's my prescription.
I use it all the time.
My three prayers.
Help!
That's a good prayer.
Help me now.
Do, feel, understand, and then thank you.
Help, help me now.
Thank you.
But you've got to be grounded in something other than what your eyes can see.
And your vision that you see here and here is what will pull you forward, give you something else to focus on.
Yes.
Because you're not in control.
True.
And all of that worry is not going to change anything.
If it's coming, it's coming.
I asked her a question during the break, and it's not to compare difficulties.
I said to her, your son got shot in the head and survived.
And you're angry.
My daughter died of cancer.
Who am I supposed to be angry with?
So you've got to trust and have faith.
Spiritual practice.
Breathe.
Pray.
Change your visions.
Change what you're looking at.
Focus on something else.
You have a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, a lot of worry.
I get it all.
I want you to try what Iana is saying because it's the foundation of so much of what we need to do in our own lives.
If it doesn't work, you need to talk to someone about it.
There are other things we can do, but that's going to be the foundation no matter what.
Yeah.
God bless you.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming today.
Thank you.
Love you.
Thank you, Dr. Oz.
Love you, too.
Iana's new book, Trust, is available now.
Now, we'll be right back.
Coming up next, a Dr. Oz investigation.
A new health alert every parent and grandparent needs to know.
They look harmless, but are baby bumpers deadly?
Why even risk it in any way?
We go undercover to find out.
Next.
The hidden danger that can kill.
I didn't even know this was that big of an issue.
Plus, can these dogs really sniff out cancer and MS? All new Oz.
A 90% accuracy rate is extraordinary.
That's coming up tomorrow.
There's a new health alert that every parent and grandparent like me should pay attention to.
And it has to do with these crib bumpers.
Look at these down here.
These little crib bumpers, they seem so innocent.
Although they seem harmless, according to a new research project, infant deaths linked to this commonly used bedding have tripled.
Like many parents across the country, I wanted to know, if they are so darn dangerous, why are they still being sold?
I asked reporter and mom of two, Jenna Wolf, to investigate.
Hey, Dr. Oz, welcome to my nursery.
I'm holding here a baby bumper.
This is essentially padding that wraps around the base of your crib and protects your child from rolling into it.
Now, as you can see, I didn't use one, but there are so many people out there who have used one.
These are very, very popular.
They're also controversial.
There is research out there that states this could be hazardous.
So I want to know, despite the controversy, why are stores still selling these and some not even telling you about the risks?
First, I wanted to check in with moms to see whether they used baby bumpers or not.
I have not used a bumper for either one of my children.
I have with my older two.
When she was in the crib, did you use a baby bumper around the size?
Every single book and every single website is like, no bumper, sorry.
What were the warnings that you were hearing about bumpers?
Suffocation, definitely, like they could get tangled in it.
It's confusing that they're being sold even though they're not safe.
If there was really a big, big concern, they wouldn't be selling them.
Next I went undercover into several baby stores to see what their policies were on bumpers and it was just as confusing as you'd expect.
Bumpers are good until the baby is really moving around.
Take the bumpers off with me so that, you know, she doesn't roll into them.
Because you have to remember, babies are stationary.
She's not going anywhere.
So you guys are cool selling them?
The next door told me the exact opposite, advising me to put them in when the baby was old enough to move around on their own.
For safety reasons, they say a baby can't have a bumper into the crib until, like, when a child's, like, six months.
Okay.
Because that's when it's time they'll be able to turn itself over.
You know, when she gets older and we can't put the bumper in.
And the last store had them on display everywhere, but then told me I had to check with the child's pediatrician before purchasing one.
There's a big controversy over the baby bunkers.
Yeah.
Why?
They could be, we're not really supposed to say anything about them, so you're supposed to defer to your pediatrician.
How come they're on display then?
Because it's part of nursery, and then it's really up to your discretion and your doctor's discretion.
Okay.
It's beautiful.
Correct.
It just kind of finishes it off.
But it's dangerous.
Well, it could be, so we're not supposed to advise you either direction.
These bumpers are everywhere, all kinds of different bits of advice.
It's no wonder moms are so confused.
Of course it's confusing.
Plus, you go on social media, you see celebrities that are posting pictures of the cribs with the baby bumpers.
You see celebrity magazines and shows.
You see everywhere there are people and there are rooms and nurseries that have these bumpers.
Plus, it looks so bare without them.
What's a new mother supposed to do?
They're getting mixed messages from across all different platforms.
Now, you personally decided not to use any of these bumpers.
I didn't.
If there's even a hint of apprehension, if there's even one warning that something could happen, I just felt, why take a chance?
Why even risk it in any way?
If it's just an aesthetic thing, and if it's just you don't care what it looks like with or without it, don't put them in, don't take a chance whatsoever.
It does look pretty, right?
Of course, and it definitely adds, it goes, and that's how they're sold.
They're sold as parts of a big set that matches the entire nursery.
So the question is, is there really a risk?
How dangerous could these things be?
So let's look at this new study.
Numbers just came out with it.
48 deaths.
48 kids died.
146 injuries, all from crib bumpers.
And really, one is too many.
One is too many.
So for me, I just felt if there was even one out there, it was enough of a warning.
So please show everybody, what are the areas that concern the researchers and you too?
So there are various areas within the crib and on the baby bumper that could be hazardous.
Number one, these ties over here.
These ties can easily come loose.
A kid could choke on them very easily.
Number two, look how these are sort of meshed in here.
So a child can, especially a child that's a little infant, can roll over, get their head stuck, suffocate, not be able to breathe.
And the older kids who are a little bit older that maybe won't suffocate or won't get their head caught here, they may use this to stand up and they can easily fall out of the crib.
So there are four or five ways that these baby bumpers could be hazardous to your child.
Let's bring another expert in.
Neonetologist Dr. Michael Goodstein is here from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
He wants these bumpers banned.
He's been involved in advocating against these products because of the significant injuries that you've seen.
Is Jenna getting this right?
Is that the risk factor that we're worried about?
Absolutely.
As a neonatologist, we often get called down to the emergency department to help out when sick children come in.
And the worst call, the worst call in the world, is in the middle of the night, a baby has been found, either face down in their crib, perhaps up against a bumper, perhaps up against a pillow, and they've been found lifeless.
And they bring that child in, and we do our best to try to resuscitate that baby.
But in the end, there's nothing that can be done for them.
A lot of these deaths are preventable deaths that we're seeing.
It just takes one of these events to be involved with to make you want to do something so that you can educate people so it doesn't happen to them, to put your numbers in perspective.
48 deaths.
That's the equivalent of three kindergarten classrooms that are silenced forever.
Parents should be able to visit their children at the schoolyard and not have to go to the graveyard.
Profoundly said.
Let me ask you this.
I understand the fashion element of this, but I actually think some parents probably are thinking, well, it's safer to have those bumpers in there.
I don't want my kid bumping their head into the side of the crib or getting an arm stuck in between those little railings.
Is that a legitimate concern?
It really isn't.
Parents should really feel comfortable about having their baby without any soft stuff around them.
Those soft things or dangers can lead to suffocation.
And so the other thing that parents don't need to worry about is that their babies are not going to get entrapped.
Their heads are not going to get trapped with their bodies coming out of the crib rails because the new crib designs back from as far as the 1970s, the slats are only two and three eighths inches apart.
So if you take a can of soda or juice, you shouldn't be able to push it through there.
If you can, then that's not a regulation crib.
Jen wants to test everything.
This is her mantra.
This is grapefruit juice, so I don't know if that's going to be different than regular soda, but that was a joke.
Yes.
I was trying to humor you.
I was about to start laughing.
But then you decided not to, so that made me feel good.
So that was good.
No, you're right.
Look at that.
Won't fit through at all.
And this is it.
Regulation crib.
So there you go.
So, Jenna and a lot of moms out there are also concerned about another kind of bumper that I heard talked about a little bit.
It's this breathable crib liner.
Have you all seen these new liners?
Alright, so these are out there and the question is, are they safer?
When we come back, we're going to talk about these bumpers and whether they're any better.
Stay with us.
Next, breathable mesh, thinner padding.
These new baby crib bumpers promise to be better alternatives.
But are they still dangerous?
We take a closer look.
You know, it must be safe because the government allows it to be out there.
It's a rational question.
Coming up next.
Whoever said a doctor's visit isn't fun has obviously never been to the Dr. Oz show.
Is that right?
Make your appointment today.
Go to DrOz.com slash tickets and sign up for free tickets.
We've been investigating the dangers of crib bumpers.
The big question, should they be banned?
Reporter and mom of two, Jenna Wolf, is here, as is Dr. Michael Goodstein from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Also joining us is Nancy Coles from Kids in Danger.
He successfully worked to get these products banned in Chicago.
And NDA Shears is here.
She wrote the latest research that we quoted earlier.
Thank you for your tireless work.
It made a big difference to a lot of us investigating this.
So, Nancy, you've worked firsthand with families who have lost their infants.
What's that like?
That's right.
In fact, Kids in Danger has talked about bumpers for a long time, and then we met two families.
One, a grandmother who had bought the bumper for her grandchild, thinking that it was necessary, and then he suffocated on it in his crib.
And just her heartbreak, knowing that she had thought this was necessary, bought it, and it was the thing that took her grandson from her.
Another family, their child, Preston, was sleeping on a sleep positioner, another product that has since been banned, but at the time was also promoted as safe.
He rolled off the sleep positioner into the bumper, suffocated against the bumper.
And again, the loss that these parents face is just unbelievable, and they want their children's stories told so that we can take this action to get these products off the market.
You mentioned the second child's mother was in the room.
Yes, yes, she was in the room because...
Imagine that next to your child and you don't realize it's happening.
And I know Dr. Goodstein can talk to this.
Suffocation is silent.
You don't necessarily even know.
Your monitor is not going to necessarily help you.
So you want all that soft stuff out of the crib.
Jenna, we talked about this mesh earlier.
You got a question along with a lot of moms.
Well, this is one thing that was offered to me in some of these stores when I brought up questions about padding.
These mesh pads that companies are now putting out as an alternative to the thicker pads.
Now, these don't have as many ties, they're supposedly breathable, and there's less friction.
So it's supposed to be, these supposed to be little holes in it to allow the child to breathe and maybe not let them get caught up in the corners.
What do you think about these?
At Kids in Danger, we say, just don't put anything in the crib.
It's not worth the risk.
These probably don't have the same suffocation risk as a padded bumper would have, but they're an unnecessary product, so why even take the risk with them?
So, breather bumpers out.
What about the thinner ones that we see marketed all the time?
Remember the old paddings?
At least my kids who were young, they would have...
Like bubbles.
Here's a picture of one of them.
Lots of stuff there.
See the one on the left there?
The ones on the right are much more streamlined.
They, in theory, look like they'd be less of a risk for suffocation.
Does it make a difference?
The doctor may want to answer that, but no.
I mean, two inches, they can be up to two inches thick.
That's still way too thick, and that can still cause suffocation, re-breathing.
It's also been indicated for SIDS, you know, any soft bedding, and bumpers are certainly soft bedding, so they are still just as dangerous.
So the question for the entire audience, just think about this.
The last woman you interviewed before you went to the stores was so provocative in her statement.
She said, you know, it must be safe because the government allows it to be out there.
I mean, if they're sold and marketed, how could they be dangerous?
It's a rational question.
People would wonder if it's on the market, it should be safe.
Well, I get that question a lot from parents, and my response to them is, you can buy cigarettes in the store, but nobody's giving cigarettes to their babies.
I mean, cigarettes are not safe.
These bumper pads are not safe.
The newer products, the breathable ones, we don't have information on because they haven't been around as long.
So, as Nancy said, we agree at the AAP, it's just an unnecessary product.
I mean, really, since the slats remain closer together, this has become an antiquated product.
It serves no purpose.
They should be off the market.
So the American Association of Pediatrics, your group, the NIH, the CDC, they're all against these bumpers.
Only one state, however, only one state has banned the bumper pads.
So why hasn't the Consumer Product Safety Commission gotten involved in this?
Why don't we have regulations against these?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, unfortunately, is a pretty, very small agency who regulates all consumer products, and so they often only react to things.
We're hoping that this new study pushes them to take that reaction to get this product off the market.
They have been moving slow, but even their chairman says bear is best when it comes to sleeping.
So they may not have banned the product, but they agree that a bear crib is a safe crib.
So we reached out to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association that represents most of the makers of these bumpers, and they declined to come on the show.
But they sent a little message that said, in part, recommending the removal of a bumper that meets the voluntary safety standard increases the chance of creating dangerous unintended consequences.
These may come in the form of makeshift fixes.
So in fact, they're saying they're afraid of DIY bumpers.
And that's a reasonable point.
If moms can't buy it in a store, they might make their own.
Well, there's really no evidence to suggest that that's going to happen.
And what we need to do is be proactive about it.
So we need to do education.
And all parents and the community as a whole should know that ABC is a safe sleep, that baby should sleep alone.
And when we say alone, that means a couple of things.
Nothing in the crib.
It also means room sharing, not bed sharing.
So don't put the baby somewhere else.
Because we want parents to be able to bond.
We want them to be able to breastfeed.
We want them to be able to react to their baby's needs.
So babies should be alone.
On the back, we know that back sleeping has reduced the number of SIDS deaths by 50%.
There are about 35,000 people alive today just by a simple education campaign, so education does work.
And the crib should be empty of all these unnecessary objects.
There should be no bumpers, no pillows, no duvets, no quilts, and no loose blankets.
None of these things are necessary for your baby to be saved.
And up until what age would you say?
The recommendations go until one year.
And one of these, Jenna uses these.
These you do like.
These are great.
These are sleep sacks.
I put both my kids in these so if it gets cool at night, they have a blanket that they're basically sleeping in without having the fear of it covering their face and possibly suffocating.
So we're going to put a crib safety checklist on DrOz.com.
We reached out to the government agency who regulates these products.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said, in part, that they are continuing to research the safety of crib bumpers and they are continuing to work on federal rulemaking.
Here's my take on this.
The research, along with the deep concern from my colleagues at the American Academy of Pediatrics, makes me question why these products are still being sold.
Listening carefully to this is important.
Not one more parent should lose their baby because of these bumpers.
They should have been banned a long time ago.
So I want you to go to DrRoz.com and sign our Change.org petition.
Become part of this conversation.
After you've signed this, why don't you share it on social media with the hashtag SayNoToBumpers.
Together, we can inspire change.
Let's push this along.
Up next, from sleeping to crying, get the number one tip that lit the internet on fire.
Find out how you can instantly quiet a baby.
Next, this doctor is known as the baby whisperer.
With a simple little move, these implants are like putty in his hand.
Why does it work?
His trick to instantly calm a crying baby.
These children are going to be unbelievably prolific.
I'm dancing.
The hidden danger that can kill.
I didn't even know this was that big of an issue.
Plus, can these dogs really sniff out cancer and MS? All new Oz.
A 90% accuracy rate is extraordinary.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Everyone knows how much I love babies.
So cute there, but like anyone else, this sound can break my heart.
Wakes you up at any time of the night.
So I'll do anything I can to stop it so most of you.
So when I saw this YouTube video on how to calm down a crying baby, which, by the way, got more than 14 million views in just one week, I had to know more about it.
I mean, it looks sort of weird, right?
But look how calm that child is.
The brains behind the hold, pediatrician, Dr. Robert Havill, who teaches him the dance I see as well.
You've been called the baby whisperer.
And I gotta say, it's sort of cool, and we're gonna talk about this in some detail in a minute, but how'd you come up with this idea of waddling, swaddling, and dancing all at once?
Well, I've been a pediatrician for 31 years, and I remember what pediatricians do.
We give children shots, we also examine them, and we make them cry.
And as a result of that, I had to also calm them down to have a real conversation.
After we made them cry, I needed to talk to mom and dad and let them know what to do from that point on.
So I began to pick up children, and then over time, really, it was an evolution.
I began to kind of fold the arms around the chest, and I found that by just gently rocking them up and down, they quieted down.
You know, with four kids, I've seen this in many iterations.
I've figured out versions of it myself, but why does it work?
I'm just curious about that.
There's so many things in my own mind, machinations, excuses, but you probably know why.
A couple reasons.
Number one, when you actually hold the arms in front of the chest, you're really swaddling them.
Number two, you're distracting them.
And so I think that by the gentle rocking and jiggling their bottom, you essentially are distracting them.
I like the rhythm you have with them, by the way.
Thank you.
And it works for every age group.
What's the best age to focus on?
Really, we're talking about young children.
Between one and two, maybe three months, children get heavy.
And it's very difficult to kind of hold them out in front of you like that.
And that's why the technique is particularly good for the daddies.
Moms are blessed by the Lord with other things.
Other tools.
Other tools, yeah.
Yeah, but it's good exercise for a father.
He actually gives you something to do to be helpful for a change.
I can't agree more.
All right, so we got some babies with parents.
Wonderful.
I wonder if any of you are willing to let me try this, but I'm going to have Dr. Hamilton as well sneak in here.
Is that okay?
Yes.
I've never seen such well-behaved children, Bob.
It's unbelievable.
Are they drugged?
No, they've not been sedated, I promise.
So can we borrow the children?
Okay.
So I'm going to copy what Dr. Hamilton is doing.
Oh, he's awake.
Okay, you ready?
I'm ready.
Okay, you kind of put him in a prone position.
Now I'm going to make him cry.
Okay, and then we fold one arm like that, and then the other arm above like that.
You're holding her like a football over there.
Yeah, a little bit, but you know, there you go.
Then, with my dominant hand, I'm right-handed guy, so I grab their little diaper area, and then you very gently rock them up and down.
Now, mind you, look at my left finger here.
I'm not choking this little baby.
I actually have my finger rolled around the chin like that.
And then, very gently, I do shake, or I jiggle their little booty like that.
Isn't this fun?
This will come in handy in the future.
These children are going to be unbelievably prolific on the dance floor.
Look at him.
He is having a time of his life.
Has he ever been this happy before?
Let's dance together, Doc.
There we go.
It's a little counterintuitive to hold the baby.
Your hand's right up against her neck.
I'll do it too.
I'm just kind of supporting their little mandible.
Smart, actually.
Yeah.
It looks kind of funny, a little unorthodox.
You like the dance, huh?
I'm giving her a kiss, too.
Okay, there we go.
That's important.
So, anyway, but it does work.
Guarantee you.
You know, I could have done pediatrics.
I love this field.
Congratulations for all you do for all the kids.
Thank you, doctor.
To all the Peds guys out there.
Thank you.
Go to DrRiles.com for a how-to video.
We're going to make it right after the show.
We'll be right back.
It's an hour of power.
Friday on Dr. I. Beat your energy slump.
So tell me how to make these and I will judge if they taste as good as my energy balls.
The power plan to restore your energy from early morning to late night.
Then get your finances in order.
It's easily done.
Anybody can do this.
The power plan to stop living paycheck to paycheck.
And are foods pumped with caffeine safe?
We check it out in our Food Truth series.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Friday.
We're constantly aiming for perfection, right?
We're building the perfect house, finding the perfect job, having the perfect family.
But what about creating the perfect baby?
What if you can remove any disease in an embryo before a child is even born?
Scientists in China say they have made huge progress, and the researchers made headlines around the world.
They tried to genetically edit embryos to eliminate a diseased gene.
They were tested on mice, very successfully, by the way.
It worked every time.
And then when they got to the humans, they tested 80 human embryos, But they were only effective a handful of the times.
So I want to see what you guys all think.
How many of you will be okay with biologically re-engineering a baby?
Hands up.
I see some no's.
Any yes's?
What if you could take out a disease?
Go ahead, man.
I think that it's okay.
I mean, I think it's hard enough for...
There's so many challenges that a child faces growing up, let alone a child with a major disease.
And so if you can give that child a chance to alleviate that disease, why not?
Who disagrees?
Who thinks no matter what?
Go ahead.
Actually, right next to you is perfect.
Poetic justice.
The person literally next to you disagrees.
I just think that to take a gamble, even trying to genetically modify an embryo when it's not 100% sure is concerning to me.
And certain things are out of your control.
You can't...
What if it was overwhelming odds there would be a better outcome than if the child still had...
Yeah, sure.
I mean, the odds are always you want your child to be the healthiest and the happiest it can be, so if you could guarantee me my child would have cancer.
Not a guarantee.
Actually, this is what's going to end up, it's going to happen in our generation.
Yeah.
We're going to have the ability to make that decision.
The lady behind you feels, it seems a little strongly about this.
Go ahead.
Two things.
One, I think we're tempting faith.
And the other thing is that I don't know what the science would be for long-term effects.
We might just know short-term, but how will we be able to carry that out long-term in their 20s, 30s?
And how will that then affect their offspring?
Right.
These are questions.
Go ahead.
I was just going to say, but I mean, why not take that chance if your child is going to live its whole life with a debilitating disease that's not going to have a positive outcome anyway?
Why not take the chance that it can have a better life with that gene therapy?
You know what I love about this?
You know, it's remarkable.
We all have strong feelings and we actually don't know.
And we're not going to know, but we're going to still have to make these decisions.
So personally, I'd be okay with taking a chance if it was a really bad problem they're going to have without it, and I had a pretty good thought about what it might look like in the future, but we'll never know what's going to happen to their children, which is a great point.
I don't think any of us, I hope, would want to re-engineer the eye color of our children, how tall they are, you know, those kinds of things we don't want to play with.
Am I okay on that?
Yes.
All right, so this is coming, and these ethics are difficult, and I think we're all going to have to cope with it, and we'll have these conversations many more times in the future.
Thanks for all for joining us today.
Remember, happy and healthy starts at home.
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