Monday, December 20, 2010

An excellent online toy resource for your child in India

Many parents ask about safe and interesting toys for their toddlers and children.
While a bewildering variety of toys are available in the toy shelfs nowadays in India, choosing the best for our children can be confusing and intimidating.
Many of us try to go for the tried and tested imported brands like Fisher-Price etc.
Doing online search for toys for my daughter, I stumbled upon an excellent company - Early Learning Centre (ELC). This is a Britain based toys manufacturing company creating interesting and somewhat unique toys for children of various age-groups. While as of now, their website does not show any Indian Center, the fact is that these excellent toys are available online at Shoppers Stop website.
Also they seem to be in the process of setting shops in India, and have an outlet in Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi. The toys are very good build (my daugther's & her cousin's rough handling have not made a dent yet!) and are colorful, musical and quite interesting, I must say.
I would recommend that parents flying out from T3 in Delhi certainly take time out to visit this shop. Others can browse through the online collection at Shoppers Stop. This adds to my costs of flying in & out of Delhi :)
Full Disclosure: I am NOT associated with any of the websites mentioned above. I do not have any financial relationship with them either.


Friday, December 17, 2010

Best Diaper Brands in India - A Pediatrician's Personal Choice

Many parents of young children, especially NRIs (Non Resident Indians) are worried when they come over to India for vacations. They are not aware of what diaper brands are available, and whether the available brands would "suit" the sensitive skin of their toddler/ infant.
A whole range of good quality diaper brands are now available in India. Here is a small selection (in no particular order)
  • Pampers
  • Pampers (Active) - Imported from Saudi Arabia!
  • Huggies
  • Momy Poko Pants (Can be worn like an underwear - no need to fasten adhesive strips)
  • Wipro Baby Soft - Cloth like feel
Many of the upscale pharmacies in bigger cities also have a wide range of Imported Diapers. Hence I rarely advise parents to carry diapers in from abroad, unless the skin of the child is very sensitive, and allergic to a large number of available brands.
My personal favorite is surprisingly an Indian Brand - Wipro's Baby Soft Diapers. There are two reasons for the same...
  1. It actually has a cloth like feel and is thus probably less likely to cause a contact dermatitis / allergic rash.
  2. Its drying power is phenomenal, and the diaper remains significantly drier for longer than with other brands.
Full Disclosure: I use this brand for my daughter. I have NO financial relationship with the manufacturers of any diaper brands, including the ones that I am recommending. I have to buy them just like the rest of us :)


Monday, December 06, 2010

Top 10 Medical Advances of the Decade (2000-2010): ABC news

  1. Decoding of the Human Genome
  2. Adoption of Information Technology
  3. Smoking significantly reduced
  4. Heart disease deaths reduced by 25%
  5. Stem cell research
  6. Targeted cancer therapy medicines
  7. Combination drug therapy extends Survival rates for HIV sufferers
  8. Micro surgical techniques that reduce invasion reduce surgery risk
  9. Heart, cancer risk discovered with hormone replacement therapy
  10. fMRI advances study of brain