Risk aversion or ban the trampoline

This week, the nursery's parents group was hijacked by the NHS.
When I say parents group, this may be a tad misleading - previously attended by me as the only parent, it has now doubled it's membership yet I still struggle to call a twosome a "group", especially considering that I'm atypical in being on maternity leave and German, and the other mum has just moved here from London and her accent indicated that she may not be British either.

In the previous meeting, because it was just me, there was no setting up of purpose of this group, so I kind of expected this now, just to know if this is actually something useful for me and worthwhile going to. It may help with getting more parents involved too if they know what the group is for.

Instead, this is how the meeting went: Two ladies from the NHS were introduced who then went on to tell us that they had become aware of the dangers of trampolines and they were designing a campaign to raise awareness of this danger and if we could help them with ideas how to best promote safe usage of trampolines. We did this and that was the end of the meeting

Bewildered? Well, I was. For three reasons:
a) this is not what I came for and I felt I wasted a good hour to do someone else's job (it's not rocket science to figure out how to raise awareness of specific risks amongst parents) and I also felt the NHS was wasting staff time on something that really didn't need parental engagement.
b) I felt cheated because there wasn't even a pro forma question if us parents wanted to discuss anything - so the NHS got their tick of the box out of it, the nursery too, but the parents didn't.
c) I pondered about the ridiculous risk aversion of our society.

I don't really want to go into a) and b) because it's too blooming obvious what I'm on about and I will raise this with the nursery.
So risk averse society. Apparently, over the summer months, 100 children were admitted to hospital due to accidents involving a trampoline. None of these accidents were more serious than broken bones. The accidents were described as "avoidable". Apparently, there are people propagating the ban of trampolines. Now, I do understand this point of view - trampolines do carry the risk of accidental injury, on occasions this may even be severe.
However, so does playing football, climbing a tree, swimming, cycling, horse riding. In fact, any physical activity carries the risk of accidental injury by the very nature of it. Does this mean a ban would be a good idea?

Or should we not accept that life is risky and usually ends in death, assess risks in a sensible manner and manage the risks instead of avoiding them altogether?
I'd rather have a child with a broken bone than one who ends up obese, with type 2 diabetes and dies of a heart attack at 60. It's also about the actual frequency of accidents - 100 doesn't sound a lot to me considering the population of Greater Glasgow, how does it compare in relation to hours spent on it with other higher risk activities?

And as to the suggested guidelines for using a trampoline safely - I don't think they are realistic. Asking for constant parental supervision is just not going to happen, or to only let one child on at a time just defeats the fun of bouncing on a trampoline. You could just as well not have one.

So, in my view, either ban trampolines or accept there will be accidents which may be much outweighed by the health benefits of trampolines.

Pregnancy and medical advice

It is hayfever season. We're having a dry spell in Scotland, which makes things rather unbearable. When trailing through pregnancy forums, you wouldn't believe the number of pregnant women complaining about how they aren't allowed to take antihistamines and how badly they are suffering as a consequence.

For some while now, I've been adding my threepence worth of opinion but I'm alone. Ask any GP, pharmacist or midwife and you will be advised against taking any antihistamines. The same goes for nasal sprays, cough medicine, and of course alcohol. With all of these, if you bother to do some research, there is no proven risk to the fetus.

I say this again: there is no proven risk to the fetus if you take certain antihistamines (there are exceptions; but many antihistamines fall into this category), drink alcohol without getting drunk or use nasal sprays.

Yet pregnant women are strongly advised not to take the risk. A risk that hasn't been quantified. A risk that hasn't been investigated because nobody wants to do any research on the unborn life. A risk that may not exist.

And we, the pregnant women of the western world, are happy to follow this medical advise and suffer.

It is not something I take lightly - I've suffered from hayfever since I was 12, and asthma from 27. Thankfully, Scottish flora is kind on me and I only have to suffer a few months, but those months are tough. I can't go out without instant unbearable itching and sneezing. If I didn't take antihistamines, I'd be confined to my home, unable to do anything outdoors. Anything. And then someone tells me that there is an unproven risk to my baby if I take antihistamine for a couple of months and yes, I'd better stay indoors all that time.

Well, you know what? I've chosen to take antihistamines in both my pregnancies. As I've taken nasal spray for some of my now 7 head and chest colds since I had the bfp. When I was told off by my midwife for drinking 1 unit of alcohol a week, I giggled in disbelief (but kept my mouth shut). My pregancy notes actually state that I have been advise to give up drinking. WTF! I'm not drinking. I have a half glass of wine ONCE A WEEK. There's more alcohol in ripe fruit.

Somehow society is going out of its way to tell pregnant women about risks to their babies and their responsibility to eliminate any possible risk, regardless of the reality of the risk or quality of life to the pregnant woman. While real risks are entirely ignored. While listening to Women's Hour it was made more than crystal clear: misuse of alcohol does result in fetal death. Not because the pregnant woman drinks, but because of alcohol triggering violent behaviour towards a pregnant woman: "more fetuses are lost due to male violence against pregnant women". And those statistics are proven. Alcohol consumption in some people leads to violence which poses a real risk to those near to them, including the unborn child. As for fetal alcohol syndrome - in spite of the very restrictive medical advice and women reducing their alcohol intake significantly, the incident of FAS has remained the same over the years. Which indicates that it's only those pregnant women who have an addiction to alcohol (and thus won't/can't stop) who actually harm their baby.

There is no advice given to fathers who have violent tendencies that they shouldn't drink while their partner is pregnant because this could lead to harm to the baby. Instead, it's the women who are restricted in their diet, medicine and alcohol intake to such degrees that it's laughable. All the while being made guilty for every drop of alcohol consumed, for every remedy taken. The pregnant woman has become the property of society in a misguided attempt to protect the unborn life, while society is happy to ignore the real dangers to the unborn and born child.

I'll be off to have a glass a wine then.