HAPPY&HEALTHY Need to know
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Rapid COVID tests can be done at home and provide results in as little as 15 minutes. Here’s what parents need to know. REMEMBER WHEN the only way to get your kid a COVID test was to stand in a long line and wait days for the results? Rapid tests are changing that. With a rapid test, you can know if your kid has COVID in just 15 minutes. Then you can confirm it at a testing centre, as well start notifying contacts and isolating, which limits further spread of the virus. HOW DO RAPID TESTS WORK? Rapid antigen tests identify the presence of specific protein markers in your body, which indicate a COVID infection. They work best when you have high levels of the virus (which may or may not result in symptoms). On the other hand, PCR tests, which are considered the gold standard, detect the virus’s genetic material. HOW ACCURATE ARE THEY? False positives are rare. If the test says your child has COVID,
they most likely have COVID. False negatives are more common, because the accuracy of the result depends on how infectious you are. This means that just because your child tests negative one day doesn’t mean they won’t test positive the next—and they still would have been contagious the day before. HOW DO YOU DO THE TEST? Rapid tests aren’t as invasive as the original nasal swab. You insert the swab only about a centimetre into the nose and rotate it gently, following the directions on the package. Then you put it in a tube containing the buffer liquid and add some drops to the kit’s reader strip, which looks a bit like a dollar-store pregnancy test. Follow the included instructions to learn how to interpret the results. WHERE CAN YOU BUY THEM? Availability is changing by the day. At press time, most parents were buying them online (for example, at rapidtestandtrace.ca or haventesting.com) or getting them at their workplace through free federal or provincial programs. —Bonnie Schiedel
New&Improved need to look cute when you’re giving birth, but we still love this new labour and delivery gown, designed for fashion and function. So and comfy, it features quick-open snaps in the front (for skin-to-skin and feeding), and down the back (for fetal monitoring and an epidural). The Toronto-based label also offers chic pieces for maternity and nursing. $80, sondaythelabel.com
Duckish 2-in-1 Baby Shampoo & Body Wash Bar Simplify your baby’s bath time with this two-in-one bath bar, formulated especially for a baby’s delicate skin. Fragrance- and sulphate-free, the bar, which was created by a Halifax mom, cleans and moisturizes with coconut-based cleansers and shea bu er. One bar lasts about 75 washes and replaces three 16-ounce plastic bo les. Love it! $10, duckish.ca
Cybex Sirona S This convertible car seat takes your li le one from birth to 65 pounds and is the only one on the market that goes from rear-facing to forwardfacing using just one hand. The seat can do a 360 -degree swivel on its base so you can turn it toward the door while strapping your baby in. $730, cybexonline.com
When you’re growing a baby, you need significantly more iron in your diet to make extra blood for you and your pending arrival. Unfortunately, many pregnant women aren’t ge ing what they need. A study of 44,552 expectant mothers in Ontario by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto showed that half of the women had low levels of iron, and one in four were severely iron deficient. Ask your doctor or midwife to check your iron levels if they haven’t done so already. NEW STUDY
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todaysparent.com November+December 2021
PHOTO:STOCKSY
Sonday the Label Labour & Delivery Gown There’s no
