MONDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Infants who are bottle-fed face a higher risk of developing a serious intestinal condition that can lead to surgery, Danish researchers report.

With pyloric stenosis, the lower part of the baby's stomach narrows and restricts the amount of food the infant gets, and results in forceful vomiting, dehydration and salt and fluid imbalances. The reason it develops is unknown, but bottle-feeding has been suggested as a possible risk factor, the study authors noted.

"Bottle-feeding is a rather strong risk factor for pyloric stenosis, and this adds to the evidence supporting the advantage of exclusive breast-feeding in the first months of life," said lead researcher Dr. Camilla Krogh, from the department of epidemiology research at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen.

Pyloric stenosis is a severe and potentially fatal condition, Krogh added. "It is the most common cause of gastrointestinal obstruction in early childhood, and the most common condition requiring surgery in the first months of life," she explained.

"Although treatment of pyloric stenosis has been known for almost 100 years, its etiology [cause] remains unclear. The results of this study contributes with new insight into the etiology of pyloric stenosis and brings us closer to solving the enigma of pyloric stenosis development," Krogh added.

The report was published online Sept. 3 and in the October print issue of Pediatrics.

To look at the connection between bottle-feeding and pyloric stenosis, Krogh's group used data on more than 70,000 infants to identify 65 who had to have surgery for pyloric stenosis. Of these infants, 29 had been bottle-fed.

The researchers found bottle-feeding increased the odds of developing pyloric stenosis 4.6-fold.

Moreover, the risk was seen even when the baby was breast-fed before being bottle-fed and it started within 30 days after bottle-feeding began, they noted.

Commenting on the study, Dr. Jesse Reeves-Garcia, director of pediatric gastroenterology at Miami Children's Hospital, said that "there is a lot not known about this disease."

Although this finding only shows an association between bottle-feeding and pyloric stenosis, and not a cause-and-effect link, it suggests that breast milk is protective against this disease, he added.

"Breast-feeding is really best for the kids," Reeves-Garcia said. "Breast milk has a lot of things formula doesn't have."

More information

For more information on pyloric stenosis, visit the Nemours Foundation  .

SUNDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Dog bites are one of the risks faced by children playing outdoors, but some simple safety measures can help protect them.

"In the summer, dogs are out more, kids are out more, and the more contact that dogs and people have, the more likely it is that somebody will get bitten," Dr. Anne Brayer, a pediatrician in emergency medicine at University of Rochester Medical Center, in New York, and director of Injury Free Coalition for Kids, based at URMC, said in a medical center news release.

Remaining calm and not aggravating a dog are key elements in preventing dog bites. Dogs bite when they feel anxious or threatened. Staying relaxed when dealing with an aggressive dog can help minimize the threat, Brayer said.

She offered the following tips:

• Never leave infants or young children alone with a dog, and keep children away from dogs that are eating, sleeping or caring for puppies.
• Be careful when visiting older relatives with dogs. These dogs often aren't used to young children and can be jealous of the attention they receive.
• Remember that all breeds of dogs can bite, and a dog's upbringing plays a much larger role in its tendency to bite than its breed.
• Do not approach an unfamiliar dog, which may perceive you as a threat and may think you are challenging it.
• Avoid neighborhood dogs with a history of aggression and dogs that have little contact with children.

Adults should always keep an eye on children when dogs are nearby and teach them how to act around dogs, Brayer said. Teaching them to keep their face away from dogs reduces the likelihood that the child will make eye contact with the dog and seem threatening.

If a child is approached by an unfamiliar dog, he or she should "act like a tree or act like a log," Brayer advised. This means remaining motionless, not shouting, and avoiding eye contact.

If knocked to the ground, children should curl up into a ball and protect their face and neck with their hands and arms. This can help minimize injuries.

Children should be taught not to tease a dog. That means not pulling its tail, petting it roughly or taking away its toys. Even doing these things in play can overexcite a dog and lead to an unintentional bite, Brayer said.

About 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children most likely to get a bite are between 5 and 9 years old.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about keeping children safe around animals  .

THURSDAY, Aug. 30 (HealthDay News) -- As the use of small button batteries has become more widespread to power devices such as toys, watches and hearing aids, more young children have swallowed them, resulting in choking and even deaths, a new U.S. report says.

From 1997 to 2010, as many as 40,000 children under 13 years old have been treated in emergency rooms for ingesting the tiny batteries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"This is a problem we have known about because of all the electronic devices people have," said Dr. Amanda Porro, a pediatrician at Miami Children's Hospital, who was not involved with the report.

"Parents have to keep these devices away from small children," she said, adding that one of the most dangerous consequences of swallowing a button battery is having it become lodged in the child's esophagus.

"The child may just have vague symptoms," Porro said. "Unless you have seen the child swallow the battery it's very hard to diagnose and you have to have an x-ray to see the battery," she said.

Porro suggests keeping the batteries locked away from children. "If a parent sees a child swallow a battery, they need to go to the emergency room straight away because within two hours there can be significant damage -- it's a real emergency," she said.

The report was published in the Aug. 31 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Over the years the number of children treated for ingesting the batteries has increased 2.5-fold, from 1,900 in 1998 to 4,800 in 2010. In most cases children were treated and released, but 10 percent were hospitalized, according to the report.

Thirteen children died from ingesting batteries from 2002 to 2010, compared to one in 1998. These deaths were generally caused by the toxic contents of the batteries leaking into the child's esophagus where the battery had become lodged, the report found.

When these batteries get stuck in a child's esophagus, serious burns can occur in under two hours and fatal bleeding can happen after two weeks, the report said.

These cases can often be hard to diagnose, and in several cases children died because the lodged battery was missed, according to the report.

"Parents and caregivers should be aware of the potential hazards associated with battery exposure (particularly ingestion of button batteries) and ensure that products containing them are either kept away from children or that the batteries are secured safely in the product," the researchers wrote.

"Because delays in diagnosis and treatment can lead to serious complications and death, children suspected of having ingested a battery should get prompt medical attention. It is also important to recognize that children might be reluctant or unable to say that they ingested a battery or gave one to a sibling," the researchers added.

More information

For advice on protecting to kids from batteries, visit Safe Kids USA.  .

THURSDAY, Aug. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Many U.S. schools are not prepared for another pandemic, according to a new study.

Saint Louis University researchers analyzed survey responses from about 2,000 school nurses at primary, elementary, middle and high schools in 26 states and found that less than half of the schools include pandemic preparedness in their school plan and only 40 percent have updated their school plan since the deadly 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic.

Only about 30 percent of schools stockpile any personal protective equipment, 1.5 percent stockpile medication in anticipation of another pandemic, about 23 percent of schools have no staff members trained on the school's disaster plan, and nearly 34 percent of schools train students on infection prevention less than once a year.

However, while slightly over 2 percent of schools require school nurses to receive the annual flu vaccine, nearly 74 percent of school nurses said they were vaccinated for the 2010-2011 flu season, according to the study in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.

"Findings from this study suggest that most schools are even less prepared for an infectious disease disaster, such as a pandemic, compared to a natural disaster or other type of event," study author Terri Rebmann, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health, said in a journal news release. "Despite the recent H1N1 pandemic that disproportionately affected school-age children, many schools do not have plans to adequately address a future biological event."

U.S. schools must continue to address gaps in infectious disease emergency planning, the researchers concluded. School preparedness for all types of disasters, including pandemics, is mandated by the U.S. Department of Education.

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more about flu pandemics.