Young parents should not trust the Internet
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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Do not rely too much on those helpful tips and recommendations related to your child's health that you find on the Internet. There is a high probability that these tips are wrong.
Experts analyzed 13 of the most common topics related to the health of toddlers who are looking through the Google search engine for young dads and moms. A total of 100 websites were reviewed, which were at the top of the search results. The information on it was compared with the data of the portals recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
It turned out that only 43.5% of the sites provide accurate information on the most important topics of children's health, including such as sudden infant death syndrome. Inaccurate recommendations were found on more than 25%, and information was false by 28.1%. If you exclude relevant sites, it turns out that 39.2% of the portals contain false information.
Worst of all, this was the case in blogs - only 30.9% of them provide the correct information. Best of all sites recommended by the government - 80.1% contain reliable information. On many blogs and popular sites, for example, the opinion spread that sleeping with a baby in one bed is perfectly safe, although in practice it can lead to strangulation of the baby.
Researchers from the University of California in this regard emphasize that they are not going to dissuade young popes and mothers to seek advice on the Internet. Simply touching on such important topics as children's health, information is worth checking in several unrelated sources. And preferably, funded by public health authorities.
The results of the study are published in The Journal of Pediatrics.