The CDC reports that flu activity continues at a "relatively low" level through most of the country.

They do also report that "increases in activity are expected in the coming weeks," and it is easy to see signs of that increased flu activity already, with:

• regional flu activity in Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia
• local flu activity in California, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Texas
• only three states reporting no flu activity
• Google Flu Trends continuing to report a moderate level of flu activity

And even with the low level of flu activity to this point, the CDC does report the first pediatric flu death of this year's flu season. As a reminder to those who think flu is a mild disease, there were 122 pediatric flu deaths last year.

Are you ready for flu season? Most importantly, has everyone in your family gotten their flu vaccine? If not, it isn't too late. Now would still be a good time to get a flu vaccine and be protected for the rest of flu season.

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"If in doubt, sit them out."

That slogan sums up the advice from the Canadian Paediatric Society on the management of concussions, which includes that young children and teens with a concussion should:

• rest until all symptoms are gone.
• not play sports, exercise or participate in any recreational activities.
• limit activities like reading, texting, watching television, computer work and electronic games.
• be cleared by a physician before returning to school or sports.

The Canadian Paediatric Society also advocate for "conservative, cautious and individualized" return to play guidelines for kids after they have a concussion so that they don't start playing too soon.

Perhaps most importantly, their guidelines recommend that "An athlete who has sustained a head injury during sport should be removed from play immediately and not allowed to return to play that game. The athlete should be closely monitored for any signs of deterioration, and should not be left alone."

Letting kids get back in a game after getting hit in the head is often a situation where coaches, players, and parents make a mistake. It is especially important to pull these kids out of the game if these kids have any symptoms, such as a headache, physical signs, such as being unsteady, or if they are confused or have any other abnormal behavior.

If in doubt, sit them out.

Your kids might miss a game or two, but will still be around to play the rest of their life.

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Concussions are becoming a more recognizable problem lately.

In addition to recognizing when kids actually have concussions, parents, coaches, and players are more aware of the long-term consequences of having a concussion, especially of having multiple concussions.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions though.

Stone Phillips tries to answer one of them in his report "Hard Hits, Hard Numbers: The First Study of Head Impacts in Youth Football." The report discusses the findings of a Virginia Tech study that followed 7- and 8-year-old football players who wore special helmets with sensors that could record the impact that their helmets wore taking when getting hit. Not surprisingly, most of the top hits were in the range that you would see in a concussion.

The report is a good reminder that kids playing youth sports aren't immune to getting concussions. Unfortunately, parents and coaches often aren't as aware of the symptoms of a concussion or return to play guidelines at this age. The Virginia Tech study will hopefully find ways to make youth football safer and perhaps even find ways to make helmets safer, but if nothing else, it will hopefully raise awareness about concussions.

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If you are lucky enough to find any, you may find that there are three different concentrations of infants' acetaminophen on store shelves right now.

A new Infants' Tylenol Oral Suspension (160mg/5ml) replaces the older, more concentrated Infants' Concentrated Tylenol Drops, which was available at 80mg per 0.8ml. In addition, another concentration of infants' acetaminophen drops has been available, at 80mg per 1.0ml.

To help reduce the chance of medication errors with acetaminophen, the FDA recommends that parents read the Drug Facts label to identify the concentration of acetaminophen in their product before trying to figure out their child's dosage.

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