Wisconsin Chapter of the AAP

09/09/2025

🚨 Youth mental health and substance use are deeply connected—yet often overlooked.

The CDC's new Free Mind campaign helps parents and teens understand this link and start open, supportive conversations at home.

Why it matters:
⚠️ Nearly 40% of teens say sadness keeps them from daily life.
⚠️ 75% of youth overdose deaths involve fentanyl.

Awareness is the first step—connection and support make the difference. 💙

👉 Learn more and find resources: cdc.gov/free-mind

Drug use and mental health challenges are connected. Discover tools to support teens and parents.

08/26/2025

Join the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension and be a part of the Great Apple Crunch this year!

The Great Apple Crunch is an annual October event that promotes local food purchasing and encourages healthy eating during National Farm to School Month. For this simple event, schools, organizations, and households across Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest region commit to crunch into local apples in October. Last year, nearly two million participants crunched into locally grown apples across the Midwest region. The Great Apple Crunch is celebrated across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio.

One of the Crunch’s main goals is to celebrate seasonal foods and to generate excitement around local foods and agriculture. The event highlights farm-to-school and farm-to-institution sales, increases appetites for regionally and locally grown produce, and supports Wisconsin apple growers. The Crunch encourages Wisconsin schools and other institutions to increase local options in cafeterias, keeping local dollars in the community and benefiting local apple producers.

Extension provides schools, institutions, and producers with marketing resources, recipes, activities, education, and solutions to boost local food systems. Extension efforts are part of national and regional efforts to connect farms to schools and institutions.

Great Apple Crunch Crunch into an apple during National Farm to School Month to celebrate local producers and promote local fresh food and healthy eating.  5,772 kids ages 0-5 crunched in celebration with local apples in 2024 139,223 K-12 students crunched in celebration with local apples in 2024 9...

08/26/2025

September 1-7 each year is Workplace Lactation Week, and the 2025 theme is "A World of Support: Creating Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplaces Everywhere."

This theme emphasizes support in any work environment a parent occupies, meeting them where they are—whether they work in an office, a factory, remotely, in the field, or are traveling abroad. In the United States, a robust framework of federal, state, and local lactation laws now exists to guide organizations and truly support new parents. Key among these are the federal PUMP (Providing Urgent Maternal Protections) Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), all aimed at enhancing support and ensuring that working and pumping parents have the necessary protections and accommodations to thrive.

Through the link you'll find a host of information on events, social and print media, and other resources to promote better supports in diverse workplaces, including a lactation room contest if yours could use a bit of TLC!

Workplace Lactation Week

https://www.healthyhorizons.com/blogs/blog/workplace-lactation-week

📢 We're thrilled to officially announce the theme for the 3rd Annual Workplace Lactation Week™ 2025: A World of Support: Creating Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplaces Everywhere! This is an international call to action to ensure breastfeeding parents have the resources they need to thrive at work. 🌍🤱

Discover how you can participate and support this global movement. All the information you need is on our updated webpage: https://www.healthyhorizons.com/blogs/blog/workplace-lactation-week

Join us in building a more supportive future for families in the United States and worldwide!

Healthy Horizons Breastfeeding Centers & Corporate Lactation Programs U.S. Breastfeeding Committee - USBC Office on Women's Health - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Health Equity, Education and Research CDC

08/14/2025

"A number of us became increasingly concerned about the erosion of vaccine policy in the United States and began a conversation about what our options were. The views of the current secretary of health and human services have been well known to everyone for decades, and we don’t agree with the secretary’s position on vaccine safety and effectiveness. But we listened very carefully during the confirmation hearings to what he said. We hoped that we would not be in this position. We hoped that he would not emphasize anti-vaccine views as part of his role. When it became increasingly clear that was the direction the HHS was going, we had to sue. The firing of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was a key pivot point for us. The rationale for the firing was that the existing committee members were somehow partisan or political and therefore suspect, and that’s false. This was a group of experts in pediatric infectious disease and epidemiology. These were not partisans, these were not political people, these were experts. They just didn’t agree [with Kennedy]. And that’s not a sufficient basis [for their removal]."

The American Academy of Pediatrics takes a stand against RFK Jr.’s actions.

07/15/2025

*** NEW Fact Sheet from the Wisconsin Office of Children's Mental Health (click through the document link to download)! ***

Extracurriculars and Children's Mental Health

Kids who participate in extracurricular activities such as lessons, sports, afterschool clubs, or community service tend to have better mental health. Extracurriculars are organized activities that teach important life skills like teamwork, interpersonal communication, and stress management, which in turn bolster kids’ well-being and improve their lifetime outcomes. Extracurriculars - organized through school or a community based organization - also increase belonging, an essential ingredient for mental well-being.

06/27/2025

"It doesn't matter who you voted for, where you live, or what you believe; you and your child will always get my best. And if you choose not to give your child a vaccine and they end up in the ER with a preventable illness, it will devastate me, knowing it was avoidable. But I will fight for them with everything I have; I've done it before.

"As lies spread from the top down, you will hear more politicized noise, and your confusion may grow. But you will also hear us, your pediatricians, speaking clearly: Vaccines will keep your child healthy."

Click through for Dr. Higgins' full letter.

Healthy Children Healthy Children.org en español American Academy of Pediatrics

Here's why pediatricians recommend vaccines with confidence. As misinformation comes from the highest levels, they will continue to be there for you to support important parenting decisions.​

05/05/2025

Don't miss this opportunity to connect and collaborate with other immunization champions throughout the state! Register today! https://immunizewi.org/spring-conference-2025/

04/02/2025

We are excited to kick off our upcoming pediatric mental health care conference, Youth Canvas, with a free screening of the powerful documentary, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain. Journey into a world the public rarely sees, depicting emotional costs experienced by professional care providers and probing the emotional consequences of professional public service. Watch the trailer: Caregiversfilm.com

03/31/2025

There's a lot of information out there - and we know you have questions about what's to be trusted. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a new "Fact Checked" page where you can find specifics on vaccines, fluoride, and more. Information will be added on a continuous basis - check back for information.

Pediatricians weigh in to address the latest misinformation by providing clear, science-backed messaging to support children and families.

03/21/2025

Join WIAAP for an innovative two-day conference on pediatric mental and behavioral health and hear from subject matter experts across a spectrum of professions to build your capacity and confidence in addressing pediatric patients in crisis.

03/13/2025

Connect with mental health experts and build your network of support by engaging with pediatric healthcare providers, counselors, ED providers, EMS, therapists, psychiatrists, and school heath providers at our upcoming conference dedicated to improving pediatric mental health outcomes.