Preventative medicine is the backbone of pediatrics. For starters, we vaccinate children to prevent serious illnesses. Pediatricians are constantly counseling patients and their families on the health benefits of exercise and good nutrition and how these habits will lead to a healthier life. And, sometimes medications to prevent recurrent illness are necessary.
Last year, with all the hype surrounding the H1N1 (swine flu), patients came in droves to get their flu shots. My practice, as well as many across the country, ran out of vaccine and had difficulty getting more vaccine. This year is a different story. Without much media attention, and an overall mild flu season so far, my practice has not immunized even half the number of patients that it did last year.
Having a newborn at this time of year is the best gift you could receive. Getting together with family and friends who want to spend time with your new addition can be wonderful, but there are several health concerns to be aware of.
Weight issues in childhood are an enormous problem for our country. The numbers are staggering. 12.5 million children and adolescents are overweight. This number has tripled over the past 30 years. And, as we know, overweight childr
As summer break ends, my office starts to get busy. Putting all those kids together at school in a confined place is a perfect way to transmit infection. Here are some recommendations to limit your child's visits to the doctor this school year. First, I want to start with some basic, obvious healthcare tips. A good nights' sleep paired with a healthy diet is imperative to good health and peak performance in school. If your child's diet lacks diversity, add a basic multivitamin.
Pediatricians love the summer. Overall, our offices are much lesschaotic as we are not dealing with the flu and other illnesses thatwinter brings. There are some illnesses, though, that are linked withwarmer weather: sunburn, heat stroke, and certain bug bites, to namea few. A very common summer related illness is swimmer's ear, andright now we are seeing at least three a day in my office.
At least once a day a child comes in to my office complaining of pain with urination. Parents think that their child has a urinary tract infection (UTI). Although a UTI is a common cause of painful peeing, not all urinary pain is infectious in nature.
Poop is a very frequent topic of conversation in my office. It is a rare day when I don't hear about a child's poop or even see a poop sample.
I love spring. Most of the country is finishing their wet winter and the sun is starting to shine.We can look forward to grasses, trees, and flowers blooming. This is beautiful to look at, but for many children it is a sneezy, itchy, watery-eyed nightmare.
Approximately fifty million Americans, or about 1 in 5, have allergies. The majority of these people have pollen allergies and thus suffer more during spring and summer.
About once a week, a parent comes into the office and asks me about a scary phenomenon: their child has been waking up at night, frightened and unable to be consoled or comforted. These are called night terrors, (also called sleep terrors or pavor nocturnus) and can be very worrisome for parents. The child seemingly awakens from sleep in a panic, sometimes screaming or crying and cannot be calmed down. The child might appear confused and might not recognize the parent. In actuality, the child is still asleep.
