How do you know when your school-aged child can safely come out of the car seat, and use a regular seat belt? It’s longer than you think.
The safety issue relates to the way that the safety belts themselves restrain the child. In order for the belt to restrain the child without causing injury, the belt [...]
We always try to prescribe the least expensive medication available that will treat your child effectively. And we usually use generic medications, which are just as effective as the branded drugs for most children.
But medications can be expensive! Your insurance plan’s drug benefit should help cover the cost, but sometimes there’s a problem.
If you arrive [...]
How should you take care of your newborn’s umbilical cord? Conflicting instructions confuse new parents. But proper care is not difficult.
The most important technique is to expose the base of the cord. If the base is not exposed to air, then bacteria can thrive in the wet, low oxygen environment; this may lead to infection.
Hydrogen [...]
Lots of experts give advice about how to care for fussy babies. There are special medicines (such as Mylicon), special formulas (such as Nutramigen), and home remedies galore. (Could someone please tell me what “gripe water” actually contains?)
But most babies who cry a lot don’t have colic. I haven’t made this diagnosis more than 2 [...]
When patients in the past have asked me whether to give their kids vitamin supplements, my opinion has been lukewarm. Most foods are supplemented with vitamins, even junk food! There’s no harm in a daily supplement, but I have not felt strongly about it.
Until now! Recently, I have seen a steady stream of recent research [...]
A few parents are still asking about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine. Please be reassured! You and your children are much better off with the vaccine than without it.
This is certainly not a “new” vaccine; the H1N1 vaccines are just like the regular seasonal vaccine, made by the same manufacturers, who use the same [...]
We have received our next shipment of H1N1 vaccine. This batch is for infants and toddlers, younger than their 3rd birthday; it’s a shot, “without preservative.” I’ll offer it to infants and kids scheduled for their regular checkups, but you may call for an appointment just for the flu shot.
We’ve only received 100 doses of [...]
We received about 100 doses of the Swine Flu vaccine from the state last week, and they’re all spoken for. It’s a start, but it’s not enough! We are following the CDC’s instructions to give the vaccine to our high-risk patients first (those with cerebral palsy, persistent asthma, diabetes etc.). We have maintained a list [...]
For many years, heavy advertising for Baby Einstein videos implied that infants who watch TV (specifically their DVD’s) grow up smarter. But pediatricians and advocacy groups were skeptical. No proof was ever offered, and several studies demonstrated harm to infants watching much TV. Complaints were lodged with the Federal Trade Commission, asking the FTC to [...]
Delaware’s schools are starting to sign up their students to receive Swine Flu vaccines. The schools don’t actually have vaccines in stock yet. (I’m sure the newspaper headlines will inform us when school vaccines are delivered!) But the schools are getting a jump on the paper work, making lists and getting parent’s permission to administer [...]
