A new study, published June 16 2010 in JAMA, suggests that Lung Cancer occurs only half as frequently in people who have higher blood levels of B6.
The protective effect of Vitamin B6occurred in smokers, as well as those never exposed to smoke.
I have started recommending multivitamin supplements more frequently for my patients, because of recent [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
If your child is our patient, and you have Medicaid insurance (or no health insurance at all) for your child, please call us: we have (finally!) received our shipment of “regular” (seasonal) flu vaccines.
We are able now to vaccinate all our patients against seasonal flu, regardless of insurance. (The only exception is for Medicaid patients [...]
As of October 7, 2009, these are the regular (”seasonal”) flu vaccines we have in stock:
For patients with “Commercial” insurance (Blue Cross, Aetna, Coventry, etc.): we have all “regular flu” vaccines:
- shots for all children under 3
- nasal spray for all children over 2 (EXCEPT those with asthma)
- shots for all children over 3 (INCLUDING [...]
The immediate spread of Swine Flu seems to be abating, but it’s likely to resurface in the fall.
So far, Swine Flu hasn’t seemed very serious. Most cases have recovered fully; fewer than 500 people have died from it in the US so far this year. This is a remarkably low number, considering the high rate [...]
Everybody knows that kids need to wear sunscreen when outside in the summer sun. And it needs to be reapplied every two hours – even if the manufacturer claims that a single application lasts 4-8 hours, don’t believe the label!
But what about little babies under 6 months?
For decades, doctors advised against sunscreen for babies under [...]
