As they did in 1977, 1981, and 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics has completed an extensive review of everything we’ve learned in the past 14 years and re- re- re- re-affirmed its policy on trampoline use by children: Don’t let them do it! It’s way too dangerous for recreational use by children.
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Besides probing around in ears, for a pediatrician, feeling an infants cranial sutures (soft spot) and checking an infants hips for dysplasia comes about as second nature to them as breathing air.
I even find myself doing it subconsciously when somebody shows me their baby at church (more…)
Pediatricians, as a general rule, are a lot more “laid back” and a lot less “type A” than other types of physicians – surgeons and neurologists come to mind. We pretty much need to be, or go crazy.
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This is one of those instances where the title of the article almost tells you its whole content: Influenza isn’t just an “old people’s disease” anymore. And, being young and otherwise vigorous doesn’t keep you from ending up in the intensive care unit and possibly dying!
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Look, it’s getting so even I’m getting tired talking about immunization schedule, but every time I think about throwing up my hands I remember very clearly (as if it was yesterday) being sent down to the lower hospital ward to retrieve a piece of equipment and needing to push an Iron Lung out of the way in order to get to it.
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We all know that birthmarks aren’t very uncommon. One particular type, Infantile Hemangiomas, can kind of sneak up on parents and some times be quite worrying.
About four percent of infants develop these kinds of lesions and most of them don’t become visible until sometime after birth. (more…)
It didn’t used to be as difficult as it is now, but having enough knowledge for a parent to navigate through the medical system isn’t easy. Sometimes, it’s next to impossible and still keep your wits about you.
A parent must not only understand the office system of the doctor they have chosen; but, what about all those symptoms that they’ll ask you about if you call?
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“Stomach flu,” what a name! A lot of people use the term but the gut-wrenching malady has absolutely nothing to do with “flu” – not caused by the same “bug,” transmitted differently, treated differently, not prevented by a vaccine and the cause of more confusion in people’s mind’s than probably any other term in medicine.
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Even that yahoo father in Sam’s Club that I told you about before, does at least recognize that hands DO need to be washed once in awhile. And if dad can’t be trusted to do it, the duty to teach the kids the proper habit of handwashing falls squarely on mom.
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We all know that the greatest motivation most CEOs have, besides manipulating us into thanking them for taking our money, is to stealthily make their product less durable, impossible to repair and contain less resources. Such is the fairly new issue of televisions… which are now falling on our kids!
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In researching for another article I ran across another doctor who had made a handout listing for her patients the “Eight times to call your pediatrician.” That made me think about some of the advice I might give patients which might not make it elsewhere into pamphlets, handouts, parenting books or blogs.
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To any of you who have been following the NFL players legal battle over head injuries – or have been reading this blog – the research studies I’m going to describe should come as no surprise.
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