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Strollerderby
Actual photo of our first pediatrician.
Maybe you interviewed your pediatrician when you were pregnant, or maybe you just go to the doctor that was at the top of the list your insurance company gave you. Either way: Are you happy with the care your children are getting?
Parenting.com offers five signs that you need to switch pediatricians, but I think they actually missed a few important ones.
Here are Parenting.com’s reasons to switch: Continue reading »
Not all fevers need care and treatment.
I’ve got three kids so you’d think I’ve spent hours and hours at the pediatrician’s office over the years. For well-kid check-ups, that may be true. But I can only remember one or two trips to the doctor’s for anything other than weigh-ins and shots.
Which is not to say my kids are never sick. They’ve suffered all the colds and sometimes flus every October to March season brings. There was even a two-week stretch where we battled the nastiest kid sickness I’ve ever witnessed, hand-foot-mouth disease (I think the name makes it worse).
When my kids start showing signs of fever, I pull out a thermometer for confirmation and start squirting Advil into whomever’s mouth is open. Then I pat myself on the back for not wasting time and a co-pay at the doctors. Turns out, I’m probably doing it wrong. Continue reading »
Back in 2007, a public advisory committee made up of science researchers, medical professionals and public health administrators recommended strongly against giving young children over-the-counter cough and cold medicines, despite the fact that some had been formulated specifically for infants and toddlers 2 years and younger.
Manufacturers voluntarily recalled all such medicines intended for the 0 to 24-month age group, a move the Food and Drug Administration, who looked into the matter, strongly supported.
Despite the recalls and warnings, based on studies showing these formulas not only pose an overdose risk — but that they also show no signs of actually working — a new study out of the University of Michigan concludes that parents continue to treat their babies with these medicines. And with good reason.
Their doctors are telling them its OK. Continue reading »
Ear Infections Hurt!
Did you know that 8 million children visit a doctor annually because of ear infections and that ear infections are the No. 1 reason kids take antibiotics? Yet according to a recent analysis of earlier studies, antibiotics are unnecessary in the majority of these cases, reports USA Today.
In fact, 80 out of 100 children with ear infections will get better on their own in about three days, according to a review of 135 previously published studies in yesterday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Continue reading »
Breast Milk Lacks Vitamin D
Who knew Vitamin D was so controversial? Well, it’s not the vitamin itself that is causing controversy, but rather the notion that breastfed babies aren’t getting enough of it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all children, including infants, get 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day. The catch is that experts say that it is impossible for babies to get that amount of vitamin D from breast milk alone, according to MyHealthNewsDaily and MSNBC.com.
Of course, people can also get vitamin D from sunlight, but the AAP advises that infants under six months should avoid direct sunlight exposure.
To ensure that breast-fed babies are getting enough vitamin D, the AAP recommends vitamin D supplements in the form of drops. But the problem is that most pediatricians don’t mention this — in part, because they’re afraid they’ll turn new moms off the idea of breastfeeding. Continue reading »
The overwhelming majority of parents would like to be able to email their child’s pediatrician, according to a new study conducted by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The Baltimore Sun reports that “most pediatricians are not swapping e-mail with parents. While e-mail and text-messaging have crept into nearly every corner of daily life, they’ve made few inroads into doctor-patient communications.”
Dr. Michael Crocetti, the lead researcher in the study, gives a slew of reasons as to why emailing patients may not be a good idea:
* Doctors fear that parents will use e-mail in emergency situations.
* Email may lead to misunderstandings because tone is so easily lost online.
* Doctors are concerned a message sent to a non-secure computer is a privacy violation.
* Doctors worry that emailing with patients puts them on call 24/7 and wonder if they can charge for computer visits.
Continue reading »
The happiest doctors are those who treat kids and those who treat old people, according to a new study from the University of California Davis’ Center for Health Policy and Research. It found the highest levels of satisfaction from pediatric emergency room doctors and geriatricians, and the lowest from neurosurgeons and — wait for it — OB/GYNS.
Those low levels of satisfaction might come from a percieved lack of autonomy, irregualr hours and a relative decline in pay, according to the researchers. But Continue reading »
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