Delayed puberty can be very tough to deal with, especially when your friends (or your child’s friends) are growing and maturing before your eyes. For more information on the use of testosterone to treat delays in puberty, click here.
Vitamins are, by definition, compounds necessary in trace amounts for the normal functioning of the human body. Are they important? Click here for more information on vitamins and children.
Oh no, another ear infection? A vaccine called the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, has been shown in large clinical trials to reduce the risk of middle ear infections. Click here for more information on the ear infection vaccine.
October is Child Health Month, and in 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics' focused on educating parents and children about huffing - the dangerous practice of inhaling fumes (aerosols, glues, paints, etc.) to become intoxicated. In a...
Side impact air bags can seriously injure or kill children, even though they make cars safer for adults. In October 1999 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released an advisory that warns against letting children sit next to...
One of the most common topics I'm asked about from parents all over the world is how to get babies to rest better. Parents certainly don't want to do anything to make their children's rest worse. A small study in the current issue of Archives of...
After my October 26, 1999 column on fruit juices causing restlessness in children, I've gotten into a number of conversations about juice with parents and healthcare providers. Most were unaware of another downside of fruit juices in children -...
We know that antibiotics can kill disease-causing bacteria, but they also kill some of the body's beneficial bacteria. This can result, among other things, in unpleasant diarrhea and yeast infections. Folk wisdom has suggested that eating active-...
The Cleveland Clinic was the scene of a truly amazing feat. When women want permanent birth control, they sometimes have a simple operation called a tubal ligation, where the fragile Fallopian tubes are each tightly tied in two places, and then cut...
I was asked this question by a mother whose son had just gotten a TB skin test. Tuberculosis is a current problem. The population of our planet has now grown to over 6 billion people. At Grand Rounds at Packard Children's Hospital, we were reminded...
I'm excited about the growing demand for treating pain and distress in children undergoing medical procedures. A survey in the October 1999 edition of Pediatric News reported that half of parents still don't know that safe, effective methods for...
When Joel Alpert, M.D., outgoing President of the American Academy of Pediatrics addressed us, he was wearing the colors of Columbine High School. Violence in our country is off the charts when compared to all other developed nations. Dr. Alpert...
Thalidomide, the drug that was prescribed to relieve morning sickness in the late 1950's and early 1960's, caused a worldwide epidemic of severe birth defects. The drug is not kind to certain growing tissues. This turns out to make it very powerful...
A poignant report out of Harvard Medical School appeared in the October 1999 issue of Pediatrics. Girls and boys as young as 9 years old take up smoking in an attempt to lose weight. More than 15% of 9 to 14 year old kids have smoked at least once...
I well remember speeding down a hill near my childhood home on my trusty sled. Two suggestions can make this thrill a safer one for kids. When the snow falls, your child's bike helmet should become an even more important sledding helmet (over a...
Discovering that your child has cancer is one of a parent’s worst nightmares. A study in the October 1999 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute looked at risks of leukemia, the most common childhood cancer. Babies who are breastfed...
In 1999, I attended the national meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington, D.C. At the opening of the conference, Sarah Long, M.D. announced that the new pneumococcal vaccine would be available in early 2000. I was thrilled! The...
