When a child stutters, parents are often told to relax, that the stuttering is a phase that will soon be outgrown, and that nothing needs to be done. This advice can be unfortunate. Children with true stuttering tend to repeat syllables four or more...
Alcohol is now recognized as the most common major destructive environmental agent to which a fetus is likely to be exposed. It is directly responsible for 10-20% of mental deficiency with IQ's in the 50-80 range, and one in six cases of cerebral...
The possibility of tick-borne illnesses gives a sense of urgency to the topic. In chat here at DrGreene.com, a mother asked me about the best method for getting ticks off our kids (and animals). People in the room had heard of many methods: applying...
At around age three, most children enter into a magical time where make-believe is the order of the day. Imagination and creativity spring to life. Playtime becomes a setting where wonderful dreams and desires are acted out as kids learn how to...
Talk with your children. Many children who use the Internet are the targets of unwanted sexual advances. According to a study published in the June 20, 2001 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, within that last year, 19% of the...
My 14-year-old son is gearing up for freshman high school football in the fall. Team weightlifting starts next week. Is it healthy? Can this stunt long-term growth? The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued June 6, 2001 guidelines for strength...
When physicians diagnose someone with walking pneumonia, they are usually referring to an infection with an organism called Mycoplasma pneumoniae. (Apart from being a pain, mycoplasmas are kind of cool. They are the smallest self-replicating...
In most newborns the lower esophageal sphincter is relatively lax. Thus, frequent spitting up is common in infants. This is called physiologic reflux. These are normal, happy babies who eat well, gain weight, and who have no other symptoms. Still,...
Giving children milk that contains Lactobacillus appears to decrease the rate and severity of respiratory infections, according to a study in the June 2, 2001 issue of the British Medical Journal. Healthy children between the ages of 1 and 6 who...
Pregnant women who eat lots of black licorice may be at increased risk of pre-term labor, according to a study in the June 2001 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. Licorice is very popular among pregnant women in some parts of Europe....
Many parents fear that fevers will cause brain damage. Brain damage from a fever will not occur unless the fever is over 107.6 degrees F (42C) for an extended period of time. Many also fear that untreated fevers will keep going higher and higher, up...
Sleep terrors, sleepwalking, and bedwetting all fit into the category of “partial-arousal parasomnias”. Although there is a genetic predisposition to each of these conditions, a report at the 2001 annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep...
One of my college roommates met a tragic early death from malignant melanoma. He was a sports enthusiast who frequently spent hours unprotected in the sun -- he always had a tan. Unfortunately, he's not alone. The risk of developing malignant...
The most common question I'm asked by parents whose children have Tourette's syndrome is "What will happen when they get older?" The fear is that they will progress to become like the caricatures seen on TV. A study published in the June 2001 issue...
Children who can control their bladders during the day, but who have never been dry at night for at least a six-month period, have what is medically known as primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE), the most common form of bed-wetting. Over five million...
Children can enter the D3 cycle at any point. Sometimes it begins with an uncomfortable experience passing a hard stool created by a change in diet or a brief illness. Sometimes the starting point is simply the fear of sitting over the gaping hole...
Rashes are impossible to accurately diagnose without examining them. When a rash is accompanied by a fever and lasts more than a brief time, it is wisest for the child to be seen by a doctor. Click here to read more about mystery rashes.
Chances are that no one else is sleeping either! What can a parent do to help a child fall back to sleep after a night waking? Click here to read Dr. Greene's advice.
Did you know that bee venom contains at least nine different components that work together to cause reactions in those stung? Click here to read Dr. Greene’s explanation of the various kinds of reactions caused by bee stings.
Bed-wetting alarms are among the safest and most effective of all therapies for bed- wetting. The alarms have a simple moisture-sensor that snaps into your child’s pajamas. A small speaker attaches up on the shoulder with Velcro. At the first drop...
Two types of tests can help predict whether someone will have an allergic reaction to future bee stings. Neither test is perfect. Skin testing results correlate best with the magnitude of subsequent allergic reactions.
PKU is a disorder caused by a missing or decreased enzyme called phenylalanine hydroxylase. When there is too much phenylalanine in the diet, the substances that build up in the blood can gradually cause brain damage. Click here to read more.
Each meal is a matter of life and death for children with propionic acidemia. Children need protein in order to grow and thrive, but for these children extra protein is a deadly poison. Click here for more information on breastfeeding with a...
Many children go through a phase of wanting to sleep in their parent’s bed. If you don't choose to have a "family bed", click here for tips to get them back into their own beds.
