Medical Treatment
Real versus Fake Acupuncture for CP
Parents are sometimes frustrated or disappointed by treatments for their children with cerebral palsy. Eager for anything that might bring improvement in this chronic condition, parents often turn to …
Simple Syrup NF to Quiet Coughs?!?
I've seen several headlines trumpeting that over-the-counter cough syrups are no more effective than water. The headlines are based on a study performed at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine a…
Getting Un-Allergic to Antibiotics
The rise of bacterial resistance isn't the only force limiting antibiotic choices. Allergies to antibiotics have risen over the years as antibiotic use in children (and in animal agriculture) has beco…
The Best Antibiotics for Ear Infections
The 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for the treatment of ear infections includes specific recommendation for which antibiotics should be used in different situations. Most ear infection…
Strep Throat Treatment
A change may be brewing. Although strep infections are usually mild, and would often get better on their own, some untreated strep infections result in serious complications - such as rheumatic heart …
Vanilla Ear Infections/Red Hot Infections
With garden-variety ear infections (what doctors call otitis media with effusion, or OME), germ-filled fluid is present in the middle ear. Most ear infections in children are OME. We've known for abou…
Canada is Calming Bacteria
The tide can be turned! Canada has scored a victory in the bacteria battle. For more than a decade, the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been increasing around the world, and has appeared …
Drugs for Children who Need Them
Pediatricians who treat cancer are poised to petition the World Health Organization to add leukemia medicines for children to the WHO essential drugs list, according to a February 16, 2004 report to t…
Asthma, Steroids, Growth, and Height
If children take standard amounts of inhaled steroids to prevent asthma flare-ups, do they end up shorter than their peers? We know that conventional doses of inhaled steroids can slow the rate of gro…
Head CT’s and Smarts
Exposing babies' or toddlers' brains to radiation might result in small but measurable decreases in intellectual function, according to a study in the January 3, 2004 British Medical Journal. At least…
Echinacea and Colds in Children
In the U.S., more than $300 million are spent each year on echinacea, mostly in an attempt to treat and prevent the common cold. Colds are especially common in children, who average 3 to 8 colds a yea…
Medicines for Minors
At long last, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a law on November 19, 2003, requiring that medicines for children be tested to be sure they are safe and effective for kids. The Senate approved …
Shots
When I was a child and went to see the doctor, I remember sometimes getting shots if I was sick. It seemed stronger than getting medicine by mouth. Today, parents sometimes ask me to give shots of med…
Toss That Ipecac
What should you do if your child swallows something toxic? Traditional advice used to be to keep a bottle of syrup of Ipecac at home for just such an emergency. At the 2003 annual meeting of the Ameri…
Antihistamines and Ear Infections
Dr. Greene's take on antihistamines for ear infections... Almost one in five clinicians will give a child an antihistamine or an antihistamine-containing cold medicine to give added relief to children…
October Protection For Your Child
Most parents would be surprised to learn that in the US the 6th leading cause of death among children under 4 years old is the flu and its complications. We know the elderly are at risk; but so are yo…
Another Adult Remedy Proves Not Good For Kids
The popular antidepressant drug Effexor should not be started in children under the age of 18, according to a statement released September 19, 2003 by the British Committee on Safety of Medicines. The…
When Doctors Type
My 14-year-old son was at the lab last week to get some blood tests, and the techs there could not quite make out the doctor's handwriting on the form (even though my son's wonderful doctor has handwr…
Cough Season
We all want to help a coughing child. But a big difference looms between what should happen and what does happen when kids have bronchitis and other cough illnesses. Even though overall antibiotic use…
Antibiotic Use Dropping
Antibiotic use in children increased steadily through the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's, and dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria increased as well. Researchers at Harvard University looked at re…