Rima Himelstein
Protecting our children: it’s on all of our minds right now, especially, and it will always be. That is why I decided to write my final blog for 2012 on one area in medicine where we can really provide protection: vaccination against disease. In fact, vaccination is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child.
Looking back helps us appreciate how far we’ve come. In 1796, an English doctor named Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who caught a mild disease from cows known as cowpox did not catch the deadly human disease known as smallpox. Smallpox killed millions of people for generations. Jenner took fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of an eight-year-old boy. A single blister appeared then went away. Jenner later gave the boy a tiny dose of smallpox and he did not become sick. From this experience came the smallpox vaccine.
Fast forward: a smallpox-free world. Smallpox vaccine was given to generations of children around the world, completely eliminating the disease by 1980. So we no longer need to vaccinate our children against smallpox … but smallpox is the only exception.
Rima Himelstein
By Rima Himelstein
One of my patients drove home from college to see me because she was “just not feeling well.” About a month earlier she had a sore throat, which got better, and then came back again. And she needed to sleep a lot− 16 hours a day and she was still exhausted! When I examined her, I found her to have swollen glands behind her neck. Her “Monospot,” a test used to diagnose infectious mononucleosis, was positive.
Infectious mononucleosis, unaffectionately known as “mono,” is a contagious illness that causes sore throat and other symptoms. A person of almost any age can get mono but it is more common and often more severe in high-school and college-age people. About 85% of mono is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the other 15% by other viruses such as cytomegalovirus (CMV).
Beth Wallace, Registered dietitian, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
By Beth Wallace
In my quest to make the world of pediatric nutrition less confusing for parents, sometimes the simplest information is left out. Sometimes it seems like all you hear is, “Try this!” or “cook it this way instead.” I know you get a LOT of information about what, when, and how you should feed your kids.
I also know that sometimes you just want to cut through all of the mumbo-jumbo and know what NOT to feed your family. I am certain that there are several things that you don’t give your kids because you think they are too unhealthy. So, in a very fun experiment, I asked twenty well-respected, experienced, pediatric nutrition experts what foods they refuse to provide to their own children. The children range from 18 months to 20 years old, and each list I received seemed better than the next. So without further adieu, I give you…
Christopher C. Chang, MD, PhD
By Christopher C. Chang, M.D., Ph.D.
A lot of children experience wheezing in response to weather conditions, allergens, air quality and exercise. For those who live in cities and industrial areas, the prevalence of wheezing and asthma increases. Big cities such as Philadelphia have air quality problems – all one has to do is drive down I-95 flanked by smokestacks with different colored gases pouring out of them to see evidence of air pollution. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children and infants are among the most susceptible to many air pollutants.
There are several pollutants that are deemed to be sufficiently hazardous to humans to merit their measurement by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They include ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matters, and lead. Particulate matter varies in size. Those that are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter are known as fine particles. Scientists have linked fine particle pollution with significant health problems, including aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and difficulty breathing. Although air pollution doesn’t necessarily cause asthma (this is still controversial), it can be a factor in making symptoms much worse.
Sari Harrar
By Sari Harrar
In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing recently found that kids whose mothers were exposed to secondhand smoke were more likely to have behavior problems than kids whose moms avoided tobacco smoke during pregnancy.
It was already known that smoking during pregnancy boosted kids’ risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, low birth weight, respiratory problems and other negative health effects. "Such findings could inform public health efforts to reduce public smoking and underscores the need for including [environmental tobacco smoke] avoidance as a potential component of prenatal care among pregnant women," said leadauthor Jianghong-Liu, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor at Penn Nursing.
Sari Harrar
By Sari Harrar
Health-threatening snoring and obstructive sleep apnea -- pauses in breathing throughout the night -- aren’t just problems for grown-ups. In a new study, researchers say night-time wake-ups and other clues could help parents get the right diagnosis and help for little kids with often-overlooked breathing problems during sleep.
Researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University tracked the sleep quality and night-time sleep disturbances of over 11,000 British kids from the time they were 18 months old until just before their 5th birthday.
Beth Wallace, Registered dietitian, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
By Beth Wallace
Picture this: A mom is rushing to get some holiday shopping done after work before picking the kids up from basketball and ballet. Before she knows it, it’s 6:15, time to leave the mall and get the kids. And those kids will be hungry. What’s a busy mom to do in the middle of the food court?
Use those restaurant menu labels! Two years ago, it was a major change for restaurant chains to blatantly post nutrition information for the public to easily see. By now, it’s no surprise to see the calories marked next to the picture of your favorite “Value Meal” - or to find nutrition info online or with a smartphone app. But it’s another skill set to actually know what to do with that information.
Rima Himelstein
By Rima Himelstein, M.D.
The first time I met my 16-year-old patient, she hadn’t had a period for 14 months. For the past year, she had felt moody, had difficulty concentrating, and had experienced “hot flashes” and “night sweats.” This teenager was a competitive volleyball player with Olympic aspirations. She exercised every day and lost 20 pounds over the prior six months. She didn’t eat very much, but at night she often dreamed about food. Luckily, she hadn’t had any bone fractures … yet.
My patient was experiencing the Female Athlete Triad, a disorder that has three related parts:
- Low energy availability from disordered eating
- Menstrual problems
- Low bone mineral density for the patient’s age
Sari Harrar
By Sari Harrar
Two amazing statistics from a brand-new University of Missouri-Kansas City study of kids’ reactions to food advertising:
- Every year, companies spend more than $10 billion in the US marketing their food and beverages to children
- 98% of the food products advertised to children on television are high in fat, sugar, or sodium
That alone is a great reason to turn off the set during commercials -- and to talk with kids about the foods they see there -- large and in living color.
Katherine K. Dahlsgaard, Ph.D., Lead Psychologist - The Anxiety Behaviors Clinic, CHOP
By Katherine K. Dahlsgaard, Ph.D.
American children receive over 30 shots for vaccinations during the course of their lives. That doesn’t include Novocain shots at the dentist’s office and injections to draw blood for tests. Yet In a recent study, 63% of children reported mild-moderate fears of receiving shots (as did about 24% of adults). Estimates vary, but studies have suggested 2-8%of children have injection phobias (i.e., extremely intense fears combined with high anticipatory anxiety that results in impairment in everyday living).
While intense fears may need counseling, parents can help kids overcome mild to moderate fears with these steps:
