All Search Results
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How do you cope with a debilitating and invisible chronic illness?
How do you cope with having a debilitating invisible chronic illness, like Gastroparesis? When I was first diagnosed with Gastroparesis, I honestly didn’t know how to feel. It was like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions - accepting one day, and completely confused the next. I later came to the realization that those feelings are completely normal.
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Help your kids get a healthy breakfast, even when short on time
The morning alarm sounds as your sleepy teen rolls over and hits the snooze button for the third time, and then dozes off to sleep again. When the I-will-be-late alarm goes off, they are in a rush to shower, brush their teeth, get dressed, grab last night’s homework assignment and then make a beeline for the front door so they won’t be late for school.
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Lead poisoning: How the Flint water crisis is bringing an old problem back into view
You may have seen the ongoing news coverage of the crisis in Flint, Michigan where the city’s water supply has exposed potentially tens of thousands of people to toxic levels of lead. Children are especially vulnerable to lead exposure, and in fact it was a pediatrician, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who was one of the first to publicly call for city and state officials to address water safety concerns after finding high levels of lead in several children.
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How to Prepare Your Child for an Outpatient Procedure
Preparing to bring your child in for an outpatient surgery or procedure at the hospital can often feel more stressful than the event itself. Children don’t typically welcome the prospect of a day at the hospital, no matter how short it may be. Parents often find themselves wondering how best to manage the difficult task of preparing their child mentally and emotionally for a surgery or procedure. Sometimes in order to prevent tears and fears, parents may try to mislead or avoid the conversation with their kids in order to simply get them in the door. Even though it may be tempting to tell your child that they are going elsewhere in order to get them in the car, or tell them that they are going to the hospital but not tell them why, this often causes more upset and challenge in the end.
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How becoming a mother has helped me become a better Child Life Specialist
No one can fully prepare you for how much becoming a mother changes you. The worries, fears, and joy all seem to multiply when a bouncing baby enters your life. As a Child Life Specialist, I thought I was prepared to combine motherhood and professional practice. As it turns out, I learned a lot, and I still have plenty more to go! Motherhood has changed the way I view parents and families who have to experience the hospitalization of their babies- and I include kids of ALL ages! I know that no matter how old they are, they are always our babies- whether they like it or not!
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How to help your overweight child develop healthy habits
In today’s culture, weight is a very sensitive subject, especially when it comes to children and teens. During this stage, they often suffer from low self-esteem and lack self-confidence due to weight concerns. Approaching weight issues with them can be a difficult task, which deserves special attention.
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Falling furniture or TVs can cause serious injuries to children
Did you know that every 24 minutes a child in the United States is injured after a television or piece of furniture has fallen on them?
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My baby is spitting up: is this normal?
As a pediatric resident I get to see many newborn babies, and I often continue to care for them in our outpatient clinic as they grow. In my experience, spitting up is among the top concerns for mothers within the first few months of their babies’ lives. And why shouldn’t it be? More than half of all infants spit up daily. Well, before I give you some tips to help you manage this at home, I’d love to review some information that we as pediatricians keep in mind when we hear the words “spit up.”
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Important information every parent of a child with asthma needs to know
As I pass the halfway mark in my first year as a pediatric resident, I have seen many patients come through the emergency department with asthma, whether it’s for difficulty breathing or cough or chest tightness. All too often though, I find that many parents are unsure of which medicines to give when their child’s asthma is causing problems. This is usually because there are multiple inhalers at home and there can be confusion about which inhaler to give and when. With this post, we will review asthma and go over the differences between inhalers as well as when to use them.
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Do You Know What to do if Your Child is Choking?
It is the nightmare scenario that can send any parent into a cold sweat: what if my child is choking and I don’t know how to help him?
