All Search Results
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What are the best developmental toys for kids?
It’s December, and that means one thing to many parents – the holidays are quickly approaching. With countless store ads, commercials and online articles about the ‘top toys of 2017,’ it’s hard to really understand what toys are both fun to play with and good for child development.
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Follow Aiden's Heart Surgery As It Happens
We followed 16-month-old Aiden through heart surgery to repair a heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) that enables blood flow between the left and right Atria through an abnormal opening. We captured his surgery through Instagram as it happened, posting updates and pictures every few minutes so that his story could be followed in real time. Below are the photos and a timeline of events throughout the surgery. Aiden's surgery was successful and we wish him the best as he gets back to being a normal little boy again.
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A Mother's Story: The Blessings That Come With Having a Child With Spina Bifida
Just over nine years ago, I had never heard of a neural tube defect or spina bifida. In fact, nine years ago I would have told you spina bifida was one of the most horrible things to learn your baby would be born with. Spina bifida is a birth defect that makes you feel as though something so terrible is wrong with your baby.
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What to Do When Your Child Is Being Bullied
Learning that your child is being bullied prompts a range of parental emotions — from anger and fear to sadness and frustration. This emotional response is natural. We raise our kids to be loved, accepted and valued, and seeing them in pain can stir up many feelings. Whether your child has reported or showed signs of bullying, it’s important to sit down with them to calmly talk about this potentially devastating social behavior. Providing a safe and supportive environment, as well as a listening ear, are keys to developing a plan for how to move forward.
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What is music therapy and how is it used in a hospital?
I am a music therapist in a pediatric hospital and a hospital for women and babies. That is often what I say when I’m asked my occupation by friends and family. While most people generally understand what goes on in a hospital, it can be difficult to conceptualize what music therapy is and how it functions in the medical setting. Follow-up questions and comments from those unfamiliar with music therapy often include: “I didn’t know that was a thing” and “So you play music for patients in the hospital?” My answer is yes, it is a thing, but it is so much more than just playing music for hospitalized individuals.
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Are you cleaning your child’s ear with cotton swabs?
Earwax. It’s sticky, gooey and a terrible shade of yellow, certainly not something you want to see on your baby or young child. And when we do see that yellow goo, many of us manage it by what seems to be a very logical course of action- we take a cotton swab (often referred to by the brand name Q-tip) and clean out our kids’ ears. It seems as much a common sense act of caring for our child as brushing their teeth or washing their hair.
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What I wish I’d known when my son was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect
Written by Trey Flynn
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On Mother's Day, what to say to parents who've lost a child
There are certain holidays that can feel like tiptoeing over landmines, and Mother’s and Father’s Day can be that way for some of us. For a perfectly intact family it may be nothing but joyful, but for those of us who have endured loss and heartache, that happiness is often tempered by a sense of sadness and grief. I lost my father as a teenager, and even now nearly twenty years later the day set aside to celebrate fathers is always bittersweet for me. I rejoice in the celebration of my husband with my children, but underneath I always feel the loss of my own father. My loss feels even heavier as I scroll through Facebook and see smiling photo after smiling photo posted of other people with their fathers. I’ll never have a picture of my Dad walking me down the aisle to get married; he wasn’t there. I’ll never have a photo of him with his grandchildren; he didn’t live to meet them. The knowledge of these things is a dull ache that has gotten better with time, but never really goes away.
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What is a Level One Trauma Center and why does it matter to your family?
Level One Trauma Center criteria vary somewhat from state to state, but commonly include these elements, according to the American Trauma Society:
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Is your child constipated? How to tell and what to do about it
Learn about a few things every parent should know about constipation in kids.
