When to Keep Your Child Home From Child Care
When kids spend time close together, germs can spread between them. This is especially true for infants and toddlers, who often share toys that have been in their hands or mouths. Knowing when to keep your little one home sick from child care and school helps protect other children from illness. It can also give […]
January 11, 2023
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Healthy New Year’s Resolutions for Children & Teens
The start of a new year is a great time to help your children focus on forming good habits. Making New Year’s resolutions can be a fun way to do this! It is important to set healthy goals with kids – and to be realistic about those goals. Kids also love having something to work […]
December 28, 2022
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Helping Your Child Develop A Healthy Sense of Self Esteem
How can we help our child develop a healthy sense of self-esteem? By definition, self-esteem is the way in which an individual perceives herself-in other words, her own thoughts and feelings about herself and her ability to achieve in ways that are important to her. This self-esteem is shaped not only by a child’s own […]
September 28, 2022
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Stuttering in Toddlers & Preschoolers: What’s Typical, What’s Not?
As toddlers and preschoolers become increasingly verbal, they may begin to stumble over their words—raising concerns about stuttering. As a parent, how do you know when disfluencies are a normal part of development and when to be more concerned? Read on. What are Typical Disfluencies? It is not uncommon for young children to have disfluencies […]
September 21, 2022
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Playing Outside: Why It’s Important for Kids
By: Danette Glassy, MD, FAAP & Pooja Tandon, MD, FAAP No matter what the weather brings, playing outside is good for kids. There is scientific evidence that playing outside improves health, and children of all ages love it. Even as the COVID-19 virus continues to spread, outdoor time and nature exploration are safe for most […]
September 14, 2022
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Vaccine Preventable Diseases: POLIO
Polio For parents of an earlier era, polio was one of the most feared infectious diseases. Many were worried about letting their children swim in public swimming pools or get together at neighborhood movie theaters because they were afraid that their youngsters might become the next victims of polio. After the polio vaccine became widely available in the mid-1950s, the world saw a dramatic decline in this disease. Polio is caused by a virus that affects infants and young children more often than other age groups. It is spread through close person-to-person contact and can produce paralysis of the muscles. Some cases are mild, but others are much more severe, leaving people physically impaired for the rest of their lives. Thanks to the polio vaccine, the wild poliovirus has been virtually eliminated from the United States and much of the rest of the world. Signs and Symptoms For most people, polio may cause no symptoms at all. At times, however, it can impair and paralyze the arms and legs. It causes death in some people, most often when the muscles involved in breathing become paralyzed. When symptoms occur, they may begin with a low-grade fever and a sore throat, beginning about 6 to 20 days after exposure to the poliovirus. Some children may also have pain or stiffness in the back, neck, and legs, although these symptoms may not last long. When polio results in paralysis, the muscle pain can be severe. The most contagious period for polio is 7 to 10 days before the appearance of symptoms. It can continue for another 7 to 10 days after symptoms surface. No treatment is available for polio. Some children fully recover from polio, but others are disabled for a lifetime or may die from the disease. To protect your child from polio, make sure that he is properly immunized against the disease. Source: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/vaccine-preventable-diseases/Pages/Polio.aspx
August 31, 2022
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