Pediatrics Blog

Experts have lots of reasons for the rise in childhood obesity, including a lack of exercise, eating too much fast food, drinking too much soda, playing too many video games, etc.

Unfortunately, as hard as you work to provide a healthy environment at home, kids can still eat and drink unhealthy foods at school.

Learn more about school soda and drink guidelines that are supposed to help fight child obesity. What are your kids drinking at school?

Related:
Exercise and Fitness for Kids
Best Foods for Kids
Junk Food
Healthy Snacks

Smoking bans are becoming more and more common across the world. Although still controversial and often disliked by smokers, these smoking bans work to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke.

Although some of the first smoking bans were in public places, including workplaces and government buildings, they are now just as likely to be found in restaurants and bars. An even newer idea may be to have a smoking ban in your own home.

Some kids just dread going to school. For these kids, going to school may become so stressful that they have temper tantrums over going to school or complain of symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, or chest pain, etc.

Do they have a physical problem causing these symptoms or are they all caused by school refusal? Getting to the bottom of this important issue can help get your child back in school faster and help avoid a lot of unnecessary medical tests and treatments.

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Anxiety Symptoms
Teens and Stress
Mysterious Symptoms
Learning Disability Screening Quiz

Depending on where your family lives, works, and shops, you may use elevators and escalators on a regular basis and may not give it a second thought.

While they are safe, reports of injuries likely suggest that while you may not have to think twice and use the stairs, you should at least think about your child's safety before letting him or her ride on an elevator or escalator.

The recent death of a five-year-old boy in New York highlights the dangers of kids in elevators. He fell while trying to get out of an elevator that was stuck between floors. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, on average, about six people a year die in and around elevators, including about one child under the age of ten.

Related:
Elevator and Escalator Hazards
Soccer Goals Safety Alert
Hidden Dangers
Chemicals in your Child's Environment
Shopping Cart Safety
Falling Televisions Hazard

The back to school season means different things for different kids. For some, it is going to be the first day of kindergarten. Is your preschooler ready for kindergarten? If you are sitting on the fence about whether or not to start your child in kindergarten or wait another year, review some of these signs of kindergarten readiness.

For many other children, the back to school season really means getting ready to go back to school. In addition to stocking up on school supplies, this is a good time to make sure your child's immunizations are up-to-date, that you have addressed any school performance problems, including adjusting your child's ADHD medicine if necessary, and your are prepared to handle your child's medical problems at school, especially if he has food allergies, diabetes, seizures, or asthma, etc.

A stye, also known as a hordeolum, is a common infection on a child's eyelid.

Although common, parents frequently are unsure what to do when their child gets a stye. Learn about the symptoms and treatments in case your child gets a stye.

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Pink Eye
Kids and Contact Lenses
Vision Screening

Although you likely don't want to think about it yet before your kids have even gone back to school, flu season will be coming before you know it and it isn't too early to start to get ready. Preparing for flu season doesn't mean stocking up on Tamiflu though.

Instead, it can be a good time to start thinking out where you are going to get your child his flu shot. Also, learn about the new recommendations for this year's flu season and when your child should get the flu vaccine.

A lot of people blame the current childhood obesity epidemic on what kids are eating. The fact that many kids aren't very active is likely a factor too. Still, you likely don't want your kids eating a lot of high calorie, high fat foods and junk food.

What are your kids eating?

A printable food diary can be a great way to keep track of the calories your kids are eating, especially if they are overweight, and to make sure that they are getting enough fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals, etc., from all of the different food groups.

Related:
Junk Food
Childhood Obesity
Exercise and Fitness for Kids
Healthy Food
Nutrition Facts Quiz

While most people have been worried about the recent Salmonella outbreak, another infection has been spreading this summer, but has gotten far less attention.

Cryptosporidiosis, an infection with the Cryptosporidium or crypto parasite, can follow drinking contaminated water and often leads to a few weeks of diarrhea, stomach cramps, and nausea. It most commonly occurs in the summer months in outbreaks from contaminated swimming pool water at water parks and community pools.

Although a few cases here and there are considered usual, this summer, there are already outbreaks in North Texas and Arizona, which follows a large outbreak in Utah last year.

Learn about the symptoms, treatment, and prevention of crypto infections.

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Healthy Swimming
Symptoms of Dehydration
Hidden Summer Dangers

The FDA is being cautious as usual and so isn't definitely saying they know what has caused the recent Salmonella outbreak, but their finding Salmonella on a farm in Mexico that grows serrano peppers makes it sound like they are likely close to identifying the source.

The FDA reports that Salmonella that is identical to the strain causing the outbreak that has infected 1319 people in 43 states has been found in both a sample of serrano peppers and a sample of irrigation water on this Mexican farm. Previously, Salmonella was found on a jalapeño pepper grown in Mexico.

More testing is also being done from other farms and other peppers, but according to the CDC, it looks like "jalapeño peppers and serrano peppers grown, harvested, or packed in Mexico are the cause of some clusters and are major food vehicles for the outbreak."

Remember that experts are still advising people to "avoid raw jalapeño peppers and raw serrano peppers and foods that contain them, if they were grown, harvested, or packed in Mexico."

Related:
CDC Salmonella Investigation
FDA Salmonella Outbreak Information
Salmonella Symptoms