With the federal health reform bill inching closer to becoming a true law, it’s still up for debate whether it will even begin to put a dent in turning around our very confusing, disjointed, expensive and chaotic health care system.

The issue, of course, is that health insurance is not even the tip of the iceberg. Without reforming the innards of the health care system and giving people a system that they can understand and use more easily, it matters very little whether people have insurance coverage.

Continue Reading

Q)
Dear Dr. Gwenn:

My daughter is 3 ½ years old. I just spent the last year raising her alone while my husband was in Korea. Since we are a military family, our lives change every so often when it has to. Lately our daughter takes up to 3 hours to go to sleep, we have left her by herself and we have to take her back into her room at least 6 times. We’ve tried reading stories in her bed and staying in her room until she falls asleep. On occasion, she has lain in our bed for hours before falling asleep.

During the evening struggles, she often throws fits and kicks and screams. I need help!!! This is affecting my marriage and now I have become one of those mothers that I didn’t want to become with a spoiled child. Please help!!!

Thank you,
Rebecca

Continue Reading

Do you know what preparing for a ski vacation and getting your children off to school during the freezing winter months have in common? More than you may think! Not only are the elements the same – ice/snow/wind/cold, but the dangers and the precautions needed are really the same. Yet our expectations for how we dress our children are somehow very different. If your family is anything like mine, they look far from artic warriors when they head off to school but could be mistaken for Eskimos on the slopes.

The vast majority of schools in Massachusetts have fairly strict guidelines for outdoor activities that our children are expected to follow at school. Use this to your advantage and expect them to follow these rules all the time, even at home or when walking to school. So, if the children are expected to wear certain clothing at school before being allowed outside, require the same at home or on the slopes. And, if its too cold for outdoor recess, than its likely too cold to build a snowman in the backyard!

Keep in mind that not all accidents are many variables are out of our control. At the same time, paying attention to the areas we can control will not only reduce the chance of preventable injury but maximize your family’s fun.

1. For sports requiring special equipment, be sure the equipment is well made and fits your child properly. Many outdoor stores do carry a full line of equipment, including used equipment, and can help you outfit your child properly. You may also want to check out the Consumer Product Safety Commission web site (www.cpsc.gov) to be sure any equipment you are considering has not been recalled.
2. For any winter sport, including sledding, your children should wear a good ski helmet. We only have one brain and it is not as easy to fix as a broken arm. So, if your child won’t wear the helmet, don’t let him participate – the risk of injury is too high otherwise!
3. Don’t forget eye protection – not only from the snow or ice but the sun. Good eye goggles or sunglasses are crucial for winter sports safety and will minimize the risk of injury should your child fall in the snow or be hit with some snow/ice.
4. Keep an eye on the local weather and don’t underestimate the danger that extreme cold can cause. The windchill is the number to pay attention to – that is how cold it feels outside due to the blowing, arctic wind. The more below zero it feels, the faster the wind is blowing, the more dangerous it is to be outside.
5. Avoid the tempation to leave small children in a parked car for even a few minutes when it is very cold – it only takes 5 minutes of extreme cold to cause hypothermia or frostbite. Better to take your children with you than to leave them in a car unattended – even for a few minutes.
6. Dress your child in layers underneath the snow suit to lock in the heat. Thermal clothing is the best but medium weight cotton clothing will work fine as well. Long underwear, turtlenecks and thermal socks are all essential for most outdoor winter sports. If your child gets too warm, she can always remove a layer.
7. Finally, don’t forget the hat – most of our heat is lost from our heads so keep them covered!

Here’s to a fun and safe winter.

(Originally posted November 2003; Updated December 2009)

If there are two pearls of wisdom I can impart to you about toddlers it is this: they will have many boo-boos and there will be times you will be convinced your toddler is “always sick” and you should change your address to that of your pediatrician’s office.

Toddlers are the captains of the boo-boo and “bug” brigades.  While most boo-boos are minor and require nothing more than a kiss, and most “bugs” are viruses that clear before you can reach for the phone, there are times some injuries and illnesses can be serious and require more care. As with all things toddler, those times also tend to be very obvious once you know what the key factors are to focus on. Continue Reading

Safety proofing. One of those necessary evils of parenting we love and hate all at once. We love the fact that we are protecting out infants and very young children, yet if only it were easier to accomplish at times…and if our tots had a bit less Houdini in them. Still, safety proofing measures do minimize injury and provide us with peace of mind during a very chaotic time in our kids’ lives.

Continue Reading

Does your teen or tween every travel alone? “Of course not,” you say. What about school trips in middle school or high school?  What about overnight camp and day trips or overnights they may take?

Any time your kids do something without you, they are travelling alone. Once kids are old enough to have these opportunities, they are old enough to not only understand important safety rules about travelling without you, but understand how to care for themselves and their health a bit. In fact, if they can’t accomplish either of those tasks, perhaps they are not quite ready to be on their own.

Continue Reading

We have a special tradition this time of year our entire extended family has come to value. We call it “the Charity Pie” tradition.

Each year we make a small cash donation to a charity in the area who organizes meals for the homeless during the holidays. The charity works with a bakery and each donation is met with a pie as a way of saying “thank you for making someone else’s holiday a bit sweeter”. Continue Reading

I read a blog post not long ago that suggested we should all check our email only twice a day. Twice a day? Is that even possible? It may not seem possible but it sure is needed. Believe it our not, despite our over connected lives and reliance on technology for everything, we actually need some  unplugged time alone and as a family.

Technology has certainly made our lives more efficient and created an explosion of ways for adults and kids of all ages to connect over the last decade. The amount of that explosion at times has seemed almost unfathomable since the new millenium has arrived, hasn’t it!?

Continue Reading

Attending conferences and events, I’m always amazed by the new parenting devices and  gadgets that appear on the market. What’s timeless, however, are the questions parents have about the health of their young families.

Here’s a sampling of those common parents of new babies or of young children typically ask:

Continue Reading

One of the most difficult issues for new parents, and grand-parents, is deciding if a very young infant (under 2 months of age) is sick. Some people go by “look”; others seem to have a built in radar that alerts them to when something may be wrong that at least prompts the call to the pediatrician. Pediatricians, too, develop a sixths sense with this age group. They have to because this group, above all others, deserves special attention when illness lurks.

Continue Reading