If you’ve learned that your newborn or young child has sickle cell disease, you — and other family members and friends — may have many questions. These days, most cases of sickle cell disease in the US are diagnosed through newborn screening. It’s important to make the diagnosis early, so that babies can be started on penicillin (or another antibiotic) to prevent infection. Getting connected early to a pediatrician for primary care — and to … [Read more...]

Vaccines have been heralded as a key measure to slow the COVID-19 pandemic and one day bring it to an end. Every day, millions of American adults are receiving one of the authorized vaccines proven highly effective at preventing severe illness that might otherwise lead to hospitalizations and deaths. In the US, most people over 65 have now been fully vaccinated, protecting the most vulnerable in our population. As an infectious disease … [Read more...]

If a 3-year-old finds a cookie on the table, chances are they are going to eat it. Even if it is made with marijuana or THC, CBD, or other components of cannabis. As more states have legalized the use of marijuana and an ever-widening range of derivative products, it’s not surprising that more children are being exposed — including by eating marijuana edibles. A research brief published in the journal Pediatrics found that between 2017 and 2019, … [Read more...]

It’s time to make summer plans, and for many families, those plans include summer camp. After the year we’ve had, the idea of getting out of the house, being active, and seeing other children sounds very appealing. While there is reason to hope that this summer will be better than 2020, the reality is that COVID-19 will still be with us. The vaccines will make a difference, but they aren’t available yet for campers under the age of 16 — and the … [Read more...]

It’s amazing how something as ordinary as going to school can become frightening and overwhelming during a pandemic. While some children have been attending school throughout the pandemic, most have been learning remotely, or in a hybrid model of some remote and some in person. As we pass the one-year mark, it has become increasingly clear that children need to get back into their pre-pandemic school routines. It’s not just education that has … [Read more...]

We all want our children to be able to go back to school. What we don’t want is for them — or their teachers — to get sick from COVID-19. There is no easy, let alone perfect, solution, which is why, a year into the pandemic, there is no clear way forward. Recently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidelines to serve as a roadmap for navigating this difficult part of our pandemic journey. According to these new … [Read more...]

Just about every single one of us is spending too much time in front of a screen these days. Many, if not most, of us are spending most of our days on one — including, unfortunately, our children. Hindsight is 20/20, of course. When the pandemic began a year ago, we had no way of knowing it would last so long. Suddenly, school became remote, daycare ended. Many parents started working remotely, and those who remained in the workplace had less … [Read more...]

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published new dietary guidelines to help Americans get and stay healthier across all parts of the lifespan. Babies and toddlers are included for the first time, because the recommendations cover our full lifespan. The guidelines are called “Make Every Bite Count.” If we want to get and stay healthy, we shouldn’t be eating foods that are basically empty calories — or worse, foods that actually … [Read more...]