Air pollution is a worldwide problem with worldwide involvement. It is important to strongly encourage and support policies that reduce emissions and improve air quality for all children and families from all backgrounds.

Sensory processing disorders are not recognized as a medical diagnosis and sometimes it is hard to get insurance to pay for therapy. Ask your health care provider for help with associated diagnoses.

We live in troubled times! Today’s teenagers are having an especially hard time with an increased incidence of mental illness seemingly linked to the pandemic and to social media

September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

We can all reach out and offer support to parents and caregivers on a regular basis. There are lifeline resources such as the suicide and crisis lifeline (988). There is a Parent Support Network (mhanational.org/mental-health-resources-parents) that provide free local and online support meetings for any parent or guardian.

Each disastrous event is different but including children in the planning for and then the review of their plan will make things better for everyone. Remember practice makes perfect.

In healthy children.org there is a recent update on travel tips for stress-free family travel. Most families travel by car and the first rule is always use a car seat even in rental cars or taxis.

Once the first tooth has erupted it should be brush twice a day with a baby tooth brush and a grain of rice size fluoride toothpaste. After age three, a pea size amount of toothpaste can be used. Adults should help until about age 7-8 years or when the child can write their name well.

It is probably wise to discuss dietary supplements with your health care provider and look for the label for UPS or NSF testing. Remember Vitamin C is in citrus fruit and iron is in raisins and spinach. Ask Popeye.

DEET functions to produce a vapor layer distasteful to mosquitoes. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that DEET should not be used on babies under the age of two months. Older children can use DEET concentrations up to 30%.

There are ongoing studies to evaluate how using digestive enzymes can improve behavior and gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autistic behaviors and attention deficit problems.

Healthychildren.org has some suggestions for a checklist to secure a safer environment in any home. As children will put anything in their mouths, it is important to store pills, inhalers, and other prescriptions out of reach. Move medicines in purses or at the bedside securely out of reach. Pets, pet food and pet medicines should be stored out of a child’s reach. (This is for the safety of both the child and the pet.) Unsafe cleansers and chemicals need to be moved to cabinets with safety locks completely out of reach. Be careful of leaving alcoholic drinks in easy reach of children at the same party.

Attitude is a choice. Concentrate on overturning whining and complaining into something positive.

Can children become “addicted” to processed foods? This is an important question and the answers are important and scary. The World Health Organization has declared that there is a global epidemic of obesity.

Domestic violence is a tremendous problem. Healthychildren.org reports that “1 in 4 children are exposed to caregiver intimate partner violence within their lifetime”. That’s a lot of children and it is of great concern because this places them at risk of profound short- and long-term impacts on their physical and mental health and well-being.

Choking from hard candy is scary, be careful. Choking is the fourth leading cause of death in preschool kids and the leading cause of infantile death. In 19% of cases, candy is the culprit. Hands-on training is helpful for emergency situations, but prevention is the key.

Congratulations to our recent alumni, Dr. Sara Nandolia! She received Honorable Mention for her Hypothesis-Driven Scholarly Project in the Texas Pediatric Society E-Poster Contest under the mentorship of Dr. Annie Goodwin. Dr. Nandolia is currently a GI fellow at Johns Hopkins! See all winners here. Congratulations Dr. Nandolia!

Parents are very important in the care of their children’s mental health. It is important that parents assure their child that they can tell them anything without judgement or criticism. This is one of those things that is easy to say and not so easy to do. Second communicate that mental health is HEALTH and it is normal to talk about it and to seek professional help just like you would for strep throat. Many famous people have publicly done so.