by Andrea Mooney on May 23, 2013
Photo by Michael Bentley
Spring is finally making its way to Boston, and with it comes the wonderful outdoor activities that children wait for all winter. Riding a bike usually tops the list, and new research underscores the importance of wearing helmets—no matter how young the child, how short the ride or how safe the street.
A study in the Journal of Pediatrics, conducted by William P. Meehan III, MD, Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH, Rebekah C. Mannix, MD, MPH, of Boston Children’s Hospital, and Christopher M. Fischer, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, shows that simply having helmet laws in place results in a 20 percent decrease in death rates and injuries for children younger than 16 who had been in bicycle-motor vehicle collisions. Research has already shown that people who wear helmets while riding a bike have an 88 percent lower risk of brain injury; but the first step is getting people to wear those helmets—and having laws can help. Full story »
by Claire McCarthy on May 23, 2013
Dr. Claire McCarthy is a primary care physician and the Medical Communications Editor at Boston Children’s Hospital. Along with her blogs here on Thriving, you can find her at the Huffington Post and Boston.com. Follow her on Twitter @drClaire.
Amid the horrific news of the devastating destruction brought by the tornado in Oklahoma this week, there is one remarkable bit of good news: as of this writing, only 24 people died. While any loss of life is horrible, and that there were children among the dead is even more horrible, one look at the pictures makes it clear that many more could have died.
Why didn’t more die? Because they knew what to do.
Oklahoma is in Tornado Alley, so people there know the drill. Many had shelters they could climb into. Others did what you are supposed to do (at least the ones who could—not everyone was so lucky): they got to the lowest floor, away from windows and covered themselves as best they could. And they survived. Full story »
by Guest Blogger on May 22, 2013
By Kipaya Kapiga
While Boston may be well-known for its great cuisine, the last thing a family traveling to Boston Children’s Hospital for long-term treatment is thinking about is fine dining. When parents care for a sick child in the hospital, it can be difficult for them to leave their child’s bedside to catch some sleep, let alone to take in the local fare. For more than a year, however, Boston Children’s has been working to change that by bringing the downtown Boston dining experience into the hospital.
Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on May 21, 2013
When describing how most kids react to a plate of their least favorite foods, the term melodramatic would be an understatement.
“If I have one more bite of broccoli, I’m going to be sick!”
“Yuck! Spinach again? It makes me gag.”
But for a small portion of kids, these terms aren’t exaggerations; they’re medically accurate statements.
Cameron Ledin is one of those children. The 8-year-old was recently diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a severe allergic inflammation of the esophagus that causes his body to have terrible reactions to a wide range of foods. When a person with EoE eats, his immune system can mistake certain foods as invaders. This causes white blood cells to attack the throat, and can lead to terrible pain in the stomach, joints and head.
EoE is rare and difficult to diagnose, especially in young children who can’t clearly express what they’re feeling. Complicating things even more, EoE symptoms often change over time, or won’t occur for hours or days after the person has been exposed to a trigger food, making it hard to pinpoint exactly what caused an inflammation. With so many variables involved, differentiating EoE from other food allergies or gastrointestinal issues is very tricky.
In Cameron’s case, proper diagnosis took years of testing. Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on May 20, 2013
Researchers in Sweden recently published a small study showing that children whose moms and dads placed the children’s pacifiers in their own mouths before giving it to the child—sharing some of their oral bacteria—were less likely to develop allergies like eczema and asthma later in life.
The study’s smaller size suggests that more research is needed before a link between pacifier “sharing” and reduced allergy risk can be proven, but the findings do add to a growing body of research that suggests bringing up children in a hyper-clean environment may not be the healthiest way to raise them.
“Western culture is becoming an increasingly sterile environment, but that might not be ideal for young children as their immune systems develop,” says John Lee, MD, director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Food Allergy Clinic. “Their bodies need to learn what to attack and what to ignore. But if they’re exposed to too few, or the wrong kinds of germs, it can hinder development, sometimes confusing the immune system into attacking nonthreatening entities like pollen or food, which is what causes allergies.” Full story »
by Claire McCarthy on May 16, 2013
Dr. Claire McCarthy is a primary care physician and the Medical Communications Editor at Boston Children’s Hospital. Along with her blogs here on Thriving, you can find her at the Huffington Post and Boston.com. Follow her on Twitter @drClaire.
I remember the first time I saw my son’s name on his gravestone. I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.
This was the name we had chosen for a baby, a name we expected to say as we called him to dinner, cheered him at soccer games or yelled at him for breaking curfew. We expected to see it on Christmas cards, report cards or a wedding invitation. We did not expect to see it on a gravestone. Full story »
by Andrea Mooney on May 13, 2013
Laura on the track
It’s a common belief among female runners: The lighter you are, the faster you are. It’s also believed that menstrual irregularities, or loss of periods, are a healthy part of competitive training. Neither is true.
That’s precisely what Laura Duff, a senior at Colby College and an avid runner, wishes she knew when she was in high school.
It was during the summer before Laura’s senior year of high school that she became more aware of how she looked. “I don’t know what switched,” she says, “I just became very aware, and started to restrict my eating and be more controlling.”
“I wish I could tell my high school self that worrying about your body isn’t worth it”
While part of her diet was intentional, another part was simply due to the structure of high school. Long days of classes and cross-country practice with little scheduled time for snacks and lunch made it hard to focus on getting enough calories. Soon, her weight started to drop. Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on May 10, 2013
Being a mom means being a master of many skills. To succeed, you need to be a good listener, a quality teacher and, in some cases, you’ll need the speed of an Olympic athlete with the reflexes of a cat just to keep up with the kids.
And when the little ones get sick, the moms I know can transform into both nurse and doctor in an instant, tending to their children with compassion and care that rivals that of any medical professional.
No one understands this more than the patient families of Boston Children’s Hospital. In honor of Mother’s Day, I spent some time with a few of our patients and their mothers and asked the children what they’ll be celebrating this Sunday:
“I love my mom with all my heart. She makes me chicken noodle soup when I don’t feel good and takes me shopping when I do!” –Victoria, 6 Full story »
