In a great piece on NPR this morning, child nutrition specialists talked about picky eating in toddlers and how it’s important that parents let their little ones regulate their eating behaviors as much as possible; kids will usually get what they need if you just let them alone at the dinner table.
The story reminded me of an article I wrote a few years back from Children’s Dream magazine about how hard it was for my wife and me when our then-2-year-old triplets wouldn’t eat. One of the interviews I did for the article was with Children’s beloved pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, and something he said has always stuck with me: “A battle over food is one a parent is sure to lose.”
Our triplets (l to r), Olivia, Jackson and Sophie, at age 2.
So, here’s the article I wrote back then. Do you have picky eaters at home? Have any advice for those of us who still struggle through the (more than) occasional meal with their toddlers? Share it in the comments section below or on our Thrive Facebook page.
If you’ve ever had your child ignore the dinner you put on the table (and the lunch you put on the table before that and the breakfast that went untouched to start the day), you’ve probably asked yourself, exasperated, “Why won’t this child eat? He needs to eat to survive!” Full story »
I don’t usually like to do Thrive posts that wrap up a previous week’s events, but last week was an interesting and exciting week on Thrive and at Children’s Hospital Boston, so I thought I’d break my own rule just this once (and I reserve the right to break it again!)
The post by Dr. Brian Skotko (shown here with his sisters Kristin and Allison) generated a lot of conversation—and controversy.
The most widely read, shared and commented on post—by far—was Dr. Brian Skotko’s thought-provoking article, “Will babies with Down syndrome slowly disappear?” Dr. Skotko, a clinical genetics fellow in Children’s Down Syndrome Program and the brother of a young woman with Down syndrome, talked about a new study that says mothers-to-be will soon be able to get a simple blood test during the first trimester of pregnancy that will let them know if their baby will have Down syndrome. This caused Dr. Skotko to ask: Full story »
Children’s Hospital Boston got an historic $7 million gift from the New Balance Foundation yesterday to support the pioneering work of David Ludwig, MD, PhD, as he and colleagues try to stem the tide of childhood obesity. The gift establishes the Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention, Research and Care, which will support Dr. Ludwig’s clinical research and outpatient programs, as well as community outreach efforts. Full story »
Every year, families spend the holidays at Children’s Hospital Boston, and every year Children’s works hard to bring a little bit of home to the hospital so the holidays can feel as normal as possible. This year has been no exception, with trick or treating on Halloween, home-cooked meals on Thanksgiving and celebrations of Hanukkah, Christmas and Dawali (more on those celebrations tomorrow on Thrive). Yesterday, our patients even had a chance to chat virtually with Santa Claus thanks to a great annual program by the Cisco Systems. Check out the media coverage of the event, with stories by Reuters, Boston’s WHDH TV station and the IDG News Service. Also check out more pictures from the event in this photo gallery.
Every year, thousands of children and their families spend holidays at Children’s Hospital Boston, separated from family and friends, and not able to take part in the activities and traditions they look forward to all year long. Over the next few months, we’re going to share the stories of a few of these families and highlight the things Children’s does to make holidays away from home as enjoyable as possible for our families.
Today we start with Halloween, the holiday many kids miss the most when they’re stuck in the hospital. “Our patients always remember the year they had to miss trick or treating because they were here,” says Beth Donegan-Driscoll, director of Child Life Services. “So we try to bring as much Halloween spirit to the hospital as we can.”
As you’ll see in the video above, shot at different events throughout the hospital, the Halloween spirit was alive and well this week.
Have you had to spend a holiday at a hospital? Tell us your story in the comments section below.
Cardiac surgeon Francis Fynn-Thompson, MD, has had a busy year. First, he and his patient Sara Dumas were featured on the ABC program Boston Med when he transplanted a new heart into Sara. Now, he’s back in his home country of Ghana, where he’s leading a team of doctors, nurses and volunteers in an ongoing mission to perform much-needed open-heart surgery on children with complex heart conditions in a country with no pediatric cardiac surgeons.
Follow the efforts of the team as they blog from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. They’ve already gone through the grueling decision day (where the doctors and nurses decide which children are good candidates for surgery and which are not) and have operated on the first group of patients. Now begin full days of surgery, recovery and evaluation on kids whose lives will be changed forever by the Children’s team.
Dr. Fynn-Thompson and his mission to Ghana were featured on Good Morning America in 2008. Read the story and watch the piece by Dr. Tim Johnson here.
And, here, watch a video, created in the spring of 2008, in which Dr. Fynn-Thompson describes the mission.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes the public push to get people to live healthier lives can feel a bit finger-pointy and heavy-handed. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for doing what it takes to get kids—and their parents—to eat more healthfully, get more exercise and spend a bit less time in front of the TV, but must the messaging always be so serious? Full story »
Brett Nasuti, the 12-year-old Children’s patient who last year became the first person in the country to take part in a milk allergy desensitization study, is featured in a Boston Globe article today about the rise in food allergies – and why doctors and researchers are so flummoxed by it. Full story »
Do you have a Children's Hospital Boston story you'd like heard? By sharing your Children's story you can be a great source of inspiration and encouragement to families who are going through similar situations. And it’s a great way to find support by connecting with others. Share your story today »
Brett Nasuti, the 12-year-old Children’s patient who last year became the first person in the country to take part in a milk allergy desensitization study, is featured in a 
