by Tripp Underwood on October 26, 2011
How accessible are the medications in your house?
A new survey shows that as many as one in seven Massachusetts parents have given their kids prescription painkillers that weren’t prescribed to them. Considering how dangerous a practice this is, those numbers are pretty shocking. Remember waiting in line for coffee this morning? If this survey is accurate then at least one of the people in front of you may have risked their child’s life to alleviate discomfort.
“There’s no question that in some cases this type of behavior could be fatal,” says Lois Lee, MD, MPH, an emergency medicine physician at Children’s Hospital Boston. “Any time you give adult strength medication to a child you increase the chance of an unintentional overdose.”
Taking prescription medication without a doctor’s approval is dangerous for anyone, but the risks are far greater for children. The dosage of most painkillers are based on the size of the patient, so what’s considered a mild painkiller for a full grown adult can have a much more pronounced effect on a child. Full story »
by Claire McCarthy on October 18, 2011
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.
Claire McCarthy MD
On the eve of my dead son’s birthday, in one of those eerie, grace-filled coincidences, I read an essay that took my breath away.
The essay in the New York Times is called “Notes from a Dragon Mom.” It is written by the mother of a child with Tay-Sachs disease, and it is about what it’s like to parent a terminally ill child.
Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on October 14, 2011
We recently ran a post on whether or not it’s OK for parents to monitor their teenagers’ Facebook page if they suspect the child is engaging in risky behaviors like drinking or drug use. In this blog by Children’s media expert Michael Rich, MD, MPH, a parent asks for advice on how to balance her desire to respect her son’s online privacy while still setting limits on much time he spends on the computer.
Q: My 16-year-old son uses the computer constantly at home in his room and almost always claims he is doing homework. He doesn’t want me to look over his shoulder and see what he is doing when I come into his room, and frankly, I want to allow him his privacy when he is on the computer, as well as in other areas of his life. I believe that he spends too much time on the computer, to the detriment of other activities such as time with family, reading, extracurricular activities, etc., but he disagrees and doesn’t want to be controlled by his parents. Any suggestions?
-Computer confused mom, NY, NY Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on October 13, 2011
by David Urion, MD, director of the Learning Disabilities/Behavioral Neurology Program at Children’s Hospital Boston
A recent study showed that one out of every ten children in this country is currently diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
That’s an astonishing number.
The study, done by the National Institutes of Health, also showed that the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has been on the rise steadily since the mid-1980s, and that the number of children being treated with stimulant medication (such as Ritalin or Adderall) has been increasing over this same period.
We could discuss whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, and you could pick your favorite social evil to explain this apparent rise in ADHD. We could point to how sound bites have replaced intelligent discussion on TV. Or blame MTV, or ESPN’s plays of the week. Or all the technology that we grownups can’t use, but our offspring can. (In my case, that gives me a large number of choices). We can complain that the vast amount of information with which we are bombarded every day has made us all incapable of just sitting and listening. We can all be cranky about something, and say that is the cause of this increase in ADHD.
But in doing that, we might miss some very important pieces of information in this report. Full story »
by Claire McCarthy on October 11, 2011
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.
One evening this summer, as our family settled into their seats at a restaurant, my 20-year-old daughter said to my then 5-year-old son, “I’ve got my eyes on you.”
Claire McCarthy, MD
My mother-in-law took my kids to the same restaurant the summer before, and apparently Liam behaved badly. He was loud. He kept getting out of his seat and climbing under the table—and when they finally got him in his seat, he kept trying to lie down. To be fair to Liam, he was 4 years old at the time. But a year later he still liked getting under tables, and Michaela wasn’t taking any chances. She sat directly across from him and did indeed keep her eyes on him. She kept him in his chair, upright the entire time, and except when he felt ignored when he had Something Important to say, he wasn’t loud at all.
As Michaela did this, I enjoyed my dinner. Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on October 6, 2011
Like toothpaste and orange juice, teenagers and 6 a.m. usually make for a bad morning combination. Between the threats of missed buses to the walking dead shuffle from the bedroom to the bathroom, mornings can seem like a nightmare for many households with teens. But with so many sleep-deprived teenagers staying awake until all hours of the night, this dreaded morning ritual comes as no surprise to most parents.
If your teenager is constantly staying up too late and is hard to mobilize in the morning, at least you’re not alone. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that two third of American teens aren’t getting enough sleep. This may not surprise many parents, but the study’s real take home message is that researchers are now linking sleep deprivation to something far more troubling than morning crankiness: Teens who get less than eight hours of sleep a night may be more likely to drink, use drugs, indulge in inappropriate sexual behavior, be depressed and lead an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on October 5, 2011
Ari Brown, MD, FAAP
By Ari Brown, MD, FAAP. Dr. Brown is a pediatrician, author of the Baby 411 book series and has offered her expertise to several media outlets including the Today show, CNN and the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Brown completed her residency at Children’s Hospital Boston in 1995 and will be joining her peers at an upcoming alumni reception at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on October 15. For more information visit, Children’s event website.
You are as old as you feel, right? Most days, I feel like I’m still a kid—probably because I hang out with kids all day long. But the other day, I received an invitation to my 20-year medical school reunion. Admittedly, I felt just a little old…and a bit reflective.
The last time I saw many of my med school classmates was when I was 26, and heading off to my pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital Boston. So much has happened since then. Marriage. Kids. Career. But unlike some of my peers, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I’ve loved pediatrics for twenty years. I am truly happy going to work every day. I have a special relationship with my patients and their families—a relationship that they will never have with the practitioner working in the minute clinic around the corner. I am the one who examines my patients when they are first born. I perform the well child visits, encourage breastfeeding, answer the worried parent phone calls, identify developmental delays, offer parenting advice, and diagnose the colds, flus, ear infections and occasionally things a bit more serious. And I love every minute of it (okay, almost every minute of it). I love it because I can help future generations develop healthy lifestyles and I genuinely enjoy watching my patients grow up.
But, the current trends in healthcare—particularly in pediatrics—are troubling to me. More parents are heading to that minute clinic around the corner to get their child a quick Strep test after school and work, choosing convenience over quality and continuity of a medical home. Are pediatricians going to become the next Borders or Netflix? Are we being shoved out of the marketplace because we haven’t kept up with consumer demand? Full story »
by Claire McCarthy on October 4, 2011
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.
It’s flu shot time again.
Most of the time—and this makes me happy—parents are glad, even relieved, when I tell them that we have the flu shot and I’d like to give it to their child. But every year, there are some that aren’t so glad.
In fact, a study just released in the journal Pediatrics shows that of the 13% of parents who refuse or delay vaccines, it’s the flu shot that is most likely to worry them.
They get a particular look I’ve learned to recognize. It’s a skeptical, hesitant look. They pause for a moment, take a breath, and tell me they don’t want their child to have it.
I pause for a moment myself, take a breath, and ask them why. Full story »
