Take Home Pediatrics

Here is what's happening in the kid’s world today:

• Marijuana use🌿🔞 ➡️ unhealthy

• Breastfeeding 🥛👶📚 = 📈📝 test scores.

• Circle of Life: 🌟 Volunteering helps others AND✨ you.

• Glasses be gone! 👓🕶👀 

As marijuana use becomes more common and legal, a new study shows it is not as harmless as we think. Even recreational use is associated with increased depression and suicidal thoughts. Even with medicinal use, we have to understand effects of anything we put into our body.

“Breastfeeding is best” is heard by parents as soon as their baby is born. Now a study in England shows higher test scores at the age of 16 in those children who were breastfed for 12 months vs those not breastfed. Other factors like socioeconomic influences were removed. Even though this was only one study and small, we have one more reason to breastfeed along with other health benefits like decreased allergies and improved immunity.

Volunteering helps other as well as yourself! Those children who had volunteer hours showed improved physical and mental health. Amazing there is truth in “when you do good for others, good will come onto you.” Volunteering has been known to positively affect health of adults, but this recent study focused on the benefits in children.

Wearing glasses could be of the past? An amazing study shows a low dose daily eye drop of atropine may slow down development of nearsightedness in children! How I would have loved that over wearing “Coke bottle” glasses all through school. There has never been a pharmaceutical product to help with nearsightedness, so this is a pioneering result especially since 1 in 3 adults are nearsighted!

🚨RECALLS AND ALERTS🚨

• Children’s Scooter

• Math Box

• Preschool Electrical Bicycle

• Children’s Activity Table

• Allergy and Cold medication

• Ice-cream

Dear Dr. Bhumi, now that summer is here, what kinds of precautions should I take with my 9 month old and 3 yr old with swimming pools and beaches?

Dear Reader, summer is a time to enjoy the break from school and daily routine and soak up the sun. However, with the enjoyment comes some responsibility and safety precautions. First, keep safe from sun exposure by seeking shade as much as possible, applying mineral based (zinc oxide) SPF 30-50 sunscreen, reapply ever 2 hours or if getting wet. Apply the sunscreen 30 min prior to going outside. Have your children wear SPF shirts, hats, sunglasses when possible to protect from sun damage. Make sure they stay hydrated throughout the day. Lastly, water safety is crucial. If you have a pool or you visit homes with pools, make sure there is secure fence and gate around the pool to prevent children from wandering into the pool alone. Make sure the adults and even older children learn pediatric CPR. At a gathering, make sure someone or some people are designated monitors, as many times you think someone else is watching the kids in the pool or at the beach. At the beach, be near a lifeguard and monitor for warnings of undercurrents and tides. Here are few safety tips to share with your children: never swim alone; avoid pool drains; always go into the water feet first, if someone is having trouble in the water, don’t go after them, get help or throw a floating device to them; always wear a life jacket on a boat or watercraft; inexperienced swimmers should wear life jacket in the pool also; do not run around pool decks. Lastly , if you live near water or have a pool, start water safety training and swim lessons at 1 yr of age. There is no evidence that the infant survival course benefits child but parent-child water play classes is always a good option to start with infants. Then continue with parent-child swim lessons after 1 yrs old. Children should definitely have swim lessons by 4 yrs of age. Remember, swim lessons give some protection but we still have to follow the safety rules and supervise! Please stay safe and have fun!

MORE RASHES: 5TH DISEASE AND ROSEOLA 🦟😷

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