Back to School and Your Child's Yearly Well-Child Visit

Summer break is nearing it's end, making this a great time to schedule your child's yearly pediatric well-child visit before it's time to head back to school!

Doctor Visits

Regardless of your child's age, an annual well-child exam with your pediatrician is a good idea to add on the to-dos of your "back-to-school" checklist.

Scheduling preventative (vs urgent) yearly pediatrician exams before the school year starts is a convenient way to put the wellness exam on your family's schedule before the hectic year begins. 

Annual wellness exams can be important during your child's transitional years because vital changes take place in your child's physiology and this type of check in with your pediatrician or family doctor is also an opportunity for wellness guidance and advice. 

Depending on your child's age, an annual exam may entail blood pressure and heart monitoring as well as testing for diabetes, cholesterol and anemia. A pediatric vision screening may also be part of the annual check up. Pediatricians also like to use the annual visit to discuss nutrition and exercise and review your child's immunization records.

Continuity of care with your child's physician is truly an invaluable asset because having a long-term history gives the physician an awareness of your child's development progress and it's also helpful for preventing chronic diseases from emerging. 

Back-to-school check-ups are often the only visit most children have with their pediatrician annually. Having the opportunity to have a thorough physical exam is also a good time to address emotional and social concerns. As your child grows older, these questions may become more important as the adolescent years can be emotionally challenging for many kids because of peer and societal influences - drinking, smoking, drugs, depression and sexual activity are big teenage topics.

In summary, establishing a connection with your child's physician will be an invaluable asset as your child passes through years of physical and emotional development. Finding the time for balancing school life with social activities, extracurricular pursuits, and home life can be quite a challenge for kids. All the more reason to set aside time every year for your child to foster a relationship to see the pediatrician. 

Here's to your child's full potential!

Gingerbread House Daycare

Kids Need Water Not Fruit Juice

Fruit juice may taste great to your child, but it's loaded with sugars that can contribute to adverse health conditions like obesity, tooth decay, and overall poor nutrition. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recent recommendations state that fruit juice should not be given to infants under 12 months of age because it offers no nutritional benefit to them. Water and breast milk should be the preferred drink. 

After 12 months of age, the AAP sates that infants can be given limited amounts of juice each day but advices that for all age groups:

• Fruit juice offers no nutritional benefits over whole fruits. Whole fruits and vegetables have nutrients and fiber while fruit juice is loaded with quick processing sugars (this includes fruit juices that have no sugar added).
• Children should not be given fruit juice at bedtime or as a treatment or management for diarrhea.
• For children ages one through 6 years of age it's still recommended to limit fruit juice to no more than 4 ounces per day. Read the label and make sure it is 100% fruit juice, a lot of juices are loaded with sugar and have very little 'real' juice if any. It should also be pasteurized for safety and don't give juice in a sippy cup or bottle, this is very important for preventing cavities.

These are guidelines — and with any guideline, there may be exceptions (if your child is on an iron supplement, for example, your doctor may want you to give it with orange juice). If you have questions about this recommendation, or anything else about what your child should eat or drink, talk to your pediatrician.

Here is the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on fruit juice: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/139/6/e20170967

Social and Emotional Learning

Meeting children's social emotional learning (SEL) needs in preschool can enable them to thrive mentally, physically, and academically in kindergarten and well beyond into adulthood. 

Developing social-emotional skills during preschool includes being able to get along and cooperate with others, manage strong feelings, focus attention, and persist at challenging tasks.

Social emotional skills developed during the preschool years are important because they are critical for long-term school and life success. Early development of these skills is reached to have a number of positive adult outcomes, including: good physical and mental health, interpersonal relationships, education, employment, and more.

In conclusion, preschool SEL programming has the potential to reduce the school readiness gap and help children become healthy, thriving adults.

Kids Love to Dance!

Kids love moving to music and there can be nothing more fun than dancing! Whether your child is in formal ballet lessons or just likes jamming out with the family to your favorite tunes, there's no doubt that a love of dance is a fantastic way for kids to have fun, express their creativity and exercise!!

If you're looking for some illustrative books that inspire and invoke the imagination of dance and movement for your little ones, here's our top list. These colorful stories will delight children that love to step, twirl, plie and jump! 

Baby Dance by Ann Taylor is a perfect book for reading aloud or dancing to! Ages: 0-2

I Can Dance by Betsy Snyder is an interactive board book with cut holes so kids can use their fingers to get into the dance groove. A great way to add fun into story time. Ages 1-3

Do Princesses Boogie? by Carmela LaVigna Coyle is a fun, rhythmic, read-aloud book that will have your child dancing along. Ages 3-5

Kitchen Dance by Maurie Manning is a celebration of family dancing together and is one of our favorite books for young readers. Ages 3-6

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle is a wordless picture book about a girls amazing interaction with a flamingo. Fans of Flora will love this and the whole series. Ages 3-7

Thunderstorm Dancing by Katrina Germein is an energetic story that will get everyone moving the next time they hear thunder in the distance. Ages 4-7

Ruby Rose Off to School She Goes by Rob Sanders is full of silly humor and esxaggerated fun, your dance-loving kids will love this book. Ages 4-8

Dance Is For Everyone by Andrea Zuill is larger than life and full of laughs. The book celebrates passion wherever it may lie. Ages 4-8

Other favorites for ages 4-8: My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, Dancing in the Wings, Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance, Brontorina, Deer Dancer, Jingle Dancer, Suki's Kimono, Firebird.

Happy dancing and reading everyone!  

Attributes of Bravery

Make time to watch "The Gutsy Girl" author Caroline Paul's talk on raising brave girls and boys. Get inspired by the power of adventure and productive risk-taking, no matter your age or gender! Parents: she provides references and resources for further learning on microbavery and resilience.

The fear we learn and the caution stays with us into adulthood -- hesitation in speaking out and our lack of confidence in our own decisions. So how do we raise brave kids?

Here are Caroline's key points on how kids become brave: 

Bravery is learned and like anything learned, it needs to be practiced. Take a deep breath and encourage your kids to skateboard, climb trees etc - studies show that risky play teaches hazard assessment, delayed gratification, resilience and confidence. When kids get outside and practice bravery, they learn invaluable life lessons.

Try and not over caution our kids, because then you're telling them that they shouldn't keep pushing themselves, that they're not good enough, that they shouldn't be brave. 

Moms and dads (especially moms) have to start practicing bravery too. We can't teach our kids unless we practice it ourselves. So practice... at home, in the office, in our relationships.

Guide your kids to access their bravery, maybe the hill is too steep, but let her be guided by courage not fear to determine what's possible and what isn't. This is not about the steep hill in front of her, but about her life ahead of her. 

Watch the Ted presentation here: http://www.ted.com/talks/caroline_paul_to_raise_brave_girls_encourage_adventure?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread

Parents, How Much Do You Know About Antibiotics?

There's an effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help make sure that we use antibiotics wisely. In the U.S. 1 in 5 of children visits to health care practitioners result in a prescription of antibiotics. This amounts to over 50 million prescriptions annually! Of which 10 million are for respiratory illnesses that antibiotics aren't helpful for. 

Antibiotics are of course very important and life saving when they are needed, however, their use does not come without risks including the killing off of natural bacteria that grow in our bodies and that we rely upon for forging a healthy immune system to fight off disease and infections. Antibiotic resistance is another concern of indiscriminate prescribing. 

Here's a helpful quick quiz published in Harvard Health Publications to help families make informed decisions about antibiotic use. 

Take this quick quiz to check your antibiotic smarts

Question: (True or false) Any time the doctor says your child has an ear infection, you should leave the office with a prescription for antibiotics.

Answer: False. Turns out that most ear infections get better without antibiotics. In some circumstances, such as in young infants, severe infections, or children with immune system problems, antibiotics are necessary. But for most healthy children, all that is really needed is some acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain, some time, and some TLC.

Question:  Which of the following set of symptoms means your child has sinusitis?

A. A cough for a week, with fever at the beginning and not since

B. Green nasal discharge and cough for four days, fever to 101

C. Both of the above

D. None of the above

Answer: D. The common cold, caused by a virus, can give you cough, fever, and green nasal discharge — and antibiotics are not only unnecessary, they won’t do a thing. Antibiotics should only be considered if:

• There is nasal congestion and cough, preferably with fever, that has lasted for 10 days or more (it still may be a cold, your doctor needs to examine and be sure)
• There is new fever, congestion, and cough after a cold seemed to be getting better
• There is high fever (103 F or more) and severe congestion and cough for three days

Question: Your child has a bad sore throat and fever. You take your child to the doctor, who says that the throat is very red and has pus, but doesn’t find anything else that worries her. What should happen?

A. You should get antibiotics, because pus means there must be a bacteria

B. You should get a strep test and antibiotics

C. You should get a strep test, but no antibiotics unless the rapid strep test or culture comes back positive.

Answer: C. Turns out that pus doesn’t necessarily mean there are bacteria. Some of the nastiest throat infections are caused by viruses — which, again, antibiotics don’t treat.

Question: (True or False) Since sometimes colds can lead to ear infections or sinusitis or pneumonia, it’s a good idea to take an antibiotic to prevent that from happening.

Answer: False. While it’s really understandable to want to “be on the safe side” and ward off a bacterial infection, most colds don’t lead to bacterial infections — and if you are in touch with your doctor, you should be able to pick up the signs of anything that needs to be treated by antibiotics.

To learn more about smart use of antibiotics, check out these resources from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.