Troy pediatrician Dr. Molly O’Shea blogs on children’s physical and mental health, as well as offers parents tips on scheduling and other elements of well-being for infants through high-schoolers.
All babies get teeth and most parents feel that teething results in some significant discomfort for their infants. In my opinion, teething isn’t as uncomfortable as parents think and isn’t a frequent cause of fussiness or sleep disruption. Most children get teeth without much upset or fanfare but many parents ascribe fussy behavior to teething … Continue Reading →
Just in time for Father’s Day here are a couple of good books hot off the press for the dads of the world. The AAP has published a book just for dads. It’s written by a pediatrician-father and mixes humor and advice to give dads confidence and guidance. This book, Dad to Dad: Parenting Like … Continue Reading →
Increasingly parents are asking me about sensory issues in their preschool aged children. Sometimes children cover their ears or need to have tags removed from clothes. Other children seem to crave sensory input and bump into everything and yell. Some children don’t want anything messy on their hands and others avoid or refuse to eat … Continue Reading →
I know what you’re thinking: tampons cause toxic shock syndrome. Well you’re on the right track. But when I saw a 16-year-old boy in the office recently with this rare but serious condition I, too, was reminded that toxic shock syndrome isn’t just a problem for some tampon users. Toxic shock syndrome is actually caused … Continue Reading →
I love to swim, and even as a child my family belonged to a neighborhood pool that allowed us hours of unstructured outdoor time. As a parent, I wanted to instill a love of swimming in my children and joined the same swim club 12 years ago to have an easy place to go all … Continue Reading →
It’s been quite a year for mono. We’ve all heard of it, of course and the conventional wisdom is that teenagers and young adults are most likely to get it and will be down and out for weeks if they are infected. I’ve got some facts and myths about mono to share that will shake … Continue Reading →
Lead exposure is almost inevitable. The problem is that too much exposure to lead can lead to learning disabilities, hyperactivity, difficulty with focus and attention, and if a large enough exposure occurs, muscle weakness and abdominal pain. The challenge is that lead won’t be shed by the body naturally, so if levels in the blood … Continue Reading →
I’ve got a brown thumb. Not a green thumb, a brown one. Whatever plants I try to grow die. One year I started seedlings in the house to transplant to the garden when the weather warmed only to have them get eaten by the neighborhood rabbits. I am not sure I will ever succeed in … Continue Reading →
It’s been quite a week. Several studies published recently give guidance about what is best to drink to ensure health and healty eating. The first study looked at vegetable eating in preschoolers and found that children given water with their food were more likely to eat veggies than those offered juices or other sweetened beverages. … Continue Reading →
I saw a 9 year old child recently for a checkup who had sunkissed cheeks and nose. She’s a soccer player and I asked about sunscreen use. She said she uses sunscreen regularly but had a tournament over the weekend and hadn’t reapplied it. Even though everyone knows the risks of sunburn both in the … Continue Reading →