Swaddling Infants

     Swaddling infants is a hot topic. We as pediatricians are often asked about swaddling. Many factors apply in my opinion of swaddling: comfort of the infant, safely of the infant, how it impacts SIDS risk, and how it impacts the sleep. I believe the American Academy of Pediatrics statement is the best advice on swaddling. On this link to an article at Healthy Children is an article about swaddling and good advice on swaddling.

New book by the AAP about Autism Spectrum Disorders

     Many of our patients have autism spectrum disorders. I know many families with a child with these conditions struggle to find good, helpful, scientifically sound information. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a new book, Autism Spectrum Disorders: What Every Parent Needs to Know. It is edited by Drs. Rosenblatt, MD, and Carbone, MD. Both of these doctors are considered experts in autism and one is a parent of a child with autism.
     So if you are looking for more information about autism spectrum disorders, I highly recommend this book. It is available at www.aap.org/bookstore and other retailers. Another excellent source for information and support is www.autismspeaks.org.

Tanning Beds

     The official position from the American Academy of Pediatrics is that anyone under 18 years of age should never use a tanning bed. I certainly agree with this recommendation.
     People who use tanning beds when less than 35 years of age are 75% more likely to develop melanoma (skin cancer). There are 68,000 cases of melanoma in the US every year, and 1 in 8 of these people die from the skin cancer.
     Ohio requires parental permission for children less than 18 years of age using a tanning bed. I wish that Ohio would ban their use for children less than 18 years of age as I am that concerned about the use of a tanning bed for children.
     Tanning beds damage the skin, cause cause cancer, and can cause dry skin, eye problems, and make you more likely to get sick. Remember, the "healthy glow" is actually is not healthy at all -- it is skin damage. Please avoid tanning beds and skin damage from the sun.

KellyMom Website

     A nurse at the Riverside Methodist Hospital nursery referred me to a website that I want to pass onto others. It is really helpful! It is called KellyMom and is a website with terrific information about breastfeeding and breast milk. I consider it a great resource with accurate and up to date information. A link to their website can be found here. I hope others find it helpful.

EpiPens in Schools

     Food allergies are on the rise in this country. A study from Pediatrics in July 2011 found that 1 of 13 children suffer from a food allergy in the U.S. More than 1 out of 3 of these children had a history of a severe reaction. And 3 out of 10 children had allergies to multiple foods.
     Mylan Specialty created the EpiPen4Schools(r) program to help schools have improved access to epinephrine if a life-threatening allergic reaction occurs at school. Although we want each child who has a known food allergy to have two EpiPens at the school, there are times in which a child may have a reaction and a non-expired EpiPen is not available. EpiPens are not cheap. And Mylan Specialty's program will offer four free EpiPens or EpiPen Jrs to the schools. More information is available at this website.
     In our state of Ohio, there is no law allowing EpiPens to be in the school and "undesignated". That means the schools cannot currently have "extra" EpiPens on hand to use in an emergency. The only EpiPens allowed are those that were prescribed for a specific child. That means children that have a known allergy and children that could develop their first reaction at school would be potentially unprotected. I am a strong advocate for legislation in Ohio that allows undesignated EpiPens in the schools. Having said that, my wife the allergist, Dr. Grace Ryu, M.D., makes a very good point about this issue. If your child has a known food allergy, you need to make sure your child has a non-expired EpiPen 2-Pak at the school to ensure that if they needed the medicine at school it would always be available. Do not rely on the school having extras. If the school just used their EpiPens for another child and has ordered more, they may not be available. It is possible the school's EpiPens could be expired. Children and adults need to have two pens available because 20-25% of the time, a second dose is required. A wonderful website with information on food allergies is here, the Food Allergy Network. Be safe!

New hospital follow-up schedule

     Doctors are creatures of habit. We get used to doing things a certain way. Here at Hilliard Pediatrics, we have had the same follow-up schedule for newborns since we opened over 20 years ago. But now we are changing this schedule. Our new partner, Dr. Beth, has convinced us it is time to update to the latest recommended schedule by the American Academy of Pediatrics. And we have listened.
     For years, we had the infant's family call us the day after discharge and routinely saw the infant in the office at 2 weeks (10-14 days of age) and then at 2 months of age. The latest recommendation and our new policy is to have you call when you have spent a night at home to give us an update about how the infant is doing. Then we will routinely see the infants 2-3 days after discharge from the hospital. Our next routine appointment will be at 4 weeks (one month) of age. Then we will see the infants at 2 months of age and continue our normal schedule after that 2 month well-check. As always, we will be happy to see those infants with feeding or weight concerns, jaundice concerns, or when other issues arise. Some of the infants seen 2-3 days after discharge will need a visit to check their weight gain. Call with questions!

Christmas Time Allergies

     A common scenario is for us to be asked about allergy symptoms at this time of the year. If someone has watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and congestion during the Christmas season, it is commonly due to the Christmas tree brought into the home. Live Christmas trees naturally have lots of mold on their branches and trunk. Once they are brought inside, the heat allows the mold to multiply and the mold count inside the home goes up quickly. For those many people who are allergic to mold, this means they are regularly blasted with mold during the time the Christmas tree is in the house. Luckily, the symptoms should get better quickly once the tree is removed from the house at the end of the Christmas season.
     If you suspect this is happening to someone in your home, there are a few options. We as a family have had to replace a live tree with an artificial tree. There are multiple members of my family with mold allergies (including me!), and we had too many allergy symptoms each year to make a live tree an option. Many people will be helped by taking an allergy medicine (Claritin(r), Zyrtec(r), and Allegra(r) are all commonly recommended antihistamines available over the counter), such that their symptoms will be so mild that they are not miserable.