Posts

This fourth-grade guide for parents offers tips on helping children deal with cliques, heavy backpacks, and more. Fourth Grade Basics What You Can Expect in Fourth Grade: Here’s a brief overview of what you can expect in your child’s fourth-grade year. What Do Kids Learn in Fourth Grade?: Kids learn a number of new things in fourth grade, both socially and academically. Just as the formation of cliques begins to increase and complicate your child’s social life, the academic ante is upped as well, requiring a student to not only to be responsible for their own work but to effectively work in groups as well....

More than 80% of babies born in the U.S. are breastfed for some length of time, but most aren’t exclusively breastfed or breastfed for as long as the AAP recommends. According to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 56.7% of infants are breastfed at 6-months-old, while 35% of infants are still breastfed at 1-year-old. The updated AAP policy statement and technical report detail the medical and neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding and highlight the role pediatricians play as advocates and clinicians....

Genuine trepidation about filling those hours is common as are worries over the potential disruption to kids’ routines, particularly how a missed nap, a later lunchtime, or less than optimally healthy snack foods may impact behavior. It can be hard for any of us to sit for a long time but this is especially true for most kids. However, a long flight doesn’t need to be boring, stressful, or fidgety....

Is Your Baby Ready for Solid Food? Although every baby will be ready for solids at different times, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends not introducing any food besides breast milk or formula before six months of age. Formula-fed babies are at more risk for the introduction of solid food earlier than the AAP recommendations, as are infants who are perceived to be “fussy.” Early solid food introduction is still being studied in terms of potential associations with health effects in infancy and later in life....

Much like “pox parties” of the past, where families would have their kids play with another child who was sick with the chickenpox, people who are having COVID parties are hoping to get sick with the disease and gain immunity. Consequently, they are either hanging out with a person who is infected or violating stay-at-home orders in order to mingle with friends. Why COVID-19 Parties Are a Problem This type of logic is not only flawed but extremely dangerous....

Rashes are extremely common in babies—especially newborns—and they’re often harmless and fleeting. That said, there are some types of infant rashes that may become concerning and could benefit from treatment to help restore your little one’s velvety skin. Two very common types of infant skin lesions such as these are baby acne and baby eczema—and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. To help you better understand and spot the difference between baby acne and eczema, we tapped the experts....

Very often, even when infants have classic “teething symptoms,” they will not get their first tooth for a few more months and sometimes not until they are more than a year old. In fact, sometimes symptoms that parents think are signs of teething are actually signs of illness or infection. That’s why it’s important for parents to learn how to interpret their baby’s symptoms so that they can tell whether it’s just a first tooth or something else that might warrant attention....

They will focus on experiences that support their point of view but will ignore any experiences, including their own, that provide evidence that they are wrong. They will do the same thing with other types of evidence as well. Types of Belief of Perseverance There are three main types of belief perseverance: Self-impressions – Beliefs about the self, including what one believes about his abilities and skills, including social skills, and body image....

Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence Bodily kinesthetic learners prefer bodily information over other forms. Movement serves as an aid to their memory and they remember movement from others as well as their own. People with bodily kinesthetic intelligence may seek out touching and manipulating objects when learning about them. They enjoy creating work with their hands, may have a lot of energy and need to move, and may be talented athletes. Kinesthetic learning styled people enjoy school activities such as drawing, modeling, sculpting, drafting, shop, athletics, dance, and hands-on sciences....

Dangers for Children Each year, over 35,000 children receive hospital emergency room treatment for injuries associated with bunk beds. Most of these injuries are fairly minor and occur when children fall from the beds. Kids playing on their bunk beds often contribute to these accidents. There are other less obvious, yet potentially very serious hazards associated with bunk bed structures that have entrapped children and resulted in suffocation or strangulation deaths....

When Is the RhoGAM Shot Needed? If you are Rh negative, meaning that your blood does not contain the Rh factor protein, your doctor will probably recommend that you get an Rh immune globulin shot (such as RhoGAM) within 72 hours of the start of your bleeding from pregnancy loss. The RhoGAM shot is also given during and after pregnancy to prevent the same issues in future pregnancies. Why get the shot?...

When a baby is born with a tooth, it’s called a natal tooth. Though natal teeth are rare, they do happen. “A parent may be alarmed to see these teeth, but there’s rarely a reason for concern,” says Greg Grillo, DDS, of Express Dentist. “A consultation with a pediatrician is always a good idea to explore any risks or underlying conditions.” Let’s take a look at what parents need to know about natal teeth, what causes them, and what you should do if your baby has them....

Breastfeeding parents who want to help their fellow neighbors by donating blood may wonder if it’s safe for them to do so. The answer is unclear. There is limited research on the safety of donating blood while nursing your baby and mixed (or absent) recommendations from experts. Some doctors, researchers, and organizations give the go-ahead to donate blood while breastfeeding once certain criteria are met, while others advise waiting until your baby is weaned....

If a cold or flu virus hits, you probably want to get better as soon as humanely possible. After all, even if you can take a day off from work, you can’t just take a day off from breastfeeding. You’ll need to keep nursing or pumping, perhaps even through the night. Hopefully, you have support available so you can rest as much as possible if you get sick while breastfeeding....

As charitable as blood donation is, you really need to hang on to all of your own blood during your pregnancy. Keeping your red blood cell count high is important for you and your unborn baby. Donating Blood During Pregnancy People who are pregnant are not eligible to donate blood. “They need all of their blood and iron to help them stay healthy during their pregnancy,” says Felice Gersh, MD, an award-winning OB/GYN specializing in all aspects of women’s health, and founder/director of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine, in Irvine, CA....

Or maybe you’ve heard about the many purported health benefits of kombucha and you’re wondering if it might be a good idea to start drinking it now. Perhaps kombucha is one of your weird pregnancy cravings, and you are wondering if it’s okay to satisfy that urge. Unfortunately, kombucha is not something that should be consumed during pregnancy, even in moderation. The main reason kombucha is contraindicated in pregnancy is because of its alcohol content, and all alcohol consumption should be avoided by people who are pregnant....

Perhaps you were in the middle of an intentional weight loss journey when you found out you were pregnant. Maybe a health care provider alerted you that you were considered overweight prior to pregnancy and you’re wondering if losing a little weight during pregnancy might be healthy for you or your baby. Or maybe you are unintentionally losing weight because of morning sickness or hyperemesis and are unsure how much of a problem this is....

Why the Courts See Child Support and Visitation Separately From the court’s point of view, child support and child custody are two separate issues. Child support is a parent’s obligation regardless of their parenting experience or ability. A child is entitled to this financial support no matter what sort of custody and/or visitation arrangements are in place. Child custody determinations, on the other hand, are based on protecting the child’s best interests....