2020
February
14,
2020
|
14:00 PM
America/Chicago
Desperation or neglect, whatever the reason the story is devastating.
In the wake a baby is dead and her mom has been charged with her murder. In addition, the baby’s dad has been charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to a child for diluting...
Read more
January
24,
2020
|
11:52 AM
America/Chicago
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the coronavirus lately. I thought we should take some time to go over the basics of this respiratory illness, based in China.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring ...
Read more
January
07,
2020
|
14:41 PM
America/Chicago
“What do I do when my pre-teen or teenager starts to pull away?”
Man…this is a tough one.
Remember when your child was a toddler, and you taught them to poop on the potty? It was all leading up to this moment. Everything we have taught them alo...
Read more
2019
July
23,
2019
|
09:31 AM
America/Chicago
I read the report on essential oils from the Tennesee poison center with great interest. The report said that reports of toxic exposure to essential oils doubled from 2011 to 2015.
I've been interested in essential oils for a while now, beginning ...
Read more
July
23,
2019
|
09:30 AM
America/Chicago
Previously, I looked at the safety and research of essential oils and children. Today, I will answer more questions asked on my Facebook page.
Effectiveness/General Use
Do they really work or is it a mind over matter thing?
I think that ther...
Read more
2018
December
17,
2018
|
16:28 PM
America/Chicago
“My baby spits up all the time.”
“My baby never spits up, but seems like they are fussy all the time."
I know this sounds like reflux, but the truth is spitting up can be normal. Even if it’s with every feed, even if it seems really bad.
May...
Read more
November
26,
2018
|
14:38 PM
America/Chicago
RSV has arrived at Cook Children's.
Last week, 178 kids tested positive for RSV, compared to only two who tested positive for Influenza A.
RSV is a virus. It’s short for respiratory syncytial virus. It causes a disease in young children (especi...
Read more
August
27,
2018
|
10:19 AM
America/Chicago
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Texas is among 18 states that allow families to opt out of vaccines for personal or moral beliefs. The Morning News reports that Plano, Fort Worth, Austin and Houston all ranked among the 15...
Read more
April
30,
2018
|
10:52 AM
America/Chicago
Did you know the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) actually has an official stance encouraging pediatricians to talk with their families about the importance of daily, out-loud reading to your children (Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component o...
Read more
March
07,
2018
|
10:11 AM
America/Chicago
The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued a letter warning parents and cheerleaders from 39 states and nine counties that they may have been exposed to mumps at a cheerleading competition last month in Dallas.
The Dallas Morning Ne...
Read more
March
06,
2018
|
11:16 AM
America/Chicago
Over time, various concerns about vaccines have been brought up. Basically the way it happens is like this … someone comes up with a theory as to why vaccines might be a cause of autism. The scientific community starts to complete studies to determin...
Read more
January
26,
2018
|
15:41 PM
America/Chicago
Have you ever noticed a prominent blue vein across your child’s nose?
Maybe you thought it was no big deal. Maybe you heard something about it that made you worry.
Here are 4 facts about sugar bugs that you should know:
1.Prominent veins are...
Read more
2017
October
24,
2017
|
14:32 PM
America/Chicago
Because I hate vitamins so much, OK maybe not hate (because hate is a bad word according to my 6 year old)…Because I have an “intensely strong displeasure” for vitamins, you might find it shocking to read this somewhat positive article on probiotics....
Read more
September
11,
2017
|
15:42 PM
America/Chicago
I love almost everything about practicing pediatrics but if there are two topics I have to pick as my favorites they would be:
1.Technology
2.Newborns
So, you might not be surprised to hear that a new tool for evaluating jaundice using a sma...
Read more
May
31,
2017
|
15:31 PM
America/Chicago
Some kids have a hard time going to sleep. No matter what time you set bed time, even with the perfect routine, they toss and turn and get out of bed for hours. What is a family to do?
Read more
January
20,
2017
|
09:58 AM
America/Chicago
When our 18-month-old son, supposedly napping in his crib, came strolling into the kitchen, we realized it was probably time to make the transition to a “big-boy” bed (even though it was a little earlier than we had planned).
Most children transit...
Read more
2016
November
22,
2016
|
10:58 AM
America/Chicago
Just in time for the holidays a reader wrote in with this question:
“My friend...was told by her grandson’s pediatrician that her grandchildren who are vaccinated should never be around any unvaccinated children. Well, the parents of her other...
Read more
July
29,
2016
|
10:54 AM
America/Chicago
As a dad of three and a pediatrician, my life can be pretty hectic.
Sometimes I have to be reminded by Mrs. Smitty to put down the iPhone or the tablet and spend some family time. After all, this is the new era of fathers being more involved than...
Read more
July
01,
2016
|
14:22 PM
America/Chicago
Baby frogs like funny dogs. Baby hogs like daddy’s dogs.
That’s how I remembered this:
Blood, frogs, lice, flies, disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death.
You might ask, why was I learning the order of the plagues? Obviously, for a bi...
Read more
April
13,
2016
|
17:01 PM
America/Chicago
Robert De Niro couldn’t win on his decision to screen “Vaxed: From Cover-up to Conspiracy.” Once the anti-vaccination film was placed on the list for the Tribeca Film Festival, he was going to get severe backlash either way but he was forced to make ...
Read more
March
29,
2016
|
10:03 AM
America/Chicago
If you deliver a baby via C-section, should you swab them with your vaginal secretions?
A new study in Nature Medicine started the process of trying to answer this exact question
You might be thinking, “What the?” But there is some logic to thi...
Read more
February
03,
2016
|
10:29 AM
America/Chicago
I am not kidding when I say that I had a mother of a 6 month old ask me if her child was going to be ADHD, “Because he just moves all the time!”
While that was an easy question to answer, I do get more difficult questions about young children with...
Read more
January
29,
2016
|
11:33 AM
America/Chicago
Dear new moms,
I have to start with an apology.
It’s not that I didn’t care, or wasn’t concerned.
I asked about feedings and dirty diapers. I asked about sleep positioning. I asked about your plans for vaccination. I educated on how to take ...
Read more
January
11,
2016
|
03:09 AM
America/Chicago
The last week in my house has been terrible.
Currently, I am the lone survivor of the war on Smith-Summertime-Flu-Like-Illness-2015.
You name the symptom and someone in my family has had it: fever, cough, runny nose, congestion, headache, sore ...
Read more
2015
December
09,
2015
|
14:59 PM
America/Chicago
A little boy jumping up and down, constantly fidgeting and talking out of turn might be the picture you get in your mind when you think of a child with ADHD.
New research published this week in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry may challenge that...
Read more
November
23,
2015
|
09:33 AM
America/Chicago
The Centers for Disease Control recently finished up a week of increasing awareness to a huge problem that could be one of the biggest risks our children face as they grow older. You might be thinking obesity or global warming or some other more “pop...
Read more
November
09,
2015
|
09:14 AM
America/Chicago
There is not a topic in pediatric medicine that has more myths surrounding it than fevers.
I hear statements like these:
1. “She must’ve been about 103 because she felt really hot.”
Touching a child to determine if you should check their tem...
Read more
October
04,
2015
|
10:07 AM
America/Chicago
After many sleepless nights with your 9 month old, no one could be faulted because they are looking for something, anything to get a good night’s sleep.
You can read my earlier posts on the symptoms of teething and my outright forbidding the use o...
Read more
September
08,
2015
|
10:58 AM
America/Chicago
As the husband and son of teachers, I understand the importance of education. As a pediatrician, I want to make sure that kids are in school as much as possible so that the experts in education can do what they are called to do.
Along with this go...
Read more
June
16,
2015
|
11:00 AM
America/Chicago
“I just can’t let him play sports because his asthma is SOOOO bad.”
Asthma is a big problem across the country with about 25 percent of children age 9 diagnosed. Children ages 6-9 are three times more likely to have asthma than others in the state...
Read more
