Dr. Gwenn’s Huffington Post Blog
We think about childhood obesity as a problem facing our kids but, in fact, it’s become a global health problem. Whether you travel in your community or around the globe, it doesn’t take too long to notice just how major [...]
Safety proofing. One of those necessary evils of parenting we love and hate all at once. We love the fact that we are protecting out infants and very young children, yet if only it were easier to accomplish at times…and if our tots had a bit less Houdini in them.
Attending conferences and events, I’m always amazed by the new parenting devices and gadgets that appear on the market. What’s timeless, however, are the questions parents have about the health of their young families.
Having “the talk” with our kids is never easy. Just getting through saying the various anatomic names can be daunting for even the most savvy or parents. It used to be that we would talk about the basics, reproduction, and add sexuality, birth control and life issues like babies later on as our kids got older.
All families worry about whether their babies are developing “normally”. Concern is often more heightened when a baby’s head is on the small size. Here are two questions I received recently on this topic. As you’ll see, appearances can be deceiving and more times than not there is no reason for alarm:
Puberty can be a confusiong time for kids and parents. You’ll feel a lot better about the process if you know what to expect. This section is really intended for teens and tweens but talk to your parents before reading too far. In fact, you’ll get more out of this page if you look at it with your parents!
Q) Dear Dr. Gwenn:
My grandson recently had his 9 months check up. At birth and 3rd month check up his head size was in the 55% range. His weight and height wereclose to the 90%.At the latest 9 months checkup, his head size was in the 90th% and his weight and height were lower than the earlier months, more like 75th percentile. His developmental milestones have been very normal or above. He’s smiley, happy, eye contact, verbal–lots of sounds including mama and dadada—. He crawls everywhere and up on everything. First child for my son and daughter.
Just like Captains Picard and Kirk on Star Trek, we encounter aliens daily as our kids evolve through puberty. Those aliens are none other than our teens and tweens, or Ts for short. I have to admit I was a nonbeliever that the alien force could start so young until my girls both entered the terrible Ts at the early age of 9. But, that is when it begins – tweendom and puberty.
Your pre-teenager’s school calendar has “scoliosis screening” scheduled for the following week. You take a quick look at your child’s spine which looks nice and straight to you so you put the issue out of your mind. Imagine your surprise [...]
Our summer has had some interesting moments. Summer camp had barely begun before our 9 year old daughter threw us a curve ball. “Mom, J is going to sleep away camp this year. You HAVE to let me go next year – otherwise I’ll be the only 5th grader in the entire world not going.” I have to say, while she’s been somewhat of a pneumatic drill on the topic this summer, watching her try to convince us has been quite amusing.
