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Posts Tagged "Health"

26Jan2021

How to Get Your Teenagers Interested in Their Own Health Care

While you were intimately involved in the health care of your infant, toddler, and elementary school-age child, the teenage years are the beginnings of independence in many areas of your child’s life. One of the most important areas to consider is health care, which is a major determinant of quality of life for the rest of your child’s life. Not only can you model your own healthy habits, but also you can take some of the following steps to give your child the confidence that he will need to make his own wise decisions over the years.

Let Children Talk on Their Own to Their Physicians

One of the first things you can do is to stop answering all of the doctor’s questions about your child on your own. Instead, encourage your child to speak up while you are still in the room. Eventually, such as around the age of 14 or 15, you can even leave the room to give your child more privacy. The more your child practices this, the more confident he will feel about discussing any type of medical concern he has.

Let Children Know More About Their Diagnoses or Medications

Now is the time to discuss any chronic illnesses with which your child is currently living. Talk about symptoms that your child could experience, tips for keeping symptoms in check, and medications that he is taking. Teenagers love to do their own research online. Direct them to reputable health care sites that will give them accurate information.

Have Older Teenagers Make Their Own Appointments

Once children are in the later teenage years, they should be able to make their own doctor appointments. This will let them choose times that work best for them. In addition, they should get practice in filling their own prescriptions following appointments. Let them know that they can ask pharmacists any questions they have about their prescriptions.

It is important that your children feel good about going to doctor’s visits and receiving appropriate screenings, vaccinations and checkups from a young age so that they retain this confidence as they grow older. Consider partnering with a physician from Kids 1st Pediatrics who works solely with children. We can address numerous types of childhood illnesses and pediatric chronic diseases along with well-child visits, school physicals, and much more.

Kids Staff
Pediatrics
28Dec2020

Teaching Your Children About Hand Washing

Hand washing may be a simple chore, but it can be a difficult habit for children to build. In fact, a close examination of some adults’ handwashing habits might reveal that even those who have cleansed their hands for years may not know the correct steps.

Teaching Handwashing Habits for Children

It is vital to learn how to wash your hands correctly and how to teach your child to do the same because this can literally be a life-saving task. Hand washing removes germs from the hands and prevents them from being transferred to other surfaces, to other people’s hands, to food, and even into one’s eyes, nose, or mouth. This season of COVID-19 has especially shown how much hand washing can help. Even the CDC has made this a major recommendation for preventing the spread of the virus.

You can easily teach your children how to wash their hands with these five quick steps.

  1. Turn on warm water, and wet the hands.
  2. Use bar soap or soft soap to create a lather.
  3. Scrub all areas of the hands and fingernails for at least 20 seconds.
  4. Rinse hands under warm water.
  5. Dry hands with a clean towel or paper towel.

In addition to these five steps, follow these additional tips to make the experience as fun and as effective as possible.

  • Help your children know how to get warm water out of the faucet. Children who are scared of getting hot water may turn on only the cold water, decreasing the effectiveness of handwashing.
  • You can make handwashing fun and get your children to scrub their hands long enough by asking them to sing the happy birthday song or the A, B, C song while they scrub.
  • Make sure that children are scrubbing all areas of their hands, including their palms, the backs of their hands, between their fingers, and around their fingernails, during each washing.
  • Show children how to use a paper towel to turn off the faucet in a public restroom to avoid recontamination.

Knowing how to wash your hands is one of the simplest ways to prevent the spread of many illnesses. By teaching your children effective hand washing methods now, you can set them up for improved health for the rest of their lives.

Kids Staff
Pediatrics
20Oct2020

Protecting Your Child from Influenza This Year

Protecting your child from influenza is important every year but is even more important this year with the added concerns of COVID-19 still swirling across the United States. Those who are already sick with influenza may find it even more difficult to fend off a COVID-19 infection and could end up with more serious health concerns. Additionally, it is important to decrease as much work for medical teams around the country as possible to free up resources for fighting the novel coronavirus. Here are a few ways that you can protect your child this fall and winter.

First and most importantly, be sure that your child receives an influenza vaccine.

October is an excellent month to get this shot as it should last through the rest of the influenza season. However, even if your child does not get the shot this month, your doctor will still be able to give it in later months. According to the CDC, very young children, especially those younger than 5, are at high risk of developing serious complications should they develop influenza. Your child can receive an immunization as long as he is at least six months old.

Second, you can still take numerous steps to prevent an outbreak of influenza in your family even after family members get the influenza vaccine.

Stay away from sick family members and friends, and stay at home yourself if you are feeling under the weather.

Teach your child to cover his coughs and sneezes with a tissue or his arm. Tell him to wash his hands for at least 30 seconds after blowing his nose. Singing Happy Birthday while washing up can be an easy way to measure the correct amount of time.

Although it can be difficult for children to keep their hands away from their faces, it is vitally important for reducing the spread of germs. In particular, encourage them to stop rubbing their eyes.

Finally, be sure to keep frequently touched surfaces in your home clean and disinfected at all times.

This is particularly important if someone in your family is sick, but it should be done regularly even when you all are healthy. Use disinfecting wipes or sprays to clean doorknobs, light switches, countertops, and faucet handles.

If your child still needs an influenza vaccine this season, contact Kids 1st Pediatrics to set up an appointment time.

Kids Staff
Pediatrics
13Oct2020

What You Need to Know About Pink Eye

Although not a terrible health risk in most cases, pink eye is still something that most parents will gladly avoid. It is highly contagious and can create much discomfort and eye drainage. Because of this, if your child is diagnosed with pink eye, he will likely need to spend time on his own at home recuperating before heading back out to school or sports.

If you are not sure whether your child actually has pink eye, there are a few common signs you can look for before getting your pediatrician’s opinion. The eye will most likely appear pink or reddened. Your child may spend a lot of time rubbing his eye or may complain that it feels as if something is in his eye. Another clear indicator of pink eye is a watery discharge along with a yellow or green-tinged discharge that can crust the eye shut during sleep.

If you notice any of these symptoms, you should bring your child into Kids 1st Pediatrics as soon as possible to get an official diagnosis. With treatment, pink eye can clear up quickly. Without treatment, however, your child may remain contagious for two weeks.

Treatment for Pink Eye

Many cases of pink eye are caused by bacteria and can be treated with antibiotic eyedrops. It can be difficult to put eyedrops in your child’s eyes. However, even if his eyes are closed, you can drop the ointment into the corners of his eyes, where it will flow into the correct spot as soon as he blinks his eyes open. After using antibiotics for 24 hours, your child will not be contagious any longer and will be able to return to school and his other usual activities.

In addition, you will want to keep his eyes clean. Use a warm, wet, soap-free cloth to remove drainage. Your child may find this warmth soothing to his symptoms as well. If your child wears contacts, you will want to switch to glasses for the time being so that the eye does not become reinfected.

In most cases, pink eye should clear up within three days after initiating treatment. If your child is still dealing with the same symptoms, make another appointment with his pediatrician at Kids 1st Pediatrics. In some cases, the infection can spread even further into the eye and may need a different type of treatment.

Kids Staff
Pediatrics
28Sep2020

Easing Your Child’s Emotional Stress During This Difficult Time

No one in your generation has ever parented during a pandemic, and you may be wondering where you can turn for expert help. You may not know how to address your child’s questions or fears during this time, and you may find the emotions of your whole family are spiraling out of control. Decreasing emotional stress is particularly important for children whose brains are rapidly developing. However, with all of the changes in the world, your child may feel more worried than ever. Here are a few tips to get both of you through this difficult time.

Encourage Open Sharing

Let your child know that you are open to hearing anything about how she is feeling. Your child needs to know that her feelings are completely normal.

Use Empathy

Tell your child that you understand that she is nervous or anxious and that it is good to talk about these concerns. Reassure your child of all that is being done to keep her safe.

Help Your Child See the Positives

Help your child see how much she can enjoy this special time as a family. If there are new things that you are doing, such as wearing face masks in public or washing your hands more often, find a way to make the experience fun.

Keep Your Child Occupied

Avoid constantly rehashing the negative things that are happening. Keep your child busy with school, imaginative play, or other things she enjoys doing so that she can get her mind off the negatives.

Engage in Fun as a Family

Let this be a special time to do things together as a family. Institute a family game night or turn one evening every week into a pizza and movie night.

Of course, it is not just the current pandemic that may make your child feel anxious and stressed. A serious accident, a natural disaster, or even recurring trouble in the home or at school can leave children wondering where they can turn and how they can deal with their big emotions. While stress is a normal human reaction, it should be dealt with swiftly so that it does not cause long-term harm. If you need any help with this or are concerned about physical or mental symptoms, your child may be exhibiting, set up an appointment at Kids 1st Pediatrics today.

Kids Staff
Pediatrics
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