When I see twelve year olds in our clinic, I still need their parents’ permission to treat them for strep throat or eczema. But parents’ permission, or even their knowledge, is not required for pediatricians in our state to provide contraception, or to treat pregnancy-related issues, sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol or drug abuse, or depression. [...]

Acid reflux in babies is common for a few reasons: a baby is on an all-liquid diet; the sphincter at the top of her stomach is still loose; her stomach is slow to empty; and she spends a lot of time on her back, making it easy for tummy contents to slosh at least partway [...]

Two teams of researchers recently weighed in on the safety of ingesting caffeine during pregnancy, and they came to two very different conclusions.

The first study, which appeared in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, came from researchers at Kaiser Permanente. They tracked the caffeine intake of more than 1,000 [...]

Updated guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma from The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program emphasize objective measurements, tailored treatment plans, and environmental awareness. Objective measurements are the cornerstone of diagnosing and monitoring asthma. Get to know your child’s FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 sec – how much he or she can [...]

A fun, practical, affordable way to help overweight kids? My friend and colleague, Dana Weintraub, MD, from the Division of General Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, led a team that studied the effect of an after school soccer team on weight. The results of SPORT (the Stanford [...]

Taking vitamin D drops in the first year of life may help prevent kids from developing type 1 diabetes, according to a study released March 13, 2008 in Archives of Disease in Childhood. The study is a review and analysis of the combined data from 5 different studies. Vitamin D is normally produced by exposing [...]