Pediatricians and the clinicians who care for children writing on KevinMD about child health: childhood illness, development, vaccines and the parents who refuse them, breastfeeding and the pressure around it, childhood obesity, prevention, and the realities of caring for young patients and their families. Most contributors are pediatricians. For a maintained record of what pediatricians have said about children's health since 2004, from fever and sleep through obesity, abuse, teenagers, and Medicaid, see Children's health: what pediatricians say, in their own words. For what physicians have said about vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, from the autism claim through measles, exemptions, and federal policy, see Vaccines: what physicians say, in their own words. For what child psychiatrists and pediatricians have said about children's and teens' mental health, see Mental health: what psychiatrists and physicians say, in their own words. For what pediatricians have said about breastfeeding and postpartum care, see Women's health: what physicians say, in their own words.
Here’s the story of a girl who got a comprehensive sex education and still chose abstinence. That girl was me.
Did I gain this knowledge from school? Heavens no. I grew up in the South at the turn of the 21st century. Abstinence-only sex education was the name of the game (still is, last I checked), especially in the school district I was in. Ironically (or maybe not so, in light …
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I received a comprehensive sex education. I still chose abstinence.
We’ve all heard the tired cliché about July being the most dangerous time of the year to go to a hospital. All new interns — freshly minted doctors straight out of medical school — are on the loose. And you better watch out, the tale goes. That’s demonstrably false, and July is as safe as any month for medical care.
But there is still a big reason to worry — not …
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What no one tells you about being a new doctor
As a child psychiatrist, it was such a pleasure to see a play about a child who suffers psychologically and finds a way to heal that does not require an epic quest, a magical ability, becoming a princess, or even fixing the problem itself.
Sarah Silverman’s delightfully witty, dirty, and wordy musical, The Bedwetter, which ends its run today, features a spunky and irreverent 10-year-old girl with typical tween issues. A …
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A child psychiatrist on Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter
Every year, I celebrate and mourn when I officially left my primary care pediatric practice full of patients and parents that I loved to launch my non-profit, Teach a Kid to Fish.
May 31, 2008, was the last day of my practice. Had I known what I was in for, my future self may have stopped me. But I’m so delighted that possibility didn’t exist.
I’m a vision-oriented person and wanted to …
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Creating community solutions for children’s health
Five days before this story begins, where everything is upside down, and the end is the beginning.
Me, standing in my PICU, slowly approaching that cradle, then removing the medication, one by one, turning off the syringe pumps. Saying out loud the number of milliliters passed, where that line is trapped, that little division between the professional and me, the person.
Where I stopped being a doctor and became a woman holding …
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A dead baby in my arms
I wondered if this post needs a trigger warning. Maybe it does. I don’t know now. What feelings stir up inside us when we hear of a child’s death?
My first experience with a child dying in front of me was soon after medical school graduation. I was an inexperienced 24-year-old working in a government hospital in Bangalore. I don’t remember many details, but I remember his face and his father’s …
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What feelings stir up inside us when we hear of a child’s death?
This is a complicated answer with a complex history.
The most recent factor contributing to the formula shortage is COVID-19 and the pandemic’s effect on supply chains. With the start of the pandemic, people began stockpiling supplies from toilet paper, bottled water, to formula. Concurrently, birth rates decreased due to fear of the virus and its unknown effects on pregnant patients, fetuses, and newborns. Formula consumption was low, decreasing …
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Why is there a formula shortage?
I cry often enough that my kids almost gleefully expect it, checking me for tears during movies or shows, shaking their heads in mock dismay when they see that their prediction is correct. I’ve cried many times at home, watching screens, reading books, talking on the phone, and at work, where I am a doctor who cannot always suppress my emotions. And I’ve cried in front of health care providers …
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Is there more to patient safety than preventing medical error?
In 2022, you might have never envisioned that the United States of America would be among other countries struggling to feed its babies. As of the first week of May, more than 40 percent of formula brands are out of stock, and many families are desperately searching high and low, near and far, to find substitute options. In the background of this chaos, I cannot help but consider how we …
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The conundrum of feeding our minds and our babies
Breast is best.
Fed is best
Informed is best.
Fed is first.
What really is best and first when it comes to infant feeding: support. Support is best. Whether we are talking about infant feeding or frankly anything else related to postpartum or the fourth trimester, support is critical.
The other slogans just fall short.
Breast is best. Breastmilk is the most ideal nutrition for infants. Milk is created specifically for infants …
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When it comes to feeding infants, support is best
Medicine as art appealed to me as a child. Working with families to achieve a state of health was an admirable goal—if naïve. I only went to the physician for immunizations and obligatory school physicals during childhood. My mom employed home remedies and time if I became ill, which fortunately worked.
I had no concept of what a career in medicine involved. Over twenty-five years, I explored every avenue available to …
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A physician returns to creativity
Premature babies (a.k.a. preemies) and their families are increasingly becoming a powerful voice in society. Life in and after the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is like being dropped off a cliff. I support the preemie community from pregnancy to NICU to home and into the adult years because I had a preemie. My daughter’s story is a stunning example of a system gone wrong and why better outcomes research …
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Premature babies grow up. It’s time to pay attention.
If I were writing a book about what it’s like to be a visionary pediatrician speaking up for children’s health, I would title it, The Hate We Get.
A few months ago, I received a death threat comment on a TikTok video I posted advocating for COVID vaccines.
My college-aged daughter called me, “Mom, I saw your TikTok video. That’s so scary. I’m so sorry.”
“I expected it. I’ve had worse.”
I did a …
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The visionary pediatrician may soon be an endangered species
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and communities had to take rapid and decisive action to protect their citizens against this novel virus. While it was yet unclear how dangerous the COVID-19 infection may be to children, their teachers, and their families, governments quickly shut down schools and activities to slow the spread among the population at large.
Before the pandemic, childhood obesity was already a crisis with …
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Reversing the impact of the pandemic on childhood obesity
It’s been a year since I retired from almost 40 years as a pediatrician (most of that time as a pediatric hospitalist). What have I learned? What surprised me?
1. I have finally caught up on my sleep. I have been convinced that I still had a cumulative sleep deficit dating back to med school. After one solid year of sleeping 8-9 hours a night and waking up without an alarm …
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A physician’s personal great resignation
Physician burnout continues to increase as we enter into year three of the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, the Physicians Foundation reported data from a survey of 2,504 physicians conducted from May 26-June 9, 2021. In this survey, 61 percent of physicians reported experiencing burnout, an increase from 40 percent reported in the 2018 data. This burnout is often seen in those who, during their midlife, may feel what Brene …
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Physician burnout and a big career change
I just received my peer evaluation from work. And I’m gonna admit: I was nervous.
“Yikes.” I cringed when I saw it in my inbox. Would my colleagues call me out for not being as sharp, fast, or adept as them? Would they fault me because I just cannot stomach a dislocation despite working in a pediatric urgent care for several years? (True story: I damn near dropped out while treating …
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It’s time to flip the script on peer evaluations
When was the last time you paused for a moment to feel your energy? I mean, really get in touch with the energy you hold inside your being?
Could it be that, as physicians, we have gotten so used to feeling stressed or drained at the end of the day that we’ve forgotten how to feel at ease and be in a state of joy as we take care of our …
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Pause for a moment to feel your energy
