Utah Valley Pediatrics strives to keep parents up to date on the latest health topics and advisories. Our newsletter covers medicine changes and news, pediatric news, seasonal and age specific topics and what’s new at Utah Valley Pediatrics.
Archives
Fall 2009
Vol. 3 Issue 3
Medicine Changes and News
Pediatric News
Your Child May Need a Hib Booster Vaccine — Check With Your Doctor
Research Shows Overweight Children at Risk for Heart Disease
Seasonal and Age Specific
Do You Know Your Child's Teacher?
Is Your Child a Student or a Pack Animal?
What to Do When Your Child is the Bully
Have You Ever Heard of Binge Eating Disorder?
Prescriptions — Keeping them straight and making them work for your children
Study Sees an Increase in Teen Abuse of ADHD Drugs
Contacts
Kevin Moffitt
Administrator
801-373-8930
Shalise Law
Manager
801-373-8930
Quick Links
Medicine Changes and News
Flu Shots: Are They Worth It?
Sometimes it can be a huge ordeal to bring your child in for a flu shot. But any parent who has stayed up all night with a sick child will tell you the hassle is absolutely worth it. Not only does the immunization provide protection from the flu, but it also protects against a number of potentially serious and fatal complications. Each year, influenza kills 36,000 people and more than 200,000 have to be hospitalized.
Flu season is around the corner, so call your pediatrician for an appointment to come in for a flu shot. In the meantime, here's what you need to know about flu shots.
Pediatric News
Your Child May Need a Hib Booster Vaccine — Check With Your Doctor
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is a serious bacterial infection that can cause bacterial meningitis and pneumonia, along with several other life threatening diseases. Before the Hib vaccine was created, about 20,000 children under the age of five contracted Hib and close to 1,000 people died each year.
In 2007, due to shortages in the vaccine, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that the vaccine booster dose, typically given to children 12 to 15 months old, be deferred for healthy children. This would conserve enough of the vaccine for infants to receive their primary three doses at ages 2, 4, and 6 months.
As of July of this year, doctors are now able to reinstate the Hib vaccine booster dose thanks to an increase in production by Sanofi Pasteur, a major manufacturer of vaccines.
Find out what this means for your child
Research Shows Overweight Children at Risk for Heart Disease
Health experts have long been concerned about childhood obesity, but the latest research shows there may be an even greater cause to worry. According to researchers from the Nemours Children's Clinic, "the unhealthy consequences of excess body fat start very early in childhood."
The study found that obesity can cause blood abnormalities that make children more likely to develop heart disease in early adulthood.
Other studies have found that higher body weight in children contributes to the stiffing of the arteries, a major cardiovascular risk factor. Children are also more and more likely to develop conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and high cholesterol — conditions that are typically linked to obese adults. In fact, many obese children have cardiovascular systems that look more like they belong to a middle-aged adult.
Seasonal and Age Specific
Back to School 101
Your children just started school again and you may be wondering how to help them with their back-to-school jitters. Here is a quick refresher course on dealing with new friends, new teachers, and new challenges.
Give Children Time to Adjust
Don't be too concerned if your child is worried about starting school. It is normal and all children need some time to adjust to new situations. Let your child know that it is normal to feel nervous and that soon everything will be routine. Some children may even show physical symptoms like headaches or stomachaches. Most of the time this can be chalked up to a case of the jitters, but if you are concerned it is something more serious, be sure to talk to your pediatrician.
Be There
Be there for your child to talk to. That could mean making special arrangements to make sure you are home at the end of the school day for the first day or week or making more time for your child in the evening. Make sure to find out exactly what is worrying your child. It will help you help your child deal with the stress, and it also lets he or she know that you are there for them.
Do You Know Your Child's Teacher?
Developing a positive relationship with your child's teacher can go a long way in helping your child during the school year. According to former PTA national president Jan Harp Domene, "I'd never allow a stranger to educate my child."
Parents who work with their child's teachers:
• Know more about their child and are able to identify potential problems before they become serious
• Can help their child be better prepared to meet the teacher's objectives
• Have children who generally perform better in school
Is Your Child a Student or a Pack Animal?
Does your son grunt every time he takes his backpack off? Does your daughter have to lean forward to support the weight? Are they both complaining of back pain?
If you answered yes to any of the above, chances are you may want to take a closer look at their backpacks.
Much better than purses or other bags, backpacks use the strongest muscles in the body to support the weight of the bag and evenly distribute it across the body. But if not used right, backpacks can still cause problems.
Here are some important guidelines to follow with your child's backpack.
What to Do When Your Child is the Bully
Nobody wants to hear that their child is getting bullied, but then nobody wants to hear that their child is the bully either. But if you hear or suspect that your child is bullying another child, whether physically or verbally, it is important to deal with the problem right away before it escalates.
Bullying not only affects the victim, but it damages the bully's social development. Bullying can prevent your child from building healthy relationships and affect school, work, and family life. In fact, an estimated one out of four elementary school bullies will have a criminal record by the time they turn 30.
Keep Your Toddler Moving
An article on how to keep a toddler active might seem kind of ridiculous. How do you keep a toddler from not being active? But as your child slips from your arms yet again while you try to put his shoes on, it is nice to have a reminder that all the wiggling is doing him good.
In fact your toddler needs a lot of physical activity. The National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) recommends that children from 12 to 36 months old get at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity (adult-led) and 60 minutes of unstructured physical activity (free play) a day. They should also not be inactive for longer than one hour at a time, with the exception of sleeping.
Have You Ever Heard of Binge Eating Disorder?
Most parents know to keep an eye out for eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia, but few have heard of another common eating disorder — binge eating. People with the disorder have frequent episodes of eating abnormally large amounts of food. They feel unable to control what and how much they are eating. The disorder is often accompanied by eating very quickly, eating until uncomfortably full, and feelings of guilt, disgust, and embarrassment over how much they have eaten.
The disorder has some real risks and it is not something your child will just grow out of. Most adults with the disorder began having problems during childhood or adolescence. People with the disorder are generally overweight and have a higher risk for problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gallbladder disease, heart disease, cancer, depression, and anxiety.
Prescriptions — Keeping them straight and making them work for your children
Parents have a tough job. Not only do they have to keep up on their own health, but also the health of each of their children. This can be down right daunting if you have multiple children on multiple prescriptions for multiple problems.
But for a prescription to do its job, it has to be taken as prescribed. Keeping a record of what medications your children take and when they take them can be a huge help. It also helps prevent accidentally giving a dose more than once, a dangerous problem that most commonly occurs when two caregivers are in charge of giving a child medicine.
Study Sees an Increase in Teen Abuse of ADHD Drugs
According to a recent study, calls to poison control centers about teenagers abusing attention-deficit drugs has risen 76 percent in the last eight years.
This spike in calls is one of many indicators of what has become a very serious problem. Research by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America suggests that about 19 percent of teens have abused prescription drugs, including ADHD prescriptions.
Many teens assume that because a drug is FDA approved that it isn't dangerous. Teens sometimes take ADHD drugs to help them stay up later or as an appetite suppressant. Teenagers looking for a buzz have found that crushing up the pills and snorting them can produce a sense of euphoria. However, misusing these drugs can also produce a number of potentially deadly side effects including agitation, a rapid heartbeat, and extremely high blood pressure.
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