Archives for Day: July 28, 2009

Conjunctivitis and Blocked Tear Ducts

There are a number of forms of conjunctivitis including infectious (viral and bacterial), allergic and chemical. The most common form of conjunctivitis in infectious. The conjunctiva is a thin tissue that is composed of many blood vessels and covers the white of the eye. When there is an infection in the conjunctiva, the blood vessels dilate and the eye appears red. In addition, there is often a discharge that can be pustular or watery.

Maintaining Strong Bones: The real story behind Calcium and Vitamin D

Keeping our bones strong and healthy is a big part of preventive health care for women. After all, osteoporotic fractures are a major cause of disability among postmenopausal women. Many women don’t realize that it is never too early in life to ensure that the bones remain strong. In fact, the younger we start building healthy bones, the better. Our bones become stronger and denser from the time of birth, until the age of 30. This is when we reach our “peak bone density”. During puberty, 50% of a woman’s bone calcium is laid down. From the age of 30 until menopause, the bone mass decreases, although very slowly. After menopause, if a woman is not taking hormones, the bone loss becomes more pronounced and she can run the risk of becoming ostoporotic.

Understanding Infant GERD and Infant Colic

Most young infants eat and sleep, pass normal regular bowel movements, and cry only when they are hungry or need a fresh diaper. There are, however, many infants who cry for a large part of the day and night. They scream in pain after feedings, before bowel movements, or even right in the middle of a good sleep. These babies can be thriving and healthy, but the crying is a real problem. The infant is tired and miserable, the parents are frustrated and exhausted, and the siblings are annoyed and resent the amount of attention they lose to this screamer. Over the years this problem was called infant colic. The general impression was that it had no cause, no treatment, and it went away by about three months of age.

Newborn Stooling Patterns

During the first few days after birth, there is no pattern to the frequency of how much a baby will or will not have bowel movements. The bowel movements may be a sticky consistency and either yellow, green or even black.
After a few days, babies will usually have at least four bowel movements per day. Less than this, even if there is good urine output, can be a sign that a baby is not getting enough nutrition, and therefore a physician should see the baby as soon as possible.

Car Seat Safety

From the moment a baby leaves the hospital, and with every trip in the car, parents must secure every child in a car seat that is appropriate for their age and height.

Prevention of Dental Caries

A baby’s first tooth emerges on average during the sixth month of life. However, it can also appear sooner or later. There is a common conception that teething may be accompanied by: crying, drooling, irritability, gum pain, a rash on the face, decrease in appetite, fever (to 38.0), pulling of the ears, etc. These symptoms can appear for four days before the tooth eruption, and last until three days after. Medical studies of recent years have not proven that these phenomena are caused by teeth eruption and the scientific debate continues on this issue. Indeed sometimes these symptoms appear in children aged 3-5 months (drooling, crying, placing a hand in the mouth), but usually in these early ages symptoms such these end without tooth eruption.

Head Injuries in Children

Head injuries are a common phenomenon in children. Fortunately, most head injuries are minor and only require observation over the next 24 hours, while some are quite severe and require immediate medical attention. In children who have an accident, it is head injury that usually causes the most severe sequelae. The most common reasons for head injury in children are (in order of frequency) falls, accidents when the child is the bike rider, and motor vehicle/bicycle accidents when the child is a pedestrian.

Bike Safety

Bike riding is a very important part of a child’s daily exercise. However, along with the fun and importance of bicycle riding comes an obligation for parents to educate their children about how to ride safely. 61.4% of hospitalizations for bike accidents are children (www.baterem.org). 80% of accidents occur during the months April-October, and a majority (65%) occur during the hours of 1400-2000. A road, which does not have a cross, walk is considered a bigger risk than those roads that do have cross walks: 59% of accidents occur on a road with no cross walk.

Diagnosing Anemia

Anemia is defined as a decrease in the number of red blood cells or blood concentration of hemoglobin. There are several reasons for anemia, depending on the age of the child.

Lack of iron is the most important risk factor for anemia in Israeli children aged six months to two years, but medical studies have not yet found an explanation why the prevalence of iron deficiency is so high amongst children in Israel. Anemia is a significant problem because the lack of iron may impair the development of the child, and according to medical research, there is the possibility of irreversible damage even after the child receives treatment with iron.

Skin Care for Infants

The skin is a very remarkable organ in the human body. Although it often goes unnoticed, it performs a variety of jobs. It is the vital protective wrapping for all of the body’s structures. As it covers bones, muscles, blood vessels, and internal organs, it helps maintain body temperature and hydration. Through the sweat mechanism it also plays a role in the maintenance of the salt balance in the body.