Only if it’s after hours and if you’ve talked with our after hours nurse. Most illnesses can safely wait until the following day, and our nurse advice line can help you decide. If the nurse refers you to an urgent care center, ER, or follow up in our office the following day, there is no charge for the call.

If you’re concerned about poison exposure, call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222. Do not wait for your child to act or look sick.

We know children get sick at inconvenient times. Our office is open late every evening for sick patients and we have appointments available on Saturday mornings. Although it’s tempting to go to an urgent care center, please contact the office first. Many urgent care centers are staffed with adult doctors that are unfamiliar with childhood illnesses, and they also don’t know your child or his/her medical history. With access to your child’s chart, your doctor, or another provider in our office, is your best bet.

If you do take your child to an urgent care center, we think it best to use a pediatric focused facility to increase the chance that you’ll see a pediatricians or a pediatric nurse practitioner. After being treated, it’s important to follow up at our office.

Only if it’s after hours and if you’ve talked with our after hours nurse. Most illnesses can safely wait until the following day, and our nurse advice line can help you decide. If the nurse refers you to an urgent care center, ER, or follow up in our office the following day, there is no charge for the call.

If you’re concerned about poison exposure, call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222. Do not wait for your child to act or look sick.

We know children get sick at inconvenient times. Our office is open late every evening for sick patients and we have appointments available on Saturday mornings. Although it’s tempting to go to an urgent care center, please contact the office first. Many urgent care centers are staffed with adult doctors that are unfamiliar with childhood illnesses, and they also don’t know your child or his/her medical history. With access to your child’s chart, your doctor, or another provider in our office, is your best bet.

If you do take your child to an urgent care center, we think it best to use a pediatric focused facility to increase the chance that you’ll see a pediatricians or a pediatric nurse practitioner. After being treated, it’s important to follow up at our office.

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My 5-year-old daughter loves to ask me to buy Activia, so she can “poop more” and because of her impression, thanks to crafty marketing, that Activia has more vitamins than her favorite yogurt. We see constipation constantly in the pediatric office and it is, no doubt, a struggle for many children in the first world. In contrast, diarrhea is the leading killer of children in the third world.

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

We celebrate moms this week—breastfeeding moms, pumping moms, supplementing moms and formula feeding moms. This week is a great opportunity to talk about breastfeeding. But first, this week is also a great opportunity to talk about what happens when breastfeeding doesn’t go well. We see moms in our practice every day who struggle with breastfeeding for a variety of reasons—poor latch, insufficient supply, etc. Through all of the struggles, our primary priority is the health of you moms and your babies.

Parenting and Power Struggles by Chafen Watkins Hart, MD

Roughly 20% of all children will present with a psychiatric diagnosis before 18. Asking for a family tree of psychiatric problems at the first well baby visit might someday become part of pediatric screening and at some point, mapping out genetic susceptibility to psychiatric illness is probably a good idea for each child. But parents can prepare for psychiatric problems also by employing the best positive parenting practices—minimizing power struggles and simultaneously taking care to get to know their child’s motivations and feelings as well as possible.

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