CHECK IN  While some babies seem content to do most of their sucking to obtain nourishment, others just can’t seem to get enough, even being born with a “suckle knuckle” — a blister on the hand from vigorous in-the-womb suckling. Evidence of “pacifiers” to placate babies goes back at least 3,000 years. Historically, there have been concerns about safety (pacifiers have not always had the safety ring preventing choking), hygiene (a discarded rag may have been wrapped around a chunk of meat, bread or a sachet of sugar dipped in wine), morality (thanks in part to Freud, sexualizing the pacifier along with everything else), malocclusion (crooked teeth) and impact on breastfeeding.  Read More>>

CHECK IN   As dusk fell, snow began to flock the trees and street outside our home. My 16-year-old son stood crestfallen upon hearing my response to his request to drive over the hills and through the woods to his girlfriend’s house. My newly minted driver quickly recovered his willful teenage countenance, asking, “Can I see the data to support your position?” Read More>>

PARENTING  When it comes to babies, parents probably encounter the most advice about when and how to introduce solid foods. After weeks and weeks of sleep deprivation, the thought inevitably arises: Could putting a little cereal in the baby’s bottle help the baby to please, please, please sleep just a little longer? Read More>>

PARENTING  In this issue, I would like to address something that is hard to get out … namely, constipation. However, I want to address a very specific type of constipation that we see frequently in children — chronic retentive constipation, or as I like to call it, monsterpation.

I think the name is appropriate because often kids will have bowel movements that are enormous in size and quantity. Let me describe how this happens, because the physiology holds the answers to associated problems and solutions. Read More>>

Since their discovery in the early 20th century, antibiotics have been effective in preventing much death and suffering for those fortunate enough to have access to them. Yet, as with most of the best things in life, too much of a good thing can be a problem. The widespread use of antibiotics in humans and animals has led to the evolution of tough bacteria that are able to survive common antibiotic therapies. Read More>>

PARENTING  You may have seen the horrifying video last winter of the Michigan high school athlete sinking the game-winning shot for his basketball team one minute, only to collapse and die on the court the next. Could his death have been prevented? Read More>>

PARENTING  Every year in the United States, more than 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and about 4,000 die from it. To get cervical cancer, a woman has to have been infected with a virus — human papilloma virus (HPV). Although this viral infection is very common, with approximately three out of four women and men with any history of sexual activity being infected, the majority of infections occur between the ages of 15 and 24. Read More>>

PARENTING  Perhaps the most challenging aspect of becoming a parent is dealing with a newborn’s sleep — or more accurately, lack of sleep. Thus the familiar question for new parents: “Getting any sleep?” Read More>>

PARENTING  Q: I think my child is ready to start potty training. I know I am sick of changing diapers. What is the best way to start?

A: It is funny that one of the most basic and elemental things we do as humans can be associated with such stress and difficulties. Potty training is an age-old dilemma. I think it’s a lot easier as a parent to screw up a child’s normal elimination than it is to train them to do things the way we think they should. Read More>>

PARENTING  How do I get our 2-year-old to sleep in his “big-boy bed”? He fell out of his crib so, sadly, we can’t keep him in there anymore. He would sleep 10-12 hours silently in there. Now he wakes up in the middle of the night or will not go to sleep for an hour or two after bedtime. Read More>>

PARENTING  A study published in an online medical journal of my field, Pediatrics, wound up in the headlines recently. “Study Links ADHD in Children to Pesticide Exposure.” Whoa! That sounded like bad news, for sure. With all the efforts to get our kids to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, were we inadvertently causing another problem? Were parents going to storm my office irritated with conflicting advice — after all, in the last issue of InHealthNW, I wrote about helping kids eat more fresh fruits and veggies? I knew I’d better look into it more. But once again, the study, fetchingly titled “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides,” didn’t exactly show what the headlines proposed. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Our children are the heaviest they have ever been, with three times as many obese children and adolescents compared to the 1970s in the United States. Read More>>

PARENTING  You may have heard of agoraphobia, or claustrophobia, but have you heard of fever phobia? I sure have. I would define it as the grave concern that any temperature greater than 99 degrees Fahrenheit heralds certain peril. Some parents have the belief that if a fever rises too high, bad things will happen: poaching of the brain, melting of teeth or something equally horrific. In actuality, any serious consequence of fever itself would require a sustained fever north of 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Read More>>

PARENTING  Why should I get the flu vaccine? I’m not in a risk group and they get the vaccine wrong sometimes anyway. And by the way, what is the deal with H1N1? I am pretty skeptical about that new vaccine. Is it safe? Read More>>

PARENTING  My child was recently diagnosed with kidney stones. It was awful. What can we do to prevent this from ever happening again? Read More>>