Summer break is a great time for kids to get plenty of sunshine and exercise by swimming in lakes, rivers, pools, and oceans. It’s also a great time for them to pick up a not-so-great condition called swimmer’s ear. Swimmer’s ear is simply an ear infection that arises after bacteria-rich water gets trapped in the ear Continue Reading »
You’ve noticed your child tugging at her ears repeatedly. You’d like to think she’s just a Carol Burnett fan, but worry that her ear tugging could be the sign of something more ominous. You examine her ear and it seems fine — no signs of abrasions, irritation or infections. Since your baby can’t yet talk, Continue Reading »
Our sweet home Alabama is known for its verdant fields and stately trees hung with draperies of kudzu. Achoo! Yes, those green and glorious beauties produce pollen that can make your child (and you) sneeze, cough and have other allergic symptoms. Trees release millions of grains of pollen each spring because it’s an essential part Continue Reading »
Older children are good at telling you when something hurts and where it hurts. But when you have young children who are pre-verbal or have limited vocabularies, deciphering whether they have an illness or are just being cranky can be complicated. Ear infections afflict children so often that approximately five out of every six kids Continue Reading »
As anyone who has or works with kids knows, they are the cutest germ factories on earth. Put a bunch of them together in a school and you have the perfect recipe for mass sniffles, colds, sinus infections and influenza. Though a couple of colds may be inevitable during the school year, you can help Continue Reading »
He’s blocking out everything you say. He doesn’t remember instructions. His teachers say he’s inattentive in school. He pretends not to hear you. Or does he? The symptoms of hearing loss in children can mimic behaviors that parents may interpret as being rude, distracted or rebellious. Hearing loss may be temporary — caused by an Continue Reading »
When you have kids, every season brings a new set of challenges. While spring is associated with the start of the allergy season, colder weather doesn’t guarantee allergies will settle down. In fact, autumn weather brings with it some unique conditions and allergens that may cause an array of symptoms. Is it an Allergy … Continue Reading »
Babies can hear their mother’s voice and heartbeat and other noises even when they are still in the womb. In fact, they can even tell the difference between their mother’s language and a foreign language just after birth. A study from the University of Helsinki demonstrated that babies could hear and remember a nursery rhyme Continue Reading »
Kids tend to be common-cold factories especially when they socialize with playmates in school or in play groups. A runny nose, sneezing, even an occasional cough are usually just symptoms of a rhinovirus infection of the upper respiratory tract, a.k.a. a cold. But cold symptoms often overlap with other conditions, including allergies, sinusitis, and the Continue Reading »
Summer is almost over in Birmingham. The school buses are getting ready to roll down the block again. The classrooms are being decorated to welcome students back. And germs are preparing to hop from one child to the next. A few sniffles and a cold may be an inevitable part of the back-to-school season, but Continue Reading »
