Parenting in the 21st century is hard work.
Never in the history of parenting has there been so much access to information and so little filter of the quality of that information!
This is one of my favourite personal quotes, and it’s so true: at the touch of a button, parents have instant access to information on anything on various websites and parenting forums- everyone has an opinion, it seems, and unfortunately much of whar is written on-line is not based on fact, or even significant experience.
Medical Conditions
If your child has been diagnosed with a specific medical condition, your child’s doctor is always the most appropriate source of information and advice. Additional, high quality information can be obtained from various medical websites. Trustworthy sites I regularly recommend to my patients for additional information on diseases are:
www.nhs.uk (British website)
www.mayoclinic.org (US website)
www.rch.org.au (Australian website)
General Medical Advice
But that still leaves all the uncovered territory in between: information and advice on general topics such as feeding your child solids, sleep training, dental hygiene, and advice on common childhood conditions such as constipation and colic. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misinformation, usually by well-meaning laypersons with no medical experience.
What I hope to achieve with this site is to provide well researched, medically sound advice, backed up by over 15 years of personal medical experience, and the knowledge gleaned by raising three kids of my own, to help you make reasonable, evidence based judgements of your own. I hope you enjoy reading, and that it helps you in your parenting journey.
2 Comments
Thank you for your great articles!
What do you think of antibiotics prescribed to babies under 12months old?
My little girl Zoe is 8 months and has a double ear infection. I didn’t suspect it as she doesn’t seem in pain, I initially went to see a doctor because of a common cold and wet cough but it happened that both ears are infected. The doc here prescribed 10days of amoxicillin 4.8ml twice a day. I’m worried giving her this at such a young age, but also worried Leaving it and that she gets worse.
Thank you!!
Dear Sophie,
I would always hesitate to contradict another doctor’s diagnosis without being able to examine the patient.
However, in the absence of fever, ear pain or other symptoms of ear infection such as ear discharge, you should be able to postpone antibiotics and adopt a “wait and see” approach- but with the caveat that the ears should be examined by a doctor after 48 hours to ensure they are not worsening.
If Zoe develops fever, ear pain or discharge at any point then you should commence the antibiotic treatment, and seek a review of the ears.
All the best,
Dr Natalie