As a doctor and a mom to my 6 and 8-year-old children, I’m often asked about my stance on screen time. People are sometimes surprised to learn that I’m not against it. We love our family movie nights, and I truly believe there is some fantastic educational content available online. Screens are a part of
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in young children under 1 year old. What is RSV? Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common virus that causes respiratory infections in young children. In most healthy children, it causes an infection just like the common cold. Symptoms of the common cold in babies include:
Many new moms, including myself, worry about establishing and maintaining a good breast milk supply or how to increase breast milk supply. For the first few days after Madi was born, I struggled with breastfeeding so I supplemented with formula until I was able to improve her latch. Within two weeks, my milk supply increased and I breastfed the majority of
Some degree of jaundice occurs in a large majority of all newborn infants. Jaundice is a condition where a newborn baby’s skin turns yellow. This can happen with any race or colour of the skin. Why Does Jaundice Occur So Frequently in Newborns? Jaundice occurs when a chemical called bilirubin builds up in a baby’s blood. Everyone has
A common question I have been asked is about the safety of suspended baby jumpers like the Jolly Jumper. Personally, both of my kids loved the jolly jumper from the start and would giggle almost the entire time they are in it. Over the years, there have been discussions about the possible dangers of suspended
Peanut allergies are becoming more common among children. It is estimated that 3.2% of children have peanut allergies. In an effort to prevent this allergy, the Canadian Paediatric Society has recommended the introduction of peanuts and other allergenic foods around 6 months of age. Research has interestingly shown that what mothers eat during pregnancy may influence their child’s taste preferences later
I craved red peppers during both of my pregnancies and both of my kids love eating red peppers. This made me wonder, does the food you eat during pregnancy impact your child’s food preferences? What does the research show? The literature suggests that a mother’s diet during pregnancy impacts her child’s food preferences outside the womb.
Two years ago for an entire week, Madi has woken up suddenly in the middle of the night from nightmares. She is in tears and terrified of the spooky monsters running around her room. To calm her down, I would end up cuddling her and sleeping with her in her bed. This left me exhausted as
Our family has started travelling again as restrictions have loosened and here are some tips I found useful on our most recent trip to Vancouver. Sanitizing – Once we arrive on the plane I wipe down our seats and the tray table with a sanitizing wipe and the kids hands. I also make sure to have
Sleep is important for our overall health, it allows our body and mind to recharge. The amount of sleep that we need changes throughout our lifetime. The National Sleep Foundation has established guidelines for how much sleep babies, toddlers, adolescents and adults should sleep. These are the suggested total sleep requirements by the National Sleep Foundation: