If your child experiences ear pain after swimming, possibly a couple of days after a pool party or vacation, they might have swimmer’s ear. Read our post on swimmer’s ear to learn more.
Julie Kardos, MD and Naline Lai, MD
©2021 Two Peds in a Pod®
This spring, kids with allergies are scratching their noses, and parents are scratching their heads. With the overlap of allergy symptoms and COVID symptoms, many parents wonder how to tell the difference between COVID and allergies. While there is an overlap in symptoms between allergies and viruses (COVID or otherwise), there are a few distinguishing features:
Allergies Itch
Itchy nose, itchy eyes, itchy throat. If your child is doing a lot of facial rubbing or throat clearing, you can more confidently blame allergies. If needed, treat these annoying itches with allergy medicine such as cetirizine (brand name Zyrtec), loratadine (brand name Claritin), or fexofenadine (Brand name Allegra). You can also read our prior post about spring allergies. Allergy medicine does not improve these symptoms if your child has a virus.
You find cottage cheese like curds coating the inside of your baby’s tongue and inner cheeks and try to wipe them off to no avail. It’s not breast milk, not formula. It’s thrush.
Thrush, fancy medical name Oral Candidiasis, is caused by an overgrowth of yeast, called Candida. Although not painful, it may cause discomfort akin to having a film of cotton coating the inside the mouth.
We ALL have yeast, which is a type of fungus, on our bodies. Usually we have enough bacteria on our bodies to suppress the growth of yeast, but in cases when there is less than usual bacteria present such as in young babies or in kids who are on antibiotics, Candida can emerge. For older kids using inhaled steroids for asthma, failure to rinse out the mouth after medication use also promotes an environment conducive to thrush.
What do ringworm, jock itch, and athlete’s foot all have in common? They are all names for the same type of fungal infection- just in different parts of the body.
These infections, caused by fungi called dermatophytes, fall into the mostly-harmless-but-annoying category of childhood skin rashes. Ringworm (tinea corpus), occurs on the body. Athlete’s foot (tinea pedis) occurs on feet, and Jock itch (tinea cruris) occurs in the groin area.
The name “ringworm” comes from one of the typical appearances of a dermatophyte rash. Often, there is a pinkish, slightly raised ring around an oval patch of flesh or light-pink colored, slightly scaly skin. Sometimes the patch is slightly itchy, but not as itchy as allergic reactions like insect bites.
Emma’s parents were hopeful that Emma could start preschool this winter, but with the slow COVID-19 vaccine roll out, Emma’s parents chose to keep her home just a little longer. Grandparents come over every day, but three-year-old Emma does not have interaction with other children. Her parents are confident that they can teach Emma shapes and numbers, but are concerned about her social and emotional development. For those in the same shoes as Emma’s parents, we share ways to socialize your preschooler without preschool.
Preschool has not changed much since you were three or four years old. There is still circle time, show-and-tell, and cubbies to hang little coats in. And games, lots of fun and games. But as early childhood educators will tell you, there is a method to their madness. In particular, the fun and games encourage social and emotional growth.
Fun and games
Unlike a two year old, three and four-year-old children are capable of turn-taking and rule-following. These skills help preschoolers form friendships and learn to get along with others. At home, parents can teach their preschoolers simple games that involve turn-taking. Don’t be tempted to bend the rules to allow your child to win every game of Candy Land®. Whether you lose or win, you will model “good winning” and “good losing.” For instance, if you win, say “Good game!” If you lose, say “Oh, I lost, but I had fun playing!” Fast forward a few years and you can avoid having the kid who is a poor sport and can’t move on from a loss.
A family asked, “My toddler figured out how to climb out of the crib! How do I transition him into a bed?”
Some kids never climb out of their cribs, but sometimes families need the crib for a new sibling. If this is the case, consider if you really need the crib right away. Using a bassinet for the new baby allows the big brother/sister to get used to having a baby around. Many older siblings regress after the birth of a sibling and it can be useful to keep the older one in a crib for just a little bit longer, then use the new bed as a reward for “helping” or as a token of increased status.
The scariest part of putting your child into a bed is that your child now has access to his entire bedroom.
Your child’s pediatrician charts your child’s height and weight in order to determine whether he is growing appropriately. Some kids are underweight. These kids use more calories than they take in.
Here are ways to increase calories. Remember, it’s not as simple as demanding that your child eat more of her noodles. Instead of trying to stuff more food into your child, increase the caloric umph behind each meal.
Make every bite count:
There is hope! COVID-19 vaccines have arrived and more than two million adults have safely received a vaccine. Now that vaccinations are reaching adults, many families wonder when COVID-19 vaccines will be available for their children.
In addition to pocket-sized hand sanitizer, I recently got my kids pocket-sized moisturizer to help their dry, cracked hands.
Between diligent handwashing and falling temperatures in Pennsylvania, we are experiencing annoying, itchy skin changes. We’ve blogged about this before-Dr. Lai and I are used to washing our hands twice for every patient we see in the office-once before examining them and once again afterward. I have a jar of moisturizer on my desk that I frequently dip into between patients. Now I remind my kids to do the same between hand washings.
Here are some remedies to help treat dry, cracked hands:
- Petroleum jelly, such as Vasoline or Aquaphor, works great to moisturize and heal cracks in the skin. Apply at bedtime. Ointments are greasy, so during the day your kids might prefer using a fragrance-free moisturizing cream such as CeraVe or Aveeno.
- If itchy, add hydrocortisone 1% ointment to your kids’ daily or twice daily hand-care regime. Sometimes, for kids with underlying eczema, pediatricians prescribe a stronger type of hydrocortisone to help with more severe skin cracking and itching from dryness. Ointment tends to sting less than cream.
- Mix equal parts of moisturizing ointment and hydrocortisone ointment, smear, and put socks over hands to lock in moisture. This works best as a bedtime routine to help decrease the subconscious scratching and picking that occurs during sleep.
We’re bringing back our popular holiday gift guide based on ages and developmental stages. As always, we will concentrate on non electronic options, as well as pandemic-friendly ideas.
Kindergarten:
What’s happening: Kids at this age can hop up and down on one foot and they start having a better sense of time. They tell simple stories, can tell real from make-believe and can swing and climb.
Ideas: Clocks, calendars, and games that require some balance like Twister® are all hits. Games with simple rules such as checkers and puzzles with large pieces are developmentally within reach. They may enjoy reading books with very simple sentences on their own. Foster creativity with colored papers, crayons, markers, stickers, and water-color paints.