How do you communicate with your baby?

Can you decipher your baby’s cries? Do you use sign language? How about baby talk? A method called Dunstan Baby Language tries to teach parents to recognize their baby’s cries in the first 3 months. Sign language (usually starting around 9 months, when babies are better with hand coordination) can help babies express themselves when they can’t yet talk. And speaking in a high-pitched, musical voice can often get your baby’s attention.

In a Chicago Daily-Herald article today, I was quoted about communicating with your baby: Dr. Jennifer Shu, co-author of "Heading Home With Your Newborn," said parents should pay attention to their baby's cries, facial expressions and body language to try to learn what they need.
Her own son, she remembers, often made a sound like "I-o-I-o" when he was tired. But lots of such sounds aren't included in the Dunstan program, and Shu hasn't noticed the Dunstan "words" necessarily being associated with what the Dunstan program predicts.
There's no harm in trying it, she said, but parents need to use common sense. If a baby's body language is telling them something else, they shouldn't ignore it.
"If anything can get parents to pay attention to their child and build confidence in their ability to notice patterns in their child's habits," she said, "that's a good thing."

To read the full article, click here: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=121231

Do you Google for medical information?

People are flocking to the Internet to get health and medical information. While searching online can be very educational, some information may not be completely accurate. Here are some tips for getting the best medical information online.

Look for .gov sites. Governmental sources are credible and reliable. Some great resources are http://medlineplus.gov/ and http://www.cdc.gov/.

Visit medical organization pages. Professional associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics http://www.aap.org/ offer accurate information. Also, consider http://www.medem.com/ (which contains a collection of information from multiple medical societies).

Check into a hospital site. One site with extensive information is http://www.mayoclinic.com/ but many other hospitals also offer credible web resources. You may wish to check out your local medical center's web page.

See sites devoted to health information. Some examples are http://kidshealth.org/ (which has information targeted to kids and teens as well as to parents) and http://www.webmd.com/.

Take a multimedia approach. You can watch and learn at sites like http://www.childhealthguide.com/ and http://www.parents.tv/ or listen and learn from places like http://www.parentsjournal.com/, http://www.reachmd.com/, and http://www.healthin30.com/.

Consider the source. Before getting too concerned about something you read online, consider who authors the site. Some organizations and individuals can look official but may not really provide trustworthy information.

Talk to your doctor. If you have questions about something you’ve read, be sure to ask your pediatrician, who can put the information into the context of your own child’s health.

Snow in Atlanta!

After moving to the South from New Hampshire a year and a half ago, I certainly didn't expect to see snow again any time soon! But sure enough, in the city we got 0.4 inches of the white stuff, with some folks farther away racking up 3" (and a snow day off from school!). My son and I stayed up a little late to make a snowman while the snow was sticking. Here's a picture of a memory that will stay with us for a long time!

Your Ideal Pediatrician

As a pediatrician, I strive to be the best doctor I can be for children and their families when I see them in the office. But I'm definitely not perfect. I work part-time, don't make house calls, and our practice doesn't accept new patients with insurance plans not on our list. The patients who need a doctor who is more available have gravitated toward other pediatricians in our practice who work full-time. There are other families, however, who are content with seeing me when I’m there and seeing other providers when I’m not.

There are so many lists in parenting magazines for parents choosing a pediatrician, but very few share a view from the other side. My co-author and I give a little perspective in our book "Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality." Here are some other things I would like parents to know; your own pediatrician probably has their own thoughts as well!

- I choose to work part-time (and many more of us are doing so these days). Please understand that my time outside of the office allows me to be a better doctor by learning about parenting through spending time with my family and students at my child’s school, Cub Scout den, baseball team…. Also, I’m a much happier person overall if I maintain some sense of personal and professional balance. I wish I could be Wonder Woman (or Superman, or Spider-Man…) and do it all, but I recognize that that’s not possible and have tried to do a little of everything and not too much of any one thing.

-Having a good fit with your pediatrician goes both ways. Sure, you want a doctor who’s had the required education and training, but also one whose bedside manner matches your child’s needs. I tend to be bubbly and talkative—sometimes to the point of possibly being intimidating. If that’s not a good fit for my patients, I encourage them to transfer to another doctor with a different style. We should all feel comfortable being ourselves in the exam room.

-Finally, as a pediatrician, I really respect what parents have to say. I want to hear feedback, both positive and negative, about your experiences with me and my practice. When parents come to me and air out any concerns, we all often walk away with a better understanding of each other and can try to solve any problems that have a mutually acceptable solution.


I would love to hear from parents--is your pediatrician in, or are you on the outs? Please comment and tell me why! Is there something you wish you could tell your doctor? You can share your thoughts in the relative anonymity of my blog.

Here are some links to information on how to choose a pediatrician:
http://patiented.aap.org/content.aspx?aid=5301&lan=en
and
http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/ab/story/data/21492.xml