Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, affects millions of children and adults across America. The condition was previously known only as attention deficit disorder, or ADD.
While adults can continue to have ADHD symptoms, the condition begins in childhood, usually by age seven. Symptoms include:
hyperactivity
impulsive behavior
inattentiveness.
However, not all children with these symptoms... Read more >
When a child falls ill, parents often have a lot of questions and concerns: How sick is my kid? How serious are these symptoms? When should I call the doctor? How do I keep my child calm when she is in pain?
Knowing how to explain your child's illness to her is essential to keeping your child calm. If your child understands what the illness involves and whether its short-term, long-term or mental, she... Read more >
Childhood cancers can be challenging to deal with, not only for the child but also for the parents and family of the child. Some young children don’t understand the severity of cancers, and can’t understand what is making them sick.
Older children may ask more difficult questions and associate cancer with death, but they will also be able to understand their disease better than young... Read more >
A child's immune system isn't fully developed in the first few years of life, which is why children often contract a wide variety of illnesses. Viruses and bacteria that would not cause an adult any problems may result in a mild infection or cold in an infant or young child.
This becomes much more obvious when groups of children are gathered together in one place, such as in a pre-school or daycare... Read more >
As a parent, protecting your child's health is likely a top priority. While it is vital to protect your child from such infectious diseases as mumps, chickenpox and the stomach flu, it is just as important to protect your child from harmful skin conditions. After all, the skin is the largest organ of the human body. Therefore, protecting your child's delicate skin is of the utmost importance.
As children's... Read more >
As a parent, the health of your child is most likely your top priority. While there are certain childhood diseases from which you cannot protect your child, there are many others that you and your child can work to avoid. By simply having good personal hygiene habits and taking some important and necessary precautions, your child can reduce her chance of developing infectious childhood diseases.
An infectious... Read more >
A congenital condition refers to any health issue that is present from before or at birth. While some congenital disorders are mild and don't significantly disrupt patients' lives, others are more serious, causing a person to suffer from dramatic setbacks throughout their lives.
For example, while mild cases of scoliosis don't require treatment because they don't interrupt patients' day-to-day... Read more >
As children grow up and come into contact with the world, they are exposed to a number of fungi, bacteria and viruses that can potentially infect them and put their health at risk. While some of these infections can be potentially fatal, others are far milder and tend to disappear with the proper treatment in less than a few weeks. These less serious, highly treatable cases are generally known as non-chronic... Read more >
A variety of heart problems can develop in unborn fetuses, contributing to the presence of different forms of heart diseases in newborns. While some of these heart conditions occur as the result of unhealthy pregnancies, others arise because the infant is born premature and, therefore, has an underdeveloped heart.
In some cases, doctors can detect heart defects before birth using an echocardiogram, an... Read more >
While some of the respiratory conditions that affect children are chronic, congenital problems that require lifelong treatment (such as asthma), others result from infection by some virus or bacteria. These later respiratory infections tend to be acute conditions that disappear with the proper treatment.
Because children's lungs and airways are smaller and more vulnerable, kids are especially susceptible... Read more >