Category: Pediatrics

Self-harm and eating disorders in teens

An excerpt from The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse. How do you know if your teen has a substance problem? The inability to control substance use despite negative consequences is a classic definition of a severe sub…

Treating formula as medicine may increase breastfeeding rates

Currently, there is an outcry against the pressures of breastfeeding, with an underlying backlash against the stigma of bottle feeding. Commercials from formula companies, such as Bobbie, are playing at the hearts of struggling breastfeeding mothers. T…

How becoming a mother made me a pediatrician

For years, I hated when patients would ask if I had children. I consider myself to be a good pediatrician and trained at a highly rated medical school and residency. I work hard and I care for my patients. I can, however, be socially awkward and did no…

Physicians have gone from being heroes to villains

I am exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I fear we are reaching our breaking point. We have run a marathon, hoping that we were nearing the finish line as we saw numbers decline in June, only to be told to lace up our sneakers and start over….

The surprising power of family meals

I am a board-certified pediatrician, wife, mother of four, and host of a podcast.  I have been interested in nutrition and feeding practices for as long as I can remember.  In my practice as a pediatrician, I was constantly bombarded with parent concer…

A perspective on comorbidities and severity of illness in children with COVID-19

“Children don’t get as sick with COVID-19” and “only children with comorbidities get very sick from COVID-19” are two statements that have concerned me during the pandemic.  They have been used as statements to support loosening COVID-19 prevention mea…

We hold the power to safeguard our children: an physician’s plea

As a primary care physician on the front line, I have witnessed tremendous disability and death due to COVID. I have grieved with mourning family members and spouses – watching their lives be uprooted due to a preventable infection. I have counseled wo…

Putting my kid back in school: the right decision for this pediatrician

As a parent who also happens to be a hospital-based pediatrician, lots of people have asked me my opinion on back to school and/or daycare. I am sharing my thoughts. I’m only one person. These are just my thoughts. Feel free to take what is helpf…

Putting my kid back in school: the right decision for this pediatrician

As a parent who also happens to be a hospital-based pediatrician, lots of people have asked me my opinion on back to school and/or daycare. I am sharing my thoughts. I’m only one person. These are just my thoughts. Feel free to take what is helpf…

A pediatric infectious disease physician shares his pandemic lessons [PODCAST]

“COVID-19 has changed nearly every aspect of society as we know it, and doctors in hospitals across America are at the forefront of those changes. As a pediatric infectious diseases doctor who also writes curriculum to help the next generation of…