Category: Pediatrics

Bottle-feeding grandmothers vs. breastfeeding daughters: advice from a pediatrician

Recently, a friend’s mother asked me how to best support her daughter’s decision to breastfeed her first grandchild.  The new grandmother questioned her ability to encourage her daughter’s decision because she had not breastfed her own child, and this …

How anti-vaxxers are just like the rest of us

Whenever I talk about my research on how parents come to decide to reject vaccines for their children, my explanations are met with a range of reactions, but I almost always hear the same questions. What is wrong with those parents? Are they anti-scien…

School vaccine exemptions must be for medical conditions only

No, vaccines do not cause autism. No, vaccines do not cause cancer. No, vaccines are not toxic. No, getting the disease is not safer than vaccination. Yes, they are safe. Yes, they are effective. As a pediatrician, I spend countless hours each week tal…

School vaccine exemptions must be for medical conditions only

No, vaccines do not cause autism. No, vaccines do not cause cancer. No, vaccines are not toxic. No, getting the disease is not safer than vaccination. Yes, they are safe. Yes, they are effective. As a pediatrician, I spend countless hours each week tal…

Disproving the false claims of febrile seizures after vaccines

A seizure in response to a fever, called a febrile seizure, is an extremely common event in childhood. They affect 2 to 5 percent of children between 6 months and five years of age and have a peak incidence between 12 and 18 months of age. They general…

Help stop pediatric drownings

The boy is three years old and quite curious about the world. He watches his father leave the house and wants to go find him. He looks to his mother but she is napping beside him on the couch, and he would rather not wake her, so he grabs his stuffed d…

How to help your children manage migraines

Stress! It is a fact of life for all human beings. Stress is a normal reaction — psychologic and physiologic — to the everyday demands of life. When your brain perceives a threat, the body reacts with a fight-or-flight response, releasing hormones, inc…

Should adults receive another dose of MMR?

While the vast majority of measles cases in the U.S. and worldwide are occurring in unvaccinated children, a fair percentage is also occurring in adults.  With more-widespread transmission of measles, it’s becoming more important for all of us – yes, t…

No, the HPV vaccine isn’t optional

A lot of parents ask me, about the HPV vaccine, “Isn’t that the optional one?” Well, let me walk you through why my answer to that question is a hard “no.” Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus that causes warts and severa…

The inspiring story of how a physician fought MOC against all odds

Well, I won. Six years after I started down the very slow process to end forced MOC in my state, it happened. On December 27, 2018 Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed HB 4134 and 4135 into law. The harm BCBS caused me and my patients will never happen…