Our Favorite Resources
Poison control: 1-800-222-1222
(Available 24 hours/day)
We recommend the following useful links:
Constipation
Grief Resources
Book Recommendations
- The Memory Box: A Book About Grief
- Grandma's Gloves
- The Invisible String
- When Someone Very Special Dies: Children Can Learn to Cope with Grief (Drawing Out Feelings Series)
- I Miss You: A First Look at Death
- Bridge To Terabithia (deatlh of a friend)
- The Tenth Good Thing about Barney (death of pets)
- Walk Two Moons (death of a parent)
- Kira-kira (death of siblings)
- Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs
- The Fall of Freddie the Leaf
Healthy Eating
Immunizations
Internet/Social Media Safety
Lice
If your child has lice, click here for instructions for treating at home. If your child fails treatment with permethrin (Nix), you can try treating with ivermectin lotion, which is now available without a prescription! We've had very good success with ivermectin. Don't forget to comb out the nits! A metal comb(which can also be easily bought online or in pharmacies) works best for combing out nits. If you've tried these things and lice are still a problem, give us a call. There are some prescription medications for head lice that is resistant and has failed treatment with OTC products.
Newborns
Recurrent Boils
Management of Recurrent Boils
Boils are often caused by Staphylococcus aureus (Staph), a bacterium that resides on the skin and in the nose. Most often Staph simply colonizes in the skin, without causing infection. However, little scratches or insect bites may provide the opportunity for infection to occur. Because Staph spreads easily from person to person, if one person in a family is colonized with the bacterium, it is likely that others are colonized as well. Thus, several members of a family may have boils, one after another.
Patients with recurrent boils are usually colonized by Staph aureus. It is possible that some Staph organisms are more likely than others to cause boils; patients with boils are unlikely to have any underlying problems, and generally do not require special examination or test. Prevention of recurrences is best accomplished by eliminating the offending Staph organism from the skin of the patient and his family members.
We generally recommend the following:
1. Large boils or pustules should be lanced or drained, and cultures obtained. Small lesions can be treated locally with Bactroban ( 2% mupirocin) ointment, plus appropriate oral antibiotics.
2. To try to eliminate skin colonization with Staph, give the child a Phisehex(3% hexachlorophene) or Bleach (1/4 cup bleach/ bath tub of water) bath , with particular attention to the ears; neck folds; inguinal area, and other crevices where bacteria might live. Follow the package directions carefully: don’t leave the hexachlorophene on the skin too long and be sure to rinse it off completely.
3. To try to eliminate nasal colonization, apply Bactroban ointment to the nostrils two or three times a day, for 5-7 days. Put a small pea-sized blob in the nostril and try to massage it in for about a minute; try to get it up into the nose, not just the tip.
4. To try to prevent recolonization, wash towels, sheets and pillowcases.
5. Consider repeating the bath on the last day of Bactroban treatment, or every day during treatment.
6. If the problem recurs, or if other family members are affected, repeat 2-5 for everyone in the family. Dogs may harbor MRSA and we recommend that family dogs be bathed with shampoo containing benzoyl peroxide; your vet can suggest one
7. If the problem recurs again, repeat 2-6 and administer appropriate oral antibiotics to everyone in the family (typically Bactrim or clindamycin).
8. If the problem still recurs, repeat 2-7, adding an additional antibiotic (rifampin) for everyone.
Safety and Injury Prevention
Sleep
Special Needs
- CAP4KIDS (Lots of local resources here for families with special needs)
- Understood (for those who learn and think differently)
- CHADD (Resources for children and adults with ADHD)
- The LD Navigator (Resource guide for learning disabilities)
- Got transition: helps youth and young adults move from pediatric to adult health care
- The Arc Center for Future Planning
Travel
Warts
Managing warts at home
- SOAK. The skin should be soft. Soak the affected area (foot, hand) or continue the steps below after bathing.
- SCRAPE. Try to remove some of the thick, hard skin. You can use a pumice stone, emory board or nail file – something scratchy to remove the callous.
- MEDICINE. Apply one drop only of wart medicine (compound W, salicylic acid, any store brand version of wart medicine) directly to the wart. Try to avoid getting medicine on the nearby, healthy skin as it will burn. You might apply vaseline to the nearby skin to protect it from the medicine.
- COVER. Apply a bandaid or piece of duct tape to the wart. Keep the skin covered until the process is next repeated. Covering the wart will be another mildly irritating process that will help the wart go away sooner.
- REPEAT. Remove the bandaid/duct tape the next evening and repeat the process.
Left alone, warts will eventually go away by themselves – although nearly never fast enough for most of us. The treatment above is a non-painful way to help speed the disappearance of the wart. It might take several months (as opposed to several years) before the wart goes away. If a wart becomes more painful, shows signs of infection (red, hot, swollen, sore to touch) or spreads, it might be time to visit the dermatologist (skin specialist). The tools that the dermatologist uses might be more uncomfortable than the steps above, so it is recommended that you try this first.
