
our child's health includes physical, mental and social well-being. Most parents know the basics of keeping children healthy, like offering them healthy foods, making sure they get enough sleep and exercise and insuring their safety.
It is also important for children to get regular checkups with their health care provider. These visits are a chance to check your child's development. They are also a good time to catch or prevent problems.
Other than checkups, school-age children should be seen for
- Significant weight gain or loss
- Sleep problems or change in behavior
- Fever higher than 102
- Rashes or skin infections
- Frequent sore throats
- Breathing problems
- Children's Health Articles
- Children's Health Fair scheduled for Saturday, April 16 2011.04.04 Children's Health Fair scheduled for Saturday, April 16
- 3DS 2011.03.22 U.S. eye specialists are welcoming the Nintendo 3DS game device, dismissing the manufacturer’s warnings that its 3-D screen shouldn’t be used by children 6 or younger because it may harm their immature vision.
- Trend reversal: Big drop in kids' ear infections 2011.03.07 Trend reversal: Big drop in kids' ear infections
- Study: Mich. children overprescribed antibiotics 2011.03.01 Study: Mich. children overprescribed antibiotics
- Fetal surgery helps fix defects 2011.02.14 Pregnant women were afraid to have it. Doctors were afraid to do it. Hospitals stopped performing the surgery because the government wanted evidence it was safe and worth doing.
- Energy drinks risky for teens 2011.02.14 Energy drinks are under-studied, overused and can be dangerous for children and teens, warns a report by doctors who say kids shouldn’t use the popular products.
- Child ER visits down after cold medicines’ removal 2010.11.23 Removing cough and cold medicines for very young children from store shelves led to a big decline in emergency room visits for bad reactions to the drugs, government research found.
- CDC panel: Teens need another meningitis shot 2010.11.04 Teens should get a booster dose of the vaccine for bacterial meningitis because a single shot doesn’t work as long as expected, a federal advisory panel said Wednesday.
- Report: Mich. infants' well-being affected by race 2010.10.12 A new report says place, race and ethnicity continue to play large roles in whether a baby is born prematurely, or to a teenager or single mother in Michigan.
- Study shows teens benefit from later school day 2010.07.06 Giving teens 30 extra minutes to start their school day leads to more alertness in class, better moods, less tardiness, and even healthier breakfasts, a small study found.
- Dr. Rod Tinney of Pine River Medical, receives Hometown Health Hero honor for immunization advocacy 2010.04.20 Dr. Rod Tinney of Pine River Medical, received the Hometown Health Hero honor for his advocacy of immunizations
- First lady pushes healthy kids campaign forward 2010.03.10 First lady Michelle Obama is challenging software and video game designers to develop games and applications that get kids excited about living healthy.
- 800,000 doses of kids' swine flu vaccine recalled 2009.12.15 Health officials are recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine after tests indicated they may not be potent enough to protect against the virus.
- Report: 13 million babies worldwide born premature 2009.10.09 They call it kangaroo care: A premature baby nestles skin-to-skin against mom’s bare, warm chest. In Malawi, mothers’ bodies take the place of too-pricey incubators to keep these fragile newborns alive.
- The perils of public potties require some care 2009.08.03 Mixed in with the book order forms and the crafts from the day, I got a notice in my daughter's school bin that several children had come down with scarlet fever.
- Depression diagnoses decline after FDA warning 2009.06.02 Researchers have come to understand that social groups can influence health in people of all ages.
- Healthy Teen Relationships 2009.03.10 Young love can seem so innocent, but it’s not immune to issues of emotional and physical abuse, unhealthy patterns and conflict.
- Juvenile Diabetes 2009.03.10 Her job as an RN with Northern Michigan Regional Hospital and her bachelor’s of science degree complemented her mother’s intuition, and she made an appointment for her son with his pediatrician.
- Panel: Adopting from abroad? Get hepatitis A shot 2009.02.26 A 51-year-old adoptive grandmother’s hospitalization from hepatitis has helped spur new vaccination recommendations for people in close contact with children adopted from other countries.
- When toddlers point a lot, more words will follow 2009.02.13 Don’t just talk to your toddler — gesture, too. Pointing, waving bye-bye and other natural gestures seem to boost a budding vocabulary.
- Studies: Steroids do not help wheezing kids 2009.01.22 Steroid drugs, a common treatment for young children prone to wheezing and colds, do not help and may even be harmful, according to new research.
- MRSA rising in kids’ ear, nose, throat infections 2009.01.20 Researchers say they found an “alarming†increase in children’s ear, nose and throat infections nationwide caused by dangerous drug-resistant staph germs.
- Largest-ever study of U.S. child health begins 2009.01.13 Scientists begin recruiting mothers-to-be in North Carolina and New York this week for the largest study of U.S. children ever performed — aiming eventually to track 100,000 around the country from conception to age 21.
- First U.S. count finds 1 in 200 kids are vegetarian 2009.01.13 A recent study provides the government’s first estimate of how many children avoid meat. That’s about 1 in 200.
- Mission: Impossible? Keeping kids healthy in sick season 2008.12.22 Figuring out when a child is contagious is tough. Many children are the most contagious in the very early stages of illness even before they appear to be sick.
- Adoption Awareness Month 2008.12.19 Each year, National Adoption Month brings attention to adoption, the families who welcome children into their home and the birthparents who provide new hope for their infants.
- Young girl faces heart surgery 2008.12.10 A Petoskey girls story of trumping tragedy
- Disruptive behavior by autistic kids stirs furor 2008.11.17 Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children in the U.S.1 But many of these deaths can be prevented. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half.
- Bedwetting: More common than you think 2008.10.22 When children are wetting their bed well into the adolescent and even early “tween†years, it can mean added stress on a family and a great deal of embarrassment for the child.
- Got milk? Breast-feeding best — unless you can’t 2008.10.22 Bente White was willing to try almost anything to breast-feed her infant son.
- CDC Study Finds 3 Million U.S. Children have Food or Digestive Allergies 2008.10.22 The number of young people who had a food or digestive allergy increased 18 percent between 1997 and 2007, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- CDC Releases New Infant Mortality Data 2008.10.17 The United States ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004, compared to 27th in 2000, 23rd in 1990 and 12th in 1960, according to a new report from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
- Child Passenger Safety: Fact Sheet 2008.10.15 Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children in the U.S.1 But many of these deaths can be prevented. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half.
- Pediatricians double vitamin D recommendations 2008.10.13 The nation’s leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases.
- FDA issues safety and risk assessment of melamine in infant formula 2008.10.06 FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns.
- Avoid foodborne illness when baby arrives home 2008.10.06 Foodborne illness is a serious health issue, especially for your new baby and any other children in your home. Each year in the U.S., 800,000 illnesses affect children under the age of 10.
- Hearing and vision screening underway for school children 2008.09.16 Local health department’s Hearing and Vision Screening Program are working with local school districts and preschools to provide screening to more than 15,000 children, identifying problems early before they can interfere with children’s academic succ
- Childhood obesity is an ever increasing issue for today’s families 2008.08.29 Researchers have come to understand that social groups can influence health in people of all ages.
- Instances of Autism on the Rise 2008.08.22 In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that raised many an eyebrow across the country.
- Physical Activity Drops From Age 9 to 15 2008.08.15 The activity level of a large group of American children dropped sharply between age 9 and age 15, when most failed to reach the daily recommended activity level according to the NIH.
- External Children's Health Feeds
- Young Children Who Miss Well-Child Visits Are More Likely To Be Hospitalized Missing Visits Even More Detrimental For Children with Chronic Health Conditions Young children who missed more than half of recommended well-child visits had up to twice the risk of hospitalization compared to children who attended most of their visits, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Managed Care...
- Dietary Exposure To Certain Plastics May Play A Hidden Role In Epidemic Increases In Childhood Hypertension Plastic additives known as phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are odorless, colorless and just about everywhere: They turn up in flooring, plastic cups, beach balls, plastic wrap, intravenous tubing and-according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-the bodies of most Americans. Once perceived as harmless, phthalates have come under increasing scrutiny...
- Risk Factors For Rupture Or Bleeding Of Arachnoid Cysts In Children Arachnoid cysts are a common type of brain lesion that is usually harmless, but with a risk of rupture or bleeding. A new study identifies risk factors for rupture or bleeding in children with "incidentally" detected arachnoid cysts, reports the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons...
- US Teen Birth Rates Drop To New Low Teen birth rates have dropped significantly, most notably among Hispanic teens, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, the birth rate rate fell by close to one half from 1991 to 2011-from approximately 62 births for every 1,000 teens to 31 births per 1,000...
- Sleep Quality And School Performance Impaired By Asthma Symptoms The negative effects of poorly controlled asthma symptoms on sleep quality and academic performance in urban schoolchildren has been confirmed in a new study...