Choosing a Pediatrician for Your First Baby

I received the following question from an expectant new mother:

Hello! My husband and I are expecting our first baby. We don’t know what we’re having. I just started researching Pediatricians in our area and came across your name on a number of review sites.

Everything looks good as I just started my 3rd trimester. We are delivering in Royal Oak Beaumont but want to find our baby’s doctor closer to home — West Bloomfield. Not sure when I should make an appointment or how this works. Please advise 🙂

Thank you Kindly, K.

Hi K.,

While you still have time before delivery, you should meet with potential candidates for a pediatrician for your baby. We offer these visits for free, [Continue reading…]

Stool Questions

Parents often ask questions about their babies stool. So let’s discuss what is normal and what’s not.

Color. The stool is usually yellow in a breast-fed baby, greenish in a formula-fed one. When to worry? If you see blood, especially a lot of it. What to do? See your pediatrician.

Expected Frequency. Can be up to ten times a day in a breast-fed newborn; passing of the stool by a newborn is a sign of a good food intake. Babies should have at least one stool a day. There may be occasional healthy infant (not a newborn) that may have one stool in five days; this child is not constipated [Continue reading…]

Raising Teenagers Roller Coaster

A joke goes: “Mothers of teenagers know why some animals eat their young.” But all the jokes apart, raising a teenager can be a stressful and psychologically draining experience. I know it first hand. I am in no way an expert on this matter, just want to share some thoughts.

In some way having a child between the age of 12 and 16 is alike to having a newborn. They keep you up at night, you are worried for their well-being at every moment and you feel exhausted. The difference between taking care of a baby and raising a teen is that with newborns, though they are fragile creatures, a lot is in your power to [Continue reading…]

When a Toddler Refuses to Sleep in His Crib

A 20 month old boy presented in my office with a chief complaint of refusing to fall asleep in his crib. The parents said that whenever they put him in his bed and try to leave the room, he starts screaming until he works himself up to the point of vomiting. They heard many different suggestions from family, friends and their former pediatrician on how to handle the situation, and tried them all: from taking their child out of the crib after every sound he made to not coming into his room and letting him cry. Neither approach worked. By the time they they came to my office, their son was spending every night in their bed and the parents [Continue reading…]

New Dad’s Survival Guide

When a man becomes a father, he may feel lost and awkward about the task of caring for the baby. As much as he wants to be useful, the new dad does not know where to start and what to do. Considering that a new mom may not feel very upbeat and energetic after delivery and may be in pain or just sleep deprived and emotional, the first two weeks may be tough for the whole family. So what can dads do to make it easier for everyone in the family, including themselves?

The first and most important task is to take good care of your wife. Make sure she [Continue reading…]

Welcome to the Expectant Parents

You are expecting a baby. Congratulations! This is such a special time in your life. You may have researched a wealth of books and online resources about what to expect after baby’s arrival. You probably feel more and more excited, and anxious, as you get closer to the due date.

I am always happy to meet expectant mothers or couples coming to my office for a first interview. The fact that you took the time to come and meet me shows that you truly care about the future baby. I will highlight some practical points that may be important to you in the first weeks after birth:

Your baby will be seen by a pediatrician who will come to the hospital [Continue reading…]

Potty Training: You Are Bound to Succeed at Some Point

Lisa Doublestein recently approached me with a request for an interview for the May, 2011 issue of Start Early, Finish Strong, a publication of Wayne RESA Early Childhood Services. Below is the article that resulted from that interview, reproduced here by permission.

Q: My mother thinks I should be potty-training my 2-year-old, but I just don’t have time to do it right now! I want to wait until he’s 3. Am I waiting too long?

A: There are many stories in parenting circles about parents who potty train their kids in one day, or kids who simply decide to start using the potty. But for most families, potty training takes time and [Continue reading…]

Starting Solid Foods

To many new mothers feeding babies anything but the breast milk or formula can be a difficult task. Parents often have questions regarding what to start with and how much to give and how often and what to stay away from.

In reality it is not as complicated as it seems to be. Here some simple rules.

You may start solids between 5 and 6 months of babies age. Pick the time of the day when your baby has the best disposition and appetite, and give solids BEFORE you give the bottle or your breast. Start with a single ingredient food: powdered rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula that your baby is used to. If your baby has a [Continue reading…]

Breastfeeding: Unveiling the Truth

While meeting parents before their baby is born or speaking to the mother of a newborn at the hospital, I am amazed at how many mothers have a totally distorted view on breastfeeding. From “I was fed formula, so I will feed my babies the same” to “I do not want to do it because it hurts”. These mothers do not realize that they are the victims of the culture, formula-feeding culture that is. Our country is probably unique: the formula industry totally changed the approach to feeding the baby, and breastfeeding is often viewed as an anachronism or inconvenience. We have lost the community/family knowledge about this process because for many generations babies were fed formula only. Where will the [Continue reading…]

Breastfeeding Clinic to Open at Providence Park Hospital in Novi

I recently had a pleasure to speak at the pediatric department meeting where I announced the opening of a Breastfeeding Clinic at Providence Park Hospital. I will start seeing patients there in July 2010.

The clinic will be Michigan’s second pediatrician-led breastfeeding clinic. The big advantage of such an arrangement over the private lactation consultations is not only the evaluation will be provided by a doctor, but also the fact that the services will be covered by most insurance plans.

Each mother-baby couple will be given 45 to 60 min appointment with a team consisting of a pediatrician and a lactation consultant. Our intentions are to help mothers to achieve their goals, whether it is exclusive breastfeeding or partial breastfeeding, to [Continue reading…]