Pediatric conditions and treatment

Find out about pediatric conditions, treatment and breakthroughs, as well as ways to keep your child healthy.

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Pediatric Health Basics

Basic healthcare for children can range from preventing obesity to ensuring that all childhood immunizations occur on time. Children need to receive regular physical examinations so pediatricians have all the tools they need (such as complete family medical history) for proper care. If a problem is suspected, children may undergo lab tests, such as blood work or urine tests.

  • Childhood Immunizations
  • Childhood Obesity
  • Imaging Tests & Children
  • Lab Tests & Children
  • Physical Examination in Children
  • When to Call a Doctor for your Child

Pediatric Signs & Symptoms

Many symptoms occur regularly in children and are not cause for concern. Others, however, should be immediately reported to a physician. Constipation, diarrhea and stomach aches may be related to the child's diet or caused by an infection. A sore throat, coughing, swollen glands or fatigue are symptoms of many illnesses common in childhood.

Newborn Care

Newborn care often revolves around feedings, changing diapers and proper hygiene. However, new parents may fear relatively rare problems, such as SIDS or shaken baby syndrome. Additional issues include fetal alcohol syndrome, phenylketonuria or pyloric stenosis. More common but less serious issues include thrush, colic, cradle cap, erythema toxicum and umbilical hernias.

  • Breastfeeding
  • Colic
  • Cradle Cap
  • Phenylketonuria
  • SIDS
  • Shaken Baby Syndrome
  • Thrush in Newborns
  • Umbilical Hernia

Pediatric First Aid & Safety

Child safety issues range from prevention of hazards such as choking, drowning or poisoning to knowing the proper first aid techniques. Parents should learn CPR in case of an emergency. Safety equipment includes bike helmets, knee pads and correctly installed car seats. Children must also be are especially prone to sunburn, heat-related illness and frostbite.

  • Health Guides
  • Burns & Children
  • Car Safety & Children
  • Child Safety
  • Choking & Children
  • Cuts & Other Common Wounds in Children
  • Drowning & Children
  • First Aid Kits & Children
  • Sprains & Strains in Children

Puberty & Sexual Maturity

Reaching puberty or sexual maturity involves many physical and emotional changes. The female reproductive system usually signals maturity by beginning menstruation, while the male reproductive system signals maturity with increased sexual organ size and pubic hair. Voice changes may also occur. Abnormally early onset of puberty is called precocious puberty.

  • Female Reproductive System
  • Male Reproductive System
  • Menstruation & Puberty
  • Precocious Puberty

Learn more about Pediatric conditions


Birth & Genetic Disorders

Some conditions involve physical abnormalities alone, such as dwarfism or a cleft lip and palate. Others may involve mental or developmental problems (e.g., mental retardation). Still others will involve a combination of physical and mental abnormalities. Scoliosis may be present from birth or occur in conjunction with other defects or conditions. This abnormal curvature of the spine is most often discovered in older children and has no known cause.

  • Ambiguous Genitalia
  • Birth Defects
  • Cleft Lip & Palate
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Down Syndrome
  • Dwarfism
  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
  • Fragile X Syndrome
  • Marfan Syndrome
  • Mental Retardation
  • Neurofibromatosis
  • Scoliosis
  • Spina Bifida
  • Tay Sachs Disease
  • Treacher Collins Syndrome
  • Turner Syndrome

Growth & Development

All children follow basic patterns of growth and development, from infancy and early childhood through middle childhood and adolescence. Issues of teething, bedwetting, toilet training, thumb sucking and temper tantrums are faced by most parents. While there are guidelines for developmental stages, a delay in these areas does not always indicate a medical problem.

  • Adolescent Development
  • Bedwetting
  • Development Basics
  • Early Childhood Development
  • Infancy Development
  • Learning & Play
  • Middle Childhood Development
  • Prenatal Development
  • Sleep & Children
  • Teething
  • Temper Tantrums
  • Thumb Sucking
  • Toilet Training
  • Weaning

Pediatric Allergy & Asthma

In recent years, the number of children with allergies to food, pollens, latex and other allergens has grown dramatically. There has also been a surge in the number of children with asthma, and other allergic conditions, such as the skin disorders contact dermatitis and eczema. Childhood asthma is among the most serious and widespread health risks afflicting children today.

  • Allergic Rhinitis & Children
  • Allergies & Children
  • Allergy Medications & Children
  • Allergy Related Ear Problems in Children
  • Allergy Related Eye Problems in Children
  • Animal Allergies & Children
  • Asthma & Children
  • Asthma Action Plans for Children
  • Breastfeeding, Allergies & Asthma
  • Food Allergies & Children
  • Insect Stings & Children
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus
  • Skin Rashes & Children
  • Talking to Children about Allergies & Asthma

Pediatric Brain & Nerve

The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system (CNS). Nerves branch off the CNS to the rest of the body (peripheral nervous system), controlling all motor and sensory functions. Conditions affecting infants and children related to the brain and nerves include seizures, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.

  • Angelman Syndrome
  • Cephalic Disorders
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Chiari Malformation
  • Encephalitis in Children
  • Leukodystrophy
  • Meningitis & Children
  • Neurocutaneous Syndromes
  • Reye Syndrome
  • Seizures in Children
  • Spinal Tap in Children

Pediatric Heart

Pediatric heart disease includes many congenital conditions (present at birth). Some involve holes or defects in the heart muscle or holes that should close (patent foramen ovale or patent truncus arteriosis). Others involve problems with the heart valves (pulmonary atresia, tricuspid atresia or Ebstein's anomaly). Many procedures are used to correct pediatric heart problems.

  • AV Septal Defect
  • Arterial Switch Operation
  • Atrial Septal Defect
  • Balloon Atrial Septostomy
  • Blalock Taussig Procedure
  • Coarctation of the Aorta
  • Congenital Heart Disease
  • Developing Human Heart
  • Double Outlet Right Ventricle
  • Ebstein's Anomaly
  • Eisenmenger Syndrome
  • Fontan Procedure
  • Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
  • Kawasaki Disease
  • Norwood Procedure
  • Patent Ductus Arteriosus
  • Patent Foramen Ovale
  • Pediatric Stroke
  • Pulmonary Atresia
  • Rastelli Procedure
  • Ross Procedure
  • Single Ventricle
  • TAPVR
  • Tetralogy of Fallot
  • Transposition of the Great Arteries
  • Tricuspid Atresia
  • Truncus Arteriosus
  • Ventricular Septal Defect

Pediatric Diabetes

Diabetes can affect people of all ages. It was once believed that children were at risk only for type 1 diabetes (formerly called juvenile diabetes), in which the immune system damages the body's ability to make insulin. But with obesity rates climbing, the U.S. government predicts that type 2 diabetes will develop in more than one-third of children born in 2000.

  • Childhood Obesity & Diabetes
  • Diabetes & Children
  • Exercise & Diabetes in Children
  • Infants & Diabetes
  • Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young
  • Mauriac Syndrome
  • Teenagers & Diabetes
  • Wolfram Syndrome

Cancer

Cancer is uncommon in children, and therapeutic advances have increased survival rates. Among the cancers that affect children are certain types of brain tumors, a blood cancer called acute lymphocytic leukemia, and myeloid malignancies, which affect the blood and bone marrow and include acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia.

  • Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in Children
  • Brain Tumors in Children
  • Cancer & Children
  • Myeloid Malignancies in Children

Pediatric Dental

Learning good dental habits in childhood can lead to a lifetime of proper dental hygiene. Bruxism is involuntary grinding or clenching of the teeth that can cause problems, including tooth wear, headaches and jaw pain. Baby bottle tooth decay is severe tooth decay that occurs in infants. Tooth injuries may be a concern when they occur in permanent teeth.

  • Baby Bottle Tooth Decay
  • Bruxism in Children
  • Dental Health & Children
  • Tooth Injuries & Children

Pediatric Diet & Fitness

Proper nutrition and regular exercise are important at any age, but even more critical in children. Major issues range from childhood obesity to hunger and malnutrition. While items high in refined sugar are not recommended, some artificial sweeteners may be inappropriate for children. Complex carbohydrates and healthy fats and oils also affect in childhood development.

  • Exercise & Children
  • Nutrition & Children