Health & Wellness
Avoid a COVID Scare this Halloween
Halloween isn’t going to be the same this year, but families can still have fun while reducing their risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus), says Priya Soni, MD, a Cedars-Sinai pediatric infectious disease specialist. “The bottom line is there is no safe way to celebrate a traditional Halloween in this pandemic,” Soni says. Haunted […]
Caring for Your Family’s Mental Health this School Year
Some time has passed since COVID-19 initially impacted our lives, lessening some of our early worries about the pandemic. As we continue to navigate drastic changes, my concerns these days turn mostly to my children and other children around me. My kids worry about how they will stay connected with the friends they saw daily […]
Parents Anonymous Offers a Helpline and Support Groups for Families
This year has been extremely difficult for people of all ages due to the many uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Californians are out of work and under serious financial stress. Children are partaking in virtual learning, which has come with unforeseen challenges and setbacks. Most recently, California has been dealing with devastating wildfires, and many parents are unsure on how to help their children cope with all that is going on. One resource […]
Even in Fall, Keep Your Kids Swim Safe
Even heading into the cooler fall and winter months, the risk of child drownings is greater than ever this year with more families staying home to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1-4. The latest water safety data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety […]
Don’t Forget Your Flu Shot This Year
With everyone’s focus still so firmly fixed on the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts are warning families that we can’t afford to ignore a much more familiar threat. Flu season is approaching, and flu shots are more important this year than ever. Because the flu can be a serious illness, public health officials are warning that […]
Navigating Nutrition: 5 Ideas for Healthy, Easy School Lunches and Snacks at Home
By now, many parents and kids have accepted they will be taking part in distance or hybrid learning at least for the short-term. Having nutritious ready-made foods in the fridge will increase the amount of time (and focus and energy) students have for learning. Planning ahead can also alleviate some stress for parents. Here are […]
Can Kids’ Videogame Play be Healthy?
Amidst historic wildfires and a global pandemic, virtual worlds hold an understandable appeal. Yet, many parents fear that videogames pose risks of their own – that these all-too enticing digital ecosystems may interfere with children’s healthy emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Indeed, parents have struggled to manage their kid’s videogame play, even before COVID-19 relegated […]
Turning Family Meals into Learning Time This Fall
When I became principal of a second- and third-grade elementary school, each grade had just 22 minutes – start to finish – for lunch. What was the result? Rushed eating. Food waste. Frequent friction between kids and lunch aides. General mayhem. Then, while traveling in Japan, I visited a school in which the students served […]
Get Kids’ Brushing Habits Halloween-Ready with Elmo
Already dreading the sugar bath your children’s teeth will take this Halloween? Get good dental habits started now with some help from Sesame Street’s Elmo. In a new video, created in partnership with a UCLA-led consortium called More LA Smiles, everyone’s favorite furry red monster teaches children “Elmo’s Toothy Dance.” The 2-minute YouTube video is designed […]
Three Bike Safety Rules Your Family Needs Now
As fitness centers and yoga studios closed due to COVID-19, and stay-at-home rules opened up people’s schedules, Angelenos have been taking to their bikes. “There is a bike boom that we haven’t seen since the 1970s,” says Eli Kaufman, executive director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC). “That’s what we’ve been after for […]
10 Baby Dangers You Might Not Have Considered
Nerves are a natural state for new parents. Hazards seem to lurk everywhere and having responsibility for protecting your little one can feel overwhelming. In honor of Baby Safety Month in September, the California Poison Control System offers a quick guide to dangers you might not have noticed – right in your own home. “Babies […]
Encouraging Your Child to Wear a Mask
As schools work on plans to safely reopen and more in-person activities become available, there will be more occasions where children will need to wear masks. Many parents are concerned that their child will refuse to or even take their mask off during the day. How can parents encourage and maintain mask wearingwhen they struggle with this […]
Are Play Dates OK During COVID?
Complaints about schlepping their kids to and from them aside, most parents (and children) are missing play dates about now. “The increased family time during this pandemic has been wonderful for many families, but by now both parents and children can probably use some new people scenery,” says John Rodarte, M.D., with Descanso Pediatrics/Huntington Health Physicians […]
Drive-Up Childhood Vaccines Available at the Saban Community Clinic
August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and while campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District (and many others) will be closed as the 2020-21 school year begins, vaccines are still required to register for school and parents are advised to keep up to date with their child’s vaccines, now more than ever. Amidst COVID-19, […]
6 Tips for Healthier Time Online During the Pandemic
When the coronavirus pandemic arrived and health officials urged us all to stay “safer at home,” no one chained us to our computers, televisions or phone screens – but they might as well have. We’ve worked and learned online, celebrated birthdays and graduations at our computers, visited grandparents and sat in on virtual camps, play […]
Tips for a Healthy New School Year – Wherever You Are
I spoke with Nava Yeganeh, a pediatric infectious disease doctor with UCLA Health, minutes after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mid-July announcement that California schools will not reopen for in-person instruction in the fall – following months of speculation and a patchwork of announcements by various schools and districts about their plans. “It’s a big deal, because […]
Your Kids Can Learn to Swim at the Rose Bowl This Summer
With so much canceled this summer, your kids can still enjoy some cool fun with lessons at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. With a mission to make sure that every person is water safe, the RBAC has implemented new policies and procedures – and is operating at a limited capacity – in order […]
Steering Clear of Unsafe Hand Sanitizer
With coronavirus cases continuing to climb in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, hand sanitizer sales have been through the roof, to the point where there have been times when it is hard to find. Given the increased demand, the Food and Drug Administration is finding that some companies might be cutting corners and using replacement […]
Pediatricians Offer Guidance on Returning to Youth Sports Amid Coronavirus
Sports activities offer children and teens many physical and psychological health benefits besides fitness, such as socializing with friends, a critical part of development. Many children have missed these activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and re-engaging youth in sports will require careful thought and safety precautions. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), drawing on the […]
Don’t Skip Well-Child Visits and Vaccines During the Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic is creating health risks that go far beyond the dangers of COVID-19 itself as families skip well-child visits to the pediatrician – and the childhood vaccinations that go with them. Priya Soni, M.D., a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Cedars-Sinai, says that well-child visits in the U.S., including those for immunizations, are […]
How to Get Your Family Ready for Wildfire Season
L.A. families shouldn’t let the COVID-19 crisis make them forget about another danger in our community: Wildfire season. The 1,400-acre Soledad fire in the Santa Clarita Valley earlier this month should serve as a reminder, according to officials. “A wildfire can come without warning and spread quickly, leaving you little time to get to safety. […]
Coronavirus Testing Update
As the county continues to wrestle with the coronavirus pandemic, health officials remind us that the virus has not gone away. Testing will still play an important role in protecting us from infection, and L.A. County Department of Health Services Director Christina Ghaly, M.D., shares the latest on whether you need to be tested and […]
Fighting for Educational Justice for Black Children
As I wander through this constant maze of eight minutes and 46 seconds murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and all of the other members of my Black family and friends and culture, I think about my six children, the three sons and three daughters that left my womb and are becoming Black […]
Spider Bite Prevention Tips From California Poison Control
The California Poison Control System (CPCS) suggests being on the lookout for spiders, which are increasingly active when temperatures rise. With more people sheltering at home or just starting to hike in the hills, the risk of bites is more likely. Spider bites can result in small puncture wounds, pain, redness, itching and swelling that can last […]
Report Says Black and Brown Babies are Born at a Disadvantage
Studies have long shown that where in the U.S. a baby is born can have a major impact on that baby’s health and wellbeing going forward. But a new report out this month notes that Black and brown babies, which make up more than half of all U.S. infants, start life at a disadvantage no […]
Kids’ Mental Health During the Pandemic
As we move from spring to summer and fewer things seem to be getting back to “normal,” many kids are struggling. Clinical psychologist Bridgid Mariko Conn, Ph.D., of the division of adolescent and young medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, offers some insight. What are the major sources of anxiety for kids right now? What […]
How to Properly Care for Your Face Mask
As California and other states begin loosening stay-at-home orders and reopening businesses, it’s likely that everyone will be encouraged to wear a mask in public for months to come. But to be effective in slowing the speed of COVID-19 infection, a mask must be used correctly “Properly using a mask is just as important as actually wearing […]
Lyf App Offers Virtual Support Group
You’ve likely seen the sentiment “physical distancing, not social distancing” floating through your social media platforms. As we are all under quarantine, it’s a powerful reminder that people still need people. Lyf, a new free iOS and Android app, has launched to offer what it calls the “world’s largest virtual support group.” For people struggling […]
Pregnancy and Childbirth During the COVID Pandemic
My daughter and her husband are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, and they’ll be doing it under coronavirus quarantine. They’ve also been talking about starting a family. They’re both healthy, but I wondered whether getting pregnant right now is wise, so I decided to chat with Dr. John Ozimek, medical director of the […]
It’s a Great Time to Garden
Spring has sprung and we’re all at home, which makes it the perfect time to start your own home garden – in your yard or in containers. “We have a really great climate for growing vegetables in Southern California,” says Brie Wakeland, a master gardener and garden educator at The Garden School Foundation. The organization […]
Keeping it Clean During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Parents are no strangers to cleanup duty. From the time we change our baby’s first diaper it seems there is a never-ending chain of messes of one kind or another: mud pies, sticky handprints on walls and doorknobs, food spilled anywhere and everywhere, toys in various states of filth. But this is different. With cases […]
New Ways of Working Out During the Quarantine
Virtual workouts might just be the salvation of gym rats and others forced away from their in-person classes. Your kids will love them, too.
#SupportingFamilies: Breathing Tips to Steady You in Unsteady Times
These breathing tips from Sandy Abrams, the C.E.Om, can help frazzled parents and kids steady themselves and feel more empowered.
#SupportingFamilies: How to Talk to Kids About Coronavirus
As novel coronavirus, called COVID-19, continues to spread to multiple countries, including the U.S., it’s important for adults to communicate calmly with children. Karen Rogers, PhD, Clinical Psychologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, provides some guidelines for how to talk to kids about the virus. Kids pay close attention to how adults talk about coronavirus. “One […]
Largest Study to Date links 102 Genes With Autism
The symbol for autism spectrum disorder has long been a puzzle piece, and a global team of researchers has come a little closer to understanding the shape of this puzzel, according to research published online in January in the journal Cell. In the largest genetic autism study to date, they identified 102 genes that appear […]
Kid Patches that are ‘See Worthy’
As a mom, Paige Brattin knows one thing for certain: Pirate play aside, wearing an eye patch is no fun. She learned this about five years ago after her daughter Eddy was diagnosed with multiple vision problems, including amblyopia. Also called lazy eye, amblyopia can happen when the vision in one of a child’s eyes […]
Must-Know Tips on Caring For Your Child’s Teeth
Smile. Now think about your kid’s smile. One of your major responsibilities as a parent is to make sure that smile stays healthy. That means being consistent with everyone’s daily brushing and flossing routine. “That’s the biggest gift you can give to your child,” says Jill Lasky, DDS, of Lasky Pediatric Dental Group in Studio […]
Building a Healthy Heart for Your Child
February is a month where paper hearts abound, but making sure our children’s actual hearts are strong and healthy is a year-round responsibility that begins during pregnancy. Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect, and your child’s risk is connected to your family’s health history. According to Paul Kantor, chief of the Division of Cardiology […]
This Dog Gives Kids a ‘Sense’ of Safety
In 2014, Bunni and Rick Benaron founded The Hero In You Foundation as a way to honor first responders, but the project has morphed into a campaign that teaches kids to use their common sense and their senses to stay safe and be ready for emergencies. Six years ago, the Benarons were erecting 6-foot Dalmatian […]
5 Spots Where L.A. Kids can Run, Flip and Fly
Back in the day, children who enjoyed tumbling and monkey bars might take up gymnastics – and, of course, they still do. A classic never goes out of style. But in the never- ending game of “what’s next?” parkour and freerunning are the trendy new kids on the block. First created by a French physical educator in the […]
Should Kids Eat Artificially Sweetened Foods?
January is a time when many of us are trying to curb our sugar intake, but are zero-calorie or non-nutritive sweeteners a good way to do this? A November report from the American Academy of Pediatrics noted that the number of foods containing these sweeteners has quadrupled in recent years, but that their impact on […]
5 Life-Hack Mindsets for Moms
It took a hip-hop class to make Amber Trueblood realize she had lost track of herself. The L.A. mom had brought two of her four young sons to the class and filmed them through the classroom window with her phone. Later, she showed the video to her husband. “In it, you could see my reflection, […]
Youth Cycling Association: Paving a Road to Cycling for All
Royce Felten is an endurance cyclist. That makes sense for so many reasons. At age 14, he has already battled and beaten Hodgkins lymphoma. He has also faced the many challenges that go along with being a person with autism. So, what’s a 100-mile bike ride? “I just like being on the bike for long […]
Climate Change and Kids’ Health
Even as we leave fall behind, the impacts and memories of our region’s recent wildfires linger. We’re likely headed into a winter that will be shorter and a summer (and another wildfire season) that will come sooner. In fact, wildfire activity in our state has been increasing for the past 50 years. Research out this past summer […]
Ryan’s World: Making Toy Reviews and Dental Hygiene Fun
While Ryan Kaji, the kid behind Ryan ToysReview, has 2.5 million more YouTube subscribers than Beyoncé, he tries to keep a low profile. The L.A.-based Kaji family posts Ryan’s toy review videos (www.youtube.com/ryantoysreview) daily, but screen time ends by homework time, which allows the YouTube sensation to make room for music lessons, coding, soccer and tae kwon do. Still, his life […]
Make Sure They Took It
Did you take the pill yet, or do you still need to take it? From antibiotics for an infection to medications for chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes to simple vitamin supplements, it can be tough to keep track. A Pasadena mom’s battle with breast cancer led her to a simple solution. Leeanna Gantt […]
Of Frogs and Mindfulness
If Instagram were a mindfulness exercise, most tweens and teens I know would be completely grounded and centered. If yours isn’t, convince her or him to put down the screen for 10 minutes and have the new book “Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your […]
LA Rockstars Baseball Club Mines Talent at Local Diamonds
Historically, a love of baseball is passed down from generation to generation. But in many communities, the generational chain to baseball has been broken, and playing the game as a primary sports option has long passed. According to an ESPN report, since 1986 the percentage of African Americans in professional baseball dropped more than half, […]
A Head’s Up About Concussion
Your young soccer star and a teammate both go up for a header and … Boom! … end up colliding head-to-head in-stead. As you rush down to the sidelines, your heart pounds as you think of all those statistics about concussion and the damage it can do: long-term memory problems, trouble concentrating, even depression. “I […]
A Cold and Flu FAQ
Cold and flu season officially starts in November, but John Rodarte, M.D., with Descanso Pediatrics/Huntington Health Physicians in La Cañada Flintridge, says kids going back to school get a jump on the season. “We already are seeing the influx,” he says. Rodarte warns families that kids starting school for the first time could catch a […]
Self-Care at Boot Camp
For moms, self-care can be tricky. It’s easier when you learn that taking care of yourself doesn’t have to happen by yourself. Working out is a great example. “When you’re at home or you’re at the gym, it’s very easy to lose motivation and stop when you start to feel tired,” says Crystal Ferris, owner […]
Good Lessons on a Bad Day
We’ve all had bad days. As parents, we’ve watched our kids have bad days, too. A new picture book from L.A.-based author-illustrator Ruby Roth, called “Bad Day,” aims to help children cope with whatever comes their way. The book’s hero is Hennie, a boy who has just arrived home at the end of a day […]
Sparking Hope: How One Project is Propelling Autism Research
Parenting a child with autism comes with a lot of questions. One chance for some answers: the SPARKforAutism Study conducted locally through UCLA. By sharing your family’s DNA with SPARK, you can help researchers understand more about autism, connect to a community of families with questions like yours, and learn valuable information about your child. […]
Is Screen Time Connected to a Mental-Health Crisis?
For decades, the Volunteer Center in Torrance has run a popular community-service program for South Bay, Long Beach and harbor-area teens. A couple of years ago, staff began noticing that teens seemed less able to focus on and complete service projects. Parents, teachers and others in the community also saw changes in teens. They wondered […]
The Right Shoes for Back to School
A new school year is a great time for new shoes. We turned to podiatrist Pedram Aslmand, DPM, at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach for some advice on finding the right fit. What do parents need to know about choosing a shoe? When kids are just starting to walk, you want a pair […]
Back to School: Getting Kids to Open Up
From pressure around grades to anxiety about transitions, bullying or home-related tensions such as divorce, some kids will start this new school year facing a host of issues. “One of the big, big issues is immigration,” says Suzanne Silverstein, M.A., founding director of the Cedars-Sinai Share & Care program. “Because a number of them are […]
How Much is Too Much for Young Athletes?
Eleven-year-old Gus Armstrong has been an athlete since before he was born. “[When I was pregnant] I remember distinctly sitting in a business meeting and people started laughing because my belly started running,” says his mom, Roslyn Simpson, who ran track at USC. Gus started playing basketball and baseball at age 5, and now plays […]
Sunscreen That’s Safe
Recent media coverage might have made you think twice when reaching for sunscreen to slather on your child. A study published in early May in JAMA concluded that avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene and ecamsule – ingredients used to chemically filter the sun’s harmful UV rays – are absorbed into the bloodstream at significant levels. Previous research […]
Vaccine Bill Seeks to Curb Bogus Medical Exemptions
In 2015, following a measles outbreak that began in Disneyland and sickened more than 100 people, California enacted a law removing the “personal exemption” option for waiving school immunizations requirements. Since passage of SB 277, only children with medical exemptions signed by a physician can attend school without being vaccinated. Vaccination rates improved in many […]
Does My Child Really Need Psychotherapy?
In the wonder years of childhood, no parent is anticipating bringing their beautiful, perfect child to see a therapist. I sure wasn’t. You see the other children at school, happily playing. You hear the other parents talking about their children’s incredible accomplishments, and you feel so alone. You swallow hard because you know something is […]
Teens, Tweens and Vaping
Don’t be fooled by the terminology. It may be called JUULing or “vaping,” but that doesn’t mean it’s as benign as inhaling water vapor. And these devices created to help smokers quit are now popular among young adults, teens and even tweens. Michael Ong, M.D., professor of medicine at UCLA and chair of the State […]
Mom’s Health: Working Through Worry
If you’re a parent, anxiety comes with the job, but not all anxiety is healthy. And what if you pass your fears along to your kids? Don’t worry! Pasadena-based clinical psychologist and dad Scott Symington, Ph.D., author of “Freedom from Anxious Thoughts and Feelings: A Two-Step Mindfulness Approach for Moving Beyond Fear and Worry,” offers […]
Watch for Summer Asthma Warning Signs
Summer brings higher temperatures and increased pollen and pollution in the air. That can cause trouble for the thousands of SoCal kids living with asthma. Watch for these warning signs from the American Lung Association that your child’s asthma might not be under control: 1. Needing to use a quick-relief inhaler more than two times […]
The Silver Lining of the Measles Epidemic
Last week, my four daughters, along with a handful of their friends, were scheduled to travel for a short but much-anticipated trip to Mexico for my oldest daughter’s birthday. It was a great plan until measles was reported at Los Angeles International Airport. One of those daughters, Sarah – not the birthday girl, but the […]
Protecting Your Kids from Molestation
Bring up the topic of child molestation around any parent and the word “nightmare” inevitably comes up. But the problem is far too real. The National Center for Victims of Crime reports that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys are victims of sexual abuse. Sandra Murray, M.D., medical director of the Child […]
State’s First Surgeon General Takes on Childhood Toxic Stress
Did your last checkup include discussions of stressors such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse, violence, mental illness or substance abuse in the home, divorce or the incarceration of a family member? If California’s new Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris, M.D., has her way, your next one will. Our state’s first surgeon general, Burke Harris, […]
How Research Can Help Parents of Children with Autism Prepare for the Future
When I became a parent, my anxiety grew astronomically. Minutes after the births of my sons, I felt entirely responsible for the fate of these little human beings. I was the Earth and they were seemingly the Sun around which my every decision revolved. Parental worry is a common problem and it can take a […]
Helping Your Kids Cope with Allergies
The spring season for sniffles and sneezes has arrived. More than 40 percent of U.S. children suffer from allergies. Most common are reactions to seasonal indoor/outdoor allergens, including those caused by pollen from trees (spring), grasses (summer), weeds (fall) and mold spores. Seasonal allergies can start as early as age 1 and peak at ages […]
The Family That Works Out Together
Many of us feel some pressure to “do it all” after we have children. That might look like taking on most (if not all) of the following: providing a safe and stimulating environment for our children, earning money, cooking nutritious meals, maintaining a social calendar and, somehow, staying in shape. It’s a high bar, and […]
Curbing Influencers’ Influence on Kids’ Eating
Once upon a time, adults worried about the sugary breakfast cereals advertised to kids on Saturday-morning cartoons. The times and the frontier have changed, with children as likely to tune in to YouTube or Instagram as Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. The problem of media swaying children’s diets toward the unhealthy, however, remains the same. […]
When Autism and Sleep Issues Collide
New parents expect to be sleep deprived – but they expect the sleepless nights to eventually end. For parents of children with autism, though, they don’t always. A study in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics found that children with autism are more than twice as likely to have sleep problems as those without […]
What You Need to Know About Measles
This is shaping up to be a banner year for a childhood disease declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000: measles. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports of 79 cases in January, compared with 372 in all of 2018. A public health emergency has been declared in Washington state, where 52 […]
Should Your Kids Pump Iron?
Health experts have long promoted the idea of kids playing sports, swimming, hiking, biking and just plain running around. But when it comes to another form of exercise, strength training, the jury has been out. Specialists once cautioned that strength training was a no-no before puberty, when the growth plates – the areas of tissue […]
The Food Chain for Picky Eaters
By Christina Elston Every mom and dad wants to have a kid who’s a good eater. “One of your major roles as a parent is to make sure your child is well nourished,” says Judy Hopkins, an occupational therapist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles specializing in children with feeding disorders. That’s why having a child […]
Start Your Kids on a Heart-Healthy Path
February is a great time to show your kids a little extra love by helping them take good care of their hearts. A paper published in December in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology noted that heart-healthy habits in adults are rooted in childhood and could be the key to preventing future heart […]
7 Reasons to Join a Parent Support Group
Recently, a father of a 14-year-old boy called to ask for a family session. He described how he got so fed up with his son’s video gaming that he turned the WiFi off in his house. A shouting match ensued and his son got so mad that he jumped out of the ground-level window and […]
New Treatment Shows Promise for Some with Peanut Allergy
One afternoon about five years ago, Danielle Darnault was shopping at a Target store in Culver City with her 1-year-old daughter Lila. Lila got hungry, so Darnault opened a box of granola bars she was tossing into her cart and handed one to her toddler. “Just holding the granola bar, her hand got really red,” […]
Healthy Advice for Parenting Through Chronic Illness
I was a reasonably healthy person up until my mid-20s. It was around age 26 that I started to feel as though something was off. I experienced a deep fatigue more appropriate for someone four times my age, had bizarre fainting spells and strange reactions to the sun. By my late 20s, I’d had a […]
Ways Your Family Can Cultivate Gratitude
Gratitude is always a good practice. Sarah Salamon, M.D., is a pediatrician at Huntington Health Physicians and a mom actively cultivating gratitude within her own family. “I want to raise a nice, thankful, not-entitled child,” she says. “I think in this day and age, we’re so focused on stuff more than moments.” Here are her […]
Get Started, Be Prepared
Whether or not your family’s emergency preparedness was tested by our area’s 2018 wildfires, the new year is a great time to step up your game. My Altadena neighborhood recently had a “Map Your Neighborhood” meeting so we can help each other during an emergency. Then Ken Kondo, emergency program manager at L.A. County’s Office […]
Family and Community Pull Together to Battle Rare Disease
When I worked for the Dodgers, I oversaw their community relations’ health pillar, a project designed to reach out to those in the L.A. community who are suffering from serious illnesses, to send them gift packages that included paraphernalia signed by their baseball idols and sometimes to give them a baseball experience of a lifetime. […]
Course Offers Special-Needs Moms a Mindful Return to Work
Having a baby is a transformative experience, bringing intense physical changes and engulfing emotional ones due to the pending needs of this new human. The mind races from nesting to nursing to concern over who will care for this bundle of joy once parents return to work. These concerns are heightened when a child is […]
6 Ways to Prevent Your Child from Getting Sick this Season
It’s almost inevitable: Your child starts school and soon enough they come home with sniffles, cough, and fever. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tricks to prevent your child from getting sick as often. Keep Hands Clean If there is one tip that is most important on this list, it […]
Baking Your Way to Better Health
Ten years ago, Beth Ricanati, M.D., found herself running in place in her bathroom late at night (while sorting the family mail) to get her 10,000 steps in for the day. She describes herself at the time as a “frantic, frenetic busy mom-wife-physician hyphenate” trying to do it all. It wasn’t working. Then Ricanati, who […]
Doc Talk: Understanding Acute Flaccid Myelitis
News of a mysterious illness called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, has been prominent in recent months. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking cases since 2014, and this year had received reports of at least 252 cases and confirmed 90 by mid-November, mainly in children ages 2-8. The illness generally […]
Battling Motion Sickness During Holiday Travel
Whether your holiday travel is by plane, train or automobile, if you’re traveling with kids, you should be on the lookout for motion sickness. It’s caused when the brain, body and inner ear receive differing signals about whether or not you are moving. Symptoms include dizziness, nausea (and vomiting) and headache. If your children have […]
L.A. Found Program Helps Locate Missing Persons with Disabilities or Dementia
Almost half of children with autism will at some point engage in wandering behavior – putting their lives at risk and their families and caregivers through a terrible ordeal even if they are safely found. One-third of all people in California with autism live in L.A. County, according to the Autism Society of Los Angeles. […]
Simple Questionnaire Helps Spot GI Problems in Kids with Autism
Children on the autism spectrum are four times more likely than other children are to have a gastrointestinal (GI) disorder such as constipation, diarrhea or reflux disease. GI trouble can cause problem behaviors such as anger and aggression, but can be tough to detect in kids on the spectrum. According to a study reported Oct. […]
Riding Safely with New Car Seat Guidelines
In early September, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued new car seat guidelines on child passenger safety. The group recommends that children ride in rear-facing seats for as long as possible, that they then ride in forward-facing seats until at least age 4, and that they ride in belt-positioning boosters until at least age 8 […]
Share, Care and Give With Food
Aihui Ong knows the universal power of food to show that we care. Years ago, reeling from a divorce and burned out from a 12-year career as a financial software engineer, Ong embarked on a backpacking trip that took her to 20 countries over 12 months. One of her biggest takeaways from her adventures was […]
EasyLunchboxes: Packing Meals is now a Breeze for Families
With her company, EasyLunchboxes (easylunchboxes.com), L.A. mompreneur Kelly Lester helps take the headache out of school-lunch prep. Created out of Lester’s own need to prepare lunches quickly, these containers were designed to hold healthy, portion-controlled meals for kids on the go. “I love to eat and feed my family healthy food, but I don’t like […]
Net Generation Brings Tennis to Kids Across L.A.
The 2018 U.S. Open Tennis Championships, which launched Aug. 27, are a prime time to inspire kids to get in the swing of tennis, a classic sport that can be played nearly anywhere – even at home. Net Generation, a new youth initiative of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), makes it easy for ages […]
Stopping School Shootings
Let’s begin our look at this scary topic with two solid – possibly calming – facts: School shootings are a rare occurrence in the U.S., and there has not been a mass shooting at an L.A.-area school in recorded memory. Mass school shootings – beginning with Columbine in 1999 through Sandy Hook in 2012, up […]
Redondo Beach Schools Make Strides Against Student Obesity
While students in other districts will head back to school in cars, buses and SUVs this fall, many in the Redondo Beach Unified School District will take the “walking school bus” with parents and volunteers. When they arrive on campus, they’ll begin their day with eight minutes of exercise led by teachers and faculty. At […]
Doc Talk: If Your Child is Bitten by a Rattlesnake …
It is rattlesnake season in Southern California – and will be until at least October. In sunny SoCal, we spend lots of time hiking, biking, camping and playing in spots where snakes are active. Cyrus Rangan, M.D., a medical toxicologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and assistant medical director of the California Poison Control System, […]
Make Moving a Summertime Habit that Lasts all Year
People who don’t have children may think of summer as a string of carefree days that kids spend running, jumping, biking, climbing, swimming and playing outdoors. People who do have kids understand that, far too often, summer days are spent indoors, sprawled in front of one screen or another. It’s possible to persuade your kids […]
Does this Cut Need Stitches
A child’s blood is something no parent wants to see – but they’re likely to see more of it in summer, when injuries are more common. Desiree Thomas, RN, MSN, is program director of the trauma center at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. She’s also an instructor for Stop the Bleed (bleedingcontrol.org), an […]
Stopping Swimmer’s Ear
Colleen Ryan, M.D., is a family medical physician at Culver City Primary Care – part of the Cedars-Sinai medical network. One common medical issue she’ll be helping young patients with this summer is swimmer’s ear, an infection of the ear canal that is also known as otitis externa. It’s most common in ages 5-9 but […]
Mindfulness for Busy Moms
When I opened the door to DEN Meditation on a recent Saturday morning, feeling victorious because I found a parking space right in front (no easy feat on busy La Brea Avenue), I was greeted by the smell of essential oils and fresh flowers. My senses were awakened, which I learned is one of the […]
Doc Talk: Steering Clear of Health Hype
As director of pediatric otolaryngology and a professor of head and neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Nina Shapiro, M.D., has met plenty of misguided parents. They want the best for their families but have trouble sorting what’s healthy from what’s not. A case involving a 16-month-old baby with a […]