Children's bodies are fragile and need special care. A number of conditions, including developmental and behavioral disorders, affect children in particular.
Steven Galeano was a problem child. He couldn't stay out of fights and was "off the hook," his father Edwin recalls.
Pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, M.D., recommends simple, everyday replacements for what you're eating, doing and even breathing that can have a major impact on your kids' health.
It's eerie but it's true: Three people have died this summer after suffering rare infections from a waterborne amoeba that destroys the brain.
Amanda Santos wanted to send her 5-year-old daughter, Skylar, to a small private school. But after they interviewed, met the teachers, and submitted Skylar's medical records, they never heard back from the school, despite repeated inquiries.
In March 2006, when Mia Walter's* 10-year-old daughter decided to quit gymnastics, the Chattanooga mom was almost relieved.
Meg Falciani has nothing but respect for the community hospital near her tiny town of Malaga, New Jersey.
It was the worst possible news at the worst possible time.
In the middle of a famine, there is a place that houses the sickest survivors of all.
How to handle braces, casts, stitches and more -- without the drama:
The scorching temperatures affecting almost half of the U.S. population isn't just causing heatstrokes -- it's also causing people to feel drained and more susceptible to other health problems. The humidity can wreak havoc and feel suffocating to people who have breathing or heart-related problems.
Charlotte Jude Schwartz hates being allergic to peanuts and tree nuts but, thanks to her mother's creativity about food, it's not too hard to stick to her allergy-free regimen.
The doctor will see you now -- and the clock is ticking. Studies show you get only about 15 minutes of face time with your pediatrician during an average well visit, so you'll want to make every second count.
It's understandable that parents want to keep their children's environments clean, especially when kids are young. Moms wash bottles in hot water, clean pacifiers that fall on the ground and take dirty things out of their kids' mouths.
Her name was Meg, 23, featherweight and feisty.
At 16, Shaina weighed 242 pounds. She also had developed a complication of obesity in which pressure builds up within the skull, damaging the optic nerve.
"Dad, my throat hurts. Can you get me some cough drops?" B.J. Hom asked his father, Brian.
Getting too much sun is bad for anyone, but it's especially dangerous for babies, whose sensitive skin hasn't developed enough layers of natural protection to withstand intense summer rays.
Unlike most teens in high school, I didn't come home from my summer job smelling like hamburger grease or department store hangers.
The proportion of children and teens in the U.S. who have a developmental disability such as autism has increased 17% since the late 1990s, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Checkups are the cornerstone of good health, and in your baby's first couple of years she'll have plenty of them, as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends at least nine from birth to 18 months.
Gavin Gorski, 11, opens his hands as his father dispenses the pills.
The blare of the burglar alarm catapulted Kathleen Manzo out of bed. Her heart beating wildly, Manzo feared for the safety of her two kids.
The Saghin family was getting ready for church last month in Phoenix when 2-year-old Brooke sneaked out a back door that had been left open, fell into a swimming pool and started to drown.
When 12-year-old Mason went to lunch each day last year, he could choose between orange juice and milk, but he couldn't get a cup of water.
Researchers believe the number of children who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is much higher than previously believed, according to a new study published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
In 1996, when she was 4 years old, Catherine MacLean learned she had aplastic anemia. For seven years, she lived from hospital visit to hospital visit, one transfusion to the next. It wasn't until the summer of 2002 that her world suddenly included what was possible beyond the walls of her illness. She was 11.
Early one morning in April, Tasha Gaul and Dale Matlock took their young son, Jesse, to a hospital in Portland, Oregon, for surgery to correct his lazy eye. It was supposed to be an easy procedure: Jesse, who was 3 at the time, wouldn't even have to spend the night at the hospital.
A quick and simple questionnaire given to parents during a regular checkup in a pediatrician's office may help detect autism in children as young as 1 year old, a new study suggests.
The battles with the older of my two girls began when she was a toddler. I've got photos of the tiny thing standing a good distance away from me at the park, arms folded defiantly, eyes glaring as if to say "No way am I doing what you want, lady!" I even have a videotape of her saying indignantly into the camera, "I'm a mommy, too -- of my dollies! I'm in charge now!"
The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday called for an overhaul of the 35-year-old federal law governing toxic chemicals in the environment, saying it fails to safeguard children and pregnant women.
Joseph Maraachli, the infant whose family refused to accept a recommendation by a Canadian hospital to remove the boy's breathing tube and allow him to die, is now breathing on his own without the aid of a mechanical ventilator.
All newborn babies cry, but Anika Reese seemed to be in a category all her own. She screamed in pain nearly all the time, grabbing her own little cheeks so forcefully she sometimes drew blood.
Knowledge is said to be power. But as parents living in an information-driven age, we feel compelled to grasp all of the facts that bombard us. We are hyperinformed and ultraconscientious. We surf the Web, we read the books, we poll our friends.
Fifty-one years ago, Frank lost something he considers valuable. It was his foreskin, and Frank would like it back.
Whether it's to a swimming pool or a doughnut store, Michael Browne knows where he wants to go -- and since he doesn't have the words to say so, he'll just dart off.
Teenage boys who are even slightly overweight face an increased risk of heart disease later in life, even if they slim down as adults, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The tragedy unfolded with startling speed.
There is no health risk from consuming milk with extremely low levels of radiation, like those found in Washington state and California, experts said Thursday, echoing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
I was in the security line at an airport a few months ago when I watched a fellow passenger do something I'd never seen done before: He dissed the scan.
In a new policy statement published in the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics now advises parents to keep toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they exceed the height or weight limit for the car seat, which can be found on the back of the seat.
Jell-O, Hawaiian Punch, Pop-Tarts, Skittles, and other brightly colored foods designed to appeal to children aren't exactly health food. But do they make kids hyperactive?
A new report from the AAP clues parents into what their kids are really doing online. Good news: It's not all bad!
Four doses of rabies vaccine are enough to prevent infection in most kids exposed to the deadly virus, according to a new policy statement from the nation's largest organization of pediatricians.
Ryan Jeffers finds it hard to believe his daughter, Malyia, went from being a perfectly healthy 2-year-old who loved to dance, sing and entertain to an amputee facing a lifetime of medical care.
Roughly two-thirds of adults and one-third of children in the U.S. are now overweight or obese. Aside from contributing to rising rates of diabetes and other chronic illnesses, this widespread weight problem also appears to be changing our perception of what's considered heavy.
Congress might cut most of the federal funding for your local poison control center, which could mean a longer wait during your next poison-related emergency.
A 1-year-old boy whose family fought a Canadian hospital over whether he should be allowed to die received a tracheotomy at his St. Louis hospital early Monday morning.
It was one of those moments that you feel, rather than see, in excruciating, punishing slow motion: Four-month-old Tyler Glowacz fell from his bouncer, which was on the kitchen table, and landed on the ceramic floor. "I was only a couple of feet away, but his bouncer was on the table and he wasn't strapped in. Stupid mistake -- I know," admits his mom, LuAnn, of Austin, Texas. She was relieved that Tyler began crying -- silence would have been a more ominous sign -- but she knew she had to get her son to an emergency room.
As about 2% of babies born in the United States do, Alex Resnick failed the routine newborn hearing screening he received before he left the hospital. At first his parents didn't think much of it, since the nurse told them further testing often shows the baby is fine. But six weeks later when those additional tests showed Alex had moderate to severe hearing loss, his mother's heart sank.
When Samantha Hessel heard about the risks associated with tanning beds, she ignored them. When her mom cautioned her not to tan so much, Hessel shrugged it off.
The line in the middle of Christine Honeycutt's forehead was barely noticeable at first. It was a faint gray smudge, just a half-inch long from top to bottom.
In the movie "The King's Speech," there is a pivotal scene where Elizabeth, the future queen, frustrated by the failures of doctors who were trying to treat her husband's stutter, ventures into the streets of London to the office of controversial speech therapist Lionel Logue. So unaccustomed to the outside world, Elizabeth doesn't even know how to properly work the elevator in Logue's building.
When Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited her friend Gabrielle Giffords in the hospital last week, she talked to her about the demonstrations in Egypt and the Republicans' proposed budget cuts -- not exactly topics you might expect during a hospital visit.
When 2-year-old Malyia Jeffers developed a fever one Sunday afternoon in November, her parents gave her a children's Motrin and kept a cautious eye on her throughout the night.
Right before Christmas 2002, Tara Hallman was told her 20-week-old fetus had spina bifida, a common birth defect of the spine.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates sat down recently with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in Davos, Switzerland. The billionaire philanthropist was attending the World Economic Forum to push his mission of eradicating polio by 2012. Gates, through his foundation, also pledged $10 billion to provide vaccinations to children around the world within a decade.
Although your baby won't say much during her first year of life (at least not in words you understand), her language skills begin to grow the minute she's born. Here's how the process unfolds:
"Bull in the ring" is a drill almost as old as football.
The length of a mother's employment is associated with an increase in her child's body mass index, according to a study in the journal Child Development.
Boys and young men who receive the human papillomavirus vaccine appear to be at reduced risk of contracting the virus and developing the genital warts associated with the common sexually transmitted disease, according to a large international study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Germs. The word alone can put a room of new or expecting moms on high alert. After all, those pesky little microbes can be a big worry for parents trying to safeguard their tiny babies from sniffles, runny noses, fevers and worse.
Shelley Brown spent much of her life feeling ashamed and embarrassed that she didn't know the identity of her father.
The Environmental Protection Agency will set a limit on the amount of the chemical perchlorate, as well as other "toxic contaminants," in drinking water, it announced Wednesday.
Parents of future athletes, scientists, judges and corner-office executives, take note: An enriched play environment is critical to a baby's development and teaches skills he will use later in life.
After a year of eating school lunches, Mrs. Q survived to blog about it.
After a year of eating school lunches, Mrs. Q survived to blog about it.
A thumbs up. Two opened eyes. A smile. These simple signs of recognition from U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords kept hope alive for her recovery from a bullet to the head January 8. And later this week, her parents have told family members and friends in an e-mail, she'll be moved to Houston, Texas, to begin aggressive rehab with a team of medical specialists.
In her thoughts and prayers over the past year, Nadine Devilme has thanked God countless times for saving her baby after Haiti's earthquake. She's also wanted to thank the doctor who treated Jenny Alexis after the 2-month-old spent four days alone, crushed in the rubble with nothing to drink.
Here's what Katie Roche expected when she went into the hospital for spine surgery: two titanium rods, a bone graft, 17 screws in her vertebrae, eight hours in the operating room, and a week's stay in the hospital to recover.
It was the second play of a high school football game. A 16-year-old tight end caught the pass. As he broke free from a defender, he was struck in the chest by another player.
All newborn babies cry, but Anika Reese seemed to be in a category all her own. She screamed in pain nearly all the time, grabbing her own little cheeks so forcefully she sometimes drew blood.
The government's air defense system tracks Santa's progress on Christmas Eve. The United States Postal Service even accepts letters to the North Pole.
Nicole Longaro felt like she was at the pediatrician every other day when her now 3-year-old daughter, Alyssa, first started day care. Alyssa was 4 months old, and Longaro had to return to her job as a human resources manager for a large commercial bank.
Zac Brokenrope got called into the school office almost every day as a freshman in high school. His offense, he was told, was "acting gay."
Most artists have to wait years -- or perhaps an eternity -- to earn serious money from their work. Aidan Reed, on the other hand, earned more than $83,000 in a few weeks, and he's only 5.
In class, Eric Ostendorf fidgeted in his seat and constantly kicked his knees up for exercise. He'd ask to go to the restroom, where he would do 45 chin-ups using the bar between the stall walls.
Vitamin D and calcium have long been touted as the best nutrients for strong bones, muscles and teeth. Recent studies have shown that vitamin D could be used to fight cancer, heart ailments, autoimmune diseases, even diabetes.
Kelly, 22, has suffered from depression since age 8. But it's only recently that she realized how much worse she feels when her acne flares up. During the two years in college when her depression waned, so did her skin problems.
In the California city that banned Happy Meal toys,outlawed sitting on sidewalks during daylight hours and fined residents for not sorting garbage into recycling, compost and trash, Lloyd Schofield wants to add a new law to the books in San Francisco: A ban on all male circumcisions.
When Leidy Sanchez and her husband, Carlos Reyes, went to the hospital last week to deliver their baby, a nurse got her a gown, hooked her up to a fetal monitor and asked an unexpected question: Would they like to donate cells from their baby's umbilical cord blood to a public bank?
Giving children antibiotics for ear infections does little to speed their recovery while raising the risk of some side effects, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Toby Amidor remembers well -- but not fondly -- her child's meltdown over a bottle of Yoo-hoo.
One Saturday morning, Austin Mobley noticed his mother staring at him blankly.
Children who have a parent deployed for military service are more likely to seek out treatment for mental and behavioral health issues, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Pregnant again after two miscarriages, Molly Gray was desperate for answers that could help prevent losing a third baby.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, has claimed the 10th victim in California, in what health officials are calling the worst outbreak in 60 years.
For years, Kelly Lacek felt she and her husband made the right choice by not having her two youngest kids vaccinated. After all, the children were thriving without immunizations.
Even teenagers know that downing 12 beers in a single night isn't good for their bodies and can be dangerous. But a new study suggests that routine binge drinking like this may cause mental problems -- including a reduced ability to think -- that can last long after the hangovers have worn off.
Women who take fish-oil supplements during pregnancy are just as likely to experience postpartum depression as those who don't, and their babies' minds don't appear to develop more quickly, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Mike Sarkany has been hiding from bullies for a long time.
It's tough enough having to avoid products with peanuts and other ingredients as a kid with severe food allergies. It's tougher when someone at school waves a granola bar in your face at the peanut-free lunch table.
Dana Woldow issues a challenge to every member of Congress: "Try school cafeteria food in your district. Then see if you continue to make the same decisions about how you fund the program."
After completing his second year of business classes at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, in 2007, Joshua Armstrong decided to take a break from full-time studies.
Concussions for student-athletes not only cause headaches and impair concentration and everyday function, they can be deadly, experts testified in a congressional hearing Thursday.
Having three daughters of my own, I was a little nervous to meet 6-year-old Kylie McPeak. She was born just about a year before my oldest daughter and was the picture of health up until a couple of years ago.
Tucked away on the sprawling campus of the National Institutes of Health, an elite team of doctors and researchers search for clues to solve medical mysteries that have eluded a diagnosis.
A ninth baby has died in California from whooping cough, health officials said Thursday.
It started around 1 a.m. My son, Liam, was 14 months old, and the noises coming from his room didn't seem completely human: There was a sort of honking bark followed by a whistle-y kind of breathing.
Megan's hair was the first clue.
Rain coats, hair barrettes and jewelry seem harmless. But Consumer Reports magazine says a series of tests uncovered "worrisome levels" of potentially hazardous metals in such children's products currently on store shelves.