Private Percy McClare, age 17. Willie Dailey, age 14. Eric Parlee, age 15. Bill Barrett, age 15. David Waldron, age 16. All of these boys distinguished themselves as Canadian soldiers 100 years ago in WWI. Some of them, and many other boys serving Canada in the first World War, survived. And some of them gave their lives. All of them gave honourable service to Canada. And all of them were so young that they would still be in high school today. Practicing close to one of Canada’s busiest air force bases, 8 Wing Trenton, we at Quinte Pediatrics and Adolescent[Read more...]
What is Speech and Language? Speech is the use of language to communicate, or express ourselves. Language is used to express ideas and needs in an organized way. It can be spoken, written, sung or expressed using gestures (such as sign language). The important foundations of language develop in the first three to five years of life. Language development involves both cognitive learning, and motor skill. We use a lot of muscles in our face and mouth to produce speech. The CanChild Centre for Child Disability Research outlines the ways in which language development can be delayed: • Semantics[Read more...]
Influenza (the flu) is a very contagious infection that occurs most frequently in the fall and winter months, typically because people spend more time in close contact with one another. The flu is caused by the influenza virus that infects the nose, throat, and lungs. Most people who get the flu will only have a mild illness. Other groups of people like children, the elderly, and those with underlying medical illnesses may have a more serious reaction to the flu. What does the flu look like? It can take a day or two for an infected person to show any[Read more...]
What is bed-wetting? Nocturnal enuresis, or bed wetting, is a condition in which your child cannot control their bladder while they are sleeping, and end up urinating (peeing) during their sleep. Bed-wetting is very common in children under the age of 6 years old, however 7% of 7-year olds, and 1% of 13-year olds still wet the bed. Generally children begin to stay dry during the night when they reach the ages of 3 to 8-years old. Unintentional urination at night is part of growing up, and a normal thing that each parent will encounter during their child’s development. Generally[Read more...]
Infectious mononucleosis, often referred to as “mono” or “the kissing disease” is an infection caused by the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). The reason it’s called the “kissing disease” is because the virus is transmitted by saliva, so you can get it through kissing, but also from a cough or sneeze, or sharing a glass or utensils with someone who is infected with mononucleosis. Typically the infection is most common in adolescents, with 35-50% of them showing symptoms, but also can be seen in young children, but these cases often go unnoticed for lack of symptoms. Who is at risk for Mono?[Read more...]
Itching, scratching, weeping skin. Interrupted sleep, daytime annoyance (or worse). Bad picture days. If your child has eczema, you probably recognize problems that occur commonly in your day-to-day life. Eczema is an immune condition. In the spectrum of immune disease, it’s relatively small. Other immune conditions often produce more disability, side effects from medications, sometimes organ transplant. But if eczema is in your home, it’s bad enough. For many, there are also triggers in the environment, including hot weather, humidity, sweating, stress, and some allergens such as pets and dust mites. You may also have heard eczema referred to by[Read more...]
For such a small part of the body, ears have a powerful impact. Raise your hand if you’ve spent a long night with a toddler who wakes up suddenly with an earache, and his pain kept him, and you, and other family members up for most of the rest of the night. Earaches often start suddenly, but they’re also masters of surprise. Many children develop colds, sneeze their way through a week of symptoms, and then seem to be on the mend. Until a fever develops late in the week, and an ear starts to hurt right about the time[Read more...]
In every conversation about viruses, bacteria and infections, there is one message that remains clear: proper preventive hygiene is the best way to help prevent the virus from spreading. What do we mean when we say preventative hygiene? We’re talking about any personal practice that helps to stop germs from spreading. This goes for your standard cold, flu, or any other viral illness too. Stopping the spread of germs doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does require practice and consistency. Here are the top four things you and your family can do to prevent the transmission of infections: Wash your[Read more...]
** PLEASE NOTE: While we encourage comments and discussion on all of our articles, please understand that we cannot consult or diagnose patients online. If you are concerned about the health of your child or yourself, please visit your local physician. ** There’s a reason why everyone’s paying attention to the respiratory virus that’s moving across the USA and into Canada this month. Enterovirus D68 is different. It starts as a common cold. And for some previously healthy infants, toddlers and children, it progresses to severe respiratory distress treated in the intensive care unit. This virus has been around since the early 1960s,[Read more...]
How do you build a family? After the delivery of your baby, as you look at your child for the first time, where do you go from there? The details of our family life — address, menus, toys, activities — are part of what makes family life. Yet living on the same street, or attending the same soccer games and buying the same toys at Christmas definitely does not make one family the same as another. How well do you understand your child? How well do you communicate together? Is it easy to connect? Our communication and connections as family[Read more...]
