El
Camino Pediatrics Newsletter
May 2006
Dear
El Camino Parent,
We are pleased to
announce Dr. Lori Taylor will be joining
our practice in August of this year!
Also some information on car seats
and spring allergies.
Dr.
Lori Taylor to join El Camino!
Lori
Taylor M.D., F.A.A.P., grew up in Northern
California and completed medical school
and pediatric residency at University
of California San Diego. She worked
with UCSD as an academic pediatrician
for nine years and will be joining
El Camino Pediatrics in August 2006.
Her special interests include early
childhood education and cross-cultural
medicine.
Lori
lives in Solana Beach with her husband
Ken, who is a family and sports physician,
their two sons Griffin and Gavin, and
their Labrador retriever Rennon. In
her spare time she enjoys reading,
spending time at the beach and traveling.
However, as she is the mom of two boys,
you can usually find her pitching baseballs
or digging up worms.
Safety
car seat laws
Often
there is confusion about the California
law for safety car seats and booster
seats. Remember that infants must remain
rear-facing in an infant car seat until
they are 1 year old AND 20 pounds (so
if an infant is 13 months and 19 pounds,
they still need to be rear-facing).
For
the older kids, the law says: Children
must be secured in an appropriate child
passenger restraint (safety seat or
booster seat) until they are at least
6 years old OR weigh at least 60 pounds.
For
more information you can check out:
California
Highway Patrol
American
Academy of Pediatrics Car Seat Guide for
Families
Spring
Allergies
As spring
arrives, the symptoms of sneezing,
sniffling and itchy eyes can start
for many children and adults as the
pollen counts rise in San Diego. Our
Union Tribune had an article a couple
weeks ago, to let us know that pollen
counts have been exceptionally high
here in San Diego.
For
your children, "hay fever" or allergic
rhinitis occurs when they breathe in
something they are allergic to. The
symptoms may include a combination
of: stuffy or runny nose, sneezing,
itchy nose, itchy eyes, watery eyes.
Children may develop dark circles under
their eyes ("allergic shiners") or
they push their hand to their nose
to stop the itch ("allergic salute")
which sometimes creates a crease along
the nose ("allergic crease"). Some
kids may complain of sore throats in
the morning or develop some coughing
symptoms from the post-nasal drip.
If
your child has some of these symptoms
that are more than a couple weeks,
you may be dealing with allergies.
Many
parents are concerned that if the nasal
discharge is yellow, white or green,
that they need antibiotics for a sinus
infection. This is not always a good
sign of a need for antibiotics. If
it is just on and off colored, or more
colored nasal discharge in the mornings
and there are no other symptoms, it
still may just be allergies. If your
child has symptoms more than a couple
weeks, has headaches, is cranky, not
sleeping well, coughing alot, or has
a fever, then you should probably be
seen in the office to rule out a sinus
infection.
Treatment
deals with both prevention of exposure
to allergens and also many children
can do well with over-the-counter medications.
Claritin, or the generic forms, Alavert
and loratadine are available in liquid
or a melt in the mouth form for children.
If these are not working, a visit in
the office to discuss prescription
medications may be needed. Certainly
for our more difficult to manage children,
allergy testing may also be considered.
Read the link below to get more suggestions
for things to do around the house to
reduce exposure to many allergens.
Article
with suggestions on allergy prevention
and treatment
|
Newsletter