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Kids can develop pretty gross habits. Nail biting is a common one—more than 50 percent of teenagers bite their nails. But frequent nail biting can lead to infection, warts and permanent nail…
Date Recorded
June 05, 2017 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: Kids and their gross habits, nail-biting is a huge one and can lead to serious issues. I'll discuss nail-biting and the ways to help your child on today's Scope. I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering the Healthy Kid Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: Yes, we've all done it at one point or another, usually when a nail breaks or a cuticle is snagging. But some kids and adults are perpetual nail-biters. It's actually most common in teens, with almost half of kids biting their nails. But when can it become a problem?
Well, it can lead to a bacterial infection called paronychia where the nail bed becomes infected, red, painful, and pus comes out. That requires antibiotics, and sometimes your child's doctor will even need to drain the infection. Your child could also get warts around their nail, having bleeding a lot, or even permanent nail damage.
Kids will often bite their nails because they're stressed out or they're actually transitioning from thumb-sucking, there is something wrong with the nail, like it's broken, or they're picking up the habit from seeing other kids doing it.
Cutting the nails regularly helps. Trying to figure out why your child is biting, like if they're stressed, helps too. Some kids do it when they're bored, so keep them busy. Gentle reminders are good too. Just don't punish your child if they do it. Tell them why it's not a good habit, and help them make the better choice.
Most nail-biters eventually stop the habit, but it's difficult to say when. Every person is different. More than 75% of those who bite their nails at adolescence will stop by the time they're in their mid-30s. Yes, you heard that right. So don't get too stressed out about it. And if your child's nails do look damaged or infected, take them to see their pediatrician.
Announcer: Want The Scope delivered straight to your inbox? Enter your e-mail address at the thescoperadio.com and click "Sign Me Up" for updates of our latest episodes. The Scope Radio is a production of University of Utah Health Sciences.
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When your child gets serious about becoming competitive in a sport, it may be tempting to dedicate all their time and energy to that one sport. However, recent research points towards the importance…
Date Recorded
March 08, 2017 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health
Sports Medicine Transcription
Announcer: Need reliable health and wellness information? Don't listen to the guy in the cube next to you. Get it from a trusted source, straight from the doctor's mouth. Here's this week listener question on The Scope.
Interviewer: All right, this listener question is about youth specializing in a particular sport. This is from a parent who is wondering. They said that their kid just loves football and that's what they want to specialize in. So they want to do everything, the football camps, playing football. This parent doesn't think that that's necessarily a good idea and wants to know if that is the case. We've got an expert here to tell us. Nick Monson is a sports medicine expert here at University of Utah Health Care. Dr. Monson, what about this notion of kids specializing in just one sport, playing just one thing?
Dr. Monson: Yeah, we're getting just mounds of data on this issue. We're watching a lot of burnout in the younger athlete not only mentally but also physically. We have good evidence to show that we need to give a patient rest from a particular activity. Often for a baseball player I like to see three months where they're not out there throwing. That also means three months where they're not out there trying to be a quarterback because that's going to be the same type of motion that's going to cause that same wear and tear to their elbow or to their shoulder.
So doing a lot of different activities is what we were meant to do. It's how kids maintain that happiness and it's how they actually develop skills that they can translate into their sport of preference in the future as well. A baseball player should be able to enjoy swimming, or they should be able to enjoy playing basketball or picking up another outlet where they can maintain their health and their activity level but not causing the same overuse of their body.
Interviewer: Because it seems to me that the kind of common thought might be well if I want to get really great at this sport I need to really practice this sport. But, what you're saying is especially in kids if they do that they could actually hurt themselves.
Dr. Monson: Yeah, undoubtedly.
Interviewer: More so than an adult could?
Dr. Monson: Yeah. Well, you know, I think part of the problem is as a kid you're so heavily influenced by your parents' desires for what they want you to do. You're influenced by what you want to do at that age as well. But, you don't always have the best intuition as to what you're feeling or as to what is healthy or safe for you. So the parents play a very big role in that situation of helping mold their kids into the athlete that they want to be and that they foresee their child being as well.
You know, no doubt every parent thinks their kid is going to play in the NFL, and some of those kids actually do. They just have to make sure that when they're training and practicing and growing their abilities that they're doing that in a safe manner, which we know is done by not just one sport but in multiple activities.
Announcer: Have a question? Ask it. Send your listener question to hello@thescoperadio.com.
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If your baby is cranky and can't sleep, should you try a different formula? Are colicky babies just hungry? Pediatrician Dr. Cindy Gellner challenges some myths around cranky babies with feeding…
Date Recorded
February 06, 2017 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: As pediatricians, we often hear old wives' tales about cranky babies with feeding issues. What's behind these myths and what is sound advice? I'll tackle those on today's Scope. I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner.
Announcer: Remember that one thing that one person told you that one time about what you should or shouldn't do when raising your kids? Find out if it's true or not. This is "Debunking Old Wives' Tales" with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: "Babies who are cranky and don't sleep usually have gas, and the only way to get some relief is to change the formula." No! That can cause more issues. See, gas gets a bad rep. Many people think it's an evil condition that causes pain and misery, but the truth is, everyone produces gas in their large intestine because that's how bacteria processes what we eat. It's part of the digestive process, and if your baby is healthy, gaining weight, and pooping well, don't worry. It can cause some pain, but it shouldn't interfere with sleep issues.
Crying babies increase the air they swallow, and so they have more gas, and crying increases the passage of gas by forcefully contracting the abdominal muscles. So, unless your baby has a true allergy or intolerance to a component of the formula and needs a special formula, don't play the formula-changing game. Changing formulas too often can actually cause more digestive issues than they can help with.
Number two, "Colicky babies are very hungry and you've got to feed them more." Actually, feeding them more can make the problem worse. Overfeeding is not good. Many parents think that every time a baby cries, it must be from hunger, and that's just not true.
Feeding your baby may reduce the crying, but only for a short time before the whole colic cycle begins again. Then, these hungry babies are too full, and then they end up spitting up, and gaining weight too fast, and they may be fussy because they're overeating and bloated. Remember how you felt the last time you ate more than you should have? Full, overstuffed, uncomfortable and miserable.
Feeding a colicky baby less, like every three to four hours, rather than every one to two, will give them time for their stomachs to empty and their feedings to be digested. Everyone will feel much better.
So, if your baby is otherwise growing well, you really don't need to worry about their crying or their gas. If there are other feeding concerns, be sure to talk to your child's pediatrician about them and see if further investigation into these digestive issues is warranted.
Announcer: TheScopeRadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at TheScopeRadio.com.
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Every year, 13,000 children in the US are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, while more than 1 million kids and adults deal with it every day in our nation. There is no prevention for type 1 diabetes,…
Date Recorded
August 01, 2016 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: You just learned that your child has type 1 diabetes, or you're worried that your child might have it. That's a scary diagnosis for any parent to consider. What you really need to know on today's Scope. I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering "The Healthy Kids Zone," with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: Every year in the United States, 13,000 children are diagnosed, and more than 1 million American kids and adults deal with this condition every day. In type 1 diabetes, your child's own immune system attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Once those cells are destroyed, they won't ever make insulin again. Although no one knows for certain why this happens, scientists think it's a combination of genetics and other external factors combined that triggered this immune system reaction.
Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, and there's no real way to predict who will get it. Parents often feel guilty that they've done something to cause this, but parents need to understand it's nothing they did. Unfortunately, type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition. Kids and teens with type 1 diabetes will depend on daily insulin shots or an insulin pump to control their blood sugar levels.
Parents often ask me to check their children for diabetes because their children drink all the time and urinate all the time. It's an excessive amount of drinking that we often see and the urination isn't just drops of pee in the toilet. It's a full bladder of urine. Kids who have long been potty trained and have never wet the bed all of a sudden start to have accidents day or night. Kids will often seem to eat a ton as well and never gain weight, or they might actually lose weight.
Now, parents all the time are concerned that their child isn't eating like they should, but it's what happens on the growth curves that lets pediatricians know if this is a normal phase that kids go through, or if it's something more worrisome. Sometimes, these symptoms are easily identified and pediatricians catch the disease early with a simple finger stick to check your child's sugar level.
If diabetes isn't caught, chemicals called ketones can build up in your child's blood and cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, fruity smelly breath, breathing problems, and even loss of consciousness. This is a serious condition called diabetic ketoacidosis, and it requires fast action in the emergency room to correct. The good news is that treating diabetes and keeping your child's sugar level in check can help prevent long-term damage seen in adults, especially to the heart, eyes, and kidneys.
The bad news is there are going to be a lot of needles to do this. Your child will need to learn to check their blood sugar levels several times a day and give themselves insulin shots since their bodies aren't making it anymore. They need to eat a healthy diet low in carbohydrates and sugars. And we all know that's a challenge for anyone, especially a kid.
You and your child will start seeing a doctor called an endocrinologist. This is a pediatrician with additional training in hormone issues, including diabetes. The endocrinologist, you, and your child will all work together to come up with a plan on how to keep your child's diabetes in check. Living with diabetes is a challenge no matter what age a person is, but young kids and teens often have special issues to deal with. They may have a hard time understanding why they need so many needles, why can't they eat what their friends are, why did this happen to them.
If you have a teen with diabetes, they may feel different from their peers, and they may want to live a more spontaneous lifestyle than their diabetes allows. Not to mention that puberty hormones can make diabetes control even harder. Having a child with diabetes can seem overwhelming at times, but you're not alone. Your child's diabetes care team is not only a great resource for the medical side of things but also for support and helping you and your child cope with this long-term condition.
Until scientists have figured out a better way to treat, and possibly defeat diabetes, you as a parent can help your child lead a happy, healthy life, by giving constant encouragement, and helping them stay on top of their blood sugar control every day. This will let your kids do all the things that the other kids do and remind them to enjoy being a kid instead of feeling like a pin cushion.
Announcer: Thescoperadio.com is University of Utah Health Radio. If you like what you heard, you should get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at The Scope Radio.
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Will drinking coffee stunt your child's growth? Does chocolate really give you acne? Is fish brain food? Dr. Cindy Gellner stops by to tell us which tales are true, and which to forget about.
Date Recorded
June 13, 2016 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: Old wives' tales about food and drinks, we've heard them all. I'll clear up which ones are true and which ones are not on today's Scope. I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering The Healthy Kids Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on the Scope.
Dr. Gellner: Number one, feed a cold and starve a fever. False. Both high fever and colds can cause fluid loss, and drinking plenty of fluids can help prevent dehydration. And with both fevers and colds it's fine for your child to eat whenever they want and whatever they want. But don't be surprised if your kid doesn't want to eat at all. As a parent, you don't eat either when you're sick. They'll eat when they're ready. Hydration is more important.
Next, wait an hour after eating before going swimming. No. According to the American Red Cross, it's not necessary for anyone to wait an hour after eating before going in the water. However, if your child had a big fatty meal and they're on a swim team and have a meet, it might be a good idea to let their food digest some. No one wants puke in the middle of the pool. The Red Cross also advises against chewing gum or eating while in the water. Your child could choke.
Next, coffee stunts your growth. That's false. In that coffee won't affect your child's growth, but too much caffeine doesn't belong in a child's diet anyways. Not to mention the acid in coffee and what it does to their sensitive stomachs. Coffee and caffeine can prevent the absorption of calcium and vitamins as well. So don't just give it to them.
Fish is brain food. This one is true. Fish is a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids and it's been found to be very important in brain function. Certain fish like tuna however, have significant levels of mercury, which isn't good for kids either. So keep those fish down to once a week.
One we've all heard, chocolate causes acne. Thank goodness this one's false. Although eating too many sugary high fat foods is not a good idea for anyone, studies show that no specific food has been proven to cause acne.
Spicy food can cause ulcers. Yes and no. Spicy foods may aggravate ulcer symptoms in some people but in kids they're more likely to cause indigestion.
While these are old wives' tales, remember, eating a healthy diet is never old advice.
Announcer: TheScopeRadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at TheScopeRadio.com.
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Playtime is a crucial time when preschoolers learn problem solving and how to share. Dr. Cindy Gellner discusses how and why a child's playtime is essential for good development.
Date Recorded
June 06, 2016 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: Playtime is fun time and there's a reason why it's important for development. I'll discuss the magic of play on today's Scope. I'm Doctor Cindy Gellner.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You're now entering "The Healthy Kids Zone with Doctor Cindy Gellner" on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: We all remember a time when we had few obligations, we could play dress up like a princess or a superhero and spend our days creating our own magical universe. Then, life gets in the way. Those preschool years are called the magical years for a reason. That's when a child's brain is developed enough to imagine amazing stories, but not yet complex enough to understand reason and ask, "Can that really happen?" See, in their world of imagination, anything can happen.
Babies use their senses to explore their world. As they develop, they learn to understand how things work. "If I push this button, the cow comes out of the barn. Wow, I did that!" Now, as preschoolers, they take this knowledge and combine it with a growing imagination to come up with some fantastical ideas about why and how things happen.
Pretend play, like being a superhero, allows kids to learn problem-solving and the all-important skill of learning how to share. Self-control is a tough skill to learn and pretend play helps kids practice it as well as play out the frustration it creates. So how can you, as a parent, help encourage imaginative play? Rule number one, be a big kid and play. Go along with anything they come up with and keep away from those electronics. Let them play the old-fashioned way with dolls and blocks and trucks and anything that requires them to be creative. I personally am a Little People fan. Give them the chance to free time play all by themselves as well and with friends.
Reading to your child is a great way to get kids thinking, "Hmm, what comes next in the story?" It also promotes language skills so don't surprised if your preschooler becomes a little chatterbox; that's a good thing. The day will come when the magic ends. The princess tiaras sit on the shelf, the superhero action figures stay in the box. It's a bittersweet moment. Your little one is growing up and your child's brain is developing, as it should.
This time in childhood, sometimes called "the age of reason," is also when kids begin to form a conscience, differentiating between right and wrong and not just acting on impulse but because something is the right thing to do. So be sure to enjoy the magic while it lasts and have fun playing.
Announcer: TheScopeRadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at TheScopeRadio.com
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Is your child a wax factory? Earwax can be gross for parents to deal with, but it has its purposes. Dr. Cindy Gellner shares with us how to clean out a child's ear the correct way and the…
Date Recorded
May 23, 2016 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: Earwax seems to freak a lot of parents out. We'll deal with earwax facts today on The Scope. I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering "The Healthy Kid Zone" with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: While some kids have more earwax than others, in general, the ear makes just as much wax as it needs. True some kids are little wax factories, but unless the wax causes pain or decreased hearing, leave it alone. So why do ears make wax? Yes, earwax really does have a function. It helps protect your child's eardrum and ear canal by providing a waterproof lining, helping to keep it dry when your child swims or bathes and preventing germs from causing infection. It also traps dust, dirt and other particles, keeping them from injuring or irritating the eardrum.
It's all the stuff earwax collects can give it unique color and smell. Say your child complains their ear hurts and you can actually see the wax. It's okay to use a wash cloth to clean it out, but do not, I repeat, do not use cotton swabs to clean out your child's ear. I've seen a lot of kids with ear canal and eardrum damage from those swabs going in too far or too fast. For some reason, kids are fascinated by putting things in any orifice, especially their ears. They'll want to use the swabs themselves to show that they're big and they can clean themselves.
That's why I tell my younger patients, "Do not put anything in your ears smaller than an elephant." And please do not do ear candling on your child. Placing a cone inserted into your child's ear and setting it on fire just isn't safe. If your child has any ear pain, hearing problems or an uncomfortable blocked feeling in the ear, take them in for their pediatrician to check out the earwax situation. We have ways of cleaning out the wax safety.
And if we find an infection, we can treat your child. If there is no infection and the wax was the only issue, they'll leave the office with squeaky-clean ear canals. If you have any concerns about your child's ears or hearing, be sure to call your child's pediatrician. We get really good at looking at ears.
Announcer: TheScopeRadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at TheScopeRadio.com.
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Thumb sucking is a common comforting habit in younger children. Because a baby’s desire to suck their thumb is essential for life, Dr. Cindy Gellner actually discourages trying to stop thumb…
Date Recorded
February 22, 2016 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Dental Health
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: Everyone knows a child who has had a thumb-sucking habit. When is it okay or not okay, and how can you get your older child to stop this? I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner and I've got the answers for you on today's Scope.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering The Healthy Kids Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: Thumb-sucking is a common way for children to comfort themselves, and if they're going to do it, it usually begins before three months of age. Sometimes babies even suck their thumbs before they're born, and it's really cute to see that on an ultrasound.
A baby's desire to suck is essential for life. Without the sucking reflex, babies don't eat. Any parent of a crying baby will also tell you that if a baby has a strong desire to suck, and they will take a pacifier, it can make a world of difference to a stressed out new mom or dad. The sucking need is strongest in the first six months of a child's life. Only 6% of thumb-sucking babies continue to have it past one year of age, and only 3% continue beyond the age of two. Some studies find that 15% of four-year-olds still suck their thumb.
A child usually sucks his thumb or any other finger when they're tired, bored, sick or upset. Those children who continue sucking their thumbs after the age of four often have become involved in a power struggle in their early years with a parent who has tried to stop their thumb-sucking. Occasionally, the thumb-sucking simply persists as a bad habit. By adolescence most normal children abandon thumb-sucking because of peer pressure. Dentists say that a child can probably suck their thumb until they're four or five years old without damaging their teeth or jaw line. However, thumb-sucking must be stopped before a child's permanent teeth come in because it can lead to an overbite. That's those buckteeth we see.
So how can you help your child stop sucking their thumb? If your child is less than five years old, distract your child or ignore the thumb-sucking. Help your child overcome any stressful situations. If the thumb-sucking is due to boredom, give them something to do with their hands without mentioning the thumb-sucking. Until your child is older, any pressure you put on them to stop thumb-sucking will only lead to resistance and your getting frustrated.
Most five-year-olds have reached the age of reasoning, and are ready to cooperate with their parents and work on this bad habit. Show them what the thumb-sucking is doing to their teeth and to their thumbs. The teeth are coming in wrong or there are blisters or rashes on the thumb. Talk about the gross germs and the dirt that they're sucking off their thumbs. Most kids will be freaked out enough that they will want to stop. Set a date to start stopping this behavior. Be ready with activities that will keep their little hands busy so they forget to put their thumbs in their mouths.
Make sure there's a visual remind for the child, like a band aid with a favorite character on it. Limit TV watching as many kids thumb-suck during screen time. Gentle reminders with older kids if you catch them with their thumbs in their mouths also help. Bedtime thumb-sucking will be the hardest to break. Most children depend heavily on the sucking activity to relax and fall asleep at nap time and bedtime. Your child can be told that thumb-sucking while asleep is not their fault, because that old thumb just sneaks in and they don't even know it.
Make incentives fun, like a reward chart for which they get a mark when they did not suck their thumb for the entire day. Give your child a lot of praise when they earn a mark. Thumb-sucking lasting beyond age five can usually be prevented if you avoid pulling your child's thumb out of their mouth at any age. Scolding, slapping the hand or other punishment will only make your child dig in their heels about thumb-sucking.
If you can wait, your child will usually give up the thumb-sucking naturally. If you turn the issue into a showdown you will lose, since the thumb belongs to your child, not you. Remember, you as parents cannot eliminate the habit for your child. The habit belongs to your child, and your child must be willing to cooperate and accept responsibility if the habit is to be eliminated.
Announcer: TheScopeRadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at TheScopeRadio.com.
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That constipated look your baby gives you when they can’t poop can be entertaining to look at, but can be quite painful for your baby. Luckily, painful pooping, or infant dyschezia, is a very…
Date Recorded
March 08, 2021 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dyschezia. It sounds like a scary condition for a newborn to have, but it is a common and very normal problem for new babies. What is it and what can you do to help your baby?
What Is Infant Dyschezia?
Most parents of newborn babies have seen their child go through this stage. Your baby goes from having several effortless poopy diapers a day to straining and screaming only to pass a soft bowel movement. This apparently painful pooping is technically called infant dyschezia.
The problem is that your baby has an uncontrolled stooling reflex and the muscles by the anus do not relax at the proper time so your baby pushes hard with the diaphragm and the belly muscles, while holding the anus tightly closed, and it looks like your baby is very constipated because they will do this over and over again without results. But eventually, the muscles are overtaken by the baby's effort. They relax, and the poop flows.
Treatment for Dyschezia
Rectal stimulation with suppositories, Q-tips, and thermometers may give temporary relief in a pinch. But these techniques actually seem to interfere with your baby learning how to let go of the stool and may actually cause your baby to not to be able to have a bowel movement without help in the future. For this reason, we do not encourage parents to do this unless the stools are very hard and your baby physically cannot pass the hard ball of stool without help. Usually, in those cases you may even see a little blood on the stool itself. That is true constipation and it is pretty rare in breastfed babies. Formula-fed babies usually have pasty-like stools which may be a little hard to pass, but again, are not true constipation.
Breastfed babies can go anywhere from several times a day to once a week with a big blowout. Formula-fed babies can go several times a day to once every four days. As long as your baby is eating and happy, they are good. Eventually, they will poop. We all do.
If it's been a few days since your baby has had a good bowel movement and you think they may really be constipated, please talk to your doctor about this. There are tips we can give you to help.
Remember, babies cry to increase pressure in their tummies, which helps push out the stool. This is a self-limited problem, and all babies seem to get the hang of it after a while.
updated: March 8, 2021
originally published: February 15, 2016 MetaDescription
How to help your child through a bout of constipation
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Nail biting is a common habit, but usually not a serious one for most children. Most children who bite their nails eventually lose the habit, but some may continue well into adulthood. In more…
Date Recorded
March 19, 2019 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: I often get asked, "How can I get my child to stop biting their nails?" It's tricky. but here are some tips.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering The Healthy Kids Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: Nail biting is a common habit and it's usually not a serious problem for most children. Almost half of all teens still bite their nails. Most children who bite their nails eventually stop the habit. But some may actually continue to do it well into adulthood. Some of the reasons children bite their nails includes stress or anxiety, they are bored, they've seen other children do it and copy their behaviors, or their nails are not kept trimmed and they do it as a form of self-trimming.
Most children that bite their nails have no problems. In some cases, nail biting may cause a bacterial infection called paronychia, which requires a doctor's visit for antibiotics. If your child has warts, they can get around the nail beds. Children touch everything and then, if they put their fingers in their mouth, they can get sick because they have just introduced germs into their body. And some children who bite their nails for years can cause permanent nail damage.
So how can you help your child to stop biting their nails? I have actually been asked to prescribe medication someone found on the Internet to get kids to stop. Sorry, no such medicine exists. Also, punishing or shaming a child for nail biting is not helpful. The best thing you can do to help your child is to try and figure out why they are biting their nails in the first place. If your child is under a lot of stress, try to reduce the stress. Talk about what is bothering them and ways to handle those situations.
Cutting long nails help some children. If there is nothing to bite on, they can't chew their nails. Direct your child's attention away from the nail-biting. It may help if your child keeps their hands busy, eats carrot sticks or chews gum. If you have an older child who wants to stop nail biting, help your child make a plan to break the habit. Some children wear gloves or put a bitter-tasting polish on the nails to remind them.
It may also help to have something else to do with their hands like playing with a worry stone or a stress ball in their pocket. Let your child decide what might help him or her break the habit. Praise your child when you see them making progress. Let girls get a manicure when they have long nails as a reward, for example. If you nag at your child, it's going to cause them more stress and it may make them bite their nails even more. Be gentle and supportive as they try to quit this behavior. Positive reinforcement goes a long way.
Announcer: Have a question about a medical procedure? Want to learn more about a health condition? With over 2,000 interviews with our physicians and specialists, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find what you want to know. Check it out at TheScopeRadio.com.
updated: March 19, 2019
originally published: February 8, 2016 MetaDescription
Why kids bite their nails and how to help my child stop biting her nails.
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It might seem like your child does not eat enough, is never hungry, or will not eat at all, and you worry they will starve unless you spoon-feed them yourself. Do not worry. It is normal for a…
Date Recorded
March 21, 2024 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Diet and Nutrition
Kids Health
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Children don’t learn very well or get much out of school when they’re sick. It’s in your child’s and their classmates’ best interest to keep them home from school when…
Date Recorded
January 11, 2016 Health Topics (The Scope Radio)
Kids Health Transcription
Dr. Gellner: With all the illnesses going around, how do you know when to keep your child home from school? I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner and I'll give you the guidelines on today's Scope.
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering The Healthy Kids Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
Dr. Gellner: The truth is children don't learn very well or get much out of school when they're not feeling well. Although it can be difficult to arrange emergency childcare, it truly is in the child's, and their classmates', best interest to keep them home from school when they're sick. The challenge for parents is to decide when it's a simple case of the sniffles or if it's something more serious. Children get frequent fevers. Fever for a child is a temperature over 100.4. A temperature of 101 or greater in a child older than three months is considered a fever. Even if there are no other symptoms, a fever is a sign of an infection. It means your child's body is trying to fight off some sort of illness.
Your child needs to rest in order to heal and if your child has a fever, it's likely they have something contagious. Children should not return to school until they have been fever-free without medication for 24 hours. Most fevers are caused by viruses and the child should get better on their own within a few days. But if your child has a high fever for more than four to five days, they should see their doctor. If a baby under the age of three months old has a temperature of 100.4 or higher, this is something they need to be seen by a doctor for immediately. Fevers can indicate a serious infection in newborns. To help your child with their fever at home, encourage them to drink plenty of liquids. This will help their body fight off the fever and infection.
What about mild coughs, runny noses and sore throats? Well, ideally, no child would ever go to school sick. However, children get colds so frequently, especially when they're young, that they would miss a significant amount of school if they stayed home for every runny nose and scratchy throat. If there is no fever and the child feels fairly well, school is fine. If your child has a severe sore throat, it could be strep and your child should need to see a doctor. Kids with Strep may return to school 12 to 24 hours after they start antibiotics. After that, their risk of spreading strep is less.
What if your child has a bad cough or bad cold symptoms? They need to stay home and maybe they need to see the doctor even, especially if they're having trouble breathing. It could be a severe cold or bronchitis, the flu or pneumonia. Coughs can last up to 18 days so when the cough improves and the child is feeling better, then it's back to school. You don't need to wait the full 18 days or longer for the coughs to disappear entirely.
What about vomiting? A single episode of vomiting can happen if your child is just nervous, maybe there's a test at school or something else going on, but if your child vomits more than once, it's likely to be the stomach bug. That's pretty contagious. If your child has bloody vomit or the vomit is a dark green color, they should be seen immediately by a doctor.
For diarrhea, which often goes along with the vomiting but can be by itself, unless your child has recently finished a course of antibiotics or is on antibiotics, diarrhea is the stomach bug. These viruses are easily passed from one child to the next and there's a good chance your child picked it up at school. If your child has diarrhea, they need to stay home, rest and drink plenty of fluids. If there is blood in the diarrhea, your doctor needs to know about it.
Kids seem to get all sorts of rashes as well around this time of year. If your child has eczema, this will get worse over winter and talk to your doctor about the treatments that your child needs to have to make sure their eczema is controlled over the winter. But what if your child doesn't normally have rashes and they show up with one, one day? Quite often, doctors need to see the rash in order to tell you what it is. It could be one of several viral illnesses or it could be something that's contagious like impetigo, which is a bacterial skin infection that is very contagious and requires antibiotics.
What if your child just isn't feeling up to going to school? Then you need to figure out is it something going on at school, is there a bullying situation, or is your child really sick? If your child is more than just acting tired, if you're having a hard time waking them up, or if you child's behavior is significantly different than usual, please make sure they see their doctor to figure out what is going on. If you have any questions about whether or not your child should stay home school, please call your pediatrician. They can help you figure that out.
Announcer: TheScopeRadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at TheScopeRadio.com.
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