Search for tag: "milestones"

Dr. Gellner: Every parent wonders if their new baby is on track developmentally. I'll tell you five milestones in the first year of life that really matter 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: Every milestone is exciting when you have a new little person in your life. Most parents already know about the ones like rolling over and walking. But what about the not-so-subtle milestones that are important?

Eye contact is one of the first milestones you'll notice. Babies usually start looking you in the eye when they are about six to eight weeks old. Your face is going to be what they look at most, so if your baby doesn't make eye contact by their two month well visit, be sure to mention it to your pediatrician so they can take another look.

Another milestone that should come around the same time is the social smile. This isn't the spontaneous smile that happens when your baby passes gas. It's the smile that your baby gives when you smile at your baby and your baby smiles back at you. It's a sign that the vision and social parts of his brain are developing. Your baby should be smiling by three to four months old. If not, it could be a vision problem or a problem attaching to parent figures.

Next is babbling by six months. This is different from cooing that newborns do because it requires babies to figure out how to use their tongue and the front of their mouth to make sounds like da, ba, ga, ma. No, your baby will not say mama or dada and know they are referring to you as parents specifically, although I do get told that a lot. Recognizing you guys and saying mama and dada and meaning mama and dada is closer to nine-month scale.

Be sure to encourage the babbling by talking back to your baby. This is how they learn language skills. If there is no babbling by six months old, your pediatrician may want get your baby's hearing checked again, even if it was normal in the nursery.

Then there is reaching and grabbing, which is followed by babies putting everything they grab directly into their mouths. This is good, actually. It shows curiosity and interest in learning more about their environment and it should be encouraged so your baby can use all their senses. But it also a prime time for childproofing and making sure there are no choking hazards around your baby.

Finally, there is pulling to a stand. This is one of the most important gross motor milestones because it shows the stability and strength of the legs and torso that is needed for walking to start. It also shows that your baby is motivated to move and get something they want. Babies should start doing this around 10 months old and should be walking by 18 months old. If they don't have the ability to do this, then your pediatrician may have them see a physical or occupational therapist to help with this milestone.

We as pediatricians monitor every milestone closely. So if you have any concerns about your baby's milestones, be sure to ask and we can let you know if you need to worry of not

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Dr. Gellner: There is a lot in the news lately about Autism. How and when do pediatricians screen for this? I'll give you the info on today's Scope. I am 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: You know your pediatrician checks your child's development at every well visit. What happens if your child is not following along with their developmental milestones?

Sometimes, we as pediatricians, get early clues as to if something isn't just quite right. Maybe it is a baby who does not make eye contact or babble, does not smile when others smile or talk to them. Maybe it is a child who at 15 months is not saying "mama" or "dada" or any other words.

Screening for autism happens at the 18 and 24 month well child visits. By that age there are several developmental milestones that your child should have met.

While there are a lot of screening tools out there, most pediatricians use something called the revised M-CHAT, short for modified checklist for autism in toddlers. It is a standardized set of questions, with yes and no answers, to see if your child meets the criteria for autism. If the scoring on the checklist raises red flags for your pediatrician, there is a follow-up set of questions to be asked to get more information.

Sometimes kids are late talkers, late walkers, or not very social but still show affection. Sometimes these are because of other people carrying them around or talking for them. But sometimes it is a big red flag that something needs further investigation.

If a child misses certain questions on the M-CHAT that is when your pediatrician will refer them to an early intervention program or developmental pediatrician. Early intervention programs see children up to age three, usually, and they have speech therapists that can help do evaluations if your child isn't talking as they should.

Often, there is a developmental specialist working with early intervention as well. A developmental pediatrician will be able to officially diagnose your child with or without autism and help your regular pediatrician with getting your child any special services they may need.

If you have any concerns about your child's development be sure to bring it up at your child's next well visit or make a special appointment with your pediatrician.

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Dr. Jones: About 50 years ago, my parents must have known what was in the wind when I burst out in tears every time my father said the word puberty. I'd been sneaking my Dad's razor to shave my legs, already had my training bra. And what was I in training for? I had a book on how babies were made, but I didn't really know what was going to happen then, and when.
This is Dr. Kirtly Jones from the Department Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Utah Healthcare and today on The Scope we will start a little conversation on puberty.

Announcer: Medical news and research from University Utah physicians and specialists you can use for happier and healthier life. You're listening to The Scope.

Dr. Jones: Today we'll talk about girls and puberty. When does it usually happen, what are the first signs, what are the milestones, what should girls and their moms know, and why does puberty make our previously perfect children so weird?
Okay. One for science; although some folks think that puberty for girls begins with the first period, a young woman already had two or three years of changes in her body. Probably the first, well known to mothers and not known to doctors, is that a girl starts to smell a little differently. This may start from seven to eight years old, and is the sign that the adrenal gland is maturing. The adrenal gland starts to make small amounts of male hormones that could make boys and girls smell a little different. It isn't in the textbooks, but a mom's nose knows.
Two, breast buds; as early as seven or eight or as late as 13, girls develop tender little nickel-sized bumps under their nipples. Sometimes one side before the other; this is the beginning of breast development and it's a sign that the ovaries have started to wake up and make small amounts of estrogen. It's about two years before the first period.
Three, first periods are weird. They are not usually regular; they can be light, heavy, and unpredictable. They may have cramps; they may not. Usually, a girl gets regular, about once a month, in about a year. And if a girl hasn't become regular in about three years you should mention it to her pediatrician. No breast bumps by 14 or no period by 16 means you should talk with your doctor.
For weight gain, girls go from straight to curvy with fat deposits on their hips and breasts. This is sometimes welcome, and sometimes not. For complicated reasons at puberty, many girls stop being as active as they were, and this isn't a good thing. Keep your girls active in sports and in outside family activities. This is good for the whole family.
Number five, sleep; puberty resets the sleep pattern for kids to want to stay up later and get up later. This isn't just computers and TV; it happens in the Amazon. But teenagers need nine to 10 hours of sleep as they rewire their brain, and if kids stay up late on their computers and phones, the light from these devices suppresses melatonin and can suppress sleep. And if they have to get up early for school, they'll get distracted, irritable, and unfocused. Your kid needs sleep and you need to make sure they get it; TV, computers, phone lights off at 9:00. Good luck.
Cranky; aside from being sleep deprived, puberty rewires the brain and is making and changing its wiring, its neuron connections. More than any time since age two, risk taking, inability to judge risk, and all the things we associate with the mature brain just aren't happening. Here are some things parents can do.
First of all, you should know what to expect. If you don't know what to expect, you need to do a little reading. Get together with other mothers so that you might actually practice your patter. Just as I practiced my talk today before I talk to you about puberty, you should practice what you're going to say so you're comfortable with the words. And be prepared. For your daughter, you should have supplies in the home. These should be supplies that are appropriate for a young girl. Have them ready so that you can help your daughter when her first period comes. She'll have a little more privacy. She should know where the material is and you can help her.
And what about the weird business, the recognition that they aren't the people who they just were when they were eight, that reliable, mature, terrific eight-year-old? And they're not the people who are going to be at 25, that reliable, mature, terrific 25-year-old. This is a transition; you got through it when they were two to three, you'll get through it now. And remember, no matter how painful this is for you, it's more painful for your daughter. Hang in there; it'll get better. This is Dr. Kirtly Jones and thanks for joining us on The Scope.

Announcer: We're your daily dose of science, conversation and medicine. This is The Scope, the University of Utah Health Sciences Radio.

Some of the most innovative things that we're thinking about right now are something referred to as milestones. So in the residency world, we're being able to now identify exactly where people are along a spectrum of skills in six different areas and with the idea and vision that as people meet those skills we can move them along the pathway and again get rid of the rigid timelines that we're currently married to.

For those of us who have been doing medical education for a long time, we know some people learn faster than others, and other people learn slower. The fact that we're facing a deficit of 90,000 physicians coming up here very soon in the next decade, we really need to be thinking about: How can we turn people out more quickly? How can we ensure that we get people in the pipeline, keep them in the pipeline, and then turn them out at the end?