Medical Myths
Sep 30, 2008 05:00PM ● By Super Admin
Medical information can be confusing. New data is continually released
and is often appealing to the hopeful, the nervous and the health
conscious. Style consulted with three local medical professionals and
gathered some of the misperceptions they encounter on a regular basis,
as well as the information to set the record straight.
Roseville Pediatric Medical Group
6. Infants will eat as much as they need. Quite to the contrary, most infants do not tend to eat the full 10 percent of their birth weight that they need in the first week of life!
7. A jaundiced baby is a very sick baby. Most newborn infants will become jaundiced during the first week of life. This is physiologically expected and normal.
8. Children are resilient to head injuries. If a child sustains a head trauma, he may look and act normal right after the injury, but this does not mean that severe injury did not occur. Head trauma in children must be closely monitored for 12 to 24 hours.
9. An infant that does not roll over is abnormal. Rolling over is no longer a developmental milestone. Since the awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), babies are laid on their backs rather than their tummies.
10. Young children should be treated for hyperactivity. Normal children have lots of energy and do not yet know how to release it – too many are drugged at too early of an age.
– Pediatrician Ravinder Khaira, M.D.
For Medical Myths numbers one through five and 11 through 15, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style-Roseville Granite Bay Rocklin edition. Click on the "Get Your Copy" link on the bottom of this page for some of our newsstand locations. Or, to order a copy of this issue, please email Gloria Schroeder at [email protected], or call her at 916-988-9888 x116.
Roseville Pediatric Medical Group
6. Infants will eat as much as they need. Quite to the contrary, most infants do not tend to eat the full 10 percent of their birth weight that they need in the first week of life!
7. A jaundiced baby is a very sick baby. Most newborn infants will become jaundiced during the first week of life. This is physiologically expected and normal.
8. Children are resilient to head injuries. If a child sustains a head trauma, he may look and act normal right after the injury, but this does not mean that severe injury did not occur. Head trauma in children must be closely monitored for 12 to 24 hours.
9. An infant that does not roll over is abnormal. Rolling over is no longer a developmental milestone. Since the awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), babies are laid on their backs rather than their tummies.
10. Young children should be treated for hyperactivity. Normal children have lots of energy and do not yet know how to release it – too many are drugged at too early of an age.
– Pediatrician Ravinder Khaira, M.D.
For Medical Myths numbers one through five and 11 through 15, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style-Roseville Granite Bay Rocklin edition. Click on the "Get Your Copy" link on the bottom of this page for some of our newsstand locations. Or, to order a copy of this issue, please email Gloria Schroeder at [email protected], or call her at 916-988-9888 x116.