Diet & Nutrition

I’ve heard many a horror-story about flying with breast milk, from security agents that forced moms to dump out milk to broken bottles.  I’ve also made a few mistakes myself, once causing me to throw out several days of expressed milk.  I’ve taken countless business trips while breastfeeding my four children, and these my tips for successful traveling with breast milk. 

A day in the pediatric ER never passes without a story like this: A child develops severe abdominal pain, the crying child is rushed to the ER, and I examine the child and pronounce that the patient is full of poop. Yes, constipated. The baffled parents and embarrassed child seem unconvinced of my diagnosis. How could poop cause such severe pain? Am I sure this isn't appendicitis?

Valentine’s Day is almost here and it’s time to get ready for all those school Valentine’s Day parties. When I was a kid I loved my school Valentine exchange with the excited gluttony-prone heart of a child. I was especially impressed by any kid whose parent let them buy valentines branded with Disney characters or Scooby-Doo. And the very best valentines were the ones that came with candy attached.

I was taught in medical school never to leave a newborn delivery without discussing birth control with the new mother.  The exhausted, delighted mothers and smiling fathers would always give the physician a puzzled look when asked, minutes after delivery, what their birth control plans were.  It seemed like a rude, dark interruption of the joyful fleeting moments after the miracle of birth.