Children’s health providers offer insight into how to best care for your little ones.

Raising children is a beautiful journey, but the road traveled is certainly not without its challenges. While every parent wants to see their child grow to become happy and healthy individuals, no one can predict the future and what unexpected issues may arise. Restless nights spent worrying about a child’s physical or mental health can only exacerbate the feelings of anxiety and helplessness.

Thankfully, there have been tremendous strides made in the world of pediatric care in recent years and these new breakthroughs and cutting-edge treatments are helping to improve outcomes and provide some much-needed reassurance that there are brighter days ahead. 

Here in Central Florida, there is great excitement about these changes as numerous providers from varying specialties and practices continue to focus on expanding their abilities to better serve patients and their families.

We had the opportunity to speak with a few local leaders in the field to ask a few questions about some of the specific issues that may be a cause of concern and find out what advice they have to offer parents to help them be proactive advocates for their children’s health. 

Between COVID, flu, RSV, etc., there are a lot of concerns about children’s health these days. How are you working to better educate parents? 

“Science based education is key. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation disguised as truth [in public discussion]. Not every disease needs medication. Viruses like influenza are not treated with antibiotics. Furthermore, urgent care visits and quickie sports physicals do not substitute for full exams and health screenings provided by your pediatrician.”
–Dr. Marie R. Quiñonez, Dr. Q Pediatrics

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended that parents start reading to their child beginning at birth and continuing through at least kindergarten. How can this help with a child’s development and can it be beneficial in the long-run to help keep them focused and away from too much screen time?

“Starting to read at a young age has many benefits for kids. Beginning at infancy you create a foundation of early literacy, the idea that reading can be enjoyable. … For infants, books can provide positive sensory stimulation with different colors, texture, print and listening to the sounds the parent/caregiver makes.

“Starting early means that we increase reading proficiency which is major determining factor in high school graduation and successful careers. At this time, there are so many shows and games on phones that are geared toward keeping a child’s attention via color, movement and sounds. It creates a type of addiction and affects brain development in a negative way, increasing risk for ADHD.”
— Dr. Roshni Patel, chief of pediatrics, Community Health Centers, Inc.

It may seem obvious, but it’s always a good reminder for parents to know that starting a proper eye health routine for your child at a young age is very important. What are the advantages to establishing this early on in a child’s life?

“If you get your kids [eyes checked] at a younger age, providers certainly can diagnose conditions that could potentially upset their eyesight later on. Not only from the retina perspective, but sometimes there are children who just need eyeglasses; one eye is maybe not as strong as the other. Diagnosing and treating this condition earlier on can actually prevent significant or irreversible visual loss later in life. We see this a lot, it’s a condition called amblyopia that can be developed when you have kids who have the need for eyeglasses but were not prescribed at the right time. 

“If you are noticing any strange patterns with your child’s eyesight, maybe their eyes coming in or coming out, or noticing a little bit of a lazy eye—even if they don’t happen all the time—it should certainly trigger the attention of the parents to have the patient evaluated by an eye specialist as soon as possible.”
–Dr. Luis G. León-Alvarado, board-certified, fellowship trained vitreoretinal specialist, Florida Retina Institute