Unplanned separation from parents is among the most damaging events a young child can experience, according to trauma research. A Stanford expert explains how it can hurt kids’ development.


Unplanned separation from parents is among the most damaging events a young child can experience, according to trauma research. A Stanford expert explains how it can hurt kids’ development.
Marijuana use isn’t safe for teenagers, and pediatricians need to be ready to explain why, according to a new clinical report published this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Every day of my 1980s childhood began with orange juice, which my mom served because it was considered a good way to get our daily vitamin C. Since then, nutritionists’ thinking has changed. Daily consumption of fruit juice has been linked with childhood obesity and dental cavities, and kids are thought to be better off getting their vitamins from whole fruits. Yet some health policies haven’t kept up.
On the heels of his preschool graduation, 4-year-old Tyler Briend kicked off his summer vacation by traveling to Washington D.C. to speak with lawmakers about improving health care access for kids like him – patients living with complex medical conditions. Tyler, a patient at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, and his parents made the trip as part of Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Day, sponsored by the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
Today, prominent medical journal The Lancet publishes “Ending Preventable Stillbirth,” a series of articles calling for global efforts to greatly reduce fetal deaths that occur late in pregnancy or during labor. The series brings much-needed attention to a medical and societal problem that often goes ignored. “Millions of women and families around the world have suffered the pain of stillbirth in silence,” said Stanford global health expert Gary Darmstadt, MD.
Globally, more than six million children die before their fifth birthday each year, most having been born into poverty. While great strides have been made over the last few decades in reducing global child mortality, some countries, like Pakistan, have lagged behind. In a recent Stanford podcast, Anita Zaidi, MD, an internationally renowned pediatrician and director of the Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke about the state of child health in her home country of Pakistan and what it takes to lift a nation up.
Cesarean sections are the most commonly performed operations around the world. But just how effective are these procedures, which have their own risks and complications, in saving the lives of women and their newborns?
A new statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics opposing marijuana legalization was written in response to recent research on adolescent brain development and the biology of addiction, as well as a changing national climate on marijuana laws.