Social worker organizes toy drive for Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford Play

Social Services Spread Holiday Cheer

Fernando Hurtado, a social work resource coordinator at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, organized a toy drive to ensure that every patient in the hospital receives a special gift this holiday season.

Family eating healthy Play

How to Encourage Your Children to Have Healthy Eating Habits

As a parent and caregiver, you play an important role in making healthy choices for your children and in teaching them to make healthy choices on their own. Here are some tips from clinical pediatric dietitian and nutritionist, Venus Kalami on some simple things you can do to help your family establish healthy eating habits.

Girl with itchy skin Play

Healthy Skin Habits for Your Family

Pediatrician Nora Fahden, MD, with Stanford Medicine Children’s Health’s Bayside Medical Group in San Ramon, offers some tips for keeping skin healthy and what to do when there’s a problem.

Autistic boy playing Play

Stanford Team Finds Benefits to Online Autism Treatment

In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanford Medicine researchers had to pause a study of autism treatment in preschoolers. The halt was stressful for kids and their families, so a team of pediatric psychologists pivoted to offering the treatment online.

Mother and child at doctor's office Play

Uneven Healthcare Access Stresses DACA Families, Study Finds

During four decades of caring for the children of immigrants who live in the U.S. without legal permission, Stanford pediatrician Fernando Mendoza, MD, often had to ask the parents of his patients a painful question: “Have you talked to your kids about what happens if you get picked up by immigration enforcement?”

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Stanford Pediatrician Answers COVID-19 Vaccine Questions

In a series of short FAQ videos, Stanford Medicine pediatric infectious disease expert Yvonne Maldonado, MD, and two other pediatricians discuss the vaccines’ safety and efficacy, the need for everyone 12 years and older to be vaccinated and the status ofongoing clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines for younger children.

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Health Care Issues Facing Families Today

How much screen time is OK? How can I help my child build healthy habits? There’s no manual for raising a child, but Jasmin Makar, MD shares tips with Sue Hall of 96.5 KOIT to keep your child healthy.

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Which flu vaccine should children get this year?

Influenza (flu) season runs from October through May – and, as with any other type of illness, prevention is the best protection. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that all children over the age of 6 months get vaccinated.

Family at the Bass Center Play

Stanford’s Bass Center Shines a Light on Pediatric Cancer in Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

The Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases has organized activities to observe Childhood Cancer Awareness month. The Bass Center is a leading pediatric cancer center dedicated to helping children of all ages who have cancer and blood diseases to manage or overcome their conditions.

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“Fun Helps Us Heal” – Time for Transplant Camp

Fifty Stanford Medicine Children’s Health transplant patients are spending the week at camp having fun while still getting the medcial care they need. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is a national leader in pediatric organ transplantation. We sponsor this camp to give kids who have received a transplant a chance to enjoy being children and to connect with other kids like them.

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New Stanford research offers hope for faster autism diagnosis

What’s the first step in getting help for a child who may have autism? Discouragingly, the answer is often “A long wait.” But Stanford systems biologist Dennis Wall, PhD, wants to change that. His research team is using a big-data approach to devise simple questionnaires that enable parents and primary-care doctors to screen children for developmental disorders using a mobile device.

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An optimist’s approach to improving global child health

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.

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Helping kids with chronic medical conditions make the jump to adult care

Specialists who treat chronically ill adolescents have long recognized the challenges related to this patient population: Young adults may be grown in body, but they aren’t always ready psychologically or socially to take full responsibility for consistently following complicated medical routines and practicing lifestyle restrictions. Nor are most adult care doctors trained in the after-effects of childhood cancer, for instance, or the lifelong need to monitor adults with childhood heart repairs.

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Forget perfection and just cook for your kids, says new book by Stanford author

“Our children are in trouble because we’ve outsourced the job of feeding them,” says Stanford child nutrition expert Maya Adam, MD. To tackle the problem, Adam is spreading a refreshing message: Forget celebrity-chef culture and food fads, and just cook for your kids. Her new book shares stories about how parents around the world find a healthy approach to feeding their children.

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Stanford Medicine magazine tells why a healthy childhood matters

I’ve forgotten most of my childhood experiences – which is perfectly normal. But apparently my body remembers many of those experiences – and I learned while editing the new Stanford Medicine magazine that’s normal too. The fall issue’s special report, “Childhood: The road ahead,” is full of stories of researchers realizing the impact early experiences can have on adult health. Some of their discoveries are surprising.

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Why Babies Don’t Have Freckles

Freckles are a phenomenon that occurs when genetically predisposed people (often those with fair skin, red hair, and light eyes) are exposed to UV light over time, according to Joyce Teng, MD, director of pediatric dermatology for Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.

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Make this year a healthy school year

With the days of summer vacation soon coming to an end, parents are getting in gear to send their kids back to school. Along with stocking up on school supplies and buying new clothes, it’s also a good time to think about their health needs.