Health Library A to Z

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• After a Burn: When to Call Your Child's Healthcare Provider
Details about when to call your child's healthcare provider after a burn.

• Bicycling, Inline Skating, Skateboarding, and Scooter Safety—Prevention
Read on for specific safety and injury prevention tips for wheel sports--from biking and inline skating to skateboarding and scooters.

• Blepharitis in Children
Blepharitis is an inflammation in the oil glands of the eyelid. It causes swollen eyelids and crusting around the eyelashes. Even after it’s treated and goes away, it can often come back again and again for years. It can often lead to an infection of the eye and a loss of eyelashes.

• Brain Abscess in Children
An abscess is a pocket of infection. In the brain, an abscess may be in one or more areas. This condition may cause problems with how the brain and spinal cord function. It is a serious and life-threatening condition that needs to be treated right away.

• Burns Caused by Heat
Detailed information about how to care for your child's heat-induced burn.

• Congenital Muscular Torticollis
Congenital torticollis means that a baby is born with an odd position of the neck. The odd position is because of a tight, short neck muscle. It affects the right side more often than the left side. It may range from mild to severe. The condition is sometimes called wryneck.

• Diarrhea in Children
Diarrhea is a common problem. It may last 1 or 2 days and go away on its own. If diarrhea lasts more than 2 days, your child may have a more serious problem. Read on to learn more.

• Dislocations in Children
A dislocation is a joint injury. It occurs when the ends of 2 connected bones come apart. Dislocations happen more often among teens.

• Food Allergies in Children
A food allergy is when your child’s body has a bad immune reaction to a certain food. This is different than a food intolerance which does not affect the immune system. This is true even though some of the same signs may be present.

• Helping a Friend With an Addiction
When a friend shows signs of abusing alcohol or other drugs, it's hard to know what to do or say. Here's how to help.

• Home Wound Care
Your child may come home with unhealed areas that still need directed on how to change dressings before you leave the hospital.

• How to Comfort a Crying Baby
Read on to learn about helpful methods to soothe your crying baby.

• Intensive Care
Intensive care is needed for children who have had certain types of major surgery: heart operations, organ transplants, or neurosurgery.

• Job Safety Critical for Teens
The main threats to teens are often said to involve drugs, alcohol, or car crashes. But there’s another risk most parents might not think of: work. Tens of thousands of teens are badly hurt at work each year.

• Knowing When to Seek Treatment for Your Child
Common symptoms of a potential emotional, behavioral, or developmental problem include poor grades in school, withdrawal from friends and family, and insomnia.

• Lordosis in Children
Lordosis is a deformity of the backbone (spine). It's when the bones of the spine (vertebrae) in the lower back curve inward more than normal.

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for Children
MRI is a procedure that uses a large magnet, radio waves, and a computer to create detailed images of organs and tissues in the body. It’s used to diagnose problems in many areas of the body.

• Metatarsus Adductus in Children
Metatarsus adductus is a common foot deformity noted at birth. It causes the front half of the child's foot (forefoot) to turn inward.

• Myasthenia Gravis (MG) in Children
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a disorder that causes weakness in muscles around the body. This happens because antibodies destroy some of the places where nerves and muscles meet. It mostly affects the eyes, mouth, throat, arms, and legs.

• Newborn Appearance
Newborns have many variations in normal appearance, from their skin color to the shape of their head. Here's a look at some of the normal variations you can expect.

• Newborn Warning Signs
Most newborns adjust well to the outside world. But it's helpful to know about these warning signs that could indicate a possible problem.

• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in Children
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a type of behavior disorder. It is mostly diagnosed in childhood. Children with ODD are uncooperative, defiant, and hostile toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures.

• Pacemaker and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) Insertion for Children
A child with an arrhythmia may need a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). These devices require a simple surgery to implant. They can increase a slow heartbeat or correct a possibly life-threatening fast or chaotic beat.

• Physical Needs of the Dying Child
A terminally ill child has many of the same needs as any seriously ill child, including a routine for sleep and rest, and for pain management. Here's what you should know.

• Precocious Puberty
Puberty that happens early is called precocious puberty. This means a child's physical signs of sexual maturity develop too soon. This includes breast growth, pubic hair, and voice changes. These are known as secondary sexual characteristics. Precocious puberty happens before age 8 in girls, and before age 9 in boys.

• Scleroderma in Children
Scleroderma is an ongoing (chronic) disease that causes abnormal growth of connective tissue. It can affect the joints, skin, and internal organs. It is degenerative and gets worse over time.

• Slow or Poor Infant Weight Gain
Are you concerned that your little one has slow or poor weight gain? Unsure? This article will help you sort out your questions and concerns.

• Small for Gestational Age
Small for gestational age is a term used to describe babies that are smaller than normal for the number of weeks of pregnancy. These babies have birth weight below the 10th percentile. This means they are smaller than many other babies of the same gestational age.

• Snakebites in Children
Both venomous and nonvenomous snakes can bite. It's important to treat all snakebites as if they are venomous. Here's what you need to know.

• Understanding Eating Disorders
At least 8 million people in the U.S. are living with an eating disorder. Read on for a helpful overview of the three main types of eating disorders.

• Warts in Children
Warts on the skin are harmless growths. They are caused by a virus. Warts can spread to other parts of the body and to other people.

• Watch That Backpack Load
Most children rely on backpacks to carry books and supplies to and from school and activities. But a backpack that's too heavy or doesn't fit right can cause harm.

• Water Safety and Teens
Teens are more likely to know how to swim. But they are still at risk for drowning. Read on for important tips to help protect your teen from drowning.

• Water Safety for Children
Preventive steps parents can take to protect their children from drowning.

• Water Safety—Prevention
A detailed look at water safety and drowning prevention tips for kids of all ages.

• West Nile Fever in Children
West Nile fever is an illness caused by a virus. The virus is spread by mosquito bites. It often causes mild, flu-like symptoms.

• What Every Parent Should Know About Immunizations
Where can you as a parent turn to for the facts about vaccine safety? The first place to go is your child's healthcare provider.

• What You Can Do to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect
Child abuse can happen in any family and in any neighborhood. Studies have shown that child abuse crosses all boundaries of income, race, ethnic heritage, and religious faith. Read on for helpful tips for stopping child abuse.

• What You Need to Know About Heroin
Until recently, heroin was not considered a problem among children of middle-class parents. But lately, it has been showing up in new places. Today the typical user could be a person from any race, part of the country, socioeconomic level, or age.

• Wheat Allergy Diet for Children
Detailed information on wheat allergy, a type of food allergy, including how to read a label for a wheat-free diet.

• When Can a Child Wear Contact Lenses
There are no set rules on when children can wear contact lenses. Much depends on the responsibility level of the child.

• When to Call Your Child's Healthcare Provider
Detailed information on when to call your baby's physician

• When to Get Emergency Care for Your Child
In general, take your child to an emergency room after an injury any time you think the problem may need urgent care.

• Whooping Cough (Pertussis) in Children
Whooping cough (pertussis) is a contagious illness. It causes intense fits (paroxysms) of coughing. It mainly affects babies and young children.

• Why Children Get Carsick—And What to Do
A look at why kids get carsick, with helpful tips for prevention—and what to do if it occurs.