research | Georgetown Pediatrics

Last week we dealt with websites. Want to be more mobile? There are many apps for your smartphone or tablet that can help you keep your family healthy.

Here we’ve listed just a few to get you started, all of them inexpensive or free.

From the American Academy of Pediatrics, several great apps are available, all of which you can order here.
- KidsDoc. Cost: $1.99. This app helps you figure out what to do if your child is sick. You enter your child’s symptoms and are given advice, including options like: Call 911, Call Your Child’s Doctor Now, Call Your Child’s Doctor within 24 hours or Manage at Home. Suggestions for managing at home will tell you how to care for your child’s particular ailment.
- Car Seat Check. Cost: $1.99. Enter your child’s age, height, and weight. You’ll get reviews of appropriate car seats, installation help, and safety information.
- Healthy Children. Cost: FREE. Look up health information by age, find out what first aid is best for particular injuries, see what immunizations are needed for particular ages.
- ADHD Tracker 1.0. Cost: FREE. If your child, age 4-18, has already been diagnosed with (and treated for) ADHD, this app gives a streamlined way to complete and submit a behavioral assessment.
- Iron Kids. Cost: $3.99. Keep your child healthy and fit and sport-ready with this workout.
- Other sources and apps.
  - Ages and Stages. Cost: FREE. This app by Parenting magazine allows you to enter your own stage of pregnancy, or your child’s age, to get information tailored for you.
  - Breastfeeding Management 2. Cost: $1.99. The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition sponsors this app. You can get answers to frequently asked questions; enter your child’s age, weight, and frequency of feeding to determine how many ounces each feeding should be (especially helpful if you’re pumping); research medications and breastfeeding.

Technology and health have always gone together. These apps can keep you up to date and on top of health issues.

Artwork by Kennedy, age 2

As we enter 2014, many families will decide to be healthier this year. One way to be on top of your health is to be knowledgeable. The problem is that there is so much information out there, it can be overwhelming. Even worse, a lot of the advice is misleading, incomplete, trying to sell a product, or just plain wrong.

What to do, then, if you’re looking answers to your pediatric health questions? We have a few sites we trust that you may find helpful.

Your first stop should be here, on our own website. There you’ll find 21 links that we trust to provide good information, on everything from general health and pediatrics to a few common illnesses and conditions, such as allergies, asthma, and disabilities. Here are a few of the best:

American Academy of Pediatrics. If you read our blog, you know that we refer to the AAP regularly. They are the go-to organization for reliable information on the health of children and teens, including physical, social, psychological, and intellectual health. Some of their pages are full of statistics and medical jargon, but check out healthychildren.org. It’s very readable, practical, and up-to-date. You can search your topic or question by typing it into the search box.
The National Institutes of Health has a huge amount of information. Some of it is written for health professionals, but much of it—particularly the medline plus section—is also written for the general population. It’s a great source of health information for all ages, birth to old age. You can even sign up here to receive e-mail updates on children’s health topics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives you an alphabetized list of topics and diseases for your research.

If you have a particular issue you’re interested in researching, check with your pediatrician, who can suggest additional specific resources.

Happy internet hunting, and Happy New Year!

Artwork by Audrey

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