Are you familiar with the harmful effects that may result from medications you give your children? That when you give more than one medication, the two may interact and cause adverse reactions not caused by one alone? That travel-related factors can cause additional interactions?
(This is Part 1, one of a two-part series. Watch for our [...]

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Tags: adverse effects of medication, antacids, blood test strips, children, children medications, children travel doctor, Dehydration, Diarrhea, dimenhydrinate, Dizziness, Dr. Karl Neumann, dramamine, exotic foods, insulin, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, medication, medication interactions, medications overseas, motion sickness, motion sickness-related nausea, over the counter medication for kids, Travel, travel-related, vitamins, Vomiting

Just when you thought that you knew all you had to know about children’s car safety seats, the experts come up with a slew of new recommendations, forcing you to rethink what you were sure that you already knew.
1. The new recommendations:  Children should ride in rear-facing safety seats until they are two years of [...]

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Tags: AAP, car accidents, car seats, children, front-facing car seats, infant car safety seats, kids car seats, kids travel doctor, nhtsa, parents, pediatrics, rear-facing safety seats, safe car seats

Update on Children/Vacations*
Unreasonable parental expectations and poor parental planning mar more family vacations than obstinate children. While traveling with kids will always have its ups and downs, savvy parents can keep the inevitable squabbles down to a manageable few.
Here is what you should know:

Your primary goal should be kids having fun. Family vacations need not [...]

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Tags: airport, behavioral issues, campers, children, Destinations, Dr. Karl Neumann, homesickness, hotel rooms, inclement weather, kids, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, motion sickness, museum, parents, ski resort, Toddlers, travel doctor, vacations

The sun is a mischief-maker, especially in wintertime. While the sun’s pleasant warming rays are equator bound, the troublemaking ultraviolet rays continue to bombard us no matter where we live and where we travel. Children are particularly at risk.
Here is what you should know:
• Protect kids from the sun all year around. Damaging UVA rays [...]

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You’re planning to take your family to Disneyworld: parents, two children, one in fourth grade, the other in second. You are as anxious to go as they are: you’re feeling guilty. Lately you’ve spent too little time with them because of your work schedules.
You find a package that seems too good to be true: off-season, [...]

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Tags: disneyworld, kids travel, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor

A frequent dose of sunshine is the right tonic to keep your kids hale and hearty if you reside where winters are long and the days short.
Here is what you should know:
1. Sunlight helps minimize being sad and having SAD.  Sad (small letters) is having the “winter blues.”  SAD (capital letters) stands for Seasonal Affective [...]

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Tags: antidepressant medication, artificial light, children, counseling, cranky, depression, Dr. Karl Neumann, Forest Hills Pediatrics, Health, kids, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, mental health, pediatrician, SAD, safety, seasonal affective disorder, sunlight, winter blues

I recently received this email: “Dear Dr. Neumann: Do you think it’s OK to place a leash on my 20-month old daughter? I use it mostly for travel, especially at airports and amusement parks, but also at malls. What an attention-getter! Some strangers tell me that leashing children is cruel and stunts curiosity and independence [...]

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Tags: child leashes, children leashes, Dr. Neumann, freedom, infant, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, leashes

Recently a four-week old infant died on a flight from Washington to Kuwait. The probable cause was the mother accidentally smothered the baby when the mother fell asleep while nursing her infant.
This tragic event does not mean that nursing is unsafe during air travel. As far as is known this is the first time such [...]

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Tags: Air Travel, air travel with infants, breast-feed, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, Dr. Karl Neumann, Dr. Neumann, Forest Hills Pediatrics, health and safety, infant death, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, Kuwait flight, nursing, pediatric advice, pre-flight examination, smothered

To prevent children from being burned at cookouts, establish a “circle of safety” or a “forbidden zone” around cooking grills and campfires. Draw the line in the ground (literally, if possible) or delineate the area in some other way. 
Even though such burns are preventable with reasonable precautions, each year more than 3,000 American children experience [...]

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Tags: barbecues, burns, campfire safety, campfires, campgrounds, children, circle of safety, coals, cooking grills, cookout-related burns, cookouts, grills, kids, kids campfire, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, marshmellows

Picnics/Food safety/Kids
According to the dictionary, a “picnic” is a relaxed, pleasurable event, often family-oriented, at which meals are eaten outdoors, preferably in idyllic surroundings.
The meaning of the phrase “It’s no picnic” is a non-pleasurable event. (Perhaps, referring to becoming ill from eating spoiled food at a picnic?)  According to the Centers for Disease Control, meals [...]

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Tags: bacteria, food preparation, food safety, gastrointestnal illness, irradiated food, kids, kids health, kids travel, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, kidstraveldoc.com, non-refrigerated, picnic basket, picnics, safety