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At Harmony Pediatrics, we offer ear piercings for both patients and non-patients. The earrings we use are medical-grade plastic that do not cause any kind of allergic reaction. They are very easy to take care of and look magnificent – like little sparkling diamonds. In fact, I had my second ear piercing done with these earrings myself. These earrings look beautiful and sparkle with everything. I think they are stunning earring options, especially for children getting their ears pierced. If you’re interested in getting an ear piercing done, whether for yourself or your child, go to Harmonypeds.com. That’s Harmonypeds.com to learn more and schedule an appointment for this service at our pediatric practice. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – A common question I get is when is the right age for your child to get a cell phone. It’s a complicated answer, but it really depends on what the cell phone is used for. Is it just for calling so you want to be able to communicate with your child? “Oh mom, I’m running late, can you pick me up at this time?” Are you using it for purposes like a camera or to access the internet? Are you using it for social media? And that’s the real concern that most parents have. The American Academy of Pediatrics says to wait until 8th grade for social media interaction. A lot of it really depends on how responsible your child is and how much you trust your child. Whenever you do give your child a phone, just make sure that you have access to the phone, access to all passwords, and that it is not being kept in their room overnight. If you can adhere to that, then you will go a long way in making sure that your child stays safe. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – We could learn a lot about patience from our toddlers. Hear me out, okay? You may think your toddler does not have patience, but think about how long it took them to learn how to walk. They would fall, get back up and go again and again and again. It took several months for them to learn how to walk. Think about potty training – that took months. You were very persistent, you were very consistent with it. Yeah, maybe you were a little impatient, but you know you got to where you needed to get to. When your 3rd grader says “Oh, I can’t learn my multiplication facts” and it’s only been a week, you have to remind them of what they’ve already accomplished. It may seem like walking is not a big deal because they do it all the time, but it took a long time for them to learn how to walk. And it’s gonna take just as long for them to learn their multiplication facts, to do a one-minute plank. They were very persistent and patient with accomplishing walking, you know? And it’s gonna take even longer for you and me to accomplish certain goals. So we could learn a lot about patience from our toddlers. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – Fun Ways to Improve Your Child’s Fine Motor Skills 🤲 Fine motor skills involve using the hands and fingers to perform small tasks and manipulate objects. Encouraging your child to use just their fingers or grip can help strengthen these abilities. Some fun activities to try: 📌 Sticky mosaics – Peeling off little sticky squares and placing them on a board is like a fine motor paint-by-number! ✂️ Using scissors – It’s okay if their cuts aren’t straight lines at first. The grip strength will develop over time. 🧗‍♀️ Climbing walls, monkey bars, or silks – Anything that increases grip strength and finger manipulation. The key is finding activities that get your child using those little hands and fingers in an engaging way. It will improve their dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and overall fine motor development. So skip the dull exercises and make it fun! Their skills will improve while they play. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

How Do I Know If My Newborn Is Sick? 👶 It might seem like a complicated question, but the answer is simpler than you think! Newborns may not be predictable with routines like sleep schedules, but they ARE predictable in their basic actions. Newborns poop, eat, and cry – it’s what they do! 💩🍼😭 So if at any point your baby stops doing any of these things, it may indicate they are sick and need to be checked out. If they’re not pooping, not eating, and not sleeping – those are red flags. But most importantly, if they’re not crying, that’s a MAJOR sign something could be wrong. Newborns cry a certain amount, so if yours suddenly becomes lethargic and inactive without the typical crying, please have them checked out immediately. Trust your instincts as a parent! Lack of those basic newborn behaviors could mean illness. When in doubt, call the doctor. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – Why is Strep Throat Such a Big Deal? You might think, “It’s just a sore throat. It goes away, maybe I’ll need some antibiotics, but no big deal, right?” WRONG. The problem isn’t the sore throat itself. Yes, it can go away on its own, and yes, we want to give antibiotics. But it’s not for the sore throat. The bacteria that causes strep throat can actually go to other parts of the body and cause permanent damage if left untreated. It can go into the brain and cause mental issues, the kidneys causing kidney problems, the joints, and even the heart – leading to rheumatic heart disease affecting the heart valves. That’s what we’re trying to avoid with antibiotics – preventing these serious strep complications from developing. So if you think your child has a sore throat, please get them tested for strep. If positive, we can treat it properly and prevent any long-term, life-altering problems. Strep throat is NOT just a sore throat. Don’t take it lightly! Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – ADD is probably more normal than it is abnormal it’s more natural Mother Nature did not want to sitting in front of a screen 8 hours a day we’re supposed to be outside we’re supposed to be part of nature and you needed to have a little bit of distraction in order to ensure your safety so add is probably more natural however in current society we need children to be productive and that’s why it may seem that a lot more children are getting diagnosed and then treated um but that is just the way society works now we shouldn’t treat children just so they can sit still we just need to help them uh reach their full potential and if that means that they need help focusing so that they can be in the field here they need to be where they can be productive where they can show up on time where they can use their full brain power then so be it we will treat them but add is probably more natural than it is abnormal. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – We have lots of descriptive words for our children. We call them shy, inattentive, or distracted. These are appropriate terms, but they’re not the most positive for children to hear. Now, you need to acknowledge your child, and you want to try to help them. But in order to help build their self-confidence and to change their behavior, you want to use terms that the child can live up to. For example, if you have a shy child, don’t call him shy in front of him. He will just live up to being even more shy. But you can say, “my brave child” or “my observant child” or “my conscientious child,” and then your child will live up to that expectation and change their behavior from shy to being observant, to being a little bit more conscientious. That way, you can change how they view themselves in a positive light, but you’re still acknowledging to yourself that they’re showing traits you’re trying to change. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – How do you know if you’ve parent your child properly or not? That’s a really hard question. Most of the ways that we have learned how to parent comes from how we were parented. And there’s typically two parents involved in raising a child and each one comes with their own different style of parenting. You will make mistakes, your child will make mistakes. parenting styles vary from child to child, from parent to parent within families. Are there are right ways and wrong ways? Sure, you don’t want to be abusive. You definitely want to love your child. And as long as you give them a loving support, a good foundation and then you let them go. That’s a good parenting style. You want them to be productive adults in society. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – There’s an old wives tale that eating or drinking something cold will cause a sore throat. That’s not true. You know, we have cold popsicles that we give, and it actually soothes a sore throat. And it’s one way to get fluid back into somebody who’s not really wanting to eat because their throat hurts so much. So, cold foods by themselves do not cause a sore throat Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate