Newsletters

Healthy Child Spring/Summer 2004

Questions & Answers

by SUSAN J. MARGOLIN, M.D., M.P.H.
CHIEF, GENERAL PEDIATRICS

If you have a question for the pediatrician, please e-mail it to ESALAMON@SBHCS.COM or mail it to Elizabeth Salamon, Public Relations, Saint Barnabas Medical Center, 95 Old Short Hills Road, West Orange, NJ 07052

Questions should be applicable to children in general, and not focused on the specific case of an individual child.

Q. Is Chicken Pox Vaccine (Varicella Vaccine) now considered safe?

A. Before the varicella vaccine was introduced in the United States, there had been a 20 year experience with it in Japan. The vaccine is both safe and very effective. In fact the vaccine has been found to be so safe and effective that the New Jersey Department of Health has proposed a regulation that will require every child born after January 1, 1998 to have received one dose of the vaccine prior to entry into school.

Chicken pox, although generally mild and self limiting, can have severe complications which include pneumonia, severe secondary bacterial infections and central nervous system involvement. The vaccine inhibits both the chicken pox and its complications.

Q. Why would a child keep getting strep throat. Can you tell me more about this condition?

A. Strep throat is the most common illness produced by a bacterium called Group A Streptococcus. The illness is most common among school-aged children and adolescents. There are more than 100 distinct types of this bacterium, and although a child produces antibodies to a type by which he/she is infected and will not become infected by that type again, there can be a recurrence of strep throat when infected by another type.

Transmission of the germ results from contact with another person who has a strep throat and has spread respiratory secretions (sputum, sneezing, etc). The close contact that children have in school promotes the spread of the bacterium.

Sore throats can also be caused by viruses. Your child’s doctor will probably take a throat swab to differentiate a strep throat from a viral sore throat. Strep throats are treated with antibiotics to eradicate the germ. Sore throats do not need treatment with antibiotics.

Q. My children, 2 and 5, never seem to stop eating. Both of them are thin, but I feel like the kitchen never closes. Do children need snacks to supplement meals? They also seem thirsty all the time.

A. Young children are what I call “grazers.” They will eat just enough to satisfy hunger and then may be hungry again a short while later.

Generally, a young child (under 3) will not eat beyond the point of fullness and they do best on many small meals a day (mealtime and snacks). Just make sure that the snacks are healthy. Cookies, candy and crackers are no substitute for protein, fruits and vegetables.

Children will often substitute liquid intake for food consumption and there is a tendency to want to give children a glass of milk if they have not eaten well. Please remember that three 8 ounce glasses of milk daily will suffice for a young child. We now recommend limiting ingestion of fruit juice also. Juice should not be introduced to infants before 6 months of age and intake of fruit juice should be limited to 4-6 ounces per day for children 1-6 and 8-12 ounces a day for children 7-18. Other liquid may be given as water. If your child seems to have excessive thirst, check with your physician.

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