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Healthy Development: Search Engine Parents Beware!
Healthy Development: Search Engine Parents Beware!
By: Holly Bishop
When your new baby is born one of the first things family and friends ask is, “How much did she weigh?” Healthy growth and development has such a wide range of what is acceptable it can sometimes be difficult to notice if there is a problem.
As a mom, I am guilty of “Googling” every little odd symptom my daughter has had since birth. I have probably visited more than 100 mommy blogs, health sites and pediatrician’s websites; I even looked for similar photos of rashes in hopes of diagnosing the problem. Something I have come to realize in my first 18 months of parenting is there really is no such thing as “average” or “normal.” Every child is different, thus, symptoms and growth chart levels will be different. The important thing to remember is to weed out the bad information and use your doctor and trust care provider as a resource, when you have concern
Be wary of opinion based information people put out there on blogs and forums or websites from organizations written by individuals that are not medically trained or certified. That’s a hard thing to stay away from, especially while you’re frantically searching for answers on the internet at 3 a.m. While the internet and search engines are a wonderful tool, they can be tricky with information.
While it is important to educate yourself as a parent on the general developmental milestones, health issues and common problems in young children, be picky with the websites you base your knowledge from and always go to legitimate physician based source first.
As always, no matter what any reliable website says, if you as a parent have a gut feeling that something is wrong, take your child to the pediatrician immediately. Most doctors would rather parents be proactive, than wait until things got worse.
A few great sites with quality information:
http://www.Kidshealth.org – Based from Nemours Children’s Clinic and most articles written are from Nemours physicians.
http://www.Healthychildren.org – Sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics
