News – Important Updates For Our Families

Help For Struggling Students Is Life-Changing

Last year, the Connecticut State Department of Education updated their Individualized Education Program (IEP) in an effort to make the process easier to navigate for students, parents, and educators. Helpful as those changes are, making sure a child has access to schools and can thrive in them becomes a bit more involved when a child has a disability. New Canaan Pediatrics understands that current education research has proven that early, individualized intervention can greatly improve educational outcomes. However, this means there are many potential paths to a better educational experience for students with disabilities. So where does a parent start?

Childproofing isn’t just outlet covers!

When you were expecting your baby, you probably received a gift of safety devices; outlet covers, cabinet locks and baby gates. As soon as your newborn rolled over the first time, you probably installed everything to keep your child safe. Have you taken a minute lately to see how safe your home is for your growing toddler or elementary school age child?

Put Down That Cell Phone! How Parents’ Screen Use Affects Their Children

As parents, we spend a great deal of time worrying about how much screen time is healthy for our children. Will it affect their attention span? Will it impact their academic performance? Are phones and screens causing depression and anxiety in our kids?

Unfortunately, even if our kids never see a screen until the age of two, the way adults around them use screens is still having a dramatic impact on their development. Here at New Canaan Pediatrics, we recognize that adults also struggle with screen time, often glued to screens during any downtime we may have. Rather than trying to monitor our children’s screen time with apps, trackers, settings, and passwords, modeling responsible screen and digital device habits to our children is a more effective way to reduce their screen time. [Read more…] about Put Down That Cell Phone! How Parents’ Screen Use Affects Their Children

ACHOO! Are allergies are making your child miserable?

Allergies can be a simple sniffle that quickly resolves as tree pollen dissipates. It can also be itching, watery eyes, difficulty breathing and uncontrollable sneezing during the spring and summer. New Canaan Pediatrics is here to help you better understand allergies and provide solutions to allergy symptoms. [Read more…] about ACHOO! Are allergies are making your child miserable?

Let’s Talk About Speech Development!

When your baby is just born, their mouth, tongue and cheeks have already developed the strong muscles and skills to suck, enabling them to start feeding immediately. However, even with all this strength and dexterity, it will take years for these same muscles to develop sufficiently for your child to properly enunciate all the sounds needed for clear, understandable words.

New Canaan Pediatrics is here to explain which sounds you can expect to hear first, which can be a real challenge and when intervention may be needed. [Read more…] about Let’s Talk About Speech Development!

Eating Disorders in Adolescents

As parents, our very first worries center around food. Is our newborn baby eating enough? Too much? What is the right amount anyway?! These concerns generally abate as our kids get older; almost always parents see their children eating just as they should – and thriving – within several months.

However, when our children enter the pre-teen and teen years, parents may again become concerned about eating habits, especially if kids seem suddenly obsessed with calories, exercise and weight gain. [Read more…] about Eating Disorders in Adolescents

Making sense of fevers to avoid fever phobia

Parents would love to wrap their children in virtual “bubble wrap” to protect them from all hurt, illness and troubles, but the reality is that all kids will get hurt, get sick, get colds, and get a fever. At New Canaan Pediatrics, we understand that, especially when little ones get a fever, parents get worried. We are parents ourselves! [Read more…] about Making sense of fevers to avoid fever phobia

What Your Teen Really Wants For The Holidays

For years, you’ve purchased gifts that have enriched your children’s lives, from educational games to toys that develop large and small motor skills, to equipment for activities to must-have clothing. This holiday, as your child grows older, you’re stumped. Besides gift cards, what is there to buy?

New Canaan Pediatrics is here to recommend holiday presents that will enhance your children’s lives in their teen and young adult years, perhaps in a completely new direction. With these gifts, you show your child you admire their maturity, their growing independence and their interests, no matter how divergent from yours. [Read more…] about What Your Teen Really Wants For The Holidays

Important! You must fill out the first page of the CT School Health form or your school will not accept the form.

News – Important Updates For Our Families