4 things pediatricians want parents to stop doing. Right now.

Whatever you do, don't tell your child they're not going to get a shot the next time the next time they see the doctor, when you actually have no idea if that's true or not. That's just one piece of helpful advice from Novant Healthy pediatrician, Dr. Rachael Fournet. Looking for more parenting information? Check out Novant Health, Healthy Headlines. Email us at healthyheadlines@novanthhealth.org.

Transcript:
Roland Wilkerson 0:06

So there's a particular quote out there that goes something like this. It's not what you don't know that gets you into trouble it's what you do know that's just plain wrong. This is Roland Wilkerson with Novant Health Healthy Headlines. And that same came to mind recently, when I talked with pediatrician, Dr. Rachel Fournet about certain behaviors, she wishes parents would simply stop doing, give a listen and see if there's anyone here you recognize.

Okay, so we're here today to talk about what pediatricians wish parents would stop doing. So let's hear it.

Dr. Rachel Fournet 0:46

So I would say one of the biggest things that I would recommend parents not do is lie to your pediatrician. So the relationship that a parent parents have with their pediatrician should be a sacred one. A special one, one where there's trust, there's communication freely both ways that the parents don't feel judged that the pediatrician, you know, doesn't get frustrated that we've talked about this seven times and you never listen. You know, it should be a really strong relationship.

Roland Wilkerson 1:15

What kinds of things are parents not being truthful about with their pediatricians?

Dr. Rachel Fournet 1:22

Usually the things that they know the pediatrician will not approve of so tends to be co-sleeping. So most people know that pediatricians are going to recommend that the baby sleep in a bassinet or a crib on their back, no pillows or blankets, and not in the bed with the parents, you know, not in a doc-a-tot not in a 'rock and play'. And when you're in survival mode as a parent with a newborn baby who wants sleep more than two hours, you'll do about anything to get your child to sleep. So sometimes parents will rely on these devices and they'll maybe sleep with the baby in their bed or they'll sleep at the baby on their chest in the recliner. And then when you come to the pediatrician, you know, I'll ask well, okay, well tell me about sleep, not only how often are they waking up at night, but where are they sleeping? How are they sleeping? And I'll see the parents kind of look side to side at each other and say, "in the crib," and I'll say, "guys, you know, what's what's really happening in your home?" I don't go to their house, I don't know for sure what's happening. So I'm relying on the parent to tell me the truth so that I know how best to advise and educate.

Roland Wilkerson 2:27

What's another example?

Dr. Rachel Fournet 2:30

Bottles. So our recommendation is starting at 12 months to wean off a bottle and under sippy cups, and bottles are one of those things that parents cling on to as a remembrance of them being a baby. They see their baby turning into a toddler, and there's that little bit of parental resistance to like move to that next stage. It might be because they're fearful of the terrible twos coming it might be because they just want to hold on to that kind of sweet baby stage a little longer. But parents either continue giving bottles into their well into 18 months two years old, which on my end, I would educate them that it can cause you know, tooth decay and it forms their teeth in a circle. And so there are negative reasons that we recommend stopping bottles. But so the parents are either afraid of having to move out of the baby stage too soon and they're clinging to it, or they think their baby is are taller now is very attached to the bottle and that it's going to lead to crying and impaired sleep. So I think parental fear of not sleeping is a huge driver in the things that they continue to do, even though we don't advise it.

Roland Wilkerson 3:38

Gotcha. What's next?

Dr. Rachel Fournet 3:40

So another thing that I wish parents wouldn't do is to listen to all the advice that's out there. So not that you know, we pediatricians know absolutely everything but this is what my entire life has been about is about learning everything there is to know about pediatrics and children and child raising and safety. So the way the internet is now you can find information and advice for your child on mommy blogs. You can find it on Facebook, mom groups, you can you know, the old lady in the grocery store is going to tell you oh that baby needs some Orajel on his teeth or and then he won't feel the pain and your own Grandma, the own grandparents might be giving you advice about you need to put rice cereal in their bottle. So they'll sleep better at night. It's fine if they sleep on their belly, you guys did it and you survived. And so parents’ especially first time parents are getting bombarded by advice all the time. So take the advice you get with a grain of salt. Do your own research, talk to your pediatrician first. We will help guide whether or not oh, you're right, we did us to sleep in our belly. And then we found out that 50% of SIDS deaths are from tummy sleeping. So all those children suffocated and died in their sleep because they were on their stomach. Once we turned them on their back, the SIDS rate dropped in half. And we had a solution. So yes, the grandmother's right. And yet science has told us that there's a safer way. And that's why we have changes in the recommendations, we change recommendations often in pediatrics. Now they recommend to stay backwards in a car seat until after two years old. Only a couple years ago, the recommendation was just turned forwards at one. So every year we're coming out with changes and updates and recommendations. And everyone on the street and everyone on the internet doesn't know that. So also keep in mind that your friends, you know mom groups, your people that you meet at the park people on on M2M Facebook groups, their advice is coming from a you know, an sample population of one to four children. So then you might say, Oh, my children all loved Similac lack formula, and Enfamil was the worst? Well, that's what worked for those four kids. Right? But that's not how science works. You can't do studies based on four people. And so take with a grain of salt that that might have worked for one mom, one family, one child, or my kid had that similar rash. And my doctor said it was this? Well, no no, and now like, rashes are tricky. Rashes are confusing, like and red bumps don't always mean it's the exact same diagnosis. So reach out to your pediatrician, we have triage nurses that are able to walk through you know, symptoms, ask questions, help guide you to accurate websites, we’ll let you know if it's something we're worried about, or give you that advice. And so that would be one number two.

Roland Wilkerson 6:43

So I think your next one was related about when to research and when not to research.

Dr. Rachel Fournet 6:48

So, 2am is t...