How your pediatrician in West Jordan, UT, can help your sick child

Your child is surrounded by germs. Household and school surfaces, ill children, and other factors can combine to make your child ill. Fortunately, there are some simple tips to help your child stay healthy. Your pediatrician can help. The pediatricians at Southwest Children’s Clinic in West Jordan, UT, provide comprehensive medical care for children, including sick child visits, to help when your child is ill.

One of the easiest things you can do to prevent your child from getting the flu is to have your child receive the flu vaccine. Your child is eligible to receive the flu vaccine if your child is at least 6 months old, according to the Centers for Disease Control or CDC. Flu vaccines are safe and effective and have been approved by the FDA and CDC.

These are a few additional tips to keep your child healthy during flu season. You need to have your child:

• Cover their mouth with a tissue when they cough
• Throw away germ-laden tissues, and don’t keep them in the pocket of their clothes
• Wash their hands frequently, using soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer
• Avoid touching their mouth, nose, or eyes to limit the spread of germs

You should also remember to regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces to get rid of germs.

If your child or another member of your household becomes ill from the flu, try to limit exposure to others to prevent the spread of the virus.

About 20,000 children under age 5 are hospitalized each year from the flu. Children with diabetes or asthma are at increased risk of having serious complications from the flu.

You can do a lot to help your child stay healthy during flu season. To find out more about prevention, signs, symptoms, and treatment of flu and other acute illnesses, talk with the experts. Call the pediatricians at Southwest Children’s Clinic in West Jordan, UT. You can reach them in the office by calling (801) 563-1975, so call today.

When your child is sick, you need the expertise and compassion of a pediatrician. Your pediatrician knows how to treat childhood illnesses and injuries and can help your child feel better.

When a child becomes ill, the signs and symptoms can often become more severe than those of an adult. Children’s nasal passages and sinuses are much smaller. That means when your child acquires a virus like a cold or the flu, congestion and breathing difficulties can be severe. Your child may experience:

• Coughing and wheezing
• Sneezing and nasal congestion
• Fever and fatigue

Your pediatrician knows how to help your child recover from an illness and feel better.

Bacterial infections are another common medical condition in children. Eye, ear, tonsil, and throat infections are a frequent occurrence and can cause your child to develop signs and symptoms including:

• A sore throat
• Itchy, watery eyes
• Painful, draining ears
• Swollen lymph nodes

Your pediatrician can diagnose the infection and prescribe an antibiotic regimen to eliminate the infection and help your child heal.

If your child has allergies, it can cause a wide range of signs and symptoms, and make your child feel very uncomfortable. When your child has allergies, you may notice that your child is:

• Sneezing and coughing
• Having difficulty breathing
• Having itchy watery eyes
• Having a scratchy throat

Your pediatrician can perform allergy testing to determine what your child is allergic to, and prescribe medication including allergy shots and sublingual immunotherapy to help your child get relief from allergies.

Pediatric asthma can be scary. When your child can’t breathe, it’s difficult not to panic. Your pediatrician can prescribe short term rescue inhalers and long-term asthma medications to prevent an asthma attack.

You can help prevent childhood illnesses and diseases by scheduling a regular examination appointment with the pediatrician. Your pediatrician can also provide immunizations to help ensure your child is protected against dangerous diseases.

To find out more about sick child diagnosis and treatment and how your pediatrician can help your child feel better, call your pediatrician today.

Adults aren’t the only people that need mental health services. Children can suffer mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and other conditions, just like adults. If your child suffers from mental health issues, a pediatrician is an important member of your child’s healthcare team.

Children often deal with life’s stressful events. Adults have coping skills and experience that makes dealing with these events easier. Children don’t have the same resources to draw from. Life’s stressful events can have a huge impact on a child’s mental health.

Children often suffer from depression, anxiety, or other mental health conditions because of:

• Moving
• Changing schools
• Losing friends
• Death of a close family member

Your child can benefit from children’s mental health services if your child is having:

• Difficulty in school
• Anxiety about going to school
• Anxiety about participating in social activities
• Frequent aches and pains
• Fits of temper or rage
• Frequent nightmares
• Thoughts about self-harm or suicide

If you notice any of the signs or symptoms listed above, your pediatrician can perform a mental health screening for your child, to help identify potential mental health issues.

These are some of the mental health issues your pediatrician can identify and help treat:

• Fear and anxiety disorders
• Sleeping and eating disorders
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Manic depression and clinical depression

Your pediatrician can counsel your child on healthy ways to cope with stress and stressful events. There are also several effective ways your pediatrician can treat mental health issues, including:

• Medications to manage anxiety, depression, and other conditions
• Counseling about coping mechanisms to deal with stressful situations
• Relaxation techniques to help manage stress

Children’s mental health issues can be managed effectively, with a little help from your pediatrician. Your pediatrician may also provide counseling on diet and exercise, so your child has the best chance for a healthy, happy life. To find out more about the importance of children’s mental health and how your pediatrician can help, call your pediatrician today.

Although it's inevitable, it's always difficult for any parent when their child becomes ill, and it can be just as difficult to know what to do in these situations. Below are covered some of the most common reasons why you would bring your child in to see their West Jordan, UT, pediatrician for a sick visit, but you can learn more by reaching out to your local professionals at Southwest Children's Clinic.

Getting Help

It's as the name suggests, a sick visit is when you schedule an appointment with your child's pediatrician when they require medical help. These are typically not urgent or emergency visits but are those that still benefit greatly from a prompt visit to make sure the symptoms are not related to something serious.

Sick visits are also different from so-called well-child visits, which are the necessary appointments for checkups and immunizations.

When to Visit

If your child is having a medical emergency or has suffered a traumatic accident then the first place to call is your emergency services, or you can take your child to an emergency room for treatment.

It's important to trust your judgment, but you can have a preventive discussion with your child's doctor at a regular appointment about this. You may want to bring your child in for a sick visit for situations such as trouble swallowing, vomiting, diarrhea, a rash that is painful or widespread, and localized abdominal pain, among other issues.

Sick Child Visit in West Jordan, UT

During the visit, your doctor will ask you and your child questions about symptoms and when these began as well as anything you may already have tried, including over-the-counter medication. Their doctor will perform a physical examination and order lab tests if these are required. In many cases, your doctor will be able to diagnose the problem and issue medication or guidance on treating the symptoms going forward.

You can dial (801) 563-1975 to schedule a sick visit for your child as soon as the West Jordan, UT, office is open, and even if their primary doctor isn't available you can typically be served by one of the other professionals from Southwest Children's Clinic.

It’s normal for children to act out. You want your child to test boundaries and show independence, which are both normal milestones in a child’s development. If your child is demonstrating inattentiveness, fidgeting, not listening, and other behaviors on a regular basis, your child could have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD.

The Child Development Institute lists the characteristics of ADHD as:

• Inattention
• Hyperactivity
• Impulsivity

These characteristics can contribute to some noticeable signs and symptoms, including:

• Repetitive motions, like clapping hands
• Continuous fidgeting and squirming
• Inability to remain seated for an extended period of time
• Running or climbing at inappropriate times
• Excessive talking and blurting out comments
• Inability to focus on details
• Problems listening and following directions
• Difficulty getting and staying organized
• Frequently losing or forgetting things

ADHD can be difficult to recognize and can easily go untreated, which is why an ADHD screening from your pediatrician is so important. Your pediatrician has effective screening tools to help identify ADHD. If your child has ADHD, there are several therapies your pediatrician may recommend, including:

Behavioral Therapy, which involves both child and parents; this type of therapy can help establish techniques to limit destructive, aggressive, and inappropriate behaviors.

Lifestyle Modification, which involves dietary and exercise alterations; sugar intake is reduced, and vitamin and nutrient intake is increased. Exercise is increased, to help focus on healthy behaviors.

Medication Therapy, which involves using medications to increase focus, improve brain function, and increase self-control. Medications may include Adderall and Ritalin, among others.

If ADHD goes untreated, it can lead to problems when your child becomes an adult. Some of the ways ADHD can affect an adult include:

• Destructive and harmful behaviors
• Poor grades in school
• Poor performance at work
• Inability to form friendships
• Aggressive, belligerent behaviors
• Moodiness, depression, and frustration
• Physical growth issues
• Difficulty sleeping

If you are worried about your child having ADHD, you need to consult with your pediatrician. An ADHD screening is easy, and can help identify ADHD, so it can be treated. To find out more about the signs, symptoms, and treatment of ADHD, call your pediatrician today.