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Ah, the dreaded temper tantrum. They’re no fun, but they are a normal part of childhood, and parenting. Cook Children’s pediatrician and mom, Christina Sherrod, M.D., shares why kids have tantrums, when they’ll outgrow them, and what to do when your child is having one.   Meet the speaker Meet Dr. Sherrod  Visit Dr. Sherrod’s practice   Related information Ways to incorporate exercise and keep your kids active this summer Pediatricians’ group takes strong stance against spanking, yelling at children Kindness matters. How to teach our children empathy. Signs, screening and treatment for autism spectrum disorder  Strategies to help your child handle stress   Transcript 00:10 If your child is having tantrums, the first thing to know is that it is a very normal part of childhood and you have a normal child. They usually start when a kid turns one, and peak up until about the age of four. But tantrums are pretty normal and a regular part of childhood up until age seven. 00:31 The first thing to learn when your child is having a temper tantrum is nothing about your child. The first thing to think about is how you're going to respond. And that it's really important as a parent, that you stay calm, because your child is going to read and act based off of how you respond. 00:46 And I think the thing to realize about tantrums is that your child is just overwhelmed with emotions. And you can't make that go away for them. Your job as a parent is to help them learn how to handle those very strong emotions. 01:04 You can't yell at them and get those emotions to stop. Often, that makes it worse. You can't spank them to get those emotions to stop and you can't punish them. What you really need to do is let them ride that ride. Give them a calm, safe environment to learn how to calm down. And then, once they're calmed down, try to talk to them about it. And how you talk to them about it really depends on how old they are. So an 18 month old can't really understand long sentences, but they will have tantrums when they're tired, when they're hungry. And they'll definitely have tantrums when you don't give them what they want. 01:39 All of those are instances where their emotions are just overwhelming them. And they're screaming and crying and hitting and kicking. And what you want to do is, first set really good boundaries that they are not allowed to hit or kick or hurt anyone else when they're having a tantrum. If they do that, you tell them no, and you put them in timeout. 01:58 If they're just kicking the floor, and not hurting themselves and screaming and crying, then you really just want to give them a minute. You just want to keep yourself calm. Try not to say anything, and let them just get to a place where they're out of that part of their brain that is illogical, and not hearing you and not understanding what you're saying.   And then when they calm down, that's when you say, "Man, you w

We all need sleep, but the big question is, how much? For kids, the amount of sleep they need varies by age. From babies to teens and all ages in between, pediatrician Kim Matlock, M.D., has quick tips to help ensure your child gets sleep they need.   Meet the speaker Get to know Dr. Matlock  Visit her pediatrician office    Related information Spring forward: The best ways to prepare your kids for daylight saving Sleep issues in children and teens leading to mental and emotional health concerns  What is Co-Sleeping? Is it safe? Safe baby sleep  Children who sleepwalk. What parents need to know.   Transcript 00:00:02 Hi. I'm Dr. Kim Matlock and I would like to talk to you about sleep tips for your child. 00:09 You know, sleep is an incredibly important topic for our children. It affects them in so many different ways, including growth and development, learning, behavior. 00:19 The appropriate sleep is very age dependent. Usually young infants between zero and four months are sleeping more than they're awake. And as they get to be older infants, they still require quite a bit of sleep. 00:29 Our preschool aged children need 12 hours of sleep at night, plus a two to three hour nap during the day. 00:39 As they get a little older, our early elementary age children need about 11 hours of sleep at night. And as they grow a little bit, our later elementary age children need an average of 10 hours of sleep at night. 00:52 Our adolescents don't get as near as much sleep as they need. They need 10 hours at night, but most adolescents don't get near that. 01:01 Giving kids good, adequate sleep will help them maintain healthy, active lifestyles. And those are my tips on sleep.

How do you change a newborn baby’s diaper and prevent diaper rash? Cook Children’s pediatrician, Kim Mangham, M.D., guides new and expectant parents through the steps of diaper changing and explains what to do to help prevent diaper rash.Meet the speakerMeet Dr. ManghamVisit Dr. Mangham’s practiceRelated informationSee more classes from Dr. ManghamCook Children’s free newborn classes and parent eventsCook Children’s Newborn CenterHow to help young children cope with vaccine anxietyPediatricians offer virtual newborn classes for parentsMommy memory failing? Here's what to do.A pediatrician's 10 easy way to get your child to eat healthierPreventive care in pediatricsDo your kids need vitamins or supplements?Doctor groups ask for tougher stance on kids’ sugary drinksThe dirt on germs: They aren't all bad

How do you remove earwax from your child’s ears safely – and without fuss? Pediatrician Frank McGeHee, M.D. has the answer, and it’s easier than you might think. Meet the speaker Meet Dr. McGeHee Visit his pediatrician office Related information Can my child swim with an ear infection? 3 tips on how to clean your child's earwax Cold weather and kids: How to keep your family safe at home, outside and in the car Winter tips for parents

Watch Now Dr. Kim Mangham is here with some simple tips to help you protect your baby and steps you can take in case of an emergency. As a pediatrician and a mom, Dr. Kim Mangham knows that expectant and new parents worry about keeping their baby safe and what to do in an emergency. She’s here with some simple tips to help protect your baby and steps to take in case of an emergency. Meet the speaker Meet Dr. Mangham Related informatio Choosing Safe Baby Products Choosing the Right Car Seat Co-Sleeping – Is it Safe? Pediatricians Offer Virtual Newborn Classes for Parents Do your kids need vitamins or supplements?     Transcript   00:05 Hi, I'm Dr. Kim Mangum. I'm so happy to be here today to talk to you about infant safety and give you an overview of infant CPR. I work in one of the primary care clinics at Cook Children's on Keller Parkway. Let's talk first about infant safety. There are three points I'd like to make.   00:29 The first point is sick contact precautions. So it's really important for newborns not to be exposed to anyone who has any sick symptoms. So it's important to limit visitors and also if you yourself get a cold or a fever please wear a mask when you're caring for your baby.   00:45 Secondly, it's very important that babies are rear-facing in a car seat that is installed correctly. The Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you keep your infant rear-facing in the car seat until at least two years of age and older, until they exceed the height or weight specification of the car seat.   01:04 It's also very important for babies to be on their back in their own bed to sleep at night to prevent sudden infant death. The other thing that can contribute to infant death is tobacco exposure, so it's important not to have any smokers in your home.   01:17 If you go to Cook Children's.org you can see a really nice video on infant safety   01:26 The main things to know for infant sleep are number one, to make sure they're on their back in their own bed without any additional objects. And also in your room but not in your bed until twelve months of age. You can put your infant in a sleep sack or in a fitted pajama, flat on their back without swaddling. The Academy of Pediatrics prefers that you put the baby on their back rather than on their side to decrease the risk for sudden unexpected infant death.   01:52 Now I'd like to talk to you about infant CPR. It's important to know that what I will review today is for only infants zero to twelve months of age. Over 12 months of age CPR is done differently. I advise all my families to take a full CPR class because before you know it your baby will be over a year of age. The other thing we recommend is to go to cpranywhere.org and purchase the video and the mannequin because there's good data that shows the more you practice CPR the more effective it would be in the case of an emergency.

Dr. Alice Phillips is here with some simple steps to help you prepare for childbirth and the arrival of your baby So you're having a baby! It's such an exciting time, filled with high expectations. It can also be a time of high anxiety. As a mom and a pediatrician herself, Dr. Alice Phillips is here with some simple steps to help you prepare for childbirth and the arrival of your baby   Meet the speaker Meet Dr. Phillips   Related information   Cook Children's Pediatrics Cityview   Preparing for childbirth   A pediatrician's guide on preparing for your baby's arrival   How to choose a pediatrician   Pregnant with twins? A mom's perspective   Virtual lactation consultation   Breast feeding support     Transcript   My name is Dr. Alice Phillips, I am a pediatrician at Cook Children's. I have had the pleasure of working for Cook for 25 years now. So, you're expecting your first baby, maybe not your first. And now you want to know what to do.   So step one is, I want to encourage you to be as prepared as you can. I always think that's kind of a funny thing to say. How are you completely prepared for a newborn? There's no way to be completely prepared. But there are definitely some steps that you can take that will make that transition from being pregnant to having a newborn much easier. First, and most important is I think you need to find your pediatrician. It's surprising to me always, how many families don't do this. How they don't do research and figure out who is a good match for their family. So ask your friends, ask your family, who do they trust? Search online to the Cook Children's website for physicians in your region, and then call those offices. Many of the pediatricians will do prenatal consultations where you can actually come into the office, meet the physician, ask them any questions that you have, and get a feel for the layout to see if it's a good match.   Second, it's who can you protect that's going to be in that child's world? Since newborns can't have many of the vaccines that are so important to protect them, you want to have them in a wrapping of protection. That means everyone who's going to be around that infant has had a flu shot, if it's flu season. Everyone who's going to be caring for that baby is protected from whooping cough with an up-to-date Tdap. And that includes dads too. I find that you dads sometimes are a little bit reluctant on that shot thing. So we need moms, dads, grandparents, friends, caretakers, everyone to be protected so that that baby is protected.   Then you want to pack your bag. I remember when I was a mom packing my bag and thinking I needed all of these things, fancy clothes, stuff for the photos, and realizing when I got there, really all I needed to do was take care of the baby. So pack

Is your child is having trouble hearing or complaining about an earache? If so, it may be caused by wax buildup in the ear. Frank McGehee, M.D. has a simple—and kid-friendly—tip for unclogging your child’s ear. Meet Dr. McGehee Related Information: Cold weather and kids: How to keep your family safe at home, outside and in the car Father’s Day advice: Put your children second Study finds babies sleep longer, safer, if they don’t room with parents What’s earwax? Another earache. Is it time to see an ENT? Transcript: 00:00:04 Hi, I'm Dr. Frank McGee from the Magnolia pediatric office and we're going to talk today about how to get earwax out of your child's ear. The importance of that is that sometimes earwax can get so blocked that the child can't hear normally. 00:00:17 More practically, if the child has a large chunk of wax in the external ear canal, the pediatrician can have trouble seeing the tympanic membrane and telling if there's an earache or not. 00:00:27 So there's a simple way to clean earwax and keep, basically keep the flow of earwax, and avoid an impaction. That involves a cotton ball and hydrogen peroxide. And what you do is put hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball so that it is moist and you hold it to the child's ear for four or five seconds during bath time. 00:00:46 You don't have to drip or stuff the cotton ball there, you just hold it to the to the outside of the ear canal and the moisture from the hydrogen peroxide softens the wax and helps it flow out of its own accord. 00:01:00 So that's how you remove earwax or keep it flowing in a very simple way. If you have any other questions, please feel free to call our office. Thank you.

Watch Now Is your child afraid to swallow a pill or vitamin? Pediatrician Amani Terrell, M.D. demonstrates a way to make swallowing a pill easier for your child. And, of course, it makes getting your child to take their medicine a little less stressful for you. Meet Dr. Terrell Related information A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Depression and Anxiety in Children and Teens on the Rise Amid COVID-19 Cook Children's Pediatrics Keller Parkway Transcript 00:00:05 Hi, I'm Dr. Terrell, and I'm going to teach you how to get your child to swallow a pill. Children as young as five and six can certainly learn how to swallow a pill. And here's a good way to teach your child how. 00:00:17 First, you get a cup of ... I have yogurt here, but you can use pudding or apple sauce, or mashed potatoes or anything that you like for your child that has kind of like a mushy consistency. 00:00:30 And yeah, and then I have a spoon right here. I like to practice with a small piece of candy. So I have an Icebreaker here. But you can use Skittles or a Tic Tac or an M&M. 00:00:45 You want to place your piece of candy onto the spoon and bury it into your yogurt or your apple sauce. And then have put the spoon in the child's mouth and have them swallow it whole, just like this. 00:01:01 It's simple and it's easy and it's a good way to get your child to swallow a pill.

Dr. Michelle Bailey shows you how to set up and use your nebulizer. Meet Dr. Michelle Bailey Visit Cook Children's Pediatrics McKinney   Transcript: 00:00:10   Hi, I'm Dr. Michelle Bailey with Cook Children's Pediatrics McKinney. I’ve had asthma for 30 years and you know above everyone else when you're feeling that tingle in the chest, when you're getting that tightness, that shortness of breath or that cough that won’t stop. So for the older kids and teenagers, super important that you know how to put this together yourself so you can grab it when you need it.   00:00:37 We've got our two ends. Plug one into to the machine, one into the bottom part. Get your medicine, pour it inside, screw on the top. Now, the top of this one is different. It's called a T top, looks like a T when we put it together. One side just put on this little extender, the other side you put on a mouthpiece. This one is for the older kid that elementary or teenager and they can just breathe in really deep breaths through this little T tube.   Turn it on. You can see a nice amount of smoke coming through each side when they take a big breath. The smoke stops for a second, that normal. You want to bring in all that good medicine. Big breath out and then keep going. It takes about eight to 10 minutes for the medicine to be all used up. Flick on the side tap on the side a little bit to make sure all that misty medicine comes back to the bottom. After that eight to 10 minutes. You can turn it off and then rinse out, not this little part, rinse out these little pieces with some hot water just to keep it clean. Especially clean the mouthpiece really well. 00:02-21 Thank you so much for watching the video on the nebulizer machine. If you need more information. You can find it at Cook Children's dot org.

Dr. Michael Deitchman discusses what to carry with you during the summer. Meet Dr. Michael Deitchman Visit Cook Children's Pediatrics Hurst Transcript: Hi, I'm Michael Deitchman and I'm here to talk about what to have with you when you go out and enjoy the summer. So you always want to make sure that you've got some sunscreen, SPF 30 or better. Every child every parent needs to have some sunscreen on. Some bug spray, DEET works the best but there's picaridin, which works really well. And if your child's over three, you can use something called oil of eucalyptus. A little hydrocortisone cream doesn't hurt to have in the bag or some Benadryl cream in case you do get a mosquito bite or an ant bite. And then always have some water around. Even just a bottle of water, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just something that you can have if you're getting out and hot and stay nice and hydrated. And so have a great time out this summer but just make sure that you're prepared.

Dr. Ann Natterer explains what you should expect once you bring your newborn home from the hospital. Meet Dr. Ann Natterer Visit Cook Children's Pediatrics Cityview Transcript: 00:00:13  Hello, I'm Dr. Ann Natterer and I'm with Cook Children's City View pediatrics. Once you finally settle in with your baby at home, besides feeling excited and joyful, you may also feel like there are so many things to think about, or things to be watching out for. Mainly, at least in the first weeks, your infant should be eating, sleeping, peeing and pooping. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for the first year of life. If you're planning on breastfeeding, please know that there will be many resources available to you for support. Hospitals and birthing centers have lactation consultants. Cook children's has a virtual lactation consultation program. And of course, your pediatrician's office will be there to support you as well. Remember that this will be a new learning experience for both you and for your baby.   00:01:14  During the first days of breastfeeding, your baby will receive colostrum and colostrum is rich with proteins and nutrients for your baby. The colostrum will help to begin your baby's immune system to support it and will help to protect against some infections.   00:01:33  If you will be formula feeding your baby, the nursery staff, your pediatrician can help you to choose a formula that's appropriate for your infant.   00:01:43  And lastly, pooping. So you will see your baby's bowel movements go from being that thick, sticky, dark colored meconium stools to greenish brown and looser stools. Usually after the first few days, then the bowel movements will become more yellow or mustard colored. With breastfed babies, they may have some seed like particles in their stools. And with formula fed babies, their stools can sometimes have a lighter brown color. So there's quite a variation in the stool color, stool consistency, and the frequency of stools. In general, breastfed babies will tend to have more frequent stools, so maybe five or six a day. And they will have looser stools than formula fed babies.   00:02:41  So your newborn will need to be fed every two to three hours. And that includes during the night. As far as sleeping goes, most of your infant's time will be spent sleeping, and that's during the day and during the night. So that's a good time for you to try to catch up on some rest. Newborns can sleep anywhere from 16 to 17 hours a day, sometimes even more. And usually it's in short stretches of time. So it will be normal for your infant to wake up to feed and then go right back to sleep again.   00:03:18  Wet diapers are a good reflection of how well hydrated your newborn is. So in the first few days of life, you may only see two or three wet diapers a day with moms who are breastfeeding as your milk supply is coming in. And for infants who are formula fed as they start to increase the amount that they're taking and are eating more consistently, you'll start to see an increase in urination. So usually by about a week of age, you will be likely to see your baby having six to eight wet diapers a day or even more. If you ever have any concerns or questions about how your baby is eating, how much it's sleeping, or anything about the number or appearance of wet or dirty diapers. Please don't hesitate to call your pediatricians office.

Dr. Justin Smith discusses how to handle social media as a teenager. Meet Dr. Justin Smith Visit Cook Children's Pediatrics Trophy Club   Transcript: 00:00:04  Hi, I'm Dr. Justin Smith with Cook Children's in Trophy Club. Today, I'm going to answer a question that many teens have, when should I be allowed to have a cell phone and get on social media?   00:00:14  I want to start off by saying that anything I say is out of concern for you, I want to make sure that you're safe, and that you're not doing anything that could put yourself at harm. And social media does come with some risk. You may come across content that's scary, you may come across cross content that puts you in a place where you don't need to be with your emotions. And so I want to make sure that you're protected. And so I, first off whenever it does come time for you to be involved in social media, I want you to have someone that you feel comfortable going to if you see something that bothers you.   00:00:52  So there are a few big risk I see when you guys are involved in social media. The first one is bullying. It's not uncommon for you guys to post something and then have a bunch of other friends or even people who aren't friends come and make negative comments about what you've posted. That can be overwhelming. And so if you start to see that, be sure reach out to a trusted friend or an adult who can help you work through that. And can help you come to terms with how you're feeling about what people are saying online.   00:01:21  Another big risk is the fear of missing out. You may see that your friends are out doing things, maybe you haven't been invited, or maybe you had other things going on. And you may feel like you're always missing out on the best part of life. Keep in mind that you have great things going on in your life as well. And that they're only posting the best parts of their life. They're not posting the day-in  day-out that we all go through every day, that isn't the most exciting things about life. And I also want you to remember that it's important to take a break. You can't be on social media all the time. And so when you do get an account, be sure that you're taking time away to let yourself recharge and get back to where you feel safe to be there again. And if at any point you feel like it's not worth the risk, it's okay to close the accounts and to find other activities that bring you joy.   00:02:09  Thank you guys so much. Again, I'm Dr. Justin Smith at Cook Children's in Trophy Club. If you have more questions or would like more information about these topics or others, you can find more at Cook Children's dot org.