Ask a Pediatrician
This week, our resident pediatrician, Dr. Stephanie Dekom, helps budding walkers take those first steps, shares how not to confuse the flu with a cold and gives her survival tips for overseas flying with an infant.
Need some expert advice? Submit your question through the comments below! For more tips, follow Dr. Dekom on Instagram.
What are some ways to safely encourage walking?
Families are always very excited for baby to become mobile. One of the biggest motor milestones occurs when baby makes the transition from crawling to standing and then walking. There is no universal approach to encourage baby to walk, but if you can get baby to pull up to a standing position and begin cruising around the room this can be very helpful. By cruising, I mean grabbing onto furniture that is within babie’s reach from a standing position, item after item, in succession, essentially being supported while moving around a room. This can strengthen babie’s muscles and increase the desire to take those first big independent steps.
How do I know if my infant has a cold versus the flu?
This can be a challenging distinction even for some seasoned physicians. The truth is, the common cold and influenza are caused by different viruses, and the only way to truly distinguish a common viral illness from influenza is to do a quick nasal swab test in the office. I think the better question is, how can I tell if my baby has a cold caused by a virus or a bacterial infection that may need an antibiotic. Again, this can be a challenging question, especially early on in the course of an illness. However, some clues that your child may need to be evaluated are things like sustained fever greater than 100.4 for 48 hours or more, difficulty drinking or eating, signs of dehydration such as having fewer wet diapers than usual, or inability to be consoled. When in doubt, take them to the pediatrician.
Is it safe to take my six-month-old on an overseas flight?
People ask this question from time to time, and it is a challenging one to answer. The truth is, if you have to fly, you have to fly. I would always recommend that baby has had at least their first round of vaccines, which typically happens at 2 months of age. The more vaccinations you child has received, the safer flying is. This is especially true if you are flying to a developing country. As always, proper hand hygiene and limiting who has contact with you baby is advisable.
__Dr. Stephanie Dekom is a board-certified pediatrician located in Los Angeles, California. After completing her B.S. degree at Staten Island’s Wagner Collage where she graduated summa cum laude in 2008 with a major in Arts Administration and double minors in both chemistry and biology. She received her M.D. in 2013 from The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, she took a year-long leave of absence to compete in the Miss America Pageant as Miss District of Columbia. During her year of service, she made over 100 personal appearances to promote a platform of preventive healthcare. In 2016, she completed a residency in general pediatrics at the University of California Los Angeles. Currently, Dr. Dekom is subspecializing in neonatology, the practice of caring for premature and critically ill infants. She has been involved in research studies evaluating neonatal hemodynamics, studying the microbiome of newborns, and various intensive care unit based quality improvement projects. She has presented her work at multiple national conferences. _
