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Update Week of January 3

This Week’s Hot Topic
Happy New Year! I’m keeping it short this week because I’m still running around like a chicken with its head cut off even though the holidays are over. The last 2 weeks have been fabulous. Eva’s first Christmas was truly a celebration of how blessed we were this year. And yes, if you were wondering, we did go see Santa but I wrapped her in a blanket which I promptly washed. He looked like a clean enough Santa and my family was mocking me so I threw caution to the wind and went for the photo opportunity. Of course the mocking didn’t stop or start there (nice family, eh?) which is the story I want to tell you today.

While in Ohio I got together with several old friends and colleagues, all of whom are pediatricians, most of them emergency medicine specialists. Do you remember my last email when I said that we should be wiping the gums of a baby before he even has teeth? Oh well, can I tell you what a grand time my friends had making fun of that one! Never mind that the pediatric dentists taught me that. And that Eva’s pediatrician also instructed me to do so. No, my buddies thought it was so hilarious that they started calling people “Gum Wipers” as an insult. (As in, “Lara, you’re such a Gum Wiper. I can’t believe you measure Eva’s formula to the exact milliliter.” I don’t by the way. Just an example. “Gum Wiper” is apparently synonymous with “super uptight.”)

Why am I telling you this? Because it’s a fantastic example of how medicine is an art. And how different doctors may have different ways of doing things. There are very few times when a rule about raising kids is hard and fast. Putting healthy infants on their backs to sleep and strapping them into a car seat are a couple of them. But whether you wipe your kids gums or use a certain diaper cream or start green vegetables before yellow, chances are your kid is going to be okay. So that is my Happy New Year message to all of you: enjoy your children and don’t sweat the small stuff. Have confidence and do your best; it will most likely turn out fine. And now I’m off to wipe my child’s gums…

From The Mouth of Babes:
Said the 2 year old little boy of a friend of mine: “Pee comes out your penis. Poop comes out your butt. That’s all you need.” Well, it’s not everything, but it’s a good place to start.

Dr. Lara Zibners, Jan 05, 2010

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