About once a week, a parent comes into the office and asks me about a scary phenomenon: their child has been waking up at night, frightened and unable to be consoled or comforted. These are called night terrors, (also called sleep terrors or pavor nocturnus) and can be very worrisome for parents. The child seemingly awakens from sleep in a panic, sometimes screaming or crying and cannot be calmed down. The child might appear confused and might not recognize the parent. In actuality, the child is still asleep.

One-in-four girls aged 14-19 in the United States have at least one of the five most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), based on data analyzed by the CDC. These five STDs are Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Herpes, Trichomonas, and Human Papillomavirus (HPV). This means that about 3,000,000 girls in this age group in the U.S. have one of these STDs.

As published in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1 in 5 children and teens in the U.S.

The rate of reported food allergies in children is increasing. As reported in “Pediatrics”, the number of doctor visits and hospitalizations because of food allergies has increased. This might represent an increase in awareness by doctors and parents rather than more allergic disease. Can we help prevent food allergies in children?