Author Archive for: ‘DrNinaShapiro’

We are swimming in muddy waters

We are swimming in muddy waters

Guess what!  Now it’s ok to eat peanuts or tree nuts during pregnancy!  A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association documented that eating nut products during pregnancy actually does not increase an unborn child’s eventual risk of developing nut allergies. Guess what!  All plastic products for infants and children no longer […]

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One Less Nut in LALA Land

One Less Nut in LALA Land

The day after Jane Brody’s article in the New York Times came out, describing how surprisingly common it is for children to choke on objects, be they toys or food, I’m in the operating room with a toddler’s who’s choked on a cashew.  Wait, he’s not even a toddler.  He’s a BABY. By some arbitrary […]

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The worst parents in the world, or mixed messages?

The worst parents in the world, or mixed messages?

The other day, I asked a tearful mom to kiss her boy goodbye before we wheeled him off to the operating room. And we didn’t have time for a long goodbye. He was three-years-old, her ‘one and only’. Just days before, he had choked while eating popcorn, seemed okay right afterwards, but his nagging cough […]

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Breathing Issues in Your Newborn

Breathing Issues in Your Newborn

Anyone who has ever been in a delivery room, be they parent, birthing coach, doctor, or nurse, awaits the same thing: a newborn baby’s first cry.  “WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” and everybody cheers.  But did you know that a baby cannot breathe through his wide-open mouth, except when he cries?  That’s right, a newborn baby must breathe through […]

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Am I a Mean Mom?

Am I a Mean Mom?

That fateful day, when my nine-year-old daughter’s dentist told us that she needed two teeth pulled.  Baby teeth, but they were locked in, so out they must go.  “Just make an appointment, and we’ll give her a little laughing gas.”  Laughing gas?  Anesthesia?  For two baby teeth? Hmm, I thought.  What ever happened to Novocain […]

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The Cockroach in His Ear

The Cockroach in His Ear

“You did what??” I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about some of the most amazing medical cases I’ve seen and surgeries I’ve done—to make kids breathe better, to save their lives, to better their lives, or to ward off infections.  But when I told him, as an aside, in order to […]

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Informed Dissent

Informed Dissent

Just when we thought the controversy of immunization had reached its height, there is yet a new twist being brought to the California legislature. While many parents with school-aged children have been documenting their refusal to have their children immunized with signed waivers brought to school officials, there is now a plan afoot to mandate […]

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Are we nuts over vaccines?

Are we nuts over vaccines?

By Nina Shapiro, MD Author of “Take a Deep Breath: Clear the Air for the Health of Your Child” “Nut-free”, “Peanut-free”, and the latest and greatest: “Nut sensitive”. The rage in preschools and elementary schools across the country is to protect our nut-challenged children from nut exposure, even if it means not exposing them to […]

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When is a Cold More Than a Cold?

When is a Cold More Than a Cold?

All kids get colds.  In fact, it’s not uncommon for kids to get up to ten colds per year. If you have more than one child, and one child’s cold comes after the others, as is usually the case, it is very likely that you are dealing with someone’s cold for half of the year.  […]

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How to Keep Your Family Healthy During Holiday Travel (Or, Somebody Sneezed on my Armrest)

How to Keep Your Family Healthy During Holiday Travel (Or, Somebody Sneezed on my Armrest)

By Nina Shapiro, MD Author of “Take a Deep Breath: Clear the Air for the Health of Your Child” Holiday travel with children is a bit like a game of Russian roulette. Or poker. Or even like playing the lottery. The numbers are never in your favor. Kids get up to ten colds per year, […]

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