The BeeHive: Doc Talks

In this episode of The Beehive, Dr. Blair Rolnick, a board-certified pediatrician and mother, discusses essential self-care strategies for new moms in the postpartum period. Emphasizing the importance of support, she advises arranging help from trusted family, friends, or hiring a postpartum doula. Dr. Rolnick highlights the need for open communication with partners to divide tasks, such as night...

In this week's episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick explores the benefits and techniques of swaddling for newborns. She emphasizes swaddling's role in soothing and calming babies, particularly for breastfeeding and sleep.  Dr. Rolnick outlines safe sleep guidelines, stressing that swaddled babies should always sleep on their backs in a clear crib. She addresses swaddling concerns, noting that while some bab...

In this week's episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses normal feeding patterns for newborns in their first week of life. Parents should watch for hunger cues and monitor diapers to ensure their baby is getting enough food. Expect one wet diaper on day one, increasing to six or more by day five, along with changes in stool color. Babies may lose up to 10% of their birth weight in the first few days bu...

In this week's episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses how to talk to children about puberty. She recommends starting conversations early, around ages 7-9, before puberty begins. Key points include using correct anatomical language, keeping initial talks short, and being prepared for questions.  Dr. Rolnick provides book and video resources for both girls and boys, as well as specific materials tailo...

Welcome back to The Beehive Doc talks with Dr. Blair Rolnick. Today, she addresses the increasing trend of early puberty or "precocious puberty" in children and explores potential causes. Notable factors include childhood obesity, with a correlation found between higher BMI and earlier puberty onset, possibly due to the hormone leptin. Environmental chemicals like phthalates, parabens, and phenols...

In this episode of The Beehive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick, a board-certified pediatrician, discusses head lice outbreaks, highlighting symptoms, diagnosis, transmission, and treatment. Lice cause severe itching, which typically appears 4-6 weeks post-infestation, aiding their spread as many remain asymptomatic initially. Diagnosis involves checking the scalp, particularly behind the ears, for ha...

In this week's episode of BeeHive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses Lyme disease and tick bites, particularly in New Jersey, where the disease is endemic. Lyme disease is transmitted by black-legged ticks in their nymph stage, originating from white-footed mice. Dr. Rolnick emphasizes the importance of daily tick checks, proper tick removal using tweezers, and saving the tick for potential te...

In this episode of The Beehive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick addresses concerns about newborn spit-up, distinguishing between normal reflexes and potential signs of a more serious condition. She explains that newborns often spit up due to an underdeveloped lower esophageal sphincter and reassures parents that spit up is typically harmless if the baby is not in pain, is growing well, and is eating n...

In this week's episode of The Beehive, Dr. Blair Rolnick, a pediatrician and mother, addresses the signs and symptoms of teething, debunking common myths and offering effective management tips. Drooling in babies often signifies salivary gland development rather than teething. True teething signs include red, swollen gums, irritability, and loose stools, not diarrhea. Dr. Rolnick advises against u...

In this episode of the Beehive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick, a board-certified pediatrician and mother, offers crucial advice on preventing mosquito and tick-borne illnesses while traveling abroad with children. She stresses the importance of consulting the CDC and WHO websites for malaria-endemic areas and starting malaria prophylaxis early if needed. Key prevention strategies include using mosqu...

In this episode of The Beehive, Dr. Blair Rolnick, a pediatrician and mother, discusses the importance of scheduling a pre-travel visit with your pediatrician at least six weeks before traveling internationally with children. Key topics include essential vaccinations like MMR, hepatitis A, DTAP, meningococcal, and typhoid, alongside vaccination guidelines for regions with specific diseases like ye...

In today's episode, Pediatrician and mother Dr. Blair Rolnick offers practical advice for parents struggling with their school-age children's sleep issues. Emphasizing the importance of a thorough sleep history, she recommends specific questions to assess sleep patterns and identify potential medical issues such as sleep apnea, night terrors, or restless leg syndrome. Dr. Rolnick highlights the im...

In the second part of this series on The Beehive Dock Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick hosts pediatric sleep consultant Kate Faraci to discuss the intricacies of children's sleep habits. Emphasizing the importance of boundaries, both experts agree that structured sleep routines can make children feel safer and less anxious. They highlight common sleep disruptors like screen time, variable bedtimes, and la...

In this episode of Be Kind Pediatrics, host Dr. Blair Rolnick welcomes guest Kate Faraci, a certified pediatric sleep consultant, to delve into sleep challenges and solutions for school-age children. Kate shares her journey into sleep consultancy, emphasizing the profound impact sleep has on family dynamics, child development, and parental mental health. Discussion points include the significance...

In this week's episode of Beehive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses the management and treatment of functional constipation in children. She emphasizes that constipation treatment is effective but requires up to two months to see significant results. Dr. Rolnick explains the physiological process of constipation, highlighting how prolonged stool retention can desensitize the rectum's ability...

In this episode of the Beehive Doctalks, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses the common concern of constipation in children, focusing on functional constipation, which lacks a medical cause. She clarifies that functional constipation involves painful or difficult passing of hard stools. Dr. Rolnick delineates red flag symptoms that might indicate a more serious underlying condition, such as failure to thr...

In today's episode, Pediatrician and mother Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses magnesium's vital role in the body and its popularity as a supplement in pediatrics. Magnesium, the fourth most abundant nutrient in our bodies, aids in muscle function, bone and tooth formation, and acts as a crucial neurotransmitter. Supplementation should be done under a doctor's guidance due to potential side effects like...

Welcome back to The Beehive Doc Talks with Dr. Blair Rolnick! Dr. Rolnick focuses on measles prevention and response to exposure. She highlights the importance of basic hygiene practices and details the critical role of the MMR vaccine, which offers high protection rates against measles and is recommended in a two-dose series for children. She outlines updated CDC recommendations for children trav...

In this week's episode of The Beehive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick highlights the recent upsurge in measles cases in the United States, notably in New Jersey, and the primary reasons behind these outbreaks. Dr. Rolnick explains that measles, a virus causing respiratory infections, is most dangerous for young children, adults over 20, and immunocompromised individuals. She covers the symptoms of me...

In today's episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses parvovirus B 19, also known as fifths disease, which you could be hearing about as it's the season for this virus outbreak. The virus is common among school-age children and is characterized by mild cold-like symptoms, fever, headache, cough, sore throat, rash, and joint pain. Dr. Rolnick breaks down what you need to know about the disease and how it...

In this week's episode of Beehive Doc Talks, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses the importance of incorporating chores into children's daily routines. She highlights how chores can boost self-esteem, independence, and executive functioning in children. Emphasizing the benefits of delayed gratification, she suggests implementing a reward system for completing chores to instill fiscal planning and math ski...

In this episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses the critical importance of iron in fetal, newborn, and toddler brain development. Iron plays a vital role in building myelin, creating neurotransmitters, and supplying energy to the brain for optimal development. The lack of iron has been linked to impaired motor function, neurocognitive outcomes, and social emotional outcomes in infants.  Dr Rolnick st...

In this episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick, a pediatrician and mother, discusses the role of DHA in improving sleep outcomes in children. She highlights research showing that DHA supplementation may potentially benefit children's sleep. A UK study found that children ages seven to nine who were given an algal DHA supplement experienced seven fewer night awakenings and 48 minutes more sleep per night, thou...

In this episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses the critical role of DHA in the maternal diet and its impact on newborns and childhood development. She emphasizes the significance of a well-balanced, minimally processed, whole-food diet during pregnancy, highlighting the importance of DHA supplementation due to its limited availability in common dietary sources. Dr. Rolnick delves into the biochemica...

In this episode, Dr. Blair Rolnick discusses the impact of diet on the sleep of children and adolescents. She explains the differences between processed foods and whole foods, emphasizing the trend towards processed diets, particularly among young people. Dr. Rolnick presents research findings showing that consuming ultra-processed foods can lead to worse sleep outcomes, potentially linked to anxi...