Smart Parents

My pages are centered around a general concept ... decide for yourself. The responsibility for raising a healthy child falls on your shoulders. To do this you don't need 4 years of medical school and years of residency training. You just need the innate parenting skills we are all born with and a basic knowledge of common pediatric symptoms. Once you know the basics, you can then intelligently consult with your doctor to determine the best course of action based on your child's diagnosis. In most cases however, Smart Parents are able to care for kids at home and rarely need the assistance of a doctor.

In a perfect world doctors would always do what is best for their patients. Doctors unfortunately have many outside influences, some of which may conflict with what is in the best interest of your child. In today's legal environment ALL doctors over-test and over-treat. Likewise ALL tests and treatments have side-effects - some mild and some severe. You must advocate for your child and make sure that the benefits of treatment outweigh the risks for your child's health. Too often, your child's treatment may be determined by the risk of your doctor getting sued.

Doctors are also heavily influenced by the broken system of medical reimbursement. In short, the more tests that are ordered and the more treatments that are given (necessary or not), the more reimbursement doctors get. These are the facts and undoubtedly influence the practice of ALL doctors. Remember that YOU are paying(whether directly or indirectly) for everything that the doctor does. And remember that every test and treatment has a side-effect profile. Again, you are charged with the responsibility of deciding what is best for your child.

Thus the reasoning goes ... Smart Parents... Healthy Kids!

Below are several modules that are intended to provide you with the basic information that you need to properly care for your child. No doctor or any other person knows a child better then their own parents. I would take mother's intuition any day over the whole array of lab tests and X-rays at my disposal. However, mother's intuition can easily be overwhelmed by a fear of the unknown. In many cases this fear leads to a compulsion to "do something." More is not always better and sometimes the best thing you can do, is to do nothing at all. These simple modules were developed to help combat that fear and they will take you step by step through the vast majority of routine pediatric illness.

We will first start off with common symptoms and pediatric complaints. Included in each section is a section on Myths & Fact, References from the current medical literature, my suggested treatment guidelines (including when to call your doctor), and common Home & Natural Remedies. Once you have a basic understanding of the common complaints and symptoms in children, we will move on to a more broad discussion of common pediatric diagnoses - like ear infections, strep throat, etc.

Throughout each section I will encourage you to "decide for yourself," by presenting the current evidence for the various treatment options. It is truly my hope that as you progress through the entire program you will feel empowered to work with your doctor to care for the health of your child. It is also my hope that you will take an active role in using the health care system responsibly and encouraging others to do the same. Only through a true partnership between doctors and parents can we hope to deliver the best care possible to our children.

Chapter 1: How to choose a doctor

Chapter 2: Nutrition - coming soon!

Chapter 3: Healthy Parents

Chapter 4: Fever

Chapter 5: Cough

Chapter 6: Congestion

Chapter 7: Vomiting

Chapter 8: Diarrhea

Chapter 9: Ear Pain

Chapter 10: Sore Throat

Chapter 1: Umbilical Cord Blood Banking

Chapter 2: The Delivery
Chapter 3: The newborn nursery
Chapter 4: The neonatal ICU (NICU)
Chapter 5: Feeding
Chapter 6: Jaundice
Chapter 7: Spitting up
Chapter 8: Fussiness
Chapter 9: 2-month shots

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-Dr. Reynolds

It is important for everyone to understand that the purpose of this website is educational - to provide information. It is not a replacement for your doctor and I am not entering into a doctor-patient relationship with any of the readers of these pages or their children. It is my goal that by providing you with easy to understand information based on the latest research you will be empowered to work with your doctor to raise...healthy kids!