I continue to feel privileged to share my thoughts here. Blogging has become a huge and stable part of my life. When I celebrated my 2-year blogging birthday back in November, I realized sharing insight online is a pillar in my job as a physician. I suspect providing insight and expertise will be more and more a part of the job of my peers as time unfolds. And I remain convinced that as long as patients are online, I must be, too. Reality is, I have more time online with some of my patients than I do in the exam room. I believe this experience is a peephole into the future of elegant, efficient health care. And I trust this is just the beginning. 268 posts and counting…
Here’s a line up of the “greatest hits” from 2011. I must admit I was somewhat surprised by the list, but these are the 10 posts that resonated most (as indicated by number of times viewed) over the calendar year although not all of them were written in 2011. Some recent posts were nearly in contention for the top 10 but just haven’t had the shelf life as those from early in 2011. From the Tsunami in Japan to the adventures in potty training to one incredible, heart felt guest post!
Thank you to all of you for joining me here and for teaching me so much. I am constantly and forever indebted to you…
Seattle Mama Doc 2011 Top 10 “Greatest Hits”
- Science Of The Soft Spot — Science of the soft spot in babies (anterior fontanelle) including a 3D CT scan reconstruction of an infant skull.
- If It Were My Child, No Tylenol Before Shots — Some data behind why I believe there is no good reason to pre-medicate with acetaminophen prior to shots.
- Colic, Crying And The Period of PURPLE Crying — An overview of “colic” and baby crying in first few months as well as a link to a Good Morning America Health interview I did.
- Japan Tsunami: Reminder To Prepare — How to prepare your home and family for an unexpected catastrophic event.
- Fast Paced Media And Four Year-Olds: Cartoons On The Brain — A post about new research exploring the effects of fast-paced cartoons over slower ones on the executive function of 4 year-olds.
- If It Were My Child, No Baby Food Before 4 Months — Research finds early introduction of solid foods may increase risk of obesity.
- Four Hours On A School Bus — A guest blog from an incredible friend about the “food allergy tax” & how parents go well out of their way to protect their children with severe food allergies, over and over again.
- Radiation Disasters: No Potassium Iodide — After the horrific tragedy in Japan, many families worried about effects of radiation moving over the West Coast of the US. This is an overview of the risks of radiation and why I didn’t recommend using potassium iodide (KI) in children.
- Pull Ups & Potty Training — An overview (and video) on how and why to ditch the diapers at night as soon as you can…
- Treating Ear Infections With Antibiotics — New research (Jan 2011) on using antibiotics for ear infections. A reminder of how less really can be more.
So that was 2011. The blog has had a big spike in readership this last month and we’ve welcomed many new visitors. So I wonder, what do you want to hear about in 2012? I have a series of posts I have been working on about the HPV vaccine, another on sudden cardiac death screening, and one post brewing about IQ testing in children. But what else are you waiting for? Tell me and I’ll do my best to heed the call.
Danielle says
I’d love to read a post about toddler sleep. We hear so much about baby sleep, but I have a 20 month old who still frequently wakes during the night, wakes up crazy early, and generally is incredibly unpredictable! For some background, he goes to bed around 8 pm every night and we have a routine. He still uses a paci at bedtime. Thanks so much! We are TIRED (and expecting #2, so we’d love to figure this mess out)! 🙂
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD says
Hi Danielle,
Great idea! I will write a post about toddler sleep, and I certainly hope you can catch up a bit before #2. I’ll speak with a sleep expert as well to nail down some good (and evidence-based) guidance.
DJ says
First of all, love your blog. In response to the allergy article, could you post about allergy resistance treatment? My nephew has serious allergies, and I have a 3-month old child at home who has not yet started on solid foods, obviosly, but I’m wondering if it’s better to withhold allergy-causing foods or present them early. (Do populations where nuts are eaten often, such as in southeast Asia, have children or adults with the same percentage of peanut allergies as in the U.S.? Are nut allergies on the rise in these populations as well?) I don’t know the answers to these questions but have read a little about resistance treatment and see from a layperson’s view why it might make sense. What do you think?
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD says
DJ,
I will do this as well. There is more and more data about allergies, food introduction, and timing– but the data is confusing. It’s likely why you’ve maybe heard mixed advice. For example, when I first started in practice 5 1/2 years ago, advice was to wait on introducing highly “allergic foods” until 12 months of age. Now, the advice has shifted after some large studies were published that found early food introduction including highly allergic foods (around 6 months) may actually be protective for allergies. Will try to offer a few posts this next month or so to clarify.
Thanks for the support of the blog! So glad you’re here.