Blog Updates

I am reading a fascinating book called Triumphs of Experience. It is from Harvard University and reports on a 75 year follow-up of 268 young men recruited in the 1930s. This is one of very few whole-of-life studies in medical literature. The subjects were undergraduates at Harvard University and they […]

The Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo hosted a discussion forum on unsettled infant sleep yesterday in Melbourne. More information will come from the forum organisers in coming weeks. In the interim, I wanted to share some general themes that emerged during the discussions.

Since the tragic death of four-week-old baby Riley from whooping cough in Perth recently, talk about whooping cough has escalated. Today I am answering some recent questions.

In February 2015, a major study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine looking at the impact of early exposure to peanuts. The study found that the introduction of peanut between 4-11 months decreased the risk of peanut allergy by between 70% and 80%.

Watch this video to find out more about how The Babysleep Doctor can assist families to flourish. Hear from The Babysleep Doctor himself and several of this patients.

In 2012, I undertook a study of mothers visiting our surgery and we assessed their emotional wellbeing. The results of this study were published in the British Medical Journal (Open). We assessed 100 mothers using a recognised survey tool called DASS 21. This is a questionnaire designed to assess depression, […]

Research into breastfeeding concerns was conducted by the US and published in the Paediatrics Journal (the official journal of the American Academy of Paediatrics). The article is included below. The researchers identified common breast feeding problems and concerns for mothers. Their main point was that feeding problems lead to failed breast feeding. I agree and therefore try to manage and avoid these problems to the best of my ability.

The Victorian Government is reintroducing free whooping cough vaccinations for expectant parents and parents of newborns following a significant hike in the incidence of whooping cough cases State-wide. The past year has seen an almost 58 per cent crease in whooping cough notifications in Victoria, especially among children under one. […]

A parent has asked me to write as a GP about febrile convulsions. This followed a worrying experience with her child. As a general practitioner previously working in rural communities it was not uncommon to care for children experiencing such convulsions. Medically they are almost always benign and without long-term consequences for the child. They almost always resolve without treatment.

This article by Pia Akerman appeared in The Australian on 19 January 2015. It caught my attention because of both the importance of immunising children, and the vigorous way immunisation is being supported in some States.