Book Review: The A to Z of Children's Health

Hey there, welcome to Monday!  We had a delightful, relatively quiet weekend.  How was yours?  Hopefully no one in your home was sick...there is a lot of nasty stuff going around these days.

If you're a parent, than you have probably spent far more time that you would like to desperately searching Google and/or parenting books trying to figure out if your child's rash, cough or fever warrants a trip to the doctor or if there is something that can be done to treat it.  It's hard not to worry that it could be something more ominous that just an every day infection and while you'd make yourself (and everyone around you) nuts if you panicked every time your kid has the sniffles, as a parent, you naturally want to do everything in your power to prevent your child from harm.

Recently I was sent The A to Z of Children's Health, written by doctors Jeremy Friedman, Natasha Saunders, and Norman Saunders, of Toronto's very own Hospital for Sick Children.  One of the contributors is the girls' very own pediatrician!  Love her!!

The book is definitely comprehensive.  It covers every health issue you can think of from allergies to burns, to lice, to night terrors, teething, and warts.  It is organized, as you might have guessed, alphabetically, by condition.

I like that they have included mental health and behavioural issues.  Because sibling rivalry is a big problem in this house, I checked out that section first.  They give some good tips about how to manage sibling rivalry, however, though they mention that some is normal but too much is problematic, they don't explain how to differentiate between what is normal and what is not, nor do they suggest what to do if things are in the problematic stage. I think the book is better for physical ailments and conditions but I think it's good they include behavioural issues too.

The A to Z of Children's Health covers not only the usual ailments and injuries, but also many chronic and congenital conditions.  It does a great job of giving very detailed instruction for things like administering an Epipen, which could be frightening for a parent.  There are lots of photos, and even case studies and extensive information about possible causes of presenting symptoms as well as possible treatments.

Overall, I think this is a great resource for parents to have.  Rather than searching the internet for information, which may or may not be accurate, this book provides credible information that you can have on hand whenever needed.