Riverside Pediatrics

09/23/2025

09/13/2025

Great advice that we don't talk about enough! 👍👍🏽👍🏿

"The right age to practice pill swallowing starts around 4 or 5 years old. Make it a fun, no-pressure, relaxed experience. Explain why sometimes taking medicine is important, and that we can practice ahead of time so that we know how to do it when the time comes."

Here's a great skill to teach your child ahead of time: Swallowing pills. 💊

The ability to swallow pills can come in SO handy when you might least expect it. First off, not every medication comes in a liquid form. Some pills (especially extended-release) cannot be crushed. Many liquid medications taste horrible, and parents may find it extremely difficult to get their children to take them. Other advantages of pills include convenience, lower cost, greater drug stability, and easier dosing compared to liquid formulations.

The right age to practice pill swallowing starts around 4 or 5 years old. Make it a fun, no-pressure, relaxed experience. Explain why sometimes taking medicine is important, and that we can practice ahead of time so that we know how to do it when the time comes. If possible, let your child watch you take your own pills or multivitamins as demonstration.

Children can practice taking pills using candy or small food items. Start with something tiny like sprinkles, Nerds, or mini M&Ms. Work your way up to standard chocolate chips or regular M&Ms once they've mastered the smaller candy. The process takes time and probably won't be achieved overnight.

Tips for success:

1. Seat your child upright with minimal distractions around them (such as TV, phones, or tablets)

2. Have them take several sips of water to "practice" normal swallowing. No swishing around!

3. Set a sprinkle or mini chocolate chip on their tongue and let it dissolve completely before rinsing it down with a normal sip of water.

4. Next, set a sprinkle or mini chocolate chip on their tongue and have them swallow it whole with a sip of water just like they did before. Tell them to pretend like the sprinkle isn't even there.

4. Repeat the process at their pace. Check to make sure they aren't pocketing the pretend pills in their cheeks. 🐿️

5. Celebrate the successes! 🥳 Practice sessions should be about 5 to 10 minutes long with a focus on having fun.

If things aren't going well, try taking sips with something thicker than water, like milk or juice. You could also try putting the "pill" into something semi-solid like pudding, Jello, or applesauce.

Try your best to stay calm and positive, even if things don't go as planned. Go back a step or two in the process as necessary. Praise your child for trying. 🥰

‼️ Remember to store medications in a safe place out of your child's reach. In the case of an accidental ingestion, the first number to call (as long as your child isn't in any emergent distress) is the Poison Control hotline at 800-222-1222.

09/07/2025

This looks like a fun event for the kiddos!

08/31/2025

While ADHD can cause academic and behavioral challenges, it is also a superpower. It’s all about perspective. 🤗 ⭐️

08/29/2025

Happy Labor Day Weekend! 🇺🇸

Please note our office hours for the holiday weekend:

Saturday, 8/30 - 8 - 10 am (Georgetown location only)
Sunday, 8/31 - Closed
Monday, 9/1 - 8 - 10 am (Georgetown location only)

Please call 843-833-8595 if your child needs to be seen for sick care.

We hope that your family enjoys a relaxing weekend together!

08/25/2025

We are hiring! Are you a nurse (LPN/RN) or Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) looking to work in a positive environment with the cutest little patients on the planet?? This position is for our Georgetown location and is full-time with benefits. Please e-mail your cover letter and resume to our office manager, Deborah Armstrong, at dgross@riverside-peds.com or fax to 843-833-8599. We look forward to hearing from you!

08/23/2025

Safe sleep guidelines are the product of years of research and have saved countless precious lives. Please put your baby to bed on their back on a firm, flat surface without pillows or blankets. ❤️

Let’s be crystal clear: unsafe sleep kills babies.

Every. Single. Year. Thousands of infants die because someone decided their baby “looked cozier” with a blanket, a pillow, or curled up in an adult bed.

Newsflash: your baby doesn’t care about “cozy.” They care about breathing.

A firm, flat, empty sleep surface isn’t a suggestion—it’s the only evidence-based way to reduce the risk of unsafe sleep… suffocation, asphyxiation, rebreathing, overlay, wedging, falls, and SIDS.

Choosing what feels right to you over what we know is safe isn’t “parenting intuition.” It’s reckless.

This isn’t about comfort. It’s about survival. Comfort won’t bring a baby back.

08/21/2025

BEST. JOB. EVER. 🐠💕🙌🏻

08/20/2025

We have fish!! Bright beautiful fish, everyone’s favorite puffer fish, a starfish, and a hermit crab! 🐠 🐡 ⭐️ 🐚 Thank you to Rico with WetPets for getting our tank up and running again. 💕 We cannot wait for the kids to see (and more fish are coming in 2 weeks)! Yay!!

08/18/2025

Happy Monday, all! 🐠💕

08/09/2025

We are grateful for these Riverside stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️- spending the weekend in Asheville for the SCAAP conference and QTIP quality improvement learning collaborative. Always improving!! 🐠🙌🏻

08/08/2025

Helpful information for parents about hand-foot-mouth disease. We have been seeing plenty of cases! ✋🏽✋🏻✋🏾

I hear that hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) is going around again. What exactly is it, and what do you need to know?

HFMD is caused by a virus that tends to circulate in the warmer months of the year. It begins with a couple days of sore throat, fatigue, and fever. 🤒 Next, mouth sores and a skin rash occur. You may notice bumps, blisters, and/or shallow skin ulcers on the palms, soles, arms, legs, and buttocks. These are typically not itchy or painful, but can cause a little discomfort when the blisters break open. The skin rash lasts up to 2 weeks and then resolves completely.

Since the source of HFMC is a virus, antibiotics will not help. No specific labs or tests need to be done. Your job is to keep your child hydrated and comfortable while their body does all of the work. 👧

Mouth ulcers can be quite painful, so use Tylenol or Ibuprofen as needed to encourage your children to drink. Remember that a sick child may not want to eat solid food for several days, which is actually okay. Focus on getting them to drink enough to urinate at LEAST three times per day.

Unfortunately, it is possible to get HFMD more than once. Adults can catch it, too. It is spread through coughing, sneezing, and direct contact with nasal secretions, saliva, blister fluid, or stool. 😷 A child is most contagious during the first week of illness, but they can continue to shed the virus for several weeks.

How can we prevent spread? Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after changing diapers or using the toilet. 🚽 Cover your mouth with every cough or sneeze. Disinfect hard surfaces and soiled items, including toys. Avoid close contact such as kissing, hugging, or sharing of utensils with sick family members or friends. Children should stay home from daycare or school until fever has resolved and all skin blisters have dried up.

HFMD can cause peeling of the hands and feet or odd fingernail changes once the infection starts to resolve. 😞 Fingernails can even fall off completely, but they grow back without treatment. Pregnant women should avoid HFMD exposure whenever possible due to rare health risks to her unborn baby.

Rare complications of HFMD can occur, so bring your child in if they are acting extremely ill or showing signs of confusion, lethargy, pale skin, labored breathing, headache, stiff neck, refusal to drink, etc. Babies less than 3 months of age should also seek medical care. 👶

Much like a common cold, the vast majority of children get better from HFMD all on their own without any issues. Just stay calm, wash your hands, and keep your little one hydrated. 🙌

Primary source: Ventora D, Bordone L, Silverberg N. Update on hand-foot-and-mouth disease. Clinical Dermatol. 2015 May-Jun;33(3):340-6.