Our Pediatrics

COVID19 vaccines for children under 5 years old, finally!

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 12-0 to recommend Moderna AND Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to less than 5 years.

Vaccine administration

The Moderna vaccine is now available to children ages 6 months to less than 5 years as a primary series of two, 25-microgram (µg) doses administered four to eight weeks apart.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is now available to children ages 6 months to less than 5 years as a primary series of three, 3-µg doses. Dose 1 and dose 2 should be administered three to eight weeks apart, while the third dose should be given at least eight weeks after the second dose. 

Among children, a Covid vaccine induces a broader immune response when compared with the immune response from infection. In contrast with Covid infection, children vaccinated against Covid demonstrated a better immune response against alpha, beta, gamma, delta and omicron variants. The data shows the importance of vaccinating children who have already had a covid infection to prevent both severe disease and future infections.

Vaccine rollout

Legacy Pediatrics has received the Covid vaccines and are currently scheduling vaccination appointments.  Please call and ask to speak with a nurse, to make that appointment. 

Legacy Pediatrics will follow the recommendation that the same mRNA vaccine product should be used for all primary series doses. We are frequently asked if a child should receive other vaccines along with the Covid vaccine. The CDC recommends routine administration of all age-appropriate vaccines at the same time as the Covid vaccine.  If families would like to separate them, we will administer their scheduled well visit vaccinations, and have families return at a later date to start the COVID vaccine series.

Clinical trials

These recommendations to vaccinate children less than 5 years of age are based on clinical trial data. Moderna’s clinical trial was conducted from December 2021 through February 2022 (during the omicron surge) and involved 6,400 children. Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine clinical trial included 3,000 children and was conducted from June 2021 through April 2022 (while both the delta, beta and omicron variants were circulating). Both vaccines induced a strong antibody response and were well tolerated with minor side effects.

Lastly, why COVID-19 vaccines should be given to children

Between March 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, 269 children younger than 1 year and 134 children ages 1-4 years died because of COVID-19.

More than 2 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported among children ages 6 months to 5 years. Children in this age group are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19, and more than half of all hospitalized children with covid infection ages 6 months to 5 years were previously healthy with no underlying medical conditions.

As always, reach out to us if you’d like to discuss vaccination in more detail. 

Mindfulness

The new “it” word is everywhere these days – even causing a special edition of TIME magazine, and for good reason.

We at Legacy Pediatrics have seen a huge need for mindfulness practice in today’s children. Mindfulness/Meditation is an evidence based educational practice. Studies find that youths benefit from learning mindfulness in terms of improved cognitive outcomes, social-emotional skills, and well-being. In turn, such benefits may lead to long-term improvements.  Benefits are shown in:  Attention and focus, grades, emotion regulation, behavior in school, empathy and perspective-taking, social-skills, test anxiety, stress, post-traumatic symptoms, and depression.

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Teaching Kids the Giving Spirit

holiday-joyIt’s that time of year again!!!  Let the snow fly and the frantic trips to the mall start!!!  My house has already been bombarded with holiday gift catalogs WAY before November even hit.  It all seems too soon.

So how do we manage the gift craze as parents? Limit the number of presents they get every year? Limit the amount we spend? But then how do we tell family and friends to reign it in (pun intended). Sometimes it seems like the craziness is just too much to try to control.
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Is This ADHD?

Busy Child

As we embark on a new school year (where did the summer go?), you may be experiencing excitement, anxiety, and for some of you, even a little bit of fear as kids move on to the next academic level. Consider yourselves fortunate if your child enjoys school, likes to learn, and does homework without a fight. Many others have a very different experience of school. Academic demands are heightening and, as early as pre-k, we are seeing a shift in the expectations of our kids. While this is true, this is often a time when parents and teachers alike are surveying for any barriers to learning, which may include concerns for ADHD. In fact, some of you may have already been encouraged by a teacher or counselor to explore this possibility.

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Sleep Training

Baby Sleeping at Night

Photo By Seth Baur

“Are they sleeping thru the night?”

This is the age old question that is asked of new parents by family, friends, and healthcare providers alike.  Up to 45% of mothers reported infant sleep problems over the age of 6 months.   So what can you do about it?   This is usually when the conversation turns to sleep training.  How do you do it?  Will it work?  Is it ok to put my child (and myself) thru it?  Will it do any long term damage to let them “cry it out”?

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