selected writing

Selected essays on parenting as a pediatrician

For more writing visit Health Insight Lab, a collaboration with fellow pediatrician mom and mind-twin Dr. Phoebe Danziger

 

For parents of young children, vaccines offered a glimmer of hope. Now what?

Parents of children under 5 years old aren’t okay, and we need your help, via WBUR.

Angry That Kids Still Have To Wear Masks? Us Too. Get Vaccinated.

In this Working Mother essay, I ask vaccine-hesitant individuals to work through their anxieties and embrace a pandemic-ending vaccine that will restore the world to our children.

Promoting Sensible Parental Policies: Leading By Example

Promoting Sensible Parental Policies: Leading By Example

In this JAMA narrative medicine essay, I recall my challenging pregnancy and postpartum period, compare myself to women who had less support, and call on the physician community to advocate for a change in US policy to provide 12-week paid family leave.

I’m a Mom and a Pediatrician: Here Are 8 Things I Want You to Know About COVID-19

I’m a Mom and a Pediatrician: Here Are 8 Things I Want You to Know About COVID-19

In the midst of holiday-induced pandemic fatigue, I help parents stay safe and sane in this essay for Parents magazine.

A pediatrician’s point of view: Antiabortion is anti-child

Those who would deny a woman’s right to choose are the same people who would deny a struggling mother the supports to properly care for herself and her child, via the Boston Globe.

A Simple, Social Summer For Kids Is Just What The Doctor Ordered— Literally

A Simple, Social Summer For Kids Is Just What The Doctor Ordered— Literally

In this Scary Mommy essay Dr. Risa Hoshino and I explain why pediatricians agree that a simple, social summer isn’t just “enough” for kids, it’s exactly what they need.

When I See You Without A Mask

When I See You Without A Mask

In this essay for the series Flattened By The Curve by McSweeney’s, I share the emotional toll that the debate over wearing masks and other simple preventive measures has placed on frontline providers like myself. While the science is sound, arguments on behalf of public health have been presented as dispassionate and disconnected. But the opposite is true: We healthcare workers have an intense, personal, and emotional stake in this conversation.

Kids are sick. But viruses aren’t the problem.

Pediatricians know how to treat RSV, flu, and covid in kids. We just need the resources to do so. Via The Philadelphia Inquirer.

As a doctor and mother, I’m balancing privilege and pain through this pandemic

As a doctor and mother, I’m balancing privilege and pain through this pandemic

In this Washington Post On Parenting essay, I write about my struggles as a doctor and mother to balance privilege in pain during the pandemic. While I always tell families they deserve to grieve without guilt, I find it hard to practice what I preach.

Kids’ covid vaccines are on the way. Parents, don’t let anti-vax propaganda fool you.

Kids’ covid vaccines are on the way. Parents, don’t let anti-vax propaganda fool you.

In this essay for The Washington Post On Parenting, I use my personal and professional struggles with the anti-vaccine movement to show parents why we need to give these vaccines a fair shot.

Why Breastfeeding Isn’t a Solution to the Formula Shortage

In this NBC Think essay, I explain why telling parents to “just breastfeed” is misguided and dangerous.

A Delicate Bond

A Delicate Bond

In this JAMA narrative medicine essay, I realize after my newborn daughter undergoes treatment for elevated bilirubin that my previous advice to new parents may have interfered with the infant-mother bond.

I Had Early Access To The COVID Vaccine As A Doctor, But I Chose To Get It As A Mother

I Had Early Access To The COVID Vaccine As A Doctor, But I Chose To Get It As A Mother

In this essay for Scary Mommy, I share my personal decision to get the COVID vaccine not only as a frontline doctor, but as a mother looking to do everything she can to protect her daughter.