Don't mess around with stool samples
One issue of increasing importance is unnecessary and often expensive faecal examinations. Very few very useful tests can be carried out with a stool sample. But it can also be used to do a whole lot of - to stay on topic - crap.
Conventional medicine must first of all take a good look at itself for the fact that there are more and more of these unnecessary tests. We conventional doctors have ignored or even ridiculed the whole topic of gut flora and microbiome for too long. Today it is clear - and that is a good thing - that this is an important topic for health. Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons why we paediatricians are so careful not to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics, as these can damage the gut flora.
However, it must also be said that from a conventional medical point of view: Unfortunately, we still know very little about the microbiome, its composition and its function. We don't really know any markers where we can clearly say that this is pathological and we need to do this or that therapy. We don't even know whether one value is okay in one person and not okay in another. We don't know how the individual gut bacteria interact in the microbiome. This means that the state of knowledge is (still) such that meaningful diagnosis and treatment are not possible.
And yet extremely extensive tests are increasingly being offered, usually costing between 150 and 200 euros, from which therapy suggestions are often derived that are scientifically untenable.
That's why our attitude in practice is that we don't know what to do with these tests and advise parents not to go ahead with them.
However, we are, of course, always available for all topics relating to digestive complaints and abdominal pain. And there are also a few useful stool tests, for example for an inflammation marker called calprotectin, which we of course also carry out.
If you would like to read more about this topic, here is a link to a very good article: www.cme-kurs.de/kurse/sinn-und-unsinn-von-stuhlanalysen/
Further interesting tips
Child Day Care Act
There is still good news from the bureaucratic jungle! The certificate in accordance with §4 of the Child Daycare Act is no longer required. From now on, parents can simply show the yellow booklet and vaccination card when their child is to go to a community centre or child minder.
Lies
Tears don't lie - at least that's what Michael Holm claims in his famous hit song. Children, on the other hand, do lie. Sometimes even like printed matter. This often causes parents a lot of stress, which is why we are taking a closer look at this topic. And also because it's honestly a topic where we parents always have to look at how big our own part in it is.
U3 provision
A topic for new parents or people who are about to become parents: the U3 check-up. This is usually the first check-up that takes place at the paediatrician's practice. The U1 is actually always carried out in the hospital or maternity centre, and the U2 usually takes place there too.