Your doctor and/or nurse will probably: 1. Check your child's weight and height, calculate body mass index (BMI), and plot the measurements on a growth chart. 2. Check your child's blood pressure ...

What's the Endocrine System? The endocrine system is made up of glands that make hormones. Hormones are the body's chemical messengers. They carry information and instructions from one set of cells to ...

Doctors use certain milestones to tell if a toddler is developing as expected. There's a wide range of what's considered normal, so some children may gain skills earlier or later than others. Toddlers ...

Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac plants contain an oil (called urushiol) that can cause an allergic rash in most people who have contact with it. The plants look different, but they cause the ...

If you just sneezed, something was probably irritating or tickling the inside of your nose. Sneezing, also called sternutation, is your body's way of removing an irritation from your nose. When the ...

What Does the Heart Do? The heart is a pump, usually beating about 60 to 100 times per minute. With each heartbeat, the heart sends blood throughout our bodies, carrying oxygen to every cell. After ...

Quick! What's the body's biggest organ? You might be surprised to find out it's the skin, which you might not think of as an organ. No matter how you think of it, your skin is very important. It ...

What Is a Growth Plate? Growth plates are the areas of new bone growth in children and teens. They're made up of cartilage, a rubbery, flexible material (the nose, for instance, is made of cartilage).

What Is the Digestive System? Food is our fuel, and its nutrients give our bodies' cells the energy and substances they need to work. But before food can do that, it must be digested into small pieces ...

If your daughter is pregnant and planning to have the baby, many changes await your family. And though it's certainly not what most parents expect, it happens every day: nearly 250,000 teenage girls ...

Playing sports is a great way to have fun and stay fit. If you play sports, you may need to get a sports physical. A sports physical is a visit to the doctor to make sure it’s safe to play the sport ...

Take advantage of your child's natural tendency to be active. Regular physical activity promotes healthy growth and development and learning new skills builds confidence.