Zest Pediatrics of Solon

07/31/2026

Sunscreen!

And don’t forget to reapply! While getting sunscreen once in the morning is often incorporated into the routine, remembering to reapply can be a little harder! Some tricks to consider:

-Buy the kind your kid won't fight you on. Stick, spray, whatever gets it on their skin is the "best" one

-Keep a backup in the car and one in the pool bag, because you will forget

-Cloudy days still count — clouds don't block UV nearly as much as we hope

07/30/2026

As pediatricians, drownings are one of our biggest fears. Drowning is silent and happens quickly. This is the conversation we’'ll never soften. Water accidents happen fast and they happen to careful families. Not because anyone did something wrong — usually because everyone assumed someone else was watching.

-"I thought you had them" is how most of these start. Name a Water Watcher out loud so there's no assuming
-Floaties and puffy arm rings give everyone a false sense of safety — they are toys, not life jackets
-Drowning rarely looks like splashing and yelling. It's often a kid who just slips under

Remember, swim lessons are the long game.We often call it a life skill, because it truly is one. If there's one summer investment I'd make every single time, it's that one.

07/30/2026

One phrase to know: if there are deer, there likely are ticks. But also, know this: Lyme transmission isn’t immediate, so doing a tick check every 24 hours is your safest strategy. Even if you find a tick, so long as it has been attached less than 24 hours, the likelihood of lyme transmission is pretty small.

-Yes, DEET is safe for kids — the percentage changes how long it lasts, not how strong it is

-Ticks love the spots you'd never think to look, so don't rush the check

-Found one? Tweezers, straight out, no twisting or burning or petroleum jelly tricks

Find a tick and you really aren’t sure how long it has been there? Call us. There are specific guidelines we follow on how to manage tick bites and we will walk you through it and provide prophylactic antibiotics when appropriate. You’ve got this!

07/29/2026

07/29/2026

With the increased water activities that the summer brings, we see an increase in outer ear infections (aka swimmer's ear). Here is a quick video walking through these painful infections.

04/30/2026

The “Too Much” Problem

When a child’s behavior, energy, or mood seems off, the natural response is to look for what’s missing — more support, more structure, more solutions. And sometimes that’s exactly right.

But in practice, we also see the other side of that equation. Kids who are overstimulated, overscheduled, and simply exhausted by the pace of their days. Too many transitions, too much noise, not enough downtime for their nervous systems to actually reset. Children need a balance of input and rest, and when that balance tips too far in one direction, it shows up in their behavior whether we recognize it as the cause or not.

If things feel off right now, one of the most useful questions to sit with is a simple one: what could we take away?

04/28/2026

What Kids Actually Need More Of

It’s easy to feel like good parenting means keeping kids stimulated, active, and moving from one enriching thing to the next. And while structure and activities absolutely have their place, something gets lost when every hour is accounted for.

Boredom gets a bad reputation. But it’s often where creativity lives. When kids aren’t being directed, they start directing themselves — and that’s where confidence, problem-solving, and self-regulation quietly develop. Unstructured time isn’t a gap in the day. It’s actually doing something.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can offer our kids isn’t another activity. It’s a little more space to figure things out on their own.

04/26/2026

The Monday Morning Problem

It's something we hear from families all the time. Monday morning arrives and a child who seemed fine over the weekend is suddenly falling apart — more emotional, more tired, harder to get moving. And parents are often at a loss because nothing dramatic happened.

But two things are usually going on at once. The first is physical: weekends naturally loosen the rhythm kids' bodies rely on. A later bedtime here, more screen time there, meals at different times. Children are more sensitive to these shifts than we give them credit for, and by Monday morning, their bodies are feeling it. The second is emotional: for a lot of kids, the start of a new week carries its own quiet weight. The anticipation of school, social dynamics, performance expectations — even kids who can't name it are often carrying it.

The good news is that the same things that help with one tend to help with the other. A predictable weekend rhythm, some time outside, a calm Sunday evening that doesn't feel rushed — these create the kind of steady landing pad that makes Monday feel a lot less like a crash.

04/24/2026

Why “Just Eat Healthier” Doesn’t Work

When it comes to nutrition, the challenge we hear from families isn’t a lack of knowledge. Parents know vegetables are better than chips. They know water is better than juice. The information isn’t the missing piece.

What’s harder is that food decisions happen in real life — when kids are tired, hungry, rushing out the door, or surrounded by other options. In those moments, knowing what’s healthy doesn’t always translate into choosing it. And that’s not a willpower problem. It’s an environment problem.

What actually helps is stepping back and looking at the setup. What’s stocked in the house. What’s easy to grab after school. What mealtime looks and feels like. When the environment supports the behavior, everything feels less like a daily battle — and more like just the way things are.

04/22/2026

Your Home Environment Is a Health Intervention

One of the things we love most about taking an integrative approach to pediatrics is that it asks us to look at the whole picture — not just the child in front of us, but the world they’re living in every day.

And that world starts at home.

Kids absorb what surrounds them. They eat what’s available, follow the pace and energy of the household, and reach for whatever is easiest. That’s not a character flaw — it’s just how children are wired. Which means small, thoughtful shifts to your home environment can do more than almost anything else. Real food within reach. Spaces that aren’t buzzing with constant input. A daily rhythm that feels predictable rather than reactive.

You’re not controlling more. You’re just making the right things a little easier to reach.