This article was published in 2019- so is not the very latest-but has been rated as one of the top articles of 2019. Books are becoming more and more available in electronic form- including children’s books. The parent-toddler interactions (verbal and non-verbal) during the reading of electronic books in comparison to printed books had never been formally studied before this particular study. This study researched 37 parent-toddler dyads and measures their verbal and non- verbal interactions whilst reading basic electronic books, enhanced electronic books (with animations or sounds) and printed books. Results: Parents and toddlers showed significantly more book-related verbalisations and interactions with print book format in comparison to electronic books. Conclusions: We should continue to promote good old-fashioned shared reading of print books with our children, especially in toddlers and young children! Publication: Tiffany Munzer et al. Differences in Parent-Toddler Interactions with Electronic versus print books. Pediatrics April 2019

“Irritable bowel syndrome of childhood” I really enjoyed this summary on paediatric functional abdominal pain disorders published in “Nature Reviews Disease Primers” in November 2020. In my practice I see many children with functional bowel disorders and this summary provided a really good explanatory model. Essentially, functional bowel disorders are disorders of intermittent abdominal pain (cramps or burning pains) which are not found to be caused by anything specific or serious. Such functional bowel disorders are common in children, occurring in up to 25% of infants and children! They can be classified into: – irritable bowel syndrome – functional dyspepsia (more upper abdominal reflux like symptoms) – abdominal migraines (intermittent severe abdominal pains lasting hours to days) and – functional bowel disorders not otherwise specified. What causes functional abdominal pain? Functional abdominal pain syndromes can be referred to as disorders of the “microbiota-gut-brain” axis. Let’s look individually at these 3…