Developmental milestones and growth
Developmental milestones from 2 months to 5 years and growth assessment: red flags, delay versus regression, autism, charts, FTT and short stature.
Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026
Paediatrics
The health of babies, children and adolescents: growth, development, childhood illness and vaccination.
Introduction
Paediatrics is the care of babies, children and adolescents. A child is not a small adult: normal values change with age, the same symptom can mean different things at six weeks and six years, and growth and development are part of every assessment.
This section begins with normal growth and the newborn, then follows the main groups of childhood illness: inherited and metabolic disease, heart defects, gut and urinary problems, immune and inflammatory disease, infection, the brain and muscles, cancer, bones and joints, and finally protection, screening and prevention.
Every topic uses the same layout: a short summary, what you should be able to do afterwards, the mechanism, the clinical picture, tests, treatment and the traps. Doses, thresholds and cut-offs are checked against named guidelines and shown with their source, because guidelines and countries sometimes differ.
How to study paediatrics
Learn each condition by the age it usually presents. Ask first how old the child is, because that narrows the list: a vomiting baby at three weeks, a toddler with a barking cough and a teenager with a limp each have their own short list.
For the newborn and the infant, learn the emergencies as pathways: breathing problems, jaundice, bilious vomiting, a floppy baby, fever in a young infant and a child who may have been abused. Practise saying the first three actions aloud.
Link what you read to growth, milestones and vaccination, which run through every topic. Use the check-yourself questions a few days later, and treat the figures and tables as exam material in their own right. Content here is for study and does not replace local protocols or a senior clinician's judgement.
Contents by part
The topics below are in teaching order. Each part builds on the one before it.
- Growth, development and the newborn. How children grow and develop, then the newborn period: the first examination, jaundice, breathing problems, gut emergencies and eye infection.
- Developmental milestones and growth
- Puberty and sexual development
- Apgar score and the newborn examination
- Congenital malformations of the newborn
- Neonatal jaundice
- Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome
- Necrotising enterocolitis
- Neonatal eye infections
- Failure to thrive and faltering growth
- Short stature and growth hormone disorders
- Infant feeding, breastfeeding and common infant feeding
- Adolescent medicine
- Neonatal resuscitation and transition at birth
- Prematurity and its complications
- Neonatal sepsis and early-onset infection
- Neonatal hypoglycaemia and the infant of a diabetic mother
- Neonatal seizures and hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy
- Congenital hypothyroidism and newborn screening
- Genetic and metabolic disease. Chromosomal, single-gene and metabolic disorders that show themselves in infancy and childhood.
- Congenital heart disease. The heart defects of childhood, grouped by whether the child is blue.
- Gut and urinary tract. Vomiting, bleeding and obstruction in infants, plus the common urinary, genital and worm problems of childhood.
- Pyloric stenosis
- Intussusception
- Malrotation with volvulus
- Meckel diverticulum
- Hirschsprung disease
- Vesicoureteral reflux and urinary infection in children
- Cryptorchidism
- Pinworm infection
- Acute gastroenteritis in children
- Constipation and encopresis in children
- Enuresis and daytime wetting
- IgA vasculitis and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis in
- Immunity and inflammation. Children who get too many infections, and the inflammatory diseases of childhood.
- Childhood infections. Ear, airway, brain and rash infections, and the infections a baby can catch before birth.
- Brain and muscle. Seizures, cerebral palsy, the floppy infant and the muscular dystrophies.
- Childhood cancer. Leukaemia and the common solid tumours of children.
- Bones, hips and spine. Fractures in growing bones and the orthopaedic problems of the foot, hip and spine.
- Protection, screening and prevention. Recognising child abuse, routine screening and guidance, vaccination and lead exposure.
- Nutrition, fluids and metabolism. Undernutrition, dehydration and fluid treatment, rickets and other deficiencies, and the endocrine and metabolic emergencies of childhood.
- Airway, breathing and the sick child. Childhood asthma and wheeze, choking and airway emergencies, and the recognition and resuscitation of a seriously ill child.
Topics
Puberty and sexual development
Normal puberty and its disorders in children: timing, Tanner staging, precocious and delayed puberty, evaluation, treatment and adolescent gynaecomastia.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Apgar score and the newborn examination
How to score the Apgar, resuscitate and examine a newborn, with vitamin K prophylaxis and screening.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Congenital malformations of the newborn
Congenital structural defects present at birth: abdominal wall, neural tube, GI, diaphragmatic, craniofacial and genital anomalies.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Neonatal jaundice
Neonatal jaundice: why most newborns turn yellow, who is at risk of severe disease, and how to diagnose, treat and prevent kernicterus.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome
Why surfactant deficiency in preterm infants causes RDS, how it presents and is diagnosed, and how CPAP, surfactant and gentle ventilation treat it.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026
Necrotising enterocolitis
Necrotising enterocolitis in premature infants: risk factors, presentation, imaging, Bell staging, management, complications and prevention with breast milk.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Neonatal eye infections
Conjunctivitis in the newborn: timing, tests, treatment and prophylaxis for gonococcal, chlamydial and herpetic infection.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Failure to thrive and faltering growth
Slow weight gain in children: definition, causes, assessment, feeding history, investigations and management (NICE NG75).Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Short stature and growth hormone disorders
Approach to short stature in children: normal growth variants, red flags, causes, bone-age-based evaluation, and treatment of growth hormone deficiency and.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Infant feeding, breastfeeding and common infant feeding
Breastfeeding, formula, weaning, and practical approaches to regurgitation, colic and cow's milk protein allergy in infants.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Adolescent medicine
Adolescent health: confidentiality and consent, the HEADSS assessment, substance use, eating disorders, contraception, mental health, and transition to.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Neonatal resuscitation and transition at birth
How a newborn makes the transition from fetal to independent life, and how to recognise and treat the baby who does not breathe or circulate well at birth.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Prematurity and its complications
What prematurity is, how it is defined, and the major complications of being born preterm, with their prevention and care.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Neonatal sepsis and early-onset infection
What neonatal sepsis is, why early-onset infection differs from late-onset, the GBS pathway, risk factors, signs, tests and the antibiotics used.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Neonatal hypoglycaemia and the infant of a diabetic mother
How neonatal hypoglycaemia is defined, screened, treated and prevented, with guideline thresholds. Includes infants of diabetic mothers.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Neonatal seizures and hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy
How neonatal seizures present, are diagnosed with EEG, treated, and how therapeutic hypothermia is used for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Congenital hypothyroidism and newborn screening
How congenital hypothyroidism is found at the newborn heel-prick screen, confirmed, and treated with levothyroxine to protect brain developmentChecked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Chromosomal disorders in childhood
Chromosomal disorders in childhood: common trisomies, sex chromosome and microdeletion syndromes; genetics, presentation, screening, diagnosis and counselling.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Trinucleotide repeat and inherited neurological disorders
Fragile X syndrome, Friedreich ataxia, Huntington disease, myotonic dystrophy and other inherited trinucleotide repeat neurodevelopmental disordersChecked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Cystic fibrosis
Autosomal recessive disorder of the CFTR chloride channel: thick mucus, chronic lung infection, pancreatic insufficiency, and modern genotype-directed therapy.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Inherited metabolic disorders
Inherited metabolic disorders in children: sick newborn approach, PKU, galactosaemia, MSUD, urea cycle and storage diseases.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Acyanotic congenital heart disease
Left-to-right shunts and left-sided obstructive lesions in children: physiology, recognition, echocardiography, and treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Cyanotic congenital heart disease
The cyanotic heart lesions: right-to-left shunt physiology, bedside and radiograph clues, initial stabilisation, and definitive surgery.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Pyloric stenosis
Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis: gastric outlet obstruction, projectile vomiting, metabolic alkalosis, ultrasound diagnosis and pyloromyotomy.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Intussusception
Telescoping of the intestine in infants: causes, recognition, ultrasound and enema reduction, surgery, and recurrence.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Malrotation with volvulus
Congenital midgut malrotation and its most dangerous complication, midgut volvulus: embryology, bilious neonatal vomiting as an emergency, diagnosis and the.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Meckel diverticulum
A vitelline duct remnant in the ileum, the commonest congenital gut anomaly: ectopic gastric mucosa, painless bleeding, obstruction, and the Meckel scan.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Hirschsprung disease
A congenital absence of distal bowel ganglion cells from failed neural-crest migration: why neonates fail to pass meconium, how it is confirmed, and how it.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Vesicoureteral reflux and urinary infection in children
How urine refluxes from bladder to kidney, how urinary infections present by age, how imaging finds reflux and scars, and how VUR is managed.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Cryptorchidism
An undescended testis: why it matters, how to examine a boy, and when and how to bring it down.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Pinworm infection
A common childhood threadworm: perianal itching at night, how tape testing finds it, and how to treat the child and the household.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Acute gastroenteritis in children
Acute gastroenteritis in children: recognising viral and bacterial causes, dehydration, ORS and zinc, red flags and rotavirus vaccination.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Constipation and encopresis in children
Functional constipation and overflow encopresis in children: assessment, red flags, disimpaction, maintenance laxatives and long-term care.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Enuresis and daytime wetting
How bedwetting is classified, why it happens, how to assess it, and how alarms, desmopressin and daytime urotherapy are used, with red flags.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026IgA vasculitis and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis in
How IgA vasculitis (Henoch-Schonlein purpura) presents in children, threatens the kidneys, and resolves; and how post-streptococcal nephritis and HUS differ.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Primary immunodeficiency disorders
Inherited defects of the immune system presenting as recurrent, severe or unusual infection, autoimmunity or cancer; classification, diagnosis and treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Kawasaki disease
Acute medium-vessel vasculitis of childhood: prolonged fever with mucocutaneous signs and risk of coronary aneurysm; treated with IVIG and aspirin.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Chronic arthritis beginning before age 16: how JIA is classified, why uveitis is silent, and how it is treated from NSAIDs to biologics.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease
From strep throat to rheumatic carditis: Jones criteria, Sydenham chorea, valve damage, secondary prophylaxis and modern echocardiographic diagnosis.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Food allergy and anaphylaxis in children
How to recognise, diagnose and manage food allergy and anaphylaxis in children, from IgE-mediated reactions to oral food challenges and early allergen.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Acute otitis media in children
Acute otitis media in children: anatomy, otoscopy diagnosis, pain relief, watchful waiting, antibiotics, complications, tubes and prevention.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Bronchiolitis
Viral lower respiratory infection in infants under 2: RSV is the main cause; care is supportive; drugs do not help; prevention for high-risk.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Croup, epiglottitis and bacterial tracheitis
How to recognise and manage the three big causes of acute stridor in children: viral croup, bacterial epiglottitis and bacterial tracheitis.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Retropharyngeal and peritonsillar abscess
Deep neck infections in children: tell retropharyngeal from peritonsillar abscess, protect the airway, and treat promptly.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Meningitis in neonates and children
How bacterial meningitis presents in babies and children, how lumbar puncture and CSF findings confirm it, and how to treat and prevent it.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Pertussis
Whooping cough: a human-only toxin-mediated infection with catarrhal, paroxysmal and convalescent stages; diagnosis, macrolide treatment, and vaccination.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Viral exanthems of childhood
The common childhood rash illnesses: how to recognise measles, rubella, roseola, fifth disease, chickenpox, hand-foot-and-mouth disease and scarlet fever.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Congenital TORCH infections
Congenital infections acquired before and around birth: toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex, syphilis, varicella, parvovirus and Zika.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026HIV in children and mother-to-child transmission
Infant HIV diagnosis, early ART, prophylaxis, feeding advice and preventing mother-to-child transmission.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Cerebral palsy
Non-progressive motor disorder from early brain injury: types, classification, comorbidities, assessment and management in childhood.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Febrile seizures
Febrile seizures in children aged 6 to 60 months: classification, risk of recurrence and epilepsy, evaluation, acute management, prognosis and parental.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Infantile hypotonia
Infantile hypotonia: the floppy infant. Causes, examination, investigations, and a step-by-step diagnostic approach.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Muscular dystrophies
X-linked dystrophin disorders (Duchenne and Becker) and myotonic dystrophy type 1: genetics, recognition, testing, and multidisciplinary care.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Hydrocephalus and neural tube defects
Hydrocephalus, spina bifida and other neural tube defects: causes, presentation, diagnosis, shunts, surgery and folic acid prevention.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Childhood epilepsy syndromes
What childhood epilepsy syndromes are, how age, seizure type and EEG separate them, and how treatment is chosen by syndrome.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and developmental delay
Red flags by age, screening tools, and the stepwise evaluation and management of autism, ADHD and global developmental delay in children.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Childhood vision and hearing disorders
Red reflex, strabismus, amblyopia, retinoblastoma and childhood hearing loss: screening from birth and when to refer.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Childhood leukaemia and tumour lysis syndrome
Childhood ALL and AML: presentation, blood count, marrow, cytogenetics, risk, treatment, and tumour lysis syndrome management.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Neuroblastoma
A malignant tumour of the sympathetic nervous system in children: how it presents, how it is staged, and how treatment depends on risk group.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Wilms tumour
The commonest childhood kidney cancer: a renal mass in the 2 to 5 year old, its genetics, syndromes, treatment and outlook.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Childhood bone tumours
Osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma in children: how they present, how imaging and biopsy tell them apart, and how chemotherapy and surgery cure them.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Paediatric brain tumours
Paediatric brain tumours: posterior fossa and supratentorial tumours, brainstem gliomas, germ cell tumours, raised pressure, treatment and late effects.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Paediatric solid tumours: retinoblastoma and others
Childhood retinoblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, hepatoblastoma, germ cell tumours and LCH: recognition, referral, treatment and late effects.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Common paediatric orthopaedic injuries
Children's fractures: growth-plate injury, greenstick and buckle, supracondylar humerus, nursemaid's elbow, toddler tibia, birth clavicle and plastic bowing.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Clubfoot and metatarsus adductus
Clubfoot and metatarsus adductus in infants: how to distinguish rigid from flexible deformities, and how Ponseti casting, bracing, surgery and follow-up are.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Developmental dysplasia of the hip
Developmental dysplasia of the hip ranges from mild acetabular dysplasia to hip dislocation in infants; early detection and treatment prevent long-term.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Legg-Calve-Perthes disease
An idiopathic childhood avascular necrosis of the femoral head: presentation, imaging stages, differential diagnosis and containment-based management.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Slipped capital femoral epiphysis and the limping child
Adolescent hip slip: presentation, frog-leg X-ray signs, stable vs unstable, pinning, complications, and a differential of the limping child.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Spondylolisthesis
A stress fracture of the pars interarticularis in young athletes can let one vertebra slip forward: causes, grading, imaging and treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Scoliosis
A sideways curvature of the spine with rotation: types, how to screen and measure it, and how curve size guides treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Child abuse and neglect
How to recognise and respond to child abuse and neglect: types, red flags, bruises, burns, fractures, head injury, skeletal survey, mimics and safeguarding.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Anticipatory guidance and screening in childhood
Age-based well-child care: counselling, screening, referrals, and what to do when a screening test is abnormal.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Childhood vaccinations
Routine childhood vaccines from birth to adolescence: schedule, live versus inactivated vaccines, contraindications, catch-up, safety, immunocompromised.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Lead poisoning
Paediatric lead poisoning: sources, screening, BLL thresholds, neurological and abdominal features, heme mechanism, chelation, public health.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Poisoning and ingestions in children
Approach to poisoned children: assessment, decontamination, antidotes, and management of paracetamol, iron, button batteries, caustics and household products.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Childhood injury prevention, drowning and burns
Childhood injuries: patterns by age, drowning prevention and rescue, burn and scald emergency care, road safety and injury-prevention counselling.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Sudden infant death syndrome, BRUE and safe sleep
SIDS, BRUE and safe sleep: reducing sudden infant deaths, safe-sleep rules, BRUE evaluation, and caring for bereaved families.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Severe and moderate acute malnutrition
SAM and MAM in childhood: definitions by MUAC and z-scores, kwashiorkor and marasmus, outpatient RUTF care, and inpatient F-75/F-100 phases.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Dehydration and paediatric fluid therapy
Assessment, ORS, maintenance IV fluids and correction of hyponatraemic or hypernatraemic dehydration and shock in children.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Rickets and micronutrient deficiencies in children
Rickets and common childhood micronutrient deficiencies: causes, presentation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention worldwide.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Type 1 diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis in children
Type 1 diabetes in children: how it presents, a full protocol for diabetic ketoacidosis including cerebral oedema, and long-term care.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Disorders of sex development and ambiguous genitalia
DSDs and ambiguous genitalia: classification, stepwise work-up, CAH cross-check, androgen insensitivity, karyotype and hormone evaluation, and long-term care.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Childhood asthma and recurrent wheeze
Preschool wheeze patterns, diagnosis by age, stepwise ICS-based treatment, and acute attack severity in childhood asthma.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Foreign body aspiration and choking in children
How to recognise, relieve and remove airway foreign bodies in children, from bystander emergency care by age to bronchoscopy.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Paediatric resuscitation and the sick child
How to recognise a sick child, use paediatric early warning scores, and resuscitate with current paediatric BLS and PALS.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026