Consumer Health Minute: Health Information From Birth through Teens

Posted by Carolyn Martin on February 25th, 2026 Posted in: Consumer Health, Consumer Health Minute
Tags: children's health, consumer health, health information, outreach, parenting, teen health

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Many parents and guardians find themselves needing authoritative, current, and trusted information regarding children in their care. What can your library or organization provide? You can’t nor should you provide health advice, but you can provide links to quality health information from experts. And you can encourage parents and guardians to take that information and talk to their doctors to help them keep those in their care healthy and safe.

• MedlinePlus – Children and Teenagers
  This freely available National Library of Medicine resource provides links to a number of vetted resources to quality health information on a number of topics related to children of all ages through the teenage years. Topics cover mental health, sports injuries, cancer, ear infections, child development, and more. There is even a health topic page specifically for teens.
• healthychildren.org
  The information on this parenting website is through the American Academy of Pediatrics, a trusted professional association for 95 years. This web resource includes information from prenatal through young adult so it has you covered throughout the growing up years of the children in your care. You’ll find topics not always covered in other parenting resources to help guide you and your children along with discussions with your doctor.
• KidsHealth.org
  Don’t be fooled by the website name. This great resource includes sections for teens, parents, and educators. Information is in English and Spanish, with audio in both languages, and additional related links to the side. MedlinePlus often links to this resource from Nemours, a large integrated pediatric health system.

If your communities prefer print, look to long established medical associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics for parenting books.

Some organizations and associations publish books on topics such as mental health.

• American Psychology Association
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) You are Not Along series

Unsure what resources to provide your users and communities? The NNLM has a Resources for Public Libraries guide with sections on evaluating health information and collection management to help you in selecting quality health information resources.