For instance: pediatricians are now also expected to be on the lookout for “toxic stress” in toddlers, since recent studies indicate a relationship between childhood stress and a child's brain development. This stress usually comes from bad experiences in a toddler's life like parental abuse, neglect, and even injuries sustained in a household accident. Such memories may impede the child's psychological health and can very well affect him or her into adolescence and beyond.
Pediatricians also have to deal with even more unexpected things. For instance, Colorado's legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in 2009 unknowingly led to an increase in the number of cases of children accidentally ingesting it. Those children who swallowed marijuana experienced lethargy, muscle impairment, and (in worse cases) difficulty in breathing; things that require specialized pediatric care with a few notes taken from drug rehabilitation.