From How to Raise A Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor,  
by Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. 
 
How can I assert that parents, with no medical training, are better able than pediatricians to meet most of the health needs of their children? Simply because you are willing and able to give your children time and attention, and your doctor is not. The most important elements in the diagnosis of illness are behavior change, appearance, and the medical history of the child. As the parent, you are extremely sensitive to your child's behavior patterns, quick to note a change in his or her appearance, and totally familiar with the child's medical history, your own, and probably those of your parents as well. The typical pediatrician, whose assembly line spews out 30, 40, or even 50 patients a day, doesn't know your child as you do and has neither the time nor the inclination to learn. All of his technology - his tests and shorts and x-rays and drugs and theory - in most instances are no substitute for the commonsense care that you, as an informed parent, can provide. 

That's why your pediatrician can never be the primary authority on whether your child is sick and why you should never let him be. You are far better qualified to judge the physical condition of your child than your doctor is, simply because you know the child better. You live with your kids and observe their behavior and appearance with interest and concern, day by day. 

Granted, there are infrequent illnesses of critical nature for which competent medical treatment is essential, but in the case of children they are the exception rather than the rule. The obvious question is "How can parents tell which ones are and which are not?" 

THe answer is that you can't always tell, and for that matter neither can your doctor. However, when you have finished reading this book you will be able to determine the seriousness of most of your child's ailments and will need to consult a doctor only in the limited number of instances when you are in doubt.