This article excerpted from The Daily Dose, William Campbell Douglass II, MD -- emailed on 11/7/2011

4-year-olds to be drugged under new guidelines

Millions of preschoolers are about to be doped into oblivion as part of a massive new push to "treat" little kids for the bogus disorder that practically all of them have.

That condition, of course, is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — and under the newest guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, docs are supposed to screen kids for it starting at the age of 4.

I've got a better idea: Why waste time with all this screening nonsense? Just hand new moms an open prescription for Ritalin the moment they bring a newborn home from the hospital so they can begin "treatment" at the first sign of ADHD.

It's bound to happen sooner or later — just take a look at some of the official symptoms, courtesy of the National Institute of Mental Health's Web site:

Become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless they are doing something enjoyable

Not seem to listen when spoken to

Fidget and squirm in their seats

Dash around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight

Often interrupt conversations or others' activities

C'mon, let's get real here. These aren't the signs of a disease. You should worry like heck if your 4-year-old DOESN'T show these supposed symptoms!

But rules are rules — and under the new rules your perfectly normal 4-year-old is now a disordered wreck who needs meds.

Here's a better rule: Keep your kid away from any doctor who prescribes ADHD meds to 4-year-olds — because anyone who does is a dangerous hack who can't be trusted around children.

These powerful and addictive meds have turned normal kids into sullen zombies, leading to addiction, violence, hallucinations, depression and even suicidal thoughts.

At least, that's what they'll do to older kids. We don’t know nearly as much about what they'll do to a four-year-old because they were never approved for kids that young.

But thanks to the American Academy of Pediatrics, we're about to find out.

Think 4 is too young for powerful meds? Keep reading to find out what some docs are giving to BABIES.

It's bad enough that docs are pushing dangerous and unnecessary stomach acid meds on adults -- but now, a growing number of pediatricians are throwing those same meds at infants who spit up or puke.

It's enough to make me want to vomit, too -- and it's happening so often I expect to see PPIs sold in special "baby bottle" packages any day now.

Finally, an editorial in Pediatrics is calling for an end to this growing practice -- and for a damn good reason: IT DOESN'T WORK.

It's insane to think that these powerful meds have actually been tested on infants, but they have -- multiple times -- and the results of these sick experiments are always the same: Zippo.

One recent analysis even looked at just about all the research on PPIs and infants, and found no benefit at all for the 12-months-and-under crowd. But while these meds WON'T stop the spits and pukes, they WILL do something else for your kid: A 2008 study found they'll boost the odds of infection.

That's no surprise since PPIs wipe out the stomach's ability to control bacteria, putting even a healthy adult immune system at risk. When that immune system is barely developed in the first place, it's a recipe for disaster.

The simple fact of life is that babies puke, spit up and even issue the occasional Exorcist-style projectile vomit. This is all perfectly normal. Gross... messy... but normal.

Babies have tiny stomachs and haven't yet figured out how or when to stop eating (or drinking). So they feed until they're ready to burst... and of course it comes shooting out both ends, often faster than it went in.

You'd cry, too, if this happened to you... but no matter what your baby's doctor says, it's almost certainly not a sign of GERD or any other digestive disorder -- and babies will handle it the way babies always have: They'll grow out of it.

Spittin' mad,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

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