Not just granddad’s problem anymore, kidney stones are now being diagnosed more frequently in kids, says Alicia Neu, MD, a pediatric nephrologist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. That’s one reason medical centers like Johns Hopkins and Children’s hospital Boston have opened pediatric kidney stone centers. Risk factors include a family history of stones, and a childhood increase could be due to too much salt and not enough fluids, particularly water, in kids’ diets. This problematic combination can cause calcium in the urine to bind to a food by-product called oxalate or to phosphate, increasing the likelihood that kidney stones will form. Possible indications of a stone are blood in a child’s urine, back pain or stomach pain. To reduce your child’s risk, limit her intake of salty snacks and processed foods and encourage her to drink plenty of water through out the day. A cool BPA free water bottle to take to school can help—we love the funny, funky new aluminum children’s bottles from lakenusa com.