Children's Health News

June 3, 2025

Top Headlines

May 30, 2025 — Singing to your infant can significantly boost the baby's mood, according to a recent study. Around the world and across cultures, singing to babies seems to come instinctively to caregivers. Now, new findings support that singing is an easy, safe, ...

Earlier Measles Vaccine Could Help Curb Global Outbreak

May 29, 2025 — The global measles outbreak must trigger an urgent debate into whether a vaccine should be recommended earlier to better protect against the highly contagious disease during infancy, a new review ...

Significant Declines in Maternal Mental Health Across US

May 27, 2025 — A new study reveals a concerning decline in self-reported mental health among mothers in the United States between 2016 and 2023. The study also found modest but measurable declines in self-reported physical health during the same ...

Boys Who Are Overweight in Their Early Teens Risk Passing on Harmful Epigenetic Traits to Future Children

May 27, 2025 — A new study suggests that boys who become overweight in their early teens risk damaging the genes of their future children, increasing their chances of developing asthma, obesity and low lung ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:44pm EDT

Wilms Tumors: How Genes and Imprinting Pave the Way for Cancer

May 27, 2025 — A biobank for pediatric kidney tumors plays a key role in identifying hereditary causes of Wilms tumors. New insights gained with its help enable better risk assessment for affected families and ...

Why After 2000 Years We Still Don't Know How Tickling Works

May 27, 2025 — How come you can't tickle yourself? And why can some people handle tickling perfectly fine while others scream their heads off? Neuroscientists argue that we should take tickle research more ...

Increased Risk of Psychopathology Found in Offspring of People With Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder

May 21, 2025 — A new study confirms that children of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have a higher risk of developing psychopathology compared to ...

Good News for People With Migraine Who Take Drugs Before or During Pregnancy

May 21, 2025 — There's good news for people with migraine who take common drugs before or during pregnancy -- a new study found no increase in neurodevelopmental ...

Early Puberty Increases Risk of Overweight Later in Life for Girls

May 19, 2025 — Unique Danish longitudinal study with over 136,000 measurements reveals the connection between pubertal development and weight throughout ...

Landmark Report Reveals Key Challenges Facing Adolescents

May 20, 2025 — Poor mental health, rising obesity rates, exposure to violence and climate change are among the key challenges facing our adolescents today, according to a global ...

Selenium Exposure During Pregnancy May Reduce Childhood Streptococcal Infections

May 20, 2025 — Higher maternal selenium levels during pregnancy were associated with a lower risk of streptococcal infections in children, suggesting a potential ...

New Study Shows AI Can Predict Child Malnutrition, Support Prevention Efforts

May 14, 2025 — A multidisciplinary team of researchers has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can predict acute child malnutrition in Kenya up to ...

School Dinners May Encourage Picky Teenagers to Eat Better, Says New Study

May 15, 2025 — Having school dinners rather than packed lunches could encourage picky eating 13-year-olds to eat a wider variety of foods, according to a new ...

Study Reveals a Deep Brain Region That Links the Senses

May 15, 2025 — Humans perceive and navigate the world around us with the help of our five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. And while scientists have long known that these different senses activate ...

Recessive Genes Are Subject to Darwinian Selection

May 15, 2025 — As a group, carriers of recessive disorders are slightly less healthy and have a reduced chance of having offspring. This disadvantage is greatest for carriers of a recessive gene for intellectual ...

Cyberbullying in Any Form Can Be Traumatizing for Kids

May 15, 2025 — New research shows that cyberbullying should be classified as an adverse childhood experience due to its strong link to trauma. Even subtle forms -- like exclusion from group chats -- can trigger ...

Infant With Rare, Incurable Disease Is First to Successfully Receive Personalized Gene Therapy Treatment

May 15, 2025 — A research team has developed and safely delivered a personalized gene editing therapy to treat an infant with a life-threatening, incurable genetic disease. The infant, who was diagnosed with the ...

New Study Raises Concerns About the Safety of Long-Term ADHD Medication Treatment in Children

May 14, 2025 — A recent study reveals that the average duration of ADHD medication for children and adolescents is more than three years. However, reliable, controlled data on the safety of marketed ADHD medicines ...

The Key to Spotting Dyslexia Early Could Be AI-Powered Handwriting Analysis

May 14, 2025 — A new study outlines how artificial intelligence-powered handwriting analysis may serve as an early detection tool for dyslexia and dysgraphia among young ...

Postpartum Depression and Bonding: Long-Term Effects on School-Age Children

May 14, 2025 — Postpartum maternal mental health and mother-to-infant bonding are well-established as critical factors in a child's psychosocial development. However, few studies have explored the combined ...

New Survey Shows Privacy and Safety Tops List of Parental Concerns About Screen Time

May 13, 2025 — As kids spend more time on screens, a new national survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of The Kids Mental Health Foundation, founded by Nationwide Children's Hospital, identifies parents' ...

Evidence of Mother-Offspring Attachment Types in Wild Chimpanzees

May 12, 2025 — A team of researchers has identified distinct mother-offspring attachment types in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). Drawing parallels with human psychology, the study provides compelling ...

Music Therapy Helps Brain-Injured Children

May 8, 2025 — Music could provide a breakthrough in assessing consciousness levels in children who have suffered significant brain injuries, according to new ...

Non-Inherited Genes Affect Children's Development

May 7, 2025 — Parents' genes -- even when not directly inherited by a child -- may play a role in their educational and mental health outcomes, finds a new ...

Are You Curious? It Might Help You Stay Sharp as You Age

May 7, 2025 — Psychology literature has shown that curiosity tends to decline with age. Psychologists shows one type of curiosity can increase well into old age, contradicting prior research. Older adults who ...

Losing a Parent May Increase Children's Risk of Being Bullied

May 7, 2025 — A new study surveyed 21,000 children in China and found that the association between parental bereavement and school bullying varied by sex of the child and deceased parent, age when the death ...

Scientists Discover the Genes That Influence When Babies Start Walking

May 7, 2025 — The age at which babies take their first steps is strongly influenced by their genes, according to new research. Scientists analyzed the genetic information of more than 70,000 infants. They ...

Climate Change: Future of Today's Young People

May 7, 2025 — Climate scientists reveal that millions of today's young people will live through unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves, crop failures, river floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical ...

Teens Driving Older Vehicles Have Increased Risk for Fatal Crashes

May 7, 2025 — Researchers reviewed US national fatal crash data (2016-2021) and examined the vehicle age and driver assistance technologies of vehicles driven by teen and middle-aged drivers, and their ...

A Healthy Diet in Childhood Is Linked to Starting Menstrual Periods Later, Regardless of BMI or Height

May 6, 2025 — Eating a healthy diet as a child is linked to girls having their first menstrual period at an older age than those who consumed a less healthy diet, according to a new study. The findings remained ...

How Individuals Grasp an Object May Offer Simpler Diagnosis for Autism Spectrum Disorder

May 5, 2025 — Getting a timely diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is a major challenge, but new research shows that how young adults, and potentially children, grasp objects could offer a simpler way to ...

Neighborhood Stress May Impact Kids' Brains -- And Increase Depression Risk

May 5, 2025 — Children who grow up in disadvantaged neighborhoods -- areas with higher levels of crime and deprivation, and lower access to community resources -- are at risk of developing depression, and new ...

How Is Handedness Linked to Neurological Disorders?

May 5, 2025 — The fact that left-handedness resp. mixed-handedness are strikingly common in patients with certain neurological disorders such as autism spectrum disorders is a frequently reported observation in ...

Spanking and Other Physical Discipline Lead to Exclusively Negative Outcomes for Children in Low And Middle-Income Countries

May 5, 2025 — Physically punishing children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has exclusively negative outcomes -- including poor health, lower academic performance, and impaired social-emotional ...