Infant's Health News

December 4, 2024

Top Headlines

Dec. 2, 2024 — In June of 2024, the Endocrine Society, influenced by a substantial body of research conducted in recent years, published new clinical practice guidelines for the testing and supplementation of Vitamin D for the prevention of disease. These new ...

Fine Particulate Air Pollution May Play a Role in Adverse Birth Outcomes

Nov. 29, 2024 — For pregnant women, exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) was associated with altered immune responses that can lead to adverse birth outcomes, according to a new study. The study is among the first to examine the relationship between ...

Newer Epilepsy Medications Used During Pregnancy Do Not Affect Neurological Development in Children

Nov. 27, 2024 — Children of mothers who took certain anti-seizure medications while pregnant do not have worse neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 6, according to a long-running ...

Beyond Screen Time: Complex Factors Shaping Child Development

Nov. 25, 2024 — New research challenges views on screen time, revealing factors such as parental mental health and the type of screen being used may have some impact on child ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:21pm EST

How Long Ring Fingers Can Point to a Love of Alcohol

Nov. 26, 2024 — There is evidence that alcohol consumption is influenced by prenatal sex steroids, so experts decided to use a sample of students for their research into the ...

How Human Brain Functional Networks Emerge and Develop During the Birth Transition

Nov. 19, 2024 — Brain-imaging data collected from fetuses and infants has revealed a rapid surge in functional connectivity between brain regions on a global scale ...

Language Used by Mothers Affects Oxytocin Levels of Infants

Nov. 25, 2024 — Infants whose mothers regularly use language to describe what their child is thinking or feeling, have higher levels of the hormone oxytocin, finds a new ...

Women Who Suffer Pregnancy Complications Have Fewer Children

Nov. 25, 2024 — Women who suffer severe complications during their first pregnancy or delivery are less inclined to have more babies, a study reports. Given the recent steady decline in birth rate in Sweden, the ...

Less Than 50% of Many Prenatal Supplements Have the Adequate Amount of Choline and Iodine

Nov. 21, 2024 — New research reveals many prenatal vitamins don't contain enough of the nutrients that are essential for a healthy pregnancy, while others contain ...

Surprising Patterns in Infant Growth After Gestational Diabetes Exposure

Nov. 19, 2024 — A new study reveals surprising findings about how babies exposed to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) grow during their first year of ...

Preterm Birth Associated With Increased Mortality Risk Into Adulthood

Nov. 20, 2024 — Being born preterm is associated with an increased risk of death from birth until the third and fourth decades of ...

Exposure to Marijuana in the Womb May Increase Risk of Addiction to Opioids Later in Life, Study Finds

Nov. 14, 2024 — Evidence has been growing to suggest that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, poses risks to the developing ...

Frequent Emergency Care During Pregnancy Could Signal Greater Risk for Severe Maternal Morbidity

Nov. 14, 2024 — A new study found that, among nearly 775,000 pregnant people in Massachusetts, 31 percent of these individuals had at least one unscheduled emergency ...

Using Personal Care Products During and After Pregnancy Can Increase Exposure to Toxic Chemicals

Nov. 12, 2024 — For people who are pregnant or nursing, more use of personal care products is associated with higher detectable levels of synthetic chemicals known ...

AI Can Detect Serious Neurologic Changes in Babies in the NICU Using Video Data Alone

Nov. 11, 2024 — Study findings could serve as a foundation for broader neuro-monitoring applications across intensive care units ...

Study Reveals Best Timing for Getting the RSV Vaccine During Pregnancy to Protect Newborns

Nov. 11, 2024 — Current guidelines recommend that pregnant people receive a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) -- which typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms in most adults but can be deadly for ...

Effects of Preterm Birth Extend Into Adulthood, Study Finds

Nov. 6, 2024 — By analyzing all live births in Canada over a six-year period and following children for more than two decades, researchers found that preterm births and the related cognitive, development and ...

High Cost of Childbirth and Postpartum Care Causes Biggest Financial Hardship for Lower-Income Families With Commercial Insurance

Nov. 6, 2024 — The cost of childbirth and postpartum health care results in significant, ongoing financial hardship, particularly for lower-income families with commercial insurance. About half of people who give ...

Lying, Sitting or All-Fours Position?

Nov. 4, 2024 — Whether lying on their back, all-fours position, sitting upright or squatting -- women adopt different birthing positions during childbirth. What has not yet been researched is how the respective ...

Restricting Sugar Consumption in Utero and in Early Childhood Significantly Reduces Risk of Midlife Chronic Disease, Study Finds

Oct. 31, 2024 — Children who experienced sugar restrictions during their first 1,000 days after conception had up to 35% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and as much as 20% less risk of hypertension as ...

A Common Steroid Therapy May Influence Brain Development in Preterm Infants

Oct. 31, 2024 — Antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) are an established therapy for pregnant women at risk of preterm birth. Researchers have found that babies given ACS had notably smaller volumes of two key brain ...

Shaping Future Health: How Infant Gut Microbiota Development Matters

Oct. 31, 2024 — A new study has unveiled fascinating insights into the development of the infant gut microbiota and its profound implications for long-term health. This extensive study, involving nearly 1,000 ...

Scientists Develop Tool to Predict Sepsis in Apparently Healthy Newborns

Oct. 28, 2024 — A genetic signature in newborns can predict neonatal sepsis before symptoms even start to show, according to a new study. The study, led by University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University ...

Cannabis Use During Pregnancy Can Impact Thinking and Learning Skills, Increase Aggression Among Children, Study Shows

Oct. 28, 2024 — As cannabis is legalized and is more accessible in various forms across the country, there is increasing concern among health care providers about potential impact on children. Researchers have new ...

Could a New Medical Approach Fix Faulty Genes Before Birth?

Oct. 24, 2024 — A new biomedical tool successfully delivers genetic material to edit faulty genes in developing fetal mouse brain cells. This might stop disease progression of genetic-based neurodevelopmental ...

In Pioneering Study, Gene Technology Outperforms Standard Newborn Screening Tests

Oct. 24, 2024 — Early results from 4,000 babies show that genome sequencing picks up many more serious health conditions than standard newborn screening and is favored by most ...

Birth: It's a Tight Squeeze for Chimpanzees, Too

Oct. 23, 2024 — According to a new study, chimpanzees, like humans, must contend with a confined bony birth canal when giving birth. In humans, the problem was exacerbated by our unique form of upright walking since ...

U.S. Infant Mortality Increased 7 Percent in Months Following Dobbs, Researchers Find

Oct. 21, 2024 — U.S. babies died at a higher rate in the months following the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health decision, and infant mortality was highest among those born with ...

Defective Sperm Doubles the Risk of Preeclampsia

Oct. 11, 2024 — Researchers have linked specific frequent defects in sperm to risk of pregnancy complications and negative impacts on the health of the baby. The study shows that high proportion of father's ...

Coffee During Pregnancy Safe for Baby's Brain Development, Study Suggests

Oct. 10, 2024 — A new study has failed to find any strong links between drinking coffee during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental difficulties in ...

Researchers Examine the Persistence of Invisible Plastic Pollution

Oct. 9, 2024 — Plastic pollution -- tiny bits of plastic, smaller than a grain of sand -- is everywhere, a fact of life that applies even to newborn ...

Genetic Analysis of 25,000 Chinese Mothers and Infants Reveals Unique Genes Associated With Disease Risk

Oct. 9, 2024 — Genome-wide association studies have great potential for advancing our understanding of the genetic background of diseases, but so far, few association studies have focused on maternal and newborn ...

Heat Stress May Still Affect Babies Once Born, First Evidence Suggests

Oct. 8, 2024 — Exposure to high levels of heat may both impact the growth of fetuses during pregnancy and infants up to the age of ...

Macaques Give Birth More Easily Than Women: No Maternal Mortality at Birth

Oct. 7, 2024 — An international research team has used long-term demographic data from Japanese macaques -- a monkey species within the family of Old World monkeys -- to show that, unlike humans, there is no ...