A recent article published in the February 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), identified exclusive breastfeeding as one of two risk factors for neonatal jaundice. According to authors, Jeffrey Maisels and Antony McDonagh, “The largest group of otherwise healthy infants at increased risk for hyperbilirubinemia, are late-preterm infants and those who are exclusively breastfed [particularly if breastfeeding is not going well].”

The article includes a case report of a baby born at thirty-seven weeks’ gestation following an uncomplicated pregnancy. Jaundice was first noted at thirty-four hours of age. The mother was described as needing “considerable help in establishing effective breastfeeding”…

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Second hand smoke is hazardous to your health.

A recent study published in the April 2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, found that women and children who live with smokers are at increased risk for premature death and disease as a result of exposure to second hand smoke.

In an effort to quantify the level of second hand smoke exposure in women and children living with smokers, Heather Wipfli, PhD and colleagues measured the nicotine levels in household air and in the hair of nonsmoking women and children in the household. The levels of nicotine in the air were…

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Kim Meador, MD of the University of Florida and colleagues, in a study of 187 children of mothers being treated for epilepsy, found that infants and children exposed to commonly used antiepileptic medications via breastmilk had slightly higher cogninitive scores at two years of age compared to children who were bottlefed.

The preliminary results were published as an abstract and presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The findings are part of an ongoing study of the Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (NEAD).

The data suggest that women can safely breastfeed while taking antiepileptic drugs, but given the…

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Whether an expectant mother gives birth to a boy or girl may in part be due to what and how much she eats during the time of conception, a new report says.

The study published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences reports a link between higher energy intake around the time of conception and increased chances of having a boy.

“The difference is not huge,” the New York Times reports, “but it may be enough to help explain the falling birthrate of boys in industrialized countries, including the United States and Britain.”

High levels of glucose appear to better support…

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Healthcare spending in the United States reached $2.3 trillion in 2007 and is projected to reach $4.2 trillion by 2016. In an effort to stem rising healthcare costs, every ten years the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HRSA) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion identifies health promotion, disease prevention objectives, referred to collectively as Healthy People.

Every ten years Healthy People objectives are reevaluated and new and revised objectives are released. The process for identifying Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) objectives has begun. The basic framework for HP2020 including vision, mission, goals, and selection criteria is scheduled to be released in…

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The environment that your baby enjoyed for nine long months in the womb was not one of absolute quiet. There was a constant symphony of sound—your heartbeat and fluids rushing in and out of the placenta. (Remember those sounds from when you listened to your baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler stethoscope?) Research indicates that “white noise” sounds or soft bedtime music helps many babies to relax and fall asleep more easily. This is most certainly because these sounds create an environment more familiar to your baby than a very quiet room.

Many people enjoy using soothing music as their baby’s sleep…

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Amusement parks have always seemed to me to be linked with childhood, like apple pie is linked with America. I don’t know why they go together quite as well as they do, but as the skies turn blue, the trees turn green, and we begin to plan our summer fun, my thoughts turn to thrilling rides, cotton candy, fireworks, and costumed characters.

It has been years since I’ve been to such a park. With pregnancies, babies and such, it just hasn’t happened. But we got a jump on the fun this year, making our first theme park trip a few weeks…

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I remember it very clearly—all four of us kids bleakly eyeing the piles of suitcases, bags, even filled-to-the-brim laundry baskets, all waiting to be carried into the camper so we could start our vacation.

Our parents are both frugal and practical. While “camping” (I use the term loosely, as we had electricity and a tiny bathroom at our disposal), we cooked nearly every meal in the kitchenette and packed for all occasions. We used to tease our father mercilessly for always packing not one, but two toolboxes into the van. Toolboxes! Two of them! Why?

But now, it’s my turn…

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Nervous? Me? Yes. I have flown before, but never with my children. I wondered how Ben (almost five) would handle the time spent waiting at the airport. I wondered how Katie (almost three) would do with the security lines. And I wondered if seven-month-old Sam and I would face any uncomfortable moments while breastfeeding. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that Emily Gillette was removed from a plane for refusing to don a blanket while breastfeeding her child. In the close quarters of airport or airplane seating, would this be an issue for us?

I was also concerned about…

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You’re a new parent. You’ve had just a few hours’ sleep in the past couple of days. You might be feeling a little stressed or overwhelmed by these enormous life changes. You have been feeding your baby every two to three hours. Now, you have your days-old baby in your arms, and it is once again feeding time. Can you remember which side you breastfed on last time? Which side you should start on this time? How long your baby fed for last time? How long it has been since the last feeding?

It can be hard to keep it all…

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I am not the most gadget-focused person around. I don’t have an iPod. My cell phone is primitive. I don’t even have cable TV. But here is one device that has me feeling tech-envy: kickTrak.

Nearly all pregnant women are being asked to keep track of their baby’s movements for a period of time each day, beginning around the 28th week of pregnancy. A sudden decrease in the amount of movement may signal a problem and indicates that the woman should call her health care provider immediately.

Tracking fetal kicks was easy to do when I was pregnant with my first child.…

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When I see a forward in my email inbox, I usually just delete it without bothering to take a look. And if it is from a repeat offender, then it’s a guaranteed garbage bin item even before it was sent!

But when I get one sent to me by someone I know isn’t into sending me emails promising free gift cards to local restaurants if I send the message on to 50 friends, I can be persuaded to take a look.

And this time, I am really glad I did.

My friend Molly is one of many breastfeeding moms trying to garner support…

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