I cultivated my sweet tooth at a young age, born into a family where Hostess Sno Balls and Twinkies were the preferred after-school snack. I could have/should have washed down the crumbly treats with a glass of milk, but chose instead an ice cold Coke—21 teaspoons of sugar, the equivalent of 90 grams or 450 calories. Is it any wonder that my siblings and I struggle with weight gain?

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that women consume no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day (100 calories or 25 grams). For men the recommendation is no more than…

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The day will come when U.S. mothers can truly feel safe breastfeeding their babies and young children anywhere, anytime, anyplace. I likely won’t live long enough to see the culmination of the cultural transformation that is currently underway in America, but I am confident that my children will one day view breastfeeding not as best, optimal, perfect, or ideal, but simply as normal. And I know that ultimately their children, my grandchildren, will reap the benefits.

While many find the slow pace of change frustrating, age confers a level of patience and confidence in knowing that measured, thoughtful change is more often…

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Employed by the Red Cross after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, text messaging contributed to record donations. In less dire circumstances but indicative of the popularity of text messaging, millions text their vote for their favorite American Idol. But what can text messaging do for you?

With text4baby, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) is flipping the text message and using it to help expectant and new moms.

The familiar ping, ding, or ringtone sounds out from your handset:

“Give your baby a good start by not drinking alcohol, smoking or using drugs. For help call 800-784-8669 (smoking); 800-662-4357 (drugs & alcohol).”

“Feeling…

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A toddler stands next to a young mother as she puts a fresh diaper on her newborn baby. “Too bad you had to get a bald-headed one,” says the toddler. And just like that Johnson & Johnson had a hit commercial on its hands and pop culture had another buzz line.

While bald-headed babies are still common today, it is the growing number of flat-headed babies that is causing a stir. Flat heads may indeed be used to describe this generation of babes, but results from a recent study suggest that more than appearances are at stake.

Researchers in Washington State reported…

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Both you and your baby are going to sleep terribly, possibly for months, so you might as well get used to the idea.

But don’t freak out—this is totally normal. All you have to do is make sure everyone lives through this tumultuous time. Pretend there’s a zombie war going on outside and your priority is basic survival. Do whatever it takes to stay alive. Believe that this too shall pass.

For those of you in the midst of intense sleep deprivation, you would probably like to take your computer and throw it at my head right now. No one wants to…

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First Lady Michelle Obama put eliminating childhood obesity at the top of her To Do list with the launch of Let’s Move, her much anticipated anti-obesity campaign. Mrs. Obama is hoping to reverse a dangerous and costly trend. Currently, one out of three U.S. children is overweight or obese. Among black children the rate is even higher, affecting one out of two children. For the first time since 1968, life expectancy is projected to decline.

Several high profile organizations and industries have agreed to join forces with the First Lady. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced that from now on its…

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For the first time seven years ago investigators compared the effectiveness of belt-positioning booster seats (BPBSs) with the use of seat belts alone in children 4-7 years of age. They found that children restrained with only a standard issue seat belt were 59% more likely to be injured in a crash compared to those restrained in a child booster seat.

Fast forward to today. Motor vehicle accidents are still the leading cause of death in children 1 to 14 years of age, accounting for nearly 1400 deaths and 185,000 injuries a year. Fifty-two states have enacted laws that require the use of…

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Perhaps Andrew Wakefield, MD didn’t realize that his 1998 study erroneously linking vaccinations to autism would ignite a decade long controversy. But he should have. If not for the media frenzy fomented by high profile celebrities, the scientific method might have triumphed long ago. Journalists should know better. Yet given the scope of the damage, any claim of vindication would ring hollow. In the end, science prevailed, but at what cost?

After the United Kingdom General Medical Council (GMC) described the actions of Andrew Wakefield, MD, and two of his colleagues as dishonest and irresponsible, The Lancet, a respected medical journal,…

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Stephanie Sanders and Alex Bligh both had trouble with their milk supply in their early weeks of breastfeeding. After trying everything else, both turned to a drug called domperidone and found their supply quickly increased. Both were able to continue breastfeeding their children.

The difference? Alex lives in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she got a prescription from her doctor and had it filled at the pharmacy. Stephanie lives in northeast Georgia and had to sneak around, ordering her supply from the internet—from a company in New Zealand. The pills subtly arrived in an unmarked box.

FDA: Not okay
Stephanie and other American women…

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Haiti needs a lot of things right now. But for some, nothing is more important or more needed than human milk.

The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), International Lactation Consultant Association/United States Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA/USLCA), and La Leche League International (LLLI) are jointly issuing an urgent call for human milk donations for premature infants in Haiti, as well as sick and premature infants in the United States.

A press release announcing the need for milk noted that this week the first shipment of human milk from mothers in the United States will be…

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In an effort to encourage hospitals and birthing facilities to select exclusive breast milk feeding as one of their performance measures, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) recently published guidelines to aid hospitals and birthing facilities in collecting the data needed to ensure compliance.

baby gooroo previously addressed the addition of “exclusive breast milk feeding” to the Joint Commission’s new Perinatal Care core measure set. The perinatal care measures are one of 10 sets of measurements which hospitals select from as part of The Joint Commission’s ORYX performance measurement initiative. Introduced in 1997, the ORYX initiative was designed to integrate outcomes and other…

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You grab a tub of ice cream off the grocery store shelf and survey the labels. Fat–15grams per serving. But how much of that is the good kind of fat (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) and how much is bad (saturated and trans fats)? Unless you are a dietitian, deciphering nutrition labels is next to impossible.

Apparently sharing in the frustration, Congress has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to instruct the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to review nutrition rating systems found on the front of food packages and report its findings before…

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