Lockdowns may raise risk of assault during pregnancy

Babies born to mothers who experience assault during pregnancy may face long-term health deficits. Will pandemic lockdowns make this more common?

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Tags: covid-19 pregnancy childrens-health babies abuse health-and-medicine violence

Tiniest premature babies fare worse with cow milk fortifiers

Human-based milk fortifiers are better than traditional cow-based fortifiers for severely underweight, premature babies, a new study shows.

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Tags: babies breastfeeding health-and-medicine premature-babies milk

Dusty air ups infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

A new study in Sub-Saharan African shows that increases in dust air pollution boosts infant mortality. Climate change could make things even worse, too.

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Tags: climate-change pollution emissions childrens-health babies featured health-and-medicine sub-saharan-africa dust

Brain, behavior problems follow Zika in newborn monkeys

New research with rhesus monkeys indicates brain and behavior problems resulting from Zika virus infection soon after birth.

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Tags: brains zika viruses babies health-and-medicine mosquitoes

Newborn sepsis risk linked to maternal obesity

New findings link maternal obesity and a higher risk of sepsis among newborn babies. The researchers suggest why, and a potential prevention strategy.

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Tags: pregnancy obesity antibiotics babies sepsis health-and-medicine births

Clear masks for caregivers mean young children can keep learning from adults' faces

With caregivers' faces covered, infants and young children will miss out on all the visual cues they'd normally get during stages of rapid developmental growth.

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Tags: children speech child-development babies research face-masks eyes faces teachers eeg brain-development early-learning language-development pre-kindergarten educators policy-makers infants daycare eye-tracking-technology childcare-policy

Brain scans link baby sleep trouble and autism later

New research links the disrupted sleep of babies later diagnosed with autism with altered growth trajectories in the hippocampus.

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Tags: autism sleep brains childrens-health babies health-and-medicine

Can this biomarker flag autism in newborns?

A biomarker in newborns may signal autism spectrum disorder months or even years before symptoms begin, say researchers.

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Tags: autism biomarkers childrens-health babies health-and-medicine medical-tests

Heartbreak of IVF cancellations and the desire to have genetically related children

Society shapes people’s preferences and emphasises the value of having genetically related children.

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Tags: fertility baby covid-19 babies infertility ivf adoption infertile

New book charts the evolution of fatherhood

A new book breaks down how fatherhood has evolved, what it looks like today, and where it's headed in the future.

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Tags: evolution parents babies families fathers society-and-culture