Feature Channels: Family and Parenting

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Babies appeal to all our senses and even smell cute, triggering key parental behaviors

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Battling the childhood obesity epidemic is a priority for many researchers, as obesity during adolescence increases the risk of chronic diseases throughout life. Because obese children have lower quality of life and self-esteem, greater levels of depression and anxiety, and also face more teasing and bullying than normal-weight peers, including mental health in any intervention is necessary. To that end, researchers studied the self-perception of children participating in the Fit Families program.

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A UAB physician provides information on risks, recommendations and effects of Zika virus for pregnant women.

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Each year, influenza causes between 250,000 and half a million deaths around the world. Now a new study has shown that immunizing mothers against flu can decrease by 70 percent the risk of their infants getting flu during the first four months after birth. This is the largest study so far to show that maternal vaccination against flu is feasible and effective in resource-poor environments.

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It is well known that drinking during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in the offspring. Unfortunately, not all pregnant women are truthful about their levels of drinking. This study explored the feasibility of testing for various alcohol biomarkers in the blood of pregnant women to help identify pregnancies that are at high-risk for FAS.

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A team of Georgetown University experts — a physician, a lawyer and an ethicist — are taking on an issue that occasionally confounds clinicians in the delivery room: should a physician, after helping deliver a child to a women whose genitals had been cut and vulva stitched together — an outlawed procedure generally called female genital mutilation or FGM — close her up again?

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Low-income, rural mothers say participating in outdoor activities as a family is a primary need for their physical and emotional well-being. But a new paper co-authored by Iowa State University's Kimberly Greder finds many don't have access to usable outdoor space.

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A study shows which psychological characteristics of some new mothers may affect how they use Facebook to show off their baby.

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Feeding at the breast may be healthier than feeding pumped milk from a bottle for reducing the risk of ear infection, and feeding breast milk compared with formula may reduce the risk of diarrhea, according to a recent study.

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Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) babies who survive are more likely to be disadvantaged in employment, income, self-esteem, marriage and more by the time they reach their 30s. A longitudinal study has followed the ELBW survivors born between 1977 and 1982.

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A new study indicates that health professionals should tell bereaved parents about what they could have done to reduce the risk of the sudden death of their baby. The University of Warwick research, funded by The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK and contradicts the current practice of many paediatricians who don’t discuss risk factors for fear of causing grieving mothers and fathers additional upset.

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The importance of friendships and family support in helping prevent depression among teenagers has been highlighted in research from the University of Cambridge. The study, published in the open access journal PLOS ONE, also found that teenagers who had grown up in a difficult family environment were more likely than their peers to be bullied at school.

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African American parents and caregivers most often use messages of egalitarianism – emphasizing equal rights, opportunities, and shared humanity across lines of ethnicity and race – when talking with their young preschool-aged children about race, finds a study led by NYU Steinhardt.

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Language is a powerful tool that can ease the transition into a new home for foster children and enhances the possibility that it will be a successful placement, according to new research from the University at Buffalo.

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A laboratory blood test developed at Johns Hopkins for the diagnosis of a rare genetic red blood cell disorder also shows promise in identifying HELLP syndrome, a life-threatening high blood pressure condition affecting 1 percent of all pregnant women.

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Researchers at King's College London have found no significant link between eating the evening meal after 8pm and excess weight in children, according to a paper published this month in the British Journal of Nutrition.

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Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a chemical commonly used in the food manufacturing process, can increase fat stores in the body even before we’re born, according to a new study published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.

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Recognizing that hospitalized kids’ parents, who are stressed and anxious about their children’s health, need some fun too, the Child Life team at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA offers sewing classes, Zumba and more.

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A growing body of research is revealing associations between birth defects and a father’s age, alcohol use and environmental factors, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center. They say these defects result from epigenetic alterations that can potentially affect multiple generations.

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“OB Nest”: Just the name may bring warm feelings to parents and prospective parents. However, at Mayo Clinic, it’s much more than a name. It’s a new way that Mayo Clinic is providing prenatal care. And, families say they are thrilled with the process.

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Depressed Moms Not ‘in Sync’ with Their Kids, Children with ADHD Sleep Both Poorly and Less, Yeast Infection Linked to Mental Illness, and more in the Mental Health News Source

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Johns Hopkins Bayview center helps babies by helping moms get clean: “Most of us wouldn’t have survived what some of these mothers have been through.”

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Women who plan on becoming pregnant are told they need enough of the nutrient folate to ensure proper neurodevelopment of their babies, but new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests there could be serious risks in having far too much of the same nutrient.

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One year after they graduate, women with Ph.D.s in science and engineering fields earn 31 percent less than do men, according to a new study using previously unavailable data.

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Family planning is a major health issue in India, the world’s second most populous country. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe a novel program that involves increased male engagement and gender-equity counseling to measurably improve contraceptive practices and reduced marital sexual violence.

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Mothers with a history of depression are not physiologically “in sync” with their kids, according to a new study from Binghamton University. While researchers have known for a while that depression is associated with interpersonal problems with others, this is the first study to examine whether this is also evident physiologically.

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With a $2.5-million grant from the Gates Foundation's All Children Thriving initiative, UAB researchers are developing sensor-based devices that can detect signs of pre-term labor and predict which patients will encounter problems.

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A study led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s School of Public Health presents evidence linking personal care products used during pregnancy to adverse reproductive effects in newborns.

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A new study in mice and women by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that a high-fructose diet during pregnancy may harm the placenta and restrict fetal growth. Additionally, researchers believe a commonly prescribed drug may mitigate the negative effects.

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When It Comes to Spring Allergies, Oak Pollen More Potent Than Pine; Food Allergies of Low-Income Kids Are Poorly Managed; Flowers Not to Blame for Allergies, and More in the Allergies Channel

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A larger placenta during pregnancy could lead to larger bones in the children, a new Southampton study has shown.

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A study found that 97 percent of confirmed flu cases among babies 6 months and younger occurred in those whose moms were not vaccinated while they were pregnant.

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A study led by the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) found that single parents who participate in a housing support program in an urban setting with high levels of community violence had significant symptoms of stress and depression.

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As states relaxed laws related to fireworks sales during the past decade, emergency doctors saw an increase in both the number and severity of fireworks-related injuries among children, according to new research being presented at the Pediatrics Academic Societies 2016 Meeting.

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Nasoalveolar molding, a special surgery for children born with cleft lip and cleft palate, employs a retainer-like orthodontic apparatus that helps facilitate healing of the nose, lip and gum.

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Caregivers whose eyes wander during playtime -- due to distractions such as smartphones or other technology, for example -- may raise children with shorter attention spans, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology by psychologists at Indiana University.

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The Handbook of Family Therapy illuminates the common threads in couple and family therapies and a range of perspectives. It explores the integration of theory, clinical wisdom, and practical and meaningful research that produces the best understanding of family relationships as well as the best treatment options.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan are working to improve survival rates in the tiniest, most premature babies in a groundbreaking way: through an artificial placenta that mimics the womb.

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Like many would-be parents, Katie Brenner was advised to select the optimum time for conception based on blood and/or urine tests. Brenner developed a quick, saliva-based method for measuring progesterone and estrogen and sending the results to a smart device.

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In-depth research by Wake Forest sociology professor Amanda Gengler, shows that, as a way to manage day-to-day living, parents of children with life-threatening illnesses might choose from several communication strategies

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To address the deficit of interventions for older children and adolescents with fragile X, MIND Institute researcher Andrea McDuffie and colleagues created an intervention that uses a shared storytelling paradigm and real-time parent coaching, all provided in the home through telecommunications. The small but important study found that the intervention improved adolescent boys’ abilities to produce longer sentences, use more diverse vocabulary and concentrate for longer time periods during conversational interactions.

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How Families with Seriously-Ill Children Manage Social Interactions, How Migraines Affect the Family, Families with Kids Increasingly Live Near Families Just Like Them, and more in the Family and Parenting channel