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Many moms who start off breastfeeding ponder baby bottle issues, as they have to return to work or need to spend several hours away from the baby.

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African American women are less likely to breastfeed their children, in part due to the preconceived attitudes that women have regarding breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, according to a new study from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center researchers.

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Hot dogs, those ubiquitous and savory symbols of the American diet, have caught the attention of pediatricians at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and elsewhere for a decidedly unappetizing reason — they are a choking hazard for young children.

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Recent studies have shown that behaviors such as happiness, obesity, smoking and altruism are “contagious” within adult social networks. In other words, your behavior not only influences your friends, but also their friends and so on. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Harvard University have taken this a step farther and found that the spread of one behavior in social networks influences the spread of another behavior, adolescent drug use.

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Obesity boot camps are not the answer to the nation’s waistline problem, says Deborah J. Wray, kineseology prof. at TCU. The thing that will work is physical ed. in school, provided it is taught well. Increasingly, however, phys. ed. is not taught at all.

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While nearly all parents report their kids, ages 5 and younger, use booster seats or car seats while riding in vehicles, use of booster seats drops sharply to 40 percent by age 8 and many parents wouldn't require their kids, ages 7 - 8, to use booster seats at all if there weren't laws requiring it, according to the latest C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

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Their schoolmates’ weight determines whether teenage high school girls will try to lose pounds, new research finds, and the school environment plays a big role in the decision.

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Since the varicella vaccine was introduced in the mid-1990s, the number of patients receiving medical care for chickenpox in the United States has decreased sharply—particularly among children, according to a study in the March issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (http://www.pidj.com). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

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The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) prohibits tobacco industry advertising practices that encourage underage teenagers to smoke, yet new research out of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego has found that a 2007 marketing campaign for Camel brand cigarettes was effective in encouraging young girls to start smoking.

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Ongoing studies funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) could provide new insights into why aspiring moms may be advised to achieve a healthy weight before they become pregnant, and to gain only the recommended amount of weight during their pregnancy.

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Hospitals may reduce the risk of life-threatening bloodstream infections in newborns with peripherally inserted central venous catheters by replacing the device every 30 days or so, according to a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study.

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On March 21, Benny Zafrani will be running the Los Angeles Marathon. That, by itself, is not remarkable – after all, thousands of others will be doing the same thing. However, Benny is on a mission to raise funds for pediatric brain tumor research. And his mission was spurred by personal experience.

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The study, published online by the journal Biological Psychiatry, is the first study done with monkeys that examines the effects of flu during pregnancy.

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New Maryland legislation to protect youth from melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is based on significant scientific evidence that indoor tanning before the age of 30 is undeniably linked to increased risk of developing the disease. Senator James N. Robey and Delegate William A. Bronrott represent a broad-based coalition of 20 legislators in the Senate and House co-sponsoring cross-filed bills SB 718 and HB 1039 to prohibit minors’ use of tanning devices in tanning facilities and prevent any marketing offers of these services to minors.

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Study reviews more exposure pathways than previous surveys, also concludes additional research needed on production processes for canned soup, canned meat.

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Children who have been abused psychologically, physically or sexually are more likely to suffer unexplained abdominal pain and nausea or vomiting than children who have not been abused, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers concludes.

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Many adolescents think about getting tattoos, but less than half know what’s involved in having them removed, according to an Italian study appearing online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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The first comprehensive comparative effectiveness clinical trial of three widely used anti-seizure drugs for childhood absence epilepsy – the most common form of epilepsy in kids – has established an evidence-based approach for initial drug therapy. Results from the trial will appear March 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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USC’s landmark study provides a comprehensive view of the dangerous oral health problems facing low-income families in Los Angeles County.

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Gene therapy for inherited blindness, which produced dramatic improvements last year in 12 children and young adults, has cleared another hurdle. The same research team that conducted the human trial now reports that an animal study shows that a second injection of genes into the opposite, previously untreated eye is safe and effective.

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Community support of school obesity prevention programs is critical to achieving a significant decrease in obesity among children, according to researchers at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, which is part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

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Innovative, kid-friendly strategies for losing weight and gaining nutrition savvy–plus physical fitness skills–are emerging from scientific studies funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

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Anthony Scalzo, M.D., says “fake pot” can cause hallucinations, seizures.

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Children in the United States are snacking more than ever before on salty chips, candy and other junk food, according to a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study.

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The more that teens see cigarette ads, the greater their risk of taking a puff.

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A survey of parents who had a child die of cancer found 1 in 8 considered hastening their child’s death, a deliberation influenced by the amount of pain the child experienced during the last month of life, report Dana-Farber researchers. The findings underscore the importance of communicating with parents about pain management options.

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A study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that obese children as young as 3 years old have elevated levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that in adults is considered an early warning sign for possible future heart disease.

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Teaching teens about sexually transmitted infections at school boosts factual knowledge, but does not necessarily translate to increased condom use, according to a new review from the United Kingdom.

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Children can have strokes, and the strokes can recur, usually within a month, according to pediatric researchers. Unfortunately, the strokes often go unrecognized the first time, and the child does not receive treatment before the recurrence.

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A Pakistani scholar plans to implement a social and emotional skill-building program she is studying in Alabama in 10 Pakistani elementary schools in an effort to reduce aggression and, perhaps one day, reduce the violence that plagues her country.

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Profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants to help them to hear rate their quality of life equal to their normal-hearing peers, according to new research from UT Southwestern Medical Center auditory specialists.

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Comments by ADA President Dr. Ron Tankersley on the Pew Center on the States’ report.

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Choking is a leading cause of injury and death among children, especially those younger than 4 years of age. The majority of choking-related incidents among children are associated with food, coins and toys. A new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), led by a doctor at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published in the February 22 online issue of Pediatrics, takes a closer look at preventing choking among children.

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Childhood obesity expert available to weigh in on the childhood obesity crisis and discuss Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.

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New findings in a study led by the director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Neonatology show that that training birth attendants in essential newborn-care techniques reduced stillbirths by more than 30 percent - and potentially could save as many as 1 million lives worldwide each year.

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In developing countries, where millions of babies die in the womb or soon after birth, research has shown that providing training in newborn care and resuscitation to birth attendants significantly increases the likelihood of a baby’s survival. The study was conducted in six countries. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine took part in the study in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Kinshasa School of Public Health.

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Although many parents and health care providers attempt to schedule a preterm newborn’s feeding pattern, a new review of studies reveals that feeding in response to the infant’s own hunger cues might result in earlier discharge from the hospital.

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While heart disease is traditionally associated with adults, pediatric patients face a number of cardiac conditions that can impact their health.

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The rate of chronic health conditions among children in the U.S. increased from 12.8 percent in 1994 to 26.6 percent in 2006, for conditions such as obesity, asthma and behavior/learning problems, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

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The first field study on the impact of light on teenagers’ sleeping habits finds that insufficient daily morning light exposure contributes to teenagers not getting enough sleep.

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Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) continues to be the third leading cause of infant death, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite a decline in SIDS that is associated with a rise in safe-sleep practices for newborns and infants. A new study by Barbara M. Ostfeld, PhD and Thomas Hegyi, MD, professors in the Department of Pediatrics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has identified that more than 96 percent of infants who died of SIDS were exposed to known risk factors, among them sleeping on their side or stomach, or exposure to tobacco smoke, and that 78 percent of SIDS cases contained multiple risk factors.

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A new national study finds that nearly a third of the prostituted juveniles taken into custody by police are treated more as criminal offenders than as victims of the pimps and customers who sexually abuse them. Study authors say this reflects controversy and confusion nationwide among criminal justice authorities about how to handle this problem.

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In a new study, infants averaging six months of age who exhibited positional plagiocephaly (flat head syndrome) had lower scores than typical infants in observational tests used to evaluate cognitive and motor development.

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New research from the Monell Center reports that children’s response to intense sweet taste is related to both a family history of alcoholism and the child’s own self-reports of depression. The findings illustrate how liking for sweets differs among children based on underlying familial and biological factors.

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Accidental falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injury among Americans of all ages according to the AANS. And among Americans age 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of fatal injuries. In 2008, nearly 8.6 million Americans suffered accidental falls according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taking a few minutes to make simple changes around the home can help prevent falls and potentially life-altering or even fatal head injuries.

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Researchers have identified a previously unrecognized target, a protein called STAT3, at which they can aim new drugs for the treatment of cancer in neurofibromatosis-1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes increased risk of benign and malignant brain tumors.

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Drinking milk during pregnancy may help reduce your baby’s chances of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) as an adult, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.

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A higher percentage of severely obese adolescents who received laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding lost more than 50 percent of excess weight and experienced greater benefits to health and quality of life compared to those in an intensive lifestyle management program, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

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The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds two-thirds of parents worry about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine while one-half are worried about H1N1 illness. Among parents worried more about the H1N1 vaccine, only 10 percent of their children have been vaccinated.

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Cerebral palsy (CP) has increased in infants born prematurely in the United States, according to data presented by researchers from Loyola University Health System (LUHS). These findings were reported at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Chicago. They also were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.