Early term babies may be less likely than infants born full term to eventually earn a college degree and get a high-paying job, a large study suggests. In the analysis of 228,030 singleton births in Denmark, infants who were born after only 38 weeks of pregnancy were 15% less likely than those born at 40 weeks to have some education beyond high school or to be among the top earners in the study.
During normal pregnancy, mothers always gain body weight within a proper range. However, many women worry that extra pounds put on during pregnancy will not be lost after childbirth and, in fact, past studies have shown that excessive gestational weight gain is associated with immediate postpartum weight retention.
Pregnant women with influenza are more likely to experience complications, but how this affects infants is unclear. A new Birth Defects Research study uncovers the potential risks to infants.
Factors such as household income, parents' education, and antisocial behavior during adolescence may play a role in determining whether children exhibit a high level of physical aggression, new research suggests.
Hospital efforts to support breastfeeding by having babies room-in with mothers may have a rare unintended consequence: an increased risk of newborn falls. Neonatal falls are increasingly recognized as a postpartum safety risk, with as many as 1,600 newborns falls occurring in U.S. hospitals each year, researchers note in a paper online December 28 in Pediatrics.
President Trump has signed a bill aimed at reducing the United States' maternal mortality rate the highest percentage of all developed nations after it passed by unanimous consent in the Senate. In the United States, the maternal mortality rate is 26.4 deaths per 100,000 (about 700 per year). That rate increased 250% between 1987 and 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released an updated policy statement in which they recommend pediatricians routinely screen mothers for postpartum depression during well-child visits at 1, 2, 4, and six months.
Women who have given birth may have a significantly higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke compared with women who have never had children, and the risk appears to increase with each live birth, new research suggests.
Train nurses and midwives in the health facilities where they perform deliveries and more women and their babies will have births, a study led by a Jhpiego team demonstrates.
The exhaustion of a new baby can have negative fitness consequences as you lose the motivation to exercise and feel there's no time to get to the gym. But not exercising worsens fatigue, makes it harder to lose your baby weight and increases the risk of chronic health problems down the road.
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing of the Miris Human Milk Analyzer, a new diagnostic test to aid healthcare professionals in measuring nutrients in breast milk, including the concentration of fat, carbohydrate, protein, total solids and energy.
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital disability. And even with remarkable advances in care, it remains the leading cause of non-infectious death in infants.