Pregnant women may want to skip all soft drinks while they’re expecting if they want their child’s learning and memory skills to be sharper, new research suggests. The study found that when moms-to-be had more sugar, especially from sugar-sweetened sodas, their children had poorer nonverbal problem-solving abilities and verbal memory. These children also had poorer… read on >
How do you know if your child is maturing properly? It helps to know the developmental milestones and about when they typically occur. The American Academy of Pediatrics says: By 2 months: Tries to look at a parent and pays attention to faces. By 4 months: Mimics facial movements such as smiling or frowning, and… read on >
There’s been a steep decline over the past two decades in births to American girls under the age of 15, a new report finds. Overall, “the number of U.S. births to females aged 10 to 14 was a record low in 2016, dropping to 2,253 from 8,519 in 2000,” a team from the U.S. Centers… read on >
There’s new evidence that even moderate amounts of caffeine consumed by a mom-to-be might affect her child’s weight years later. The overall effect was small — an average of an extra pound by age 8. But children of women who consumed the most caffeine during pregnancy were 66 percent more likely to be slightly overweight,… read on >
How much a woman indulges in alcohol may have ties to her premenstrual syndrome symptoms, a new global research review suggests. “We estimate that 11 percent of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) cases may be associated to alcohol intake worldwide,” according to a team led by Bahi Takkouche, of the University of Santiago de Compostela, in Spain.… read on >
Leg cramps are a common symptom of pregnancy, often occurring at night. Cramps typically occur only for a short time, but they can be very uncomfortable, the Nemours Foundation says. The Foundation suggests how to ease the pain and reduce the frequency of cramps during pregnancy: Do calf stretches before bed. Make sure not to… read on >
Teens who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to try marijuana in the future, especially if they start vaping at a younger age, a new study shows. More than 1 in 4 teenagers who reported e-cigarette use eventually progressed to smoking pot, according to the survey of more than 10,000 teens. That compared with just… read on >
Following an enormous jump in children’s exposures to toxic liquid nicotine from electronic cigarettes, the rate dropped in just one year, new research reveals. But too many young kids are still being exposed to liquid nicotine, experts say. Among cases that ended up in the emergency department, 93 percent had swallowed the substance. The annual… read on >
A cancer scare could increase the chances that you’ll be diligent about recommended screenings in the future, a new study finds. People who got a false-positive result on a breast or prostate cancer screening test were more likely to adhere to screening guidelines for breast cancer and colon cancer going forward, researchers found. False-positive findings… read on >
Autism may be detected at an early age by paying attention to your baby’s social and language skills, the American Academy of Pediatrics says. But all children who have autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will not have the same symptoms or severity, the academy notes. Still, the academy says parents should monitor for these… read on >
