Tag Archives: babies

Baby Matters recalls recliner linked to infant deaths

Baby Matters LLC is recalling baby recliners linked to five infant deaths as part of a settlement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. agency said on Friday. The settlement calls for the company, based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, to recall its foam rubber Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill infant recliners and their covers, in exchange for the CPSC dropping an administrative complaint that it filed in December 2012, the agency said in a statement. Four infants have died in the Nap Nanny Generation Two recliners, and a fifth death involved the Chill model, the agency said. The CPSC also received 92 reports of infants hanging or falling over the side of the recliners, including some children who were restrained in the product's harness. The agency urged consumers to stop using Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill recliners. It said Baby Matters was no longer in business and was not accepting returns. About 165,000 of the Nap Nanny and Chill products were sold between 2009 and 2012 for about $130 each. In December 2012, Amazon.com Inc, Buy Buy Baby Inc, Diapers.com, and Toys R Us/Babies R Us {TOY.UL] announced a voluntary recall of Nap Nanny and Chill models sold in their stores. Consumers who bought a Nap Nanny from one of those retailers should contact them for information on receiving a refund, the CPSC said. “CPSC urges other consumers to immediately dispose of the products to ensure that they are not used again,” the statement said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/14/baby-matters-recalls-recliner-linked-to-infant-deaths/

Babies have sympathy for bully victims, study suggests

Babies may be able to show sympathy before their first birthday, according to a new study in which 10-month-olds preferred the victims rather than the aggressors in a bullying encounter. The research, published June 12 in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first to find evidence of possible sympathy in children younger than toddlers, the researchers said. Sympathy is the feeling of concern for others. Because 10-month-olds can't yet express sympathy verbally, Kyoto University researcher Shoji Itakura and colleagues turned to a common tactic in baby-brain research: using simple animations to determine what infants prefer. They showed 40 babies an animation of a blue ball and a yellow cube. Half of the infants watched a short clip in which the blue ball chased the yellow cube around the screen, hitting it seven times before finally squishing it against a wall. The other half of the group saw the same movements, including the squishing, but the two shapes moved independently without interacting. In some cases, the “bully” and “victim” roles were swapped, so that the yellow cube was the bad guy. After watching the show, the babies were shown a real yellow cube and a real blue ball, and given the chance to reach for one of the objects. In cases where the babies had seen one shape beating up on the other, they overwhelmingly reached for the victim, 16 out of 20 times. In comparison, when the shapes hadn't interacted, the babies' choices were basically random nine went for the shape that had gotten squished, and the other 11 went for the nonsquished shape. Picking the victim The results could have simply indicated that babies preferred to steer clear of a nasty character, not that they felt sympathy for the bullied one. To rule out that possibility, the researchers conducted a second experiment with 24 babies, also 10 months old. These babies saw a show nearly identical to the first, except there was a third character: a red cylinder. The red cylinder was a neutral presence on-screen, neither bullying nor being bullied. After watching the animation, the babies were again given a choice of two toys. Half could pick between the “victim” shape and the neutral shape, while the other half got to choose between the bullying shape and the neutral shape. This time, 10 out of 12 babies given the neutral-or-bully option went with the neutral cylinder. Meanwhile, of the 12 given the neutral-or-victim option, 10 picked the victim. In other words, even when there was no mean character present that a baby might want to avoid, the babies still picked the victim. It goes too far to call this proof of sympathy, said Kiley Hamlin, an infant cognition researcher at the University of British Columbia who was not involved in the study. Nevertheless, Hamlin told LiveScience, the findings are “a great first step” in establishing the development of sympathy. Previously, Hamlin has reported that babies as young as 8 months old prefer to see wrongdoers punished rather than treated nicely. Brainy babies Some researchers have raised concerns about the kinds of animations used in infant cognition studies, arguing that babies might be marking their preferences based on extraneous information, like whether one character bounces or moves differently than the others. Itakura and colleagues aimed to control for those concerns by making sure their character shapes moved with the same speed and consistency. “They did a great job controlling for things like movement and amount of color on the stage,” Hamlin said. Though more studies will be needed to nail down babies' motivations for preferring victims of aggression, Hamlin said anecdotes suggest that even young babies notice others in distress, and seem bothered by that distress. “This is a nice way of saying, 'Okay, this is a far more abstract situation, is this something that 10-month-olds are noticing and responding to?” Hamlin said. “It seems to be that case that they are.” Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/13/babies-have-sympathy-for-bully-victims-study-suggests/

Obese expectant mothers at increased risk of preterm birth

Women who are obese during pregnancy may be at increased risk of giving birth too early, a new study from Sweden suggests. In the study, obese women were more likely than normal-weight women to give birth to extremely premature babies those born between 22 and 27 weeks of pregnancy. (Pregnancy typically lasts 40 weeks.) In addition, the more obese a woman was, the greater her risk of preterm birth was, the study found. For women with severe obesity defined as having a body mass index (BMI) between 35 and 39.9 the risk doubled, and for women with extreme obesity (a BMI of 40 or higher), the risk was triple that faced by normal-weight women (those with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9). Although these increases in risk were considerable, very few babies are born this prematurely. Most obese women in the study did not give birth to extremely premature babies. In the study, extremely premature birth occurred in 0.17 percent of normal-weight women, 0.21 percent of overweight women, 0.27 percent of mildly obese women, 0.35 percent of severely obese women and 0.52 percent of extremely obese women. Still, “considering the high morbidity and mortality among extremely preterm infants, even small absolute differences in risks will have consequences for infant health and survival,” the researchers wrote in the June 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study found an association, and cannot prove a cause-effect link between obesity and premature birth. However, the findings agree with the results of previous studies that have also shown such a link. Obesity is known to increase the risk of “medically indicated” premature birth that is, premature birth that is deliberately initiated by doctors, with a cesarean section or by inducing labor. This is because obesity increases the risk of medical disorders in pregnancy, such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. However, the new study also found a link between severe obesity and spontaneous extremely premature birth. The study examined information from more than 1.5 million births in Sweden between 1992 and 2010. Overall, about 5 percent of babies were born prematurely (before 37 weeks of pregnancy), including 4.36 percent who were moderately premature (between 32 and 36 weeks), 0.47 percent who were very premature (between 28 and 31 weeks) and 0.23 percent who were extremely premature. The findings still need to be confirmed in other populations, the researchers said. Because obesity in pregnancy can increase the risk of health problems for the mother and the baby, experts recommend that obese women limit their weight in pregnancy. The Institute of Medicine recommends normal-weight women gain 25 to 35 lbs. during pregnancy, overweight women gain 15 to 25 lbs. and obese women gain 11 to 20 lbs. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/11/obese-expectant-mothers-at-increased-risk-preterm-birth/

US births remain steady in 2012

The number of babies born yearly in the United States appears to be leveling off, after declining for the last few years, a new report says. In 2012, there were 3,958,000 babies born in the United States, according to early estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's about the same as the number of births in 2011, the report says. The number of U.S. births has been decline since 2007, when a record-breaking 4,316,233 babies were born —more births than at the height of the baby boom in the 1950s. But the downward trend slowed between 2010 and 2011, and “essentially flattened” between 2011 and 2012, the report says. The country's birth rate has followed a similar trend, peaking in 2007 at 69.3 births per 1,000 women, and declining until 2011, after which it stabilized. In 2012, there were 63.2 births per 1,000 women between ages 15 and 44, essentially the same as the rate in 2011, the report says. The report is published June 6 by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/us-births-remain-steady-in-2012/

5 awesome hotels for moms traveling with kids

Planning a vacation with your family this summer?  It’s never been easier with hotels and resorts offering special mom and kid friendly amenities to make traveling a little less stressful. According to Corinne McDermott, a travel agent and founder of the website havebabywilltravel.com, many destinations are wising up to the fact that women are waiting to have children later in life, and “once the children come along, they don’t necessarily want to give up everything they enjoyed pre-kids,” she said. Check out some hotels that are making trip planning a little easier and vacations more fun for the whole family. 1. The Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach in Florida is an all-suite hotel that offers full kitchens, climate-controlled poolside cabanas with flat-screen TVs, private restrooms, Wi-Fi and call-button service for refreshments. Camp Hyatt offers daily activities and adventures, and the Toy Box program provides a variety of age-appropriate toys and games for kids to choose from. The hotel also offers the Babies Travel Lite program which provides vacationers with everything from diapers and wipes to cribs, strollers, and baby food. Babysitting is also available. 2. If you’re breastfeeding or need a place to pump, the Nursing Mothers Amenity program at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago has you covered. For just $30, the hotel provides a Medela hospital grade breast pump – a breastfeeding accessory starter set which includes the Quick Clean™ Micro Steam™ bags, Quick Clean Wipes, Pump and Save™ Bags and disposable bra pads.  The hotel also offers an in-room microwave, mini-refrigerator, ice packs and mini cooler bags. Plus, they’ll even FedEx your milk home. All proceeds from the program benefit local families with children in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital. 3. The Four Seasons Resort in Vail, Colo., caters to the littlest traveler with amenities like a mini-refrigerator, a microwave, a bottle warmer, sterilizer and cleaning brush, a step stool, baby bathtub, crib, a pack and play, or a toddler bed. Is it nap time

10 things you only ask Google

Click over to the history tab in your browser and scan what's there. We're going to bet there's at least one semi-embarrassing health question you've been trying to get to the bottom of, but would never breathe a word about to your doctor.  To help you save time (and face), we canvassed doctors across America about common embarrassing symptoms and guess what? None of them flinched. They also had some fascinating clues as to what might be causing them—and what you can do about it. Here, strange symptoms you'd rather not talk about—explained. Why do I pee when I run? “Exercise-induced incontinence is not uncommon in women, and it's usually caused by one of two factors: “1. Stress incontinence occurs when the pressure inside the abdomen exceeds the resistance at the neck of the bladder (for example: if the urethral sphincter muscle doesn't close with enough force). Running or other strenuous physical exercise could cause this increase in abdominal pressure and subsequent urinary leakage. (Sound familiar? See 11 Fixes For A Weak Bladder.) “2. The other main reason is bladder overactivity, where the muscles of the wall of the bladder squeeze when they should be relaxed (during bladder filling). This gives people a sense of urgency, and may cause them to leak urine. “If you're experiencing urine leakage with running or other physical exercise, I encourage you to seek help from a urologist or your primary health care provider.” —Dr. Tomas L. Griebling, professor and vice-chair of urology at the University of Kansas My thighs chafe when I walk. What's up? …

Babies who share bed with parents 5 times more likely to die of SIDS

Babies sharing beds with their parents face a five-fold risk of dying of cot death, even if their parents are not smokers, new research shows. The increased risk of death extends to babies previously thought to be at low risk because they are breastfed and the mother has not taken alcohol or drugs, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal Open. The findings come after 1472 Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) cases and 4679 control cases from Australasia, the U.K. and Europe were analyzed in the largest ever study of cot death. The SIDS rate would plummet if parents avoided bed sharing and public healthy messages were more forceful about the dangers for babies under three months, the authors, led by Professor Robert Carpenter, said. “Eighty-eight percent of the deaths that occurred while bed sharing would probably not have occurred had the baby been placed on its back in a cot by the parents' bed,’’ the authors concluded. The risk of SIDs while bed sharing decreased as the baby gets older. Bed sharing has increased “markedly’’ over the last decade, the study found. Parents who endorse the practice are active on the Internet and Facebook. Murdoch University associate professor Catherine Fetherson said research shows between 30 and 50 percent of parents share a bed with their babies at some time. She believes a blanket message against bed sharing is driving parents underground. “They are continuing to do it, even though people are being warned against it and so what is happening is they are shutting down all communication with health professionals,’’ she said. Click for more from news.com.au.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/babies-who-share-bed-with-parents-5-times-more-likely-to-die-cot-death/

Babies who share bed with parents 5 times more likely to die of cot death

Babies sharing beds with their parents face a five-fold risk of dying of cot death, even if their parents are not smokers, new research shows. The increased risk of death extends to babies previously thought to be at low risk because they are breastfed and the mother has not taken alcohol or drugs, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal Open. The findings come after 1472 Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) cases and 4679 control cases from Australasia, the U.K. and Europe were analyzed in the largest ever study of cot death. The SIDS rate would plummet if parents avoided bed sharing and public healthy messages were more forceful about the dangers for babies under three months, the authors, led by Professor Robert Carpenter, said. “Eighty-eight percent of the deaths that occurred while bed sharing would probably not have occurred had the baby been placed on its back in a cot by the parents' bed,’’ the authors concluded. The risk of SIDs while bed sharing decreased as the baby gets older. Bed sharing has increased “markedly’’ over the last decade, the study found. Parents who endorse the practice are active on the Internet and Facebook. Murdoch University associate professor Catherine Fetherson said research shows between 30 and 50 percent of parents share a bed with their babies at some time. She believes a blanket message against bed sharing is driving parents underground. “They are continuing to do it, even though people are being warned against it and so what is happening is they are shutting down all communication with health professionals,’’ she said. Click for more from news.com.au.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/babies-who-share-bed-with-parents-5-times-more-likely-to-die-cot-death/