infants news stories on Newser

Infants Want Bad Guys to Get It

Matt Cantor — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:13:05 CST

Even at eight months old, we seem to have a desire to see evildoers punished. Researchers showed groups of babies a puppet routine in which one elephant puppet treated a duck puppet well, while another was mean to his puppet peer. In a later scene, a moose puppet rewarded the...

Health Ads Rip Family Bed for Baby

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:59:56 CST

In the latest unkind cut in parenting battles, startling Wisconsin health ads are warning moms and dads that sleeping with their babies is the same as leaving a butcher knife next to them. The Milwaukee horror campaign against family "co-sleeping" reveals dozing babes cuddled next to knives almost as big...

New Infant Guidelines: No Bumper Pads, No TV

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:27:51 CDT

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new guidelines for infants to cut down on sleep-related deaths and reduce TV time. The new sleep guidelines now recommend against all types of bumper pads, noting that “there is a potential risk of suffocation, strangulation or entrapment.” They also urge mothers to...

The New Target Demographic: Babies

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:19:22 CDT

Remember the plan Disney came up with earlier this year to stalk the maternity ward for potential new customers? Turns out that’s not an isolated incident, it’s a full-on trend. The new hot demographic for many brands to target today is infants to 3-year-olds, Adweek reports. Until recently, marketers ignored...

Disney's New Plan: Stalk the Maternity Ward

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:19:02 CST

Picture this touching moment: You’re in the hospital, aglow from the birth of your first child … when a Disney rep accosts you, offering you free stuff in exchange for joining an email list. That’s basically the plan Disney came up with after realizing, to its utter dismay, that many...

Baby's Smile May Be Misleading

Nick McMaster — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:43:26 CDT

A spoonful of sugar may not help the medicine go down after all. The theory that a dose of sucrose wards off pain for babies during medical procedures is being challenged by new research from a team of British doctors, who found that the infants still manifested a pain response...

UK Gives Dads 6 Months of Paternity Leave

Jane Yager — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:11:36 CST

The UK has overhauled its family leave policy to put more British babies in their fathers' care as mothers play the role of breadwinner. Where previously mothers got nine months' leave and fathers only two weeks, families will now have the option of shifting the mother's last three months to...

Mothers' Epilepsy Drug May Lower IQs of Kids

John Johnson — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:03:29 CDT

Children born to women taking the popular epilepsy drug valproate have notably lower IQs than other kids, a new study shows. The anti-seizure drug, sold generically and under the brand name Depakote, also is prescribed for migraines, pain, and psychiatric disorders, the New York Times reports. Doctors involved with the...

Enough Already: Breastfeeding Is Overrated

Wesley Oliver — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:43:28 CDT

Breast milk isn’t a magical elixir that boosts IQ and thwarts illness, but it may be the residue of women’s subjugation, Hanna Rosin writes in the Atlantic . Science has never handily declared breastfeeding better than bottled formula, says Rosin. At best, it prevents gastrointestinal illness in some children, and at...