Life Life & Style Parenting
Science puts a new view forward in the anti-bra argument
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- Published on Thursday, 18 April 2013 20:45
- Written by BC & Agencies
Women have bound their breasts since antiquity, for modesty's sake or to conform to an aesthetic ideal. Exposing the breast for human survival in breastfeeding is supposed to be kept politely minimal, even with the known multiple benefits of breastfeeding.
Digested Formula, but Not Breast Milk, Is Toxic to Cells, in Vitro Study Finds
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- Published on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 16:39
- Written by BC & Agencies
Scientists have long known that premature infants fed formula are more likely to develop necrotizing enterocolitis than those fed breast milk. The condition is the leading cause of death from gastrointestinal diseases in premature infants, but the underlying mechanism has not been understood. Alexander Penn, a research scientist working in the Microcirculation Laboratory of bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schönbein from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, believes they have come closer to an answer.
9 Ways to Encourage Creativity
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- Published on Saturday, 07 January 2012 17:58
- Written by Sylvie Branch
Creativity is not a frivolous trait. Children raised to be creative thinkers are also often excellent problem solvers and have an innate trust in their abilities. Your child may not write a Pulitzer Prize winning novel or star on Broadway, but then again, you very well may have a budding creative genius underfoot. Regardless, the benefits of creativity are wide-spread. Here are 9 ways to encourage creativity.
To Watch or Not to Watch: Television for Children
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- Published on Sunday, 09 September 2012 03:10
- Written by Jamilah Kolocotronis
A tired mother plops her two-year-old child in front of the television so she can have a few minutes of rest. The child watches intently as puppets entertain with songs and simple dialogue. The mother closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, happy to be momentarily free of the responsibilities of motherhood.
Conventional wisdom would say that what this mother is doing is wrong. She should not use the television to babysit her child, and doing so on a regular basis could stunt the child's intellectual growth. For years, mothers have been made to feel guilty for using the television as a temporary babysitter. According to some sources, however, sometimes conventional wisdom could be wrong.
Babies start learning grammar from the moment they are born
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- Published on Wednesday, 14 December 2011 13:57
- Written by BC&Agencies
Babies start learning grammar from the moment they're born, a study has revealed.
Researchers found that in their first year of life, infants are listening intently to language and deconstructing word patterns.
Professor Jill Lany, from the University of Notre Dame, said this is the foundation on which actual word learning begins at around 17 months.
She said: 'Babies are constantly looking for language clues in context and sound.
The importance of being there for our kids
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- Published on Sunday, 02 September 2012 14:37
- Written by Abu Muhammad Yusuf
It’s a beautiful sunny day, Moosa and Fatima, two bubbly and vibrant 5 year old twins, try to draw their parent’s attention to the lovely sandcastles they had been constructing for hours in the garden. Dad is too busy viewing television and replying to emails on his Blackberry mobile while mum has for the last few hours been chatting with her friends and updating her Facebook page. Mum and dad, hardly take notice of their kid’s achievement. Both parents are usually so involved in their work and social environments that they “hardly” get time for their kids.
Apart from the first four weeks spent with mum after birth both Moosa and Fatima have ever since infancy been inhabitants of a day care centre. In the evenings mum picks them up on her way back home from office. Dad returns usually late in the evening and both parents barely have time to interact with their kids before its time to sleep and wake-up again.
High blood pressure in early pregnancy linked to birth defects
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- Published on Thursday, 20 October 2011 07:17
- Written by Denis Campbell,
Study finds risk of heart damage up 41%, but blames hypertension not drug
Babies born to women who suffer from high blood pressure in early pregnancy may be at higher risk of birth defects, according to research in the British Medical Journal.
Drugs taken by pregnant women for hypertension – angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors – are known to have a toxic effect on unborn babies during the second or third trimesters.
But researchers led by Dr De-Kun Li of the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute in California sought to find out if taking ACE inhibitors in the first trimester caused birth defects. They studied the health records of 465,754 pairs of mothers and infants in California between 1995 and 2008, and concluded that while the drugs did not cause defects, the underlying hypertension itself could increase the risk.
Babies born naturally 'have higher IQs than those delivered by caesarean section'
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- Published on Sunday, 12 August 2012 19:50
- Written by BC & Agencies
Babies born naturally may have higher IQs than those delivered by caesarean section, new research claims.
According to scientists, when women give birth naturally there are higher levels of a special protein in babies' brains that helps boost intelligence levels as they develop.
Scientists at Yale University in the US say the increased levels of the protein, called UCP2, in babies born naturally could help foster their short and long term memories – key components of the human IQ – as they grow up.
They made the discovery after studying the hippocampal region in the brains of mice born naturally and by caesarean.
Where Have All the Girls Gone?
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- Published on Friday, 05 August 2011 04:30
- Written by Debra J. Saunders
The world is becoming unbalanced. In pockets across the globe, women are giving birth to too many boys. In China, the sex ratio is 121 boys to 100 girls. In India, it's 112 to 100. Sex selection also is a force in the Balkans, Armenia and Georgia. In her eye-opening book, "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," journalist Mara Hvistendahl estimates that ultrasound and abortion have "claimed over 160 million potential women and girls - in Asia alone." That's more than the entire female population of the United States.
Teaching Kids Responsibility
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- Published on Monday, 06 February 2012 18:47
- Written by Beth Howard
Discover the secret to getting your kid to set the table or tidy her room without being constantly on her case about it.
My daughter, Zoe, was 5 when I decided to give her a couple of chores: making her bed every morning and putting some of her clean clothes in drawers on laundry day. Let's just say she blew off these tasks for months. I was beyond frustrated that my sweet kid, who eagerly pitched in at school during cleanup time, couldn't care less about lending a hand at home.
Immunizations - Harmful to your Child or Not?
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- Published on Tuesday, 19 October 2010 22:48
- Written by Editor
“Immunizations the best thing to protect your child from a variety of diseases.”
You hear this from your doctor from the media, from the brochures in the clinic, from your friends. But, did you ever stop to think twice about what it all means?
Did you ever look deeper into the issue and the other side of the story?
