Every mother wants a peaceful and gentle birth for her baby. A water birth in this case, is truly considered heavenly and beneficial for birthing mothers. This type of birth not only benefits the mother by helping better relaxation and reducing her pain, but will also benefit her baby…

New Australian research has found that women can identify only a little more than one-third of their fetus’s movements, usually when the movements involve more than one fetal body part. The research has the potential to help calm anxious mothers-to-be who are worried their babies have stopped moving. “It…

Scientists have long known that breast milk is best for babies because it provides components that protect the immune system and help reduce an infant’s risk for developing infections. What researchers did not know was how and why breast milk specifically protects infants, but now they are closer to…

Although it might look like a baby is chewing on the mother’s nipple, ultrasound images show that the infant actually removes milk by creating a vacuum – also known as sucking. The finding is important, as it could explain why some babies fail to take to the breast. It…

The working mother who cannot be at home to cuddle a distraught child can relax – her voice on the phone soothes as much as a hug, a study suggests. US researchers put more than 60 girls in a stressful situation and monitored their hormonal responses when they were…

Scientists say they’ve identified a culprit behind stillbirths and miscarriages in seemingly healthy pregnant women. It turns out that oral bacteria — even the kinds that exist normally — can travel through an open wound in the mouth into the bloodstream, settle in the placenta and potentially end a…

Just what you’ve been looking for – the top 10 baby names of 2009! Check out which names were added this year and if your favorites from 2008 held on or were dropped off the list. Need some fresh name ideas for your baby? Be sure to check out…

No doubt it’s easier to plan for a second baby. Most equipment and clothing can be used a second time and the pressure isn’t as intense for Baby Part Deux. Overwhelmed first-time parents can easily overspend in an effort to make everything perfect. Unfortunately, with so many other expenses…

Stressful situations in early pregnancy can lead to the birth of babies who are underweight or born too early, new research from China shows. Timing of the stress, the researchers found, was the key. “The findings are modest, but significant,” the authors write in the American Journal of Obstetrics…

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have children with sleep problems from birth all the way through age 12, new research shows. “The more cigarettes that mothers smoked during pregnancy, the more sleep problems the children had,” Dr. Kristen Stone of Women and Infants Hospital in…