Researchers say women who drink probiotic milk during and after pregnancy could reduce the chances their baby will develop eczema. Babies of women who drank probiotic milk beginning at week 36, and then during breast-feeding, were found to have almost half the incidence of eczema compared to babies whose…

Two couples in Victoria are suing their doctors for failing to diagnose Down’s Syndrome antenatally. They argue that they are suffering ‘psychiatric injury’ and would have liked to have had the opportunity to terminate their pregnancies had they known about the diagnosis. This is tricky. At the moment, we live…

The heartbeats of a mother and her unborn fetus synchronize when she breathes rhythmically, researchers have said. Scientists at the University of Aberdeen claim the connection paves the way for a new technique to detect development problems during pregnancy. They said if this synchronization did not happen it could…

How important is the length of a maternity leave on a child’s development? That’s one of the questions that Michael Baker has been trying to answer in his research. Prof. Baker, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Toronto, has studied how changes in maternity-leave…

Expectant parents shopping for a home are not the only ones concerned about the date of the baby’s arrival. Mortgage lenders are taking a harder look at prospective borrowers whose income has temporarily fallen while they are on leave, including new parents at home taking care of a baby….

California public health officials on Monday strongly urged elderly adults, children and pregnant women to get vaccinated against whooping cough, citing an epidemic in the state that is on track to be the worst in 50 years. Nearly 1,500 cases of whooping cough have been reported statewide this year,…

Combining probiotics with perinatal dietary counseling could help reduce the risk of diabetes in mothers and provide a “safe and cost-effective” tool in addressing obesity in children, according to a new study from Finland. Published in the British Journal of Nutrition, the study found that probiotic-supplemented dietary counseling could…

I’m pregnant. Can the oil harm me or my unborn baby? Although the oil may contain some chemicals that could cause harm to an unborn baby under some conditions, the CDC has reviewed sampling data from the EPA and feels that the levels of these chemicals are well below…

I have spoken of the many people I knew growing up in middle and high school that got pregnant at a very early age and decided to go through with the pregnancy. Most of these girls I knew that decided to have their babies at such a young age…

A Utah woman is pregnant with two babies, due at two different times. Angie Cromar says her first ultrasound surprised both her and her doctor. She discovered she was pregnant with two babies at two slightly different stages of development — about four days apart. “[He said] I’m five…