With so much contradictory information about whether it’s safe for mothers to share a bed with their baby, it’s easy to see why parents are confused. The release yesterday of a paper in BMJ Open added…
Timing sex around ovulation doesn’t change the odds of having a boy or girl.
Image from shutterstock.com
Despite most parents ultimately just wishing for a healthy baby, there are many cultural and social factors that can drive the desire for a baby of a particular sex.
The medical technology for sex selection…
Overprotective policies constrain kids and teach them to value risk assessment over opportunity.
Sim Dawdler/Flickr
We take an “efficiency” approach to childhood and child-rearing in Australia.
We want kids to grow up and become productive economic citizens without them deviating from identified pathways, and society…
Controlled crying is when parents respond to their infant’s cries and gently comfort them, then return at increasing time intervals.
Flickr/tea...
In my clinical work with pregnant and postnatal mums experiencing anxiety and mood disorders, few issues are reported as consistently as sleep deprivation. Parents who spend the first year of their child…
We need to teach girls to value more than just looks.
Steven Depolo
The body is a gateway to experiencing and exploring the world. It’s the first thing people see when they look at us and it’s the canvas on which we express who we are. But the relationship we have with…
Doctors have become victims of their own success, giving more parents hope for their premature or extremely sick babies.
Chiceaux
Parents of babies born severely premature or with serious abnormalities are turning to the courts in a bid to override medical opinion to commence or continue life-sustaining treatment for their infants…
Bed-sharing seems like a workable option to settle infants and to gain much-needed sleep. But is it worth the risks?
DanielJames
Most parents will tell you that as soon as they announced their pregnancy, the advice started rolling in. Much of it might have been sensible and evidence-based, but it’s difficult to sort the myths from…
Too much urging can backfire and entrench some parents' opposition to vaccination.
Flickr/skippytpe
Dr Seuss’ book Green Eggs and Ham is built around the urgings of a weird creature, Sam I Am, who insists the narrator eat the food of its title. When the narrator refuses, Sam issues an ever-widening range…
We may have to apologise for intercountry adoptions in future, just as Victoria has apologised to the children of forced adoption mothers here.
AAP/Paul Jeffers
You might not have realised it, but it is Adoption Awareness Week. Every year at this time lobbyists pull out the big gun – the celebrity card – and Deborra-Lee Furness hits the airwaves.
The messages…
Telstra listened to customer complaints about data privacy, but they could have done more.
gailjadehamilton
Telstra’s first attempt to introduce a cyber-safety service for mobile customers in June was a flop of significant proportions.
Customers and concerned members of the public reacted strongly to the collection…
Approximately 1% of adults and 4% of children stutter.
khrawlings/Flickr.
For the 1% of adults worldwide who stutter, the everyday task of picking up a phone, asking for directions, or ordering food in a restaurant can be incredibly difficult.
Stuttering is even more common…
Women can move more easily in water, enabling them to change position with ease.
Flickr/kTLindSAy
“Women aren’t dolphins” is a phrase often bandied about by those who question why women want to immerse themselves in pools or warm baths during labour and birth. They forget that we’re not mountain goats…
Parents' drinking patterns impact on how young people think about and consume alcohol.
Kuorui
The question of whether adults should be allowed to drink alcohol at school discos, fetes and sports games was thrust into the spotlight this week after the Australian Drug Foundation urged education…
Early exposure to siblings and dogs may help to train the developing immune system.
Flickr/henry...
Having older siblings and a dog that lives in the home could reduce the likelihood of infants developing egg allergies, according to a new study published in the latest edition of the journal Allergy…
Public health experts, educators and the media constantly remind us that children should put down the video games and get active. But how much activity is really necessary to maintain health? And how much…
We often preface words like slap and smack with “just a little” to make it sound more socially acceptable.
paulscott
Picture this: you’re standing in a long, slow-moving queue. People around you are disgruntled and complaining. You turn to talk with the person behind you and someone else jumps the queue in front of you…
Hitting and other forms of harsh physical punishment is associated with mental health problems later in life.
Spamily
Research published this month in the journal Pediatrics confirms what child advocates have long known: it’s never okay to hit children.
Study author Tracie Afifi and her colleagues investigated the link…
Between 10% and 45% of children have one or more sleep problems.
Jack French
Any parent will tell you the meaning of the saying “slept like a baby” is completely opposite to reality. Thankfully, many parents succeed in establishing a routine to their baby’s initial erratic sleep…
Questions of cuckoldry and fidelity have always existed – and comfort has come from religious customs.
More Good Foundation
Religious leaders and holy texts share deep preoccupations with sex and reproduction. From Islamic purdah to Jewish menstrual purity laws, to Vatican neuroses about everything from contraception to masturbating…
Why are Rachel Griffith’s parenting decisions making headlines?
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
The front page of Saturday’s edition of the Sydney Morning Herald on the weekend was dominated by a story about the actor Rachel Griffiths and her husband, artist Andrew Taylor “playing swapsies” with…
Sydney protesters rally for marriage equality (March 2012).
A group of 150 doctors, called Doctors for the Family, have made a submission to the Senate inquiry into gay marriage which argues that children of same-sex parents suffer poorer health and well-being…
Doctors for the Family’s claims aren’t based on scientific evidence.
flickr/Poes In Boots
“[T]he evidence is clear that children who grow up in a family with a mother and a father do better in all parameters than children without.” That’s according to the Doctors for the Family’s submission…
Intellectually disabled children who undergo the “Ashley procedure” are stunted to prevent the onset of puberty.
flickr/visions by vicky
A growing number of parents are seeking the “Ashley Treatment,” a highly experimental medical intervention designed to arrest the physical and sexual development of severely disabled children. This invasive…
We can reduce rates of childhood obesity but it requires a coordinated, consistent approach.
Sean Dreilinger
Seventeen years of our research into childhood obesity is starting to deliver dividends. We now know what kinds of interventions are effective for reducing the number of overweight and obese children in…
Removing barriers to adoption is risky.
Flickr/vavva
The release last Wednesday of the Senate’s Community Affairs Committee report on forced adoption resulted in almost unanimous condemnation of past adoption practices which saw young, unmarried women…
Children’s brains are plastic and sensitive to their environments.
annagarcia
New evidence is emerging that confirms what parents and children have reported for generations: boys and girls behave differently, and parenting practices vary depending on the gender of the child. Boys…
The victims of forced adoption want an apology from the Commonwealth government.
Nikkirk
A long-awaited Senate Committee report will tomorrow reveal whether the Commonwealth’s policies and practices played a role in coercing young, unwed Australian women to give up their newborn babies for…
It’s the quality, not quantity, of the time spent with children that counts most.
Sean drillinger
Conservative commentary often attempts to reinstate the primacy of stay-at-home motherhood, prompting feelings of guilt among working mothers. But a recent study might help to finally lay this issue to…
Parents under the most pressure are those who have to work but would prefer to be looking after their kids.
Big Grey Mare Back But Barely
The question of whether a parent – in most cases, mothers – can or should return to paid employment and in what capacity, is once again in the spotlight thanks to a recent study in the American Journal…
Infants should sleep alone without bedding or toys that could cover their face.
Flickr/dontshoot me
In a recent visit to Australia, US Anthropologist Professor James McKenna claimed that under the right circumstances, breastfed babies could safely sleep in the same bed as their mothers. This was a perfectly…
Home births for high-risk pregnancies and where a registered midwife isn’t present are risky.
Deannster
We live in a world with many different perspectives on risk. Entire professions now exist to advise us on how to recognise, avoid and manage risk. And the maternity and obstetric professions are no different…
Children should be taught to play music themselves rather than just listening to it.
Naruco
What parent can pass up the chance to boost their child’s intelligence by putting on some nice classical music?
The popular idea that IQ scores can be raised by listening to Mozart is a case study in…
Many extremely premature babies will have lifelong physical and intellectual deficiencies.
kqedquest
Imagine how frightening it must be for a woman to go into labour when she is just over halfway through her pregnancy and her baby has only had 23 or 24 weeks to grow. She and her family are overcome with…
The frequently cited Netherlands study doesn’t show it’s safe to give birth at home in Australia.
Assy
We’re fortunate to live in a society where robust evidence forms the basis of the information health-care professionals provide to patients – and home birth should be no exception. But the evidence about…
Parenting programs need to actively include fathers.
Jason Coleman
It comes as no surprise to see that parenting programs attract mothers. Drop into a “toddler taming” discussion, a workshop on parents and literacy or a seminar about communicating with your teenager and…
Fruit juice contains as much sugar as soft drink.
Gail M Tang
We often hear, from health experts and well-meaning parents, that soft drink is terribly unhealthy and we should opt for fruit juice instead. But apart from a few additional vitamins and minerals, there…
Social realities have a bigger impact on when women have babies than “medical facts”.
ECohen
It seems we have a new “barbecue stopper” about women and families, after comments last week by Perth obstetrician Barry Walters that it is selfish for older women to have babies.
Defending himself from…
NRL player Craig Wing has a sister with Down Syndrome.
AAP
“Fuck you, Wing, your sister has Down syndrome!”
These words were once hurled at NSW rugby league star Craig Wing while he was playing for the Sydney Roosters against the Canterbury Bulldogs at the Sydney…
The foreskin is the most sensitive part of the penis.
Flickr/NoVa Hokie
For centuries, children have been subjected to cultural and medicalised practices that were ultimately proven harmful and a violation of basic bodily integrity. Such practices have included foot binding…
The benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks by 100 to one.
Jeff Dickerson
Medical circumcision of baby boys has plummeted in Australia, with only 20% of male infants now undergoing the procedure, down from 90% in the 1970s.
Meanwhile, HIV infections continue to rise in the…
Guidelines say no TV for under 2s, then no more than two hours a day.
Keenen Brown
If you’ve ever sat your toddler down in front of the television to give yourself a few minutes of much-needed rest, you’re certainly not alone.
But for many parents, those few minutes of bliss that come…
