Parenting, Study | featured news

An infant who cries through the night -- or even a fraction of the night -- can have a big impact on a household. Parents who repeatedly wake up to soothe and cradle their baby may find themselves sleep-deprived, stressed-out, and even depressed.

Toddlers seem to know the difference between a whiner and somebody who is justifiably upset, and the young children often show less sympathy for crybabies, a new study shows.

Declining rates of circumcision among infants will translate into billions of dollars of unnecessary medical costs in the U.S. as these boys grow up and become sexually active men, researchers at Johns Hopkins University warned.

Changing the type of DVDs, videos and TV shows that preschoolers watch during the day may help them sleep better at night. A program that encouraged parents of kids ages 3 to 5 to replace age-inappropriate media content with more suitable programming found "long-lasting, significant reductions in sleep problems," says Michelle Garrison of Seattle Children's Research Institute, lead author of the study in Monday's Pediatrics.

Special seats and other devices designed to help prevent parents from accidentally leaving babies and toddlers behind in cars don’t work, a team of experts said on Monday. They said parents shouldn’t rely on them to keep children safe.

Finally, some good news for older dads. A new study hints that their children and even their grandchildren may get a health benefit because of their older age. It's based on research into something called telomeres - tips on the ends of chromosomes.

Researchers say the small but significant increases in the risk of leukemia and brain cancer do not mean that CT scans should be avoided entirely, but that the test should be performed only when necessary.

Erin Carroll planned to breast-feed both her newborn sons. But like many women with the best intentions, it didn't work out. A new government study finds only a third of new moms achieve their goal of exclusively breast-feeding for three months.

Along with a list of breast-feeding’s health benefits for mothers and children, pediatricians often tout an added bonus -- unlike formula, breast milk is free. Not so fast, researchers say.

Publication bias: It has long been a problem in medical research. Studies that show a drug or treatment is effective are more likely to be published than studies with negative findings.