Pregnancy Stress Ups Kid's Asthma Risk

Expected to do more, fathers now feel mothers' pain at the balancing act

(NEWSER) - Happy Father's Day, Tara Parker-Pope writes in the New York Times: You deserve it, because it's gotten a lot harder to be a dad. Fathers, increasingly expected to pull their weight at home as well as in the office, are now as stressed about juggling it all as their wives, recent studies show. And they're caught between wives who expect them to do more of the child rearing and employers, who consider them wusses if they let family responsibilities intrude on being 100% available. More»

Researchers find links to problems later from prenatal to 3 years old

(NEWSER) - A kid's path to fat camp may begin even before conception, and, as one doctor tells the Los Angeles Times , “during pregnancy and the first two years of life, mothers and their infants are seen by physicians more often than any other time. It's kind of a golden opportunity” to stop obesity before it starts. What you can do during: More»

Study shows breastfeeding women slim faster

(NEWSER) - It's not the most PC thing to admit, but more and more moms are jumping on the breast-feeding wagon for the love of their...waist, reports Catherine Saint Louis for the New York Times. "For those incredibly shrinking women, the time they nurse is precious not only for its skin-on-skin cuddling, but also for the Get Out of Dieting Jail Free card that comes with it," she found. “Nobody wants to admit ‘I’m doing it to help myself look hot again,’" said one new mom. "It’s tough to admit to other people that everything isn’t about the baby." More»

(NEWSER) - Amniocentesis may become a thing of the past, as new procedures are developed that can non-invasively but definitively test for Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities, writes Amanda Schaffer for DoubleX. The procedures, expected to be available in the next few years, take advantage of a recent discovery: Early in pregnancy, DNA from the fetus enters the mother’s blood and can then be tested. More»

Study urges caution for popular valproate

(NEWSER) - Children born to women taking the popular epilepsy drug valproate have notably lower IQs than other kids, a new study shows. The anti-seizure drug, sold generically and under the brand name Depakote, also is prescribed for migraines, pain, and psychiatric disorders, the New York Times reports. Doctors involved with the study say valproate should never be the first drug precribed for women of child-bearing age. More»