Issue Date: January 11, 2004

15 new findings on caring for your baby

We searched the globe for the latest science so you can devote your energies to simply being a good parent.

By Michele Hatty

Each year, USA WEEKEND Magazine is committed to bringing new parents the very latest from the world of pediatrics to help them navigate those tenuous first months. We combed through the most recent scientific studies and research reports to compile this list of the 15 most important new things you need to know to care for and raise your baby. Read on:

1. Keep Baby out of your bed.
Adding new fuel to the old debate, a new study shows it simply isn't safe for babies to sleep in a bed: Infants are 20 times more at risk of suffocation there than in a crib. The new study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Loyola College and the St. Louis University School of Medicine found that the number of infants who died while sleeping in adult beds has increased dramatically in the past 10 years and that parents need to be aware of the risks associated with the practice.

2.Try to get Baby's sleep on track from the beginning.
Instilling good sleep habits early has long-term benefits for Baby and Mom, according to a new study of infants in Australia. Researchers found that 32% of 3- and 4-year-olds who'd had sleep problems at ages 8 to 10 months continued to have trouble sleeping as they got older. Along with the sleeplessness came a slight rise in behavioral problems in the children and an increase in depression for Mom.

3.Resist the urge to put infants on their tummies to sleep.
Most parents know it's safer for infants to sleep on their back. Now there's proof it's just as comfy for the baby as sleeping prone. In a new study conducted jointly by the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research in Amsterdam, 1- and 3-month-old preemies who slept on their tummies did not get substantially more rest than those on their backs, as many assumed. Results further support the American Academy of Pediatrics' "Back to Sleep" campaign, which aims to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

4.Consider breast feeding.
Not enough new mothers breast-feed their babies, and many of those who do so stop too soon. In a survey of households with children 19 to 35 months old, nearly two-thirds of the children had been breast-fed at some point. At 6 months, less than one-third were still being breast-fed; at 1 year, just over 10% were, according to researchers from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national goals set by the federal government: At least 75% of babies would receive breast milk initially, half would still be breast-fed at 6 months, and 25% would carry on for the full first year of life.

5.Parents who go with formula should choose a specially fortified one.
The latest generation of infant formulas includes some fortified with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA), two natural components of breast milk. Researchers at several state universities and Abbott Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, teamed up to study whether these additives boost the nutritional benefits of formula. They learned that choosing formula with DHA and ARA can encourage visual and cognitive development in kids all the way past age 3.

6.Keep an eye on toddlers' weight.
In a survey, nearly one-third of mothers with children ages 2 to 11 thought their overweight youngster was "about the right weight," according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gender also plays a role: Mothers of overweight kids were more likely to think their daughters weighed too much than that their sons did.

7.Don't neglect Junior's eyes.
Just because your little one doesn't have the verbal ability to tell you what he's looking at doesn't mean it isn't vital to have his eyes checked. The American Academy of Ophthalmology, in conjunction with several other medical councils, recently recommended that newborns be examined for eye abnormalities such as cataracts at birth to avoid long-term impairment.

8.Listen to your little one breathe.
A baby who wheezes may become an asthmatic child. Findings out of Finland show that wheezing infants who have high levels of certain antibodies to wheat, egg whites or inhaled allergens may develop asthma in early childhood. The good news? Checking for those allergies in infants can promote early diagnosis of asthma.

9.If he gets a respiratory infection, don't treat it with echinacea.
Although this herbal remedy has been widely used in the past to treat upper respiratory infections, children should steer clear of it. Not only is it ineffective for little ones, but its use also can lead to an increased risk of rash, say researchers out of Washington state, who studied its effects on kids ages 2 to 11.

10.Even babies should get flu shots.
All healthy infants from 6 to 23 months old should get a pediatric influenza vaccination, say new recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control. Before, flu shots for little ones weren't emphasized. (January is not too late to get a flu shot; ask your pediatrician where to find one.)

11.And soothe her while she gets that shot.
Instead of leaving Baby alone on the examination table while she receives her immunizations, hold her in your arms, breast-feed her, feed her a bottle of sugar water or let her suck on a pacifier, say researchers at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. They found that babies cry less when Mom or Dad holds and distracts them -- and that doing so gives peace to the adult, too.

12.Keep a close eye on your 3-month-old.
Actually, keep an eye on him until he's 17 months old, because during that time, injury rates among babies rise rapidly, say researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and the California Department of Health Services. Top causes: falls, choking, burns and shaken-baby syndrome (see our child safety poster, pages 8-9).

13.If you're pregnant and you smoke, stop. Really.
It may sound like old news, but now there's even more reason to quit. Prenatal exposure to nicotine leads to babies who are more excitable and spastic, who are more insistent on being held and whose central nervous systems are subjected to greater strain, according to researchers at Brown Medical School in Rhode Island. Additionally, the National Center for Health Statistics reports that in the last decade, smokers were twice as likely to bear babies with low birth weight than were non-smokers and that even light smoking -- lighting up fewer than five cigarettes a day -- can lead to low birth weight.

14.And when you're in labor ...
... give yourself plenty of time to get to the hospital. Otherwise, you may be one of the many women who will give birth in a car this year. More than one in 300 U.S. women who have given birth delivered en route to the hospital, according to a recent survey by Jiffy Lube International and Ipsos-U.S. Express. Why the holdup? Traffic, getting lost and poor timing are some of the contributing factors.

15.Driving a new trend in baby names: luxury cars.
The newest way to have a Lexus is to give birth to one. In 2002, parents gave their little girls monikers like Porsche and Mercedes, according to the Social Security Administration, which tracks names. Also in fashion: naming children after places including Paris, Montana, Brooklyn and Aspen for girls, Houston, Dayton and Zaire for boys, and Dakota and London for both. The most popular names? Emily and Jacob, for the fourth year in a row. And new to the top 10: Ethan, the fifth most popular name for boys; and Emma and Olivia for girls, ranking fourth and 10th, respectively.

Sources for this report include "Pediatrics" (the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics) and "The Journal of the American Medical Association."

Cover photograph by Jade Albert Studios, Getty Images