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Study Finds Breastfed Babies Are Less Likely to Become Obese

How to break the cycle of diabetes that often plagues families -- especially those in which the parents are overweight -- is a problem that has troubled researchers and physicians for many years. But a study being published in the October issue of Diabetes Care provides families with one tool that may help: Breastfeeding.

via: Healthy Baby Blog

Sleep deprived? Not getting enough sleep could mean more than being tired.

Listen: sleepdeprived.mp3

A study says middle-aged people getting five or less hours of sleep instead of seven to eight hours double their risk of high blood pressure. "When we sleep, our blood pressure and our heart rate decreases by an average of 10 to 20 percent. If we have short sleep durations over a long period of time, then our average 24 hour blood pressure and heart rate increase." (11 seconds)

The study in the American Heart Association’s journal, Hypertension, was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa was a new mother

Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman immortalized in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said Tuesday.

The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special infrared and three-dimensional technology to peer through hitherto impenetrable paint layers on the work, which now sits in the Louvre museum in Paris. Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration said that on very close examination of the painting it became clear that the Mona Lisa's dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze veil.

100 Best Employers For Parents - Working Mother Magazine

Eighteen new U.S. companies made the magazine's list, which hits newsstands on Monday. Hundreds of companies apply for the Honor that is used as a recruiting tool and helps in retaining workers, said Editor-in-chief Suzanne Riss.

Top among working mothers' desires are flexibility in the hours they work and the availability of job sharing and telecommuting, Riss said. All but two companies on the list offered job sharing, compared to 18 percent of U.S. companies overall.

Via: Reuters / Working Mother

Abbott
Accenture
Aflac Inc.
Allstate Insurance Co.
American Express Co.
Arnold & Porter LLP
Astrazeneca
Avon Products Inc.

Dairy for teen moms may help build infants' bones

Pregnant teens who get plenty of calcium from dairy foods may be helping their babies build stronger bones, a new study shows.

A woman's calcium requirements peak during pregnancy, and meeting these needs is particularly important for pregnant adolescents, whose own bones are still "growing and maturing," investigators note in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

However, pregnant adolescents drink less milk and eat more snack foods than adult pregnant women, Dr. Gary M. Chan of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and colleagues point out.

via: Reuters

Drug Mix-Up Results in 3 Babies' Deaths

Early last Saturday, nurses at an Indianapolis hospital went to the drug cabinet in the newborn intensive care unit to get blood-thinner for several premature babies.

The nurses didn't realize a pharmacy technician had mistakenly stocked the cabinet with vials containing a dose 1,000 times stronger than what the babies were supposed to receive. And they apparently didn't notice that the label said "heparin," not "hep-lock," and that it was dark blue instead of baby blue.

Those mistakes led to the deaths of three infants. Three others also suffered overdoses but survived.

via: Forbes / AP

Baby Einstein vs. Barbie

Overscheduled kids. Overprotective parents. They're hot-button media issues, but are they really the problems faced by most American families?

Every day, in Targets and Wal-Marts across the country, these two brands go at it. Which one do you give your kid? It depends on how old your child is, obviously, but it also depends on what kind of parent you are. As any good Supermom will tell you, Baby Einstein is the choice of parents who want their daughter to speak Swahili by 7th grade and go to Harvard. They leave the Barbies for other people — people who, they imagine, just want their daughter to have a smile on her face and go to a great state college.

via: Time Magazine

Music lessons help young child memories: study

Parents who spend time and money to teach their children music, take heart -- a new Canadian study shows young children who take music lessons have better memories than their nonmusical peers.
via: Yahoo! News

Protective breathing reflex absent in newborns

Research suggests that healthy newborn infants do not have what doctors call "nasoaxillary reflex" -- a protective reflex that helps keep their nasal passages open.

They note that the side sleeping position has been associated in one study with a slightly greater risk of SIDS than in the back sleeping position, and that the back sleeping position "has unequivocally been recommended as being preferred to any other position to prevent SIDS."

via: Reuters
via: Archives of Diseases in Childhood September 2006

People Mag / Celebrity Babies

Taylor Hanson, Wife Welcome Baby No. 3
The musician and his wife welcome a son, River Samuel, born Sept. 4th

Amanda Peet, Fiancé Expecting a Baby
This will be the first child for the Studio 60 actress and her screenwriter beau

Patrick Dempsey, Wife Expecting Baby No. 2
The Grey's Anatomy star and wife Jillian already have a 4-year-old daughter

Japan's Princess Kiko Has a Baby Boy
The child is the first heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 41 years

[Photo] Sean Preston's Big First Year!
Britney and Kevin's firstborn turns 1 today – and what a year it's been! Check out the little tot's biggest moments

via Celebrity Baby Blog