On Healthy Baby Blog

Decorate  nursery with baby's  health in mind
"Typically," she says, "we bring baby home to the sickest room in the house."

The nursery is "sick" because we think more about how the room will look than what it will do to our babies' health. Unknowingly, we buy what we think is cute rather than what's safe. Everything in the baby's room -- from the mattress to the paint on the walls -- can emit harmful volatile organic chemicals (VOC) that can cause breathing problems. Lung disease and breathing problems are the No. 1 cause of death in infants less than 1 year old, according to the American Lung Association.

Nutritious, medicinal, it is best for the little ones
For most of the 20th century, American society preferred to tuck away references to this act, which after all is as natural as life itself. And that's the stigma associated with just talking about it. Actually nursing a baby in public was a lot more difficult. Unless the nursing mother stayed at home with her infant, she needed to constantly find locations where she could discreetly feed her baby, and many times a day.

Selection of embryos is on rise for couples
Prospective parents have been using the procedure, known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, for more than a decade to screen for genes certain to cause childhood diseases that are severe and largely untreatable.

Baby health linked to mums' weight gain
Weight gain above guidelines during pregnancy is common,  according to researchers, and infants born to women with high weight gain tend  to have worse outcomes.

Via Healthy BabyBlog

Comments

[Thad Hubbard]

This is interesting - I never thought about the baby's nursery that way. I have two girls, ages 5 and 1 (and another, hopefully a boy, on the way). I've decorated and painted in order for the room to look pretty for my wife and other visitors without thinking about the newborn's health.

I've used the same mattress for both of my girls, I guess it's time for a new mattress. From now on I'll take a closer look at what (and who) I bring in the nursery.