Lucinda Bertram reminds us of the joys of child’s play. If my lounge room is looking neat and no form of craft is filling up the dining-room table, then you can pretty much guarantee we’ve been on holiday or the TV has been on for too...
Andrea Travers wonders if over-protecting our children is harmful. From advertising to the evening news, the message is ‘Be afraid’. We can never let up, never let go. Our children are always at risk in so many aspects of their lives, from educational underachievement to stranger...
Covering your baby’s pram with a dry cloth can increase the temperature by almost 4 degrees. Here’s what to do instead, reports James Smallcombe, Mohammad Fauzan Bin Maideen, and Ollie Jay We like to think of babies as tiny versions of ourselves. But babies aren’t simply...
Most babies born to mothers with COVID-19 were separated after birth resulting in low breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact rates during the height of the pandemic, according to a new global study. Research at a Glance: A Murdoch Children’s Research Institute-led global study has found most...
Newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy improves chances of walking and quality of life A study by the Sydney Children's Hospital Network (SCHN) and UNSW (Sydney) researchers shows that early diagnosis means early treatment. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a childhood-onset motor neuron disease. Left untreated, it...
Here’s why that won’t necessarily work, writes Mischa Bongers It’s commonly understood that having a baby can be a primary cause of later pelvic floor problems, such as bladder leakage. While giving birth can be a very special and joyful time, it can sometimes be difficult...
Alice Osborne was determined to breastfeed her newborn son, but both he, and a wayward truck, had other plans. “I’d much rather have a happy mum who can put all her energy into enjoying my company and loving me,” concluded William, my three-month-old son, in a...
Women are often told their fertility ‘falls off a cliff’ at 35, but is that right? Asks Karin Hammarberg It’s a fact women’s fertility declines as they age. But the common description of fertility decline after age 35 as a “cliff” is more anxiety-provoking than factual. If...
Labour induction rates have significantly increased over the past decade, from 25 to 35 per cent in Australia alone. Melbourne researchers have found that one of two common methods to induce labour is safer for babies, although both were as safe for the mother and neither...
From nausea to constipation and farting, Vincent Ho and Kate Levett look at what's going on in a mums gut after baby's birth It’s two weeks after the birth of your healthy bub and you notice your gut isn’t feeling quite right. Maybe you feel a bit...
