Health Nov 01 Last year’s U.S. infant mortality rate hit its highest increase in two decades White and Native American infants, infant boys and babies born at 37 weeks or earlier had significant death rate increases. The CDC's report, published Wednesday, also noted larger increases for two of the leading causes of infant deaths — maternal… By Mike Stobbe, Associated Press
Science Jan 06 A deep dive into newborns’ DNA may reveal potential disease risks — but is the testing worth it? Looking for diseases in newborns’ DNA that could arise during adulthood is more ethically fraught than focusing on childhood conditions. By Andrew Joseph, STAT
Health May 17 Watch 5:26 The surprising thing about the declining U.S. birth rate More than 3.8 million babies were born in the U.S. last year, but the birth rate drop was the largest one-year decline since 2010. Why hasn’t the downward trend changed direction, even though economic conditions have improved? Amna Nawaz explores…
Health May 31 Watch 9:26 The science of nurturing and its impact on premature babies By William Brangham, Jason Kane
May 31 How music therapy helped my premature baby By Terry Rubin On the second day of my son's life, born 11 weeks early, a woman approached me in the NICU with a guitar and other instruments. As a music therapist, she said she had scientifically proven ways of alleviating the stress… Continue reading
May 11 Column: Why Facebook and other social media may fuel new mothers’ insecurity By Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, The Conversation Scientists look into how often new parents use social media, why some use it more than others and what the impact might be on new parents’ mental health. Continue reading
Mar 05 Spike in syphilis among newborns driven by broader epidemic By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News The Central Valley — a vast agricultural and mostly low-income swath of California — has seen an unprecedented spike in congenital syphilis over the last few years. Continue reading
Mar 04 Step inside a wired nursery: Lots of tech — and not much evidence it’s helpful By Megan Thielking, STAT A flurry of high-tech baby products has hit the market in recent months, but experts say there hasn’t been thorough research on many of those products and warn that they can sometimes do more harm than good. Continue reading
Apr 18 Watch 5:48 Is a perfect storm of Zika virus conditions coming to the Gulf Coast? By PBS News Hour In the wake of the CDC’s revelation that Zika virus causes microcephaly in infants, doctors are grappling with the thorny issue of whether they should recommend that women in high-risk areas avoid getting pregnant this summer. Hari Sreenivasan talks to… Continue watching