Though pediatricians and public-health officials have fought to increase the practice of breastfeeding, their efforts have often proven fruitless in a world of out-of-wedlock childbirths and out-of-home maternal employ­ment. And unfortunately, evidence continues to mount that children deprived of breastfeeding in infancy pay a price later on. The latest evi­dence comes from a study in […]

Among the indicators of good infant health, one that receives relatively little attention is the presence in the neonatal gut of the right kinds of bacteria. A number of factors can affect the makeup of the microbes liv­ing in a baby’s gut, but a new study identifies family structure as a predic­tor of the relative […]

As champions of the feminist cause, progressives tirelessly insist that they want to expand the range of choices open to women around the globe. But a new study out of the Gambia in West Africa manifests more than a little progressive discomfort with one kind of female choice: that of bear­ing and rearing a large […]

Being in an automobile accident, contracting a life-threatening illness, being mugged—these and other traumatic experiences can leave scars physical and emotional. But whether in Boston or Bogota, Beijing or Beirut, Berlin or Brisbane, married men and women face significantly lower risk of acquiring such scars than do unmarried peers. Such is the conclusion of a […]

Psychologists have devoted a good deal of attention to the postpartum depression and “baby blues” found among many new mothers. But researchers have also conducted numerous studies to investigate the predictors of antenatal mental distress—that is, mental distress during pregnancy. And in a systematic review of such studies, scholars at King’s College London find strong […]