Nutrition is the single greatest environmental influence on babies in the womb and during infancy, and it remains essential throughout the first years of life. Prenatal malnutrition, for example, has been linked to later adverse health and cognitive outcomes. Likewise, malnutrition in infancy and early childhood is a key risk factor for cognitive deficits, lower academic achievement, and behavior problems.
Despite marketing claims that some television programs and DVDs help infants and toddlers learn, recent studies show that TV provides only empty calories for a child’s growing brain. The following research brief reviews the evidence that parents and caregivers of young children should take television off the menu.
If asked to think of an example of someone affected by stress, most of us would probably imagine a college student studying all night for an exam or an employee scrambling to meet a deadline. Few of us are likely to think of a child listening to his parents argue in the next room, and even fewer would picture an infant being ignored by a mother suffering from depression.
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are among the most common congenital anomalies in the United States, second only in frequency to congenital heart defects. Efforts to reduce the prevalence of these devastating abnormalities demonstrates the effectiveness of the translation of basic science and population research to health care practices, and from practice to public policy.
Premature delivery — birth before 37 full weeks of gestation — is the leading cause of death among infants in the U.S. Babies who survive a preterm birth remain vulnerable to a host of health complications. The earlier the baby is born, the higher the risk.
