children

Why You Should Make Your Own Baby Food

Posted on June 29, 2011
Fresh organic peas make great baby food

Homemade baby food has many advantages. It’s economical and environmentally friendly, and it helps bring up baby with a healthy appetite for nutritious foods. Think it’s too time consuming? Getting started is easier than you may think: with just a few tips and tools you’ll be whizzing up these recipes faster than you can make a grocery list.

What to Do if Your Child Has Food Allergies

Posted on June 29, 2011
Nut allergies are on the rise among children

Scary, challenging, and seemingly more commonplace than ever, food allergies pose serious health and safety risks for millions of American children. And while we’ve gotten used to seeing “peanut-free zones,” a recent study suggests that it might be time to take a closer look at allergy severity and what it means.

How Parents Can Create Healthy Habits at Home

Posted on May 18, 2011
Kids eating healthy snacks for school lunch

The Federal Trade Commission has released its long-awaited guidelines for marketing food to children, but its reception has been less than welcoming. Parents and policy-makers alike are worried about its repercussions (and lack of force). So why not start building your family’s food guidelines at the dinner table?

7 Food Safety and Hygiene Tips for School Lunches

Posted on May 16, 2011

Make sure your child’s lunch stays safe to eat with these helpful tips from 4 Ingredients: More Than 400 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Recipes Using 4 or Fewer Ingredients, by Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham.

The Verdict on Alternative Treatments and Fertility

Posted on March 31, 2011

More and more infertile couples are turning to holistic techniques to increase their odds of conception and to cope with the stresses of trying to conceive. There is increasing evidence of the effectiveness of alternative medical approaches. Learn more from A Baby at Last!: The Couple’s Complete Guide to Getting Pregnant — from Cutting-Edge Treatments to Commonsense Wisdom, by Weill Cornell Medical Center physicians Zev Rosenwaks, M.D., and Marc Goldstein, M.D., along with Mark L. Fuerst.

Exercise and Pregnancy: Women Who Workout While Pregnant Have Healthier, Smarter Babies

Posted on November 9, 2010

As a teenager, Annie Murphy Paul had found peace of mind in running. But she hadn’t done much exercising since – at least not until she was pregnant and read about two studies that showed that exercise during pregnancy is good for mom and baby, and that it may even make baby smarter. From her book Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives

How to Find a Pediatrician

Posted on November 2, 2010

Identifying a doc for your child takes a little legwork and some in-person interviewing. Here, Drs. Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz, bestselling authors of YOU: Raising Your Child, provide everything you need to know about finding a pediatrician.

How to Grow a Runner

Posted on October 14, 2010

Learn how to encourage kids to take up running for fun, fitness, and long-lasting health and well-being, from Marc Bloom, author of Young Runners: The Complete Guide to Healthy Running for Kids From 5 to 18.

A Fine Mess: Cloth or Disposable Diapers?

Posted on October 14, 2010

Sloan Barnett, a Today show regular and the author of Green Goes With Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet, evaluates diaper options for your baby.

Stress in Pregnancy: The Long-Term Side Effects on Children

Posted on October 5, 2010

Prenatal stress doesn’t end at birth: The children of mothers who experience stress during pregnancy show long-term side effects, including cognitive and language delays and increased rates of attention and behavior problems. Annie Murphy Paul, author of Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives, describes one surprising study.

Foods for Your Baby’s Healthiest Future

Posted on October 5, 2010

A pioneering study of prenatal influences on a child’s later health has yielded a trove of intriguing findings, including links between Vitamin D and asthma, fish and cognition. By Annie Murphy Paul, author of Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives

How to Make Your Child’s School Safer

Posted on August 10, 2010

Because 55 million kids in this country spend most of their waking hours in school, we need to start paying more attention to the cleanliness and safety of these buildings. Involved parents can make all the difference in bringing about the changes necessary to protect their children. Here’s what you can do, from Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care by Deirdre Imus

Talking to Children About Cancer

Posted on May 20, 2010

How to talk to your children honestly about your diagnosis — without scaring them too much. From Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer: A Companion Guide for Women on the Breast Cancer Journey by Janet Thompson

7 Ways to Shrink the Sugar in Your Kids’ Diet

Posted on April 29, 2010

The American diet is overloaded with sweet stuff. Keep it from invading your kids’ palates with this advice from Fit Home Team: The Posada Family Guide to Health, Exercise, and Nutrition the Inexpensive and Simple Way by baseball great Jorge Posada and his wife, Laura.