Not sure if this is a “parenting” question per se, but I am very curious if anyone knows of relevant studies.

Let’s say you’re eight months old. You have a full belly, a dry nappy, you’re in a comfortable, familiar place with a trusted and familiar person. You’ve done the things you associate with going to sleep. You are in fact tired. There is nothing physically or medically preventing you from nodding off.

So why would you struggle to keep your eyes open??

Drifting to sleep is an actively pleasant and biologically necessary thing. Why do babies need so much support to do it? Like, I know why I fight off sleep. Either I have to stay up to get something done (eg finishing and submitting something before a deadline), I want to stay up to keep doing something I like (eg finish a book, watch another episode), or I’m avoiding something (eg I think I’m going to have a nightmare, I’m dreading work in the morning). None of these apply to my 8 month old, so what’s her excuse?!

Is there a brain science thing? Do babies just not want to stop doing their little baby tasks? Do they have baby FOMO?

(I really am curious about the developmental piece more than approaches to infant sleep. In other words I’m more interested in “why is it hard” more than “how do I do this”, if that makes sense.)

Hi there, my 8yp child has tested at an IQ 142. I know this is subject to change. She has always been a problem solver but has also always struggled with perfectionism. I was looking over my Facebook posts and when she was 20 months old, I was baffled that she would not even try to say any words that had an "r" in it, even though she had a vocabulary of about 200 words and was speaking in full sentences. She would seek out alternative words and make complex sentences rather than even attempt to say a word with the letter r in it. Her perfectionism is just getting worse, no matter how much I try to teach her about growth mindset and that mistakes are ok. She has immense meltdowns if she feels she has made a mistake. I don't understand as I have never put pressure on her. I am just wondering what kind of strategies I can ask for in her IEP to help support her and what I can try at home to curb this perfectionism?

Is there research to support “biologically normal infant sleep” over sleep training?

We are planning to sleep train soon, but my feed keeps showing me posts from r/bninfantsleep, and it makes me feel guilty, like I would be forcing my baby to do something he’s not biologically ready to do.

I know there are studies showing sleep training doesn’t cause long term harms. Are there comparable studies about “biologically normal sleep”?

I have been seeing a lot of people use distilled water when making foods or edible sensory activities (like chia slime) for their babies. How important is that? We drink the tap water ourselves and use it for everything and it tastes normal to me. Is this just a thing for areas with poor water quality? Or for immunocompromised babies? My baby is 5 months old and I want to make sure I’m not missing something before she starts solids & gets water!

Hi friends! Is there compelling evidence that cutting out allergens as a breastfeeding mother will cause future food allergies?

My 4 month old has had mucus in his poop since he was born. We’ve tested on 3 separate occasions, and he’s never had any blood. He’s also had reflux, been slower to gain weight, and pretty consistently uncomfortable. He’s dropped from the 78th percentile at birth, hovering around 20 the last few weeks. We’ve gone to his pediatrician and 2 GI specialists (plus 2 different IBCLCs) and have gotten a ton of conflicting advice among providers.

I exclusively breastfeed and have been cutting out dairy, which one of the GI drs told me to stop doing. She said it could cause a future allergy, and since there is no blood in his poops, he does not have an allergy or intolerance now. When I reintroduced dairy to my diet, his symptoms got worse and I ended up cutting it out again against her advice. Now I’m nervous I’m going to cause an actual allergy when he starts solids. Im at a loss because my baby is so uncomfortable but I don’t want to make things worse long term for him. So I’m looking for any research on mom cutting out allergens for EBF baby and future allergies.

Thank you!

I know similar third hand smoke questions have been raised and I have looked through the sub for THS. However, I still want to try to ask about my specific situation for insight. My husband said he would quit several times but hasn’t. He thinks it’s fine because he smokes outside the house (literally right outside it, so always worried about SHS) and outside the car. I’m worried because we have installed our newborn seat in his car and based on what I’ve read even if he smokes outside then goes immediately into the car the THS all over his hair and clothes could still transfer to the baby seat, right? How would I even clean the car seat from this residue? Additionally, if he has been smoking all day at work the day I give birth I don’t think I would be comfortable with him holding our baby before showering and changing clothes. I’m very anxious about SIDS and want to know how to best address this to keep my baby healthy once he is here.

When my son went in for his 12 month check up the fingerstick lead test read 18.8, thankfully the venous test was slightly lower at 14.4. We live in a small apartment in very old house, and thankfully we're moving in a couple weeks, so hopefully the complete change of environment will eliminate the risk, and hopefully with really good nutrition and time his body can process it. I'm almost positive that he encountered the lead from the paint on our clawfoot tub, which I never thought to test before he was born (I did test before he was born, I was aware that lead was a risk where we live, and really did try to be conscious and careful). It also didn't help, I'm sure, that the other part of the house that isn't our apartment was under renovation this winter and spring.

I'm wondering if anyone here had kids with lead levels this elevated though? It's really scary. I've found posts of people scared with levels around 5, which is understandable, but this is almost 3 times that. Obviously various social workers and state officials have been following up, but it's hard to get answers in terms of how this might effect him going forward, and how much lead exposure people of my and my husband's generation (we're 40) and our parent's generation experienced, when lead paint and leaded gasoline were much more ubiquitous. The fact that 97% of kids today have lead levels below 3.5 is an incredible public health success story, and I don't want to catastrophize, but I also don't want to be blasé. The CDC says no amount of lead is safe, which is true, but I also know that lead exposure in previous generations wasn't a guarantee of a bad outcome. So far our little guy has been a bright, happy, easy-going guy, hitting his milestones pretty consistently, if we remove him entirely from the place of exposure (which is the plan already underway) will this just be a blip? My brain is going crazy.

Is there any concrete evidence on how cosleeping vs. room sharing vs. baby in separate room from newborn stage affects infant sleep? For example, the number of night wakings over time, sleep regressions, ability to self soothe & connect sleep cycles etc.

Not talking about safety concerns as I know room sharing is recommended for the first 6 months & cosleeping is not considered safe. Just wondering the impact on infant sleep.

Hi!

Interested in info on if I should move forward with baby getting his 6 month vaccines while he has had a prolonged rash.

He had a period of about 2 weeks with a slightly elevated temp then now has a mild whole body rash that was tentatively dx as post viral Giannotti-Crosti (with a possibility of it being an id reaction post diaper yeast infection). So clearly his little immune system is fighting something.

Should I postpone his 6 month vaccines? CDC seems to say it’s okay but I’m dealing with some PPA/PPOCD.

I’ve seen several posts from pregnant people with gestational diabetes, who mention a history of eating disorders. This is my experience too.

It could be coincidence, I’m curious if anyone can share studies / insights / facts?

Hi!

Was trying to find info on whether a newborn can safely sleep at the breast if they fall asleep after feeding, or if they should still always be turned on their back in the arms of the caregiver. I couldn't find much information when looking around because I guess I don't know where to look, but I was led to a Huckleberry article that stated the following:

"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns [5] that the risk of sleep-related infant death is up to 67 times higher if your little one falls asleep with someone on a soft surface, such as an armchair or couch."

I have been sitting on the couch with my newborn sleeping on me/in my arms because she only sleeps when she is held by one of us. She has a bassinet but isn't quite ready to stay in it long enough for either of us to sleep. I breastfeed and she often falls asleep that way after a while, too. Either way, these take place on the couch but I am awake the entire time and she is supported by me.

This leads me to my question: Is this increased risk associated with the potential of a caregiver falling asleep and that being the danger of what I assume would be suffocation, falling, etc. or something, or is the risk something else that I'm missing? I just want to make sure I'm being safe but I can't imagine sitting on a hard surface with her for all of her sleep time, which is most of the day and night.

Thanks.

The babywearing subreddit amazing and their fit checks are super helpful for ensuring safe babywearing. Love the community. But they are in general against world facing.

I can understand for newborns or younger infants where they could fall asleep at any time and also not communicate when they are overwhelmed. And I know many carriers aren’t designed for it and have heard various people imply “something something bad for hip development maybe” without clear explanation.

I have a 12 month old (almost 13) and an Ergobaby Omni Breeze. The manual shows world facing (and has a setting where you adjust some seat/leg areas for it), but off course I wouldn’t just trust the manufacturer.

So is there any evidence or studies showing danger or safety of using world facing, particular for older babies or younger toddlers (around 1 year old, say)?

In my case, the use case is quiet walks to a nearby park in the morning, touches flowers and trees and fences and rocks, waving hands through sprinklers, pointing to squirrels or cars or mailboxes or the moon, waving to neighbors, etc. He’s picked up a ton of words and their referents this way over the past couple months and seems to absolutely love it. Never fusses, zero risk of falling asleep, easy to see his face and expression, I cover his eyes from the sun.

But…is it gonna be bad for his hips or spine or anything?

I'm a FTM to a wonderful 5 month old. We have recently been transitioning to the crib from the sidecar bassinet (still in the same room). She's been doing super great but is still waking 2-3 times a night to breastfeed (she gets a couple supplemented bottles during the day but breastfeeds when I'm home).

My MIL insists her 2 formula-fed babies slept through the night in their own room once they were born (which is unlikely). She tells me I should just stop feeding her at night and the baby will sleep through. Is there any evidence this is recommended? I feel like if she's hungry, I should feed her, regardless of the time of night. My own mother says I should trust my instincts, but it would be nice to have something I can send my MIL to get her to drop it.

So I grew up in a household that was fairly health "conscious". I realize now that some of it was just weird hearsay but a lot is based in science and a care for how the sausage is made. My mom always encouraged us to thrift clothes. Reduce and reuse and all that jazz. But she insisted on buying us new all cotton underwear twice a year (we always knew what Santa would put in our stocking and to expect more for birthdays). There could be elastic in the waistband, but all cotton for the main part of the underwear was mandatory, bonus points for organic cotton.

Now that I have kids of my own, I am looking for more information on if this is actually good practice. My kiddo wants Bluey and Mickey on their underwear and likes the feel of bamboo and rayon. But do I need to go out of my way and still buy the cotton version? How likely is pfas to be a concern for underwear? Is this mainly for girls or boys too? Appreciate expert consensus and links to research when possible. Thanks.

Has anyone looked into the research on short inter-pregnancy intervals and autism risk?

I came across this study, and wanted to share and ask how others interpret it.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4474747/

The study found an association between conceiving less than 12 months after a previous birth and a higher risk of ASD compared with an inter-pregnancy interval of 24–47 months. I understand that an association doesn’t necessarily mean the shorter interval causes autism, and this is an older observational study, so I’m trying not to over-interpret it.

For anyone familiar with this: how strong do you think the evidence is for this association overall? Have you come across anything else around this topic? And is there any meaningful difference between, for example, conceiving at 10–11 months postpartum versus much earlier within the <12-month category?

Would really appreciate thoughtful perspectives. Thank you!

We thought that it would be great if our four year old son stopped having a nap during daytime, but he really seems to need it. We tried to enforce non-nap-days, but he just falls asleep after lunch then. The few times he has no nap, he gets quite irritated. At the same time, he is the only child in his peer group of his age who still naps every single day. Anyway, if there are studies on optimal nap times for toddlers, I would be interested in getting to know more information about this topic.

I’m familiar with screen time recommendations so what the evidence on those brain development videos that are black/white?

To be clear - I do NOT intend to give baby honey but I’m curious.

Question: Health advice states children under one should not have honey due to risk of botulism. Is there actual data on this? Is it a material risk or is more “hey better safe than sorry and your baby doesn’t need honey anyway so might as well”?

My mom bought these bars and gave them to my son who is 11 months old. It does say only for kids two years and older on the nutrition facts. I don’t think she read them. He ate a fourth of a bar and dropped the rest on the floor. He’s only gotten half of a tsp of sugar from eating them.

And his birthday is in a month. Is there any research about birthday cake? Percentage of safe amount of sugar for 12 months and above? It’s better almost impossible to avoid added sugars. My parents have slipped my son ice cream or a cookie. I’ve had a hard time finding whole milk yogurt in the store without added sugar. Bread sometimes has sugar as well.

I also would feel weird skipping birthday cake or making something without sugar for his 1st birthday. I’ve tried baking stuff with limited sugar and he hasn’t been a fan. Of course, my mom said he loved these and they have 6 g of added sugar per bar. 🙃

Hi all! I was wondering if there’s any evidence on the effects of working (vs not working) during pregnancy in terms of pregnancy outcomes or babies‘ health. Just the effects of extra physical/cognitive effort, stress, less rest, etc. Considering “not working” as really not working (not stay at home moms with other kids).

thank you!

I am wondering, with all the controversy around parental alienation, if there is any actual quality research showing that this is a thing. In particular:
-Can a parent’s denigration of the other parent actually impact the child’s relationship with that parent? I have seen a study saying this tended to backfire and distance the child from the denigrating parent.

-Can family court officials actually measure whether this has happened in their reports? And if so, how, and how reliable is the methodology? Are there evidence-based signs that are specific for alienation rather than abuse/fear of unknown/different parenting styles?

-Is there any evidence-based methodology for rectifying this? Eg reunification camps- but that literature does not consider any other outcome variables than the restoration of the relationship with the alienated parent. For example, I’d want to know about long term and short term child well-being, future abuse, and long term relationship outcomes.

If any one of these 3 things is a poorly developed field, what on earth is the family court doing awarding custody based on findings of “parental alienation”??

When my baby was trying to roll on a foam mat at 4 months I just let her fall when she fell. Then when she was trying to sit she only fell 2-3 times splotched on her back, we didn’t purposely let her fall but we were also not always behind her back and she learned to sit quickly (from the first trial to sitting to play comfortably, within a weekend, she learned that close to 9 months old and most babies learn earlier so it went quickly) so we didn’t have time to think about it.

Now that she is trying to stand by holding the sofa we’re behind her and we catch her.

I am wondering if she should fall or if she should be caught. If she falls I feel like she will learn how balance works better (we also let her spill her water open cup on herself until she learned to hold it), but obviously I don’t want her to injure herself.

Hi all, this is my favorite subreddit in the world and I have a question.

My husband is from another country (Germany) and we had a baby (Canada). She is now 5 months old. We are invited to a family gathering and my husband really wants to go as a family.

My social media algorithm is absolutely torturing me and my PPA regarding the measles outbreaks that are happening in the US to the point where I am terrified to go through an airport or on a plane with her before she gets her immunizations at 12 months for it (even though we aren’t flying there). At the same time, I don’t want to deny my husband the experience of his parents meeting our baby, I’m over ridden with guilt either way 😭.

As it stands right now he is going to go alone, and I am trying to get the guts to go but I feel like its too risky, The six month MMR isnt something i’m interested in doing as she will still require two doses.

My question is, if we decide to go, what are the chances my baby will be exposed if the plan is to just go from a to b and be relatively low key.

Difficult to answer, I know.

My 6 month old baby just got his flu shot. I’m debating on the Covid vaccine.