According to recent research, adult women who were breastfed as infants have a higher chance of not getting breast cancer than their counterparts who weren't. Oddly, this result didn't necessarily apply to first-born children. Women who reported they were breastfed as babies were 17 percent less at risk for getting breast cancer. This was not observed among women who were first-born however.

The mother's age at the time of birth was used to predict how many environmental contaminants were in her breastmilk, suggesting a possible link between the amount of contaminants and the woman's likelihood of developing breast cancer. Over 2,000 women between the ages of 20 and 69 with breast cancer and just under 2,000 at that age without it were studied. All three factors--the mother's age, the daughter's birth order and whether or not she was breast-fed--were given consideration for the study.

Women who were not breast-fed, reduced cancer risk was noted when the mother was older. Birth order did not affect this group, while in those who were breast-fed group it was noted women with three or more older siblings had a lesser chance of getting breast cancer than first-born women. As is the result with most research, more study is needed.

An eleven-year-old Canadian boy battling Leukemia has decided he doesn't want to undergo any more chemotherapy. His family doesn't want him to suffer anymore chemo either. The Children's Aid Society, however, has taken the boy into custody and is forcing him to undergo therapy. He was diagnosed at age seven with acute lymphoblastic leukemia which is curable eighty percent of the time.

After being cancer-free for a year following a previous round of chemotherapy, the disease came back and he started treatment again. Now, however, he wants to switch to alternative treatment including chelation therapy, oregano and green tea. "He told us that he didn't want to undergo any more treatment because he felt that it wasn't going to give him quality of life, that he felt that it would probably take away his life," said the boy's father.

A judge had earlier ruled that the boy was not capable of understanding what it meant to refuse chemotherapy. According to his father, the boy has fetal alcohol syndrome and is somewhat intellectually delayed.

Sleep deprivation is a normal part of early parenthood. But for David and Shannon Lamb, sleep issues have taken on a whole new meaning. Their three-year-old son, Rhett, hasn't slept at all -- not a night, not a nap -- since he was born.

Rhett has a rare condition called chiari malformation, which his doctors believe is the cause of his sleeplessness. Patients with chiari malformation have a skull that is abnormally formed and puts pressure on the brain, causing it to protrude through the bottom of the skull. People with chiari malformation may have muscle weakness, vision problems, or coordination issues. Symptoms can range from nonexistent to severe.

When Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen broke up way back when, many speculated that playboy Charlie had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. There may or may not be something to that theory, but according to Denise Richards, the final straw in the relationship had nothing to do with another woman. She says it was an ugly disagreement over vaccinations that made her realize her marriage wasn't going to work.

Denise says that when she decided to vaccinate four-year-old daughter Sam, Charlie accused her of poisoning their child. "I knew when he said that, that the marriage wasn't going to work," she tells Rebook magazine.

While that does seem a little harsh, I've seen first hand right here at Parent Dish how the subject of vaccinations can divide parents. In the end, the best we can do is agree to disagree. But when mom and dad have different opinions, things can get a little more complicated. Have you and your partner found yourselves on different sides of the vaccination debate? How did you work it out?

A lot of people in the technology industry consider Microsoft to be pure evil. It turns out that they aren't completely evil after all. The company has partnered with the Companions in Courage Foundation to deliver gaming kiosks to children's hospitals around the country, loaded with an xbox 360 video game system, games, and TV shows and movies.

The kiosks will also let hospitalized kids play games and chat with other kids in other hospitals over a private network. The first batch was installed at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children's Hospital of Orange County in California.

"Entertainment, creativity and personal connections can be important factors in alleviating some of the isolation and discomfort these children experience each day," said Companions in Courage founder and National Hockey League Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, speaking of kids who are in the hospital for an extended period. "These gaming stations are a perfect complement to the interactive playrooms."

The mission of Companions in Courage is to build interactive playrooms in hospitals throughout North America. "It's extremely gratifying to witness the joy and excitement of these children and teens when they have a chance to break away from the normal hospital routine, and make new friends while playing video games," said Cynthia Sparer, executive director of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian.

For once, I have to say -- and this pains me to no end -- good job Microsoft!

Seems Tom Cruise has reversed his opinion about post partum depression. He's also gone public with his change of mind and heart. In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, for whom you'll recall he jumped all over a couch as he professed his love for now-wife Katie Holmes, Cruise admits what he said about Brooke Shields in his other most-famous moment back in 2006. His harsh comments about Brooke Shields turning to medication--specifically anti-depressants--to treat her post partum depression came under fire from all sides.

Now Cruise confirms that what he said came out the wrong way, that he was raised by four women with babies and that he doesn't want to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't be doing or believing in. He insists what he said about Shields "came out wrong, it's just not true." Cruise has since apologized to Shields several times.

The damage, however, seems to have been done. Cruise was attacked by the media, mothers and feminists everywhere. His career seems to have taken a back seat to his rantings. In the interview Cruise comments that he regrets saying a lot of what he did and talking about Shields at all. Say what you will about Tom Cruise, and perhaps he's just trying to save face, but it does take some guts to come out and say you're wrong about something, especially when you admit it to the whole world.

By the way, remember the Tom Cruise from the pic? The young cutie? Hrd to believe how far he--and we--have come after all these years!

Now that I've found myself plum in the middle of my second pregnancy, I thought it might be interesting to really take a look at all those wives tales we're always being reminded of when we find ourselves in the family way. The first pregnancy for me I was totally freaked out and had no chance at being able to separate fact from fiction--between what I read online and in books and magazines, what I was told by friends and family--and, ok, let's face it, complete strangers who for some reason are more than willing to share their pregnancy/birth experiences--and what information I got from my OBGYNs, I was basically confused. TMI (too much information) took on a whole new meaning.

I wanted to believe what my doctors told me--but, hey, they're not always right. Prime example? Caffeine. My first pregnancy I was told I could have up to two cups of caffeinated beverages such as coffee a day with no problem. This was even though I'd heard otherwise. Now, in pregnancy two (electric boogaloo), we're all reading about how caffeine is a no no (again), especially in the first trimester. Guess what--the info I got from my OBGYNs was the same.

Then there are all the hair-brained things we read on the Internet. I told a friend of mine who was having a rough pregnancy to just STOP reading ANYTHING on the Internet as it was all terrifying her. It did me, too. Hey--you never know--there are many times when the sages of the Internet speak the truth, or at least a version of it. So, who and what to believe as we--and I, as I go through pregnancy two--navigate our way through pregnancy and impending parenthood? Hard to say. My goal with this min-series, called "Pregnancy fact or fiction" is to not necessarily answer the questions, but rather to explore them and the multiple answers we find when we go looking,

Some of the old wives tales I whip out may seem unconventional or downright crazy, but so is the science of having a baby. Just think how complicated conception can be, and, coupled with the lack of knowledge we still have after all these years about how women and pregnancy, it's easy to see where some of those strange ideas came from...especially when the results continued to support the theory, scientific or otherwise!

For people with peanut allergies, the ubiquitous staple of childhood lunchboxes, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be deadly.

However, according to a U.S. food allergy expert there is good news on the research front for those suffering from peanut allergies. A form of immunotherapy that could rid of a person of peanut allergies could be on the horizon.

"I think there's some type of immunotherapy that will be available in five years. And the reason I say that is that there are multiple types of studies that are ongoing now," said Dr. Wesley Burks, a food allergy expert at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. in a telephone interview.

If it seems as if there are more kids with peanut allergies now than back when you were a child, perception is reality. According to Burks, peanut allergy affects about 1 percent of children under age 5, and in the past 15 years more children have been diagnosed with the condition.

Symptoms of peanut allergy can include skin reactions such as hives, itching around the mouth and throat, diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, wheezing and, in the most severe cases, anaphylaxis - a medical emergency.

Some research has suggested a link between pregnant women eating peanuts during the pregnancy and having babies with a higher risk of developing a peanut allergy. Until there is a treatment available, choosy expectant moms might want to not choose Jiff and use peanuts sparingly in their diet.

Pop Sugar recently polled readers about getting linea negra, the condition many pregnant women get wherein a dark , vertical line appears on their swollen baby bellies from their pubic area up to their belly buttons (and sometimes beyond).

I would take that question one step further and ask readers not only about experiencing linea negra but whether or not theirs ever went away. Some gals, it turns out, have a rather permanent reminder of their pregnancy days.

Technically speaking, the line that is linea negra is always present--it's just the same color as the rest of the surrounding skin. During the second trimester, an increase in hormones estrogen and progesterone cause the line to darken to a brownish shade which then fades, most of the time, at some point after the pregnancy.

Remember that game they played on Sesame Street where they had four things and you had to spot the one that was different? Well, one family in Maryland gets to play that with their kids now. On January 29th, Amanda and Joshua Prelich became the proud parents of quadruplets, including three identical triplets and a fourth, fraternal sibling.

There are, according to one specialist, less than a hundred documented cases of such quadruplets. The couple had two embryos implanted via in vitro fertilization and one of those embryos split twice, resulting in the identical triplets. The four boys were delivered by Caesarian section on Amanda's thirty-second birthday as doctors, nurses and other professionals bustled about wearing an A, B, C, or D on their front and back to indicate which kid they were to work with. "Everyone was focused and organized and the delivery went very smoothly," said Claire Weitz, M.D., a perinatologist (high risk obstetrician), who helped deliver the babies.

After spending time in the NICU at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center -- not uncommon for premature babies and multiples -- the quads are now home safely with mom and dad. Congratulations to the whole family and I'll bet it won't be long before you can't spot the different one -- they'll just be a blur of happy, giggling activity.

So what do you do if your wife can't provide you with kids? Well, if you're in Bulgaria, it seems, you trade her for a goat. It seems that Stoil Panayotov felt it was his wife's fault that they had no children, he struck a deal with a farmer at a livestock market -- the farmer got the girl and Panayotov got the goat.

What's perhaps most surprising about the whole situation is that the wife agreed to be part of the deal. That must have been one heck of a farmer (or Panayotov was no catch to begin with.) As for me, it's a little too late -- my wife has already popped out two kids and has another on the way. Too bad, because having a goat could be kinda cool.

Personally, I'm not into guys. What with women in the world, I don't really understand why anyone would be, my wife included (perhaps even especially). That said, guys are still kinda necessary for reproduction. For now, anyway. German geneticists have succeeded in creating artificial sperm using embryonic stem cells.

The process is still very much in the experimental stage, however. Of the twelve baby mice born after eggs were fertilized with the artificial sperm, seven died in the first five months "of causes which we have not been able to determine," according to Dr Wolfgang Engel, director of Human Genetics at the University of Goettingen.

In theory, this research could lead to aid for couples where the male is infertile (or there is no male involved), although Engel said his team will not conduct any tests using human stem cells; German law forbids such research. Still, as the technology progresses and attitudes evolve, this may become a viable option for producing children when the traditional source of male chromosomes is unable or unavailable to contribute.

For years, women who are trying to conceive have been advised to take folic acid supplements. Making sure to get enough of the B vitamin reduces the risk for birth defects -- specifically, spina bifida -- in a developing baby. New research shows that the same vitamin can help reduce the number of abnormal sperm in men.

The study, published recently in the journal Human Reproduction, found a lower frequency of abnormal sperm in men who consumed a higher than recommended daily amount of folate and folic acid. Researchers analyzed sperm samples from 89 men for genetic changes and asked them to complete questionnaires about their daily intake of folic acid from both diet and vitamin supplements. Men who consumed the most folic acid -- between 722 and 1,150 micrograms -- had a 20-30 per cent reduction in abnormal sperm.

As one of the researchers on the project noted, "This study is the first to suggest that paternal diet may play a role in the development of healthy offspring."

Pass dad the spinach, please.

British woman Carole Horlock takes gestating seriously. She's been pregnant for more than a decade, but not because she's been growing her own family. Instead, Ms. Horlock has served as a surrogate mother to 12 babies, in addition to two teenage daughters of her own.

Her latest pregnancy resulted in healthy triplets -- one boy and two girls -- carried for a Greek couple facing infertility. The babies were conceived by in vitro fertilization and were delivered recently by Cesarean section. They're all healthy.

While her expenses are paid by the couples who hire her as a surrogate, she doesn't receive a paycheck for her uterus' work. Though you think she'd be tempted to charge rent, payments are illegal. Further, this super surrogate says she doesn't do it for the money. "To see the joy on the faces of couples who thought they'd never have children is very special," she said.

She has one more pregnancy planned for an English couple before closing up shop at age 41.

A piece in this weekend's Boston Globe makes a bold statement: Women in their twenties who want to have children should focus on finding a mate. Author Penelope Trunk notes that many young women are putting their careers first and delaying plans for a family. The reality of the biological clock may argue for a reversal of priorities. Spend your younger years breeding, and you can always spend your later years working. Simply put, "Your ovaries will not last longer than your career."

My inner feminist is pretty offended, but my inner pragmatist thinks there is something to consider here. There's no question that fertility decreases with age. It's harder to get pregnant and it's harder to stay pregnant for women in their mid- or late thirties, compared to their twenty-something counterparts. And while no one advocates rushing into parenthood, waiting too long can make having biological children (if that's your preference) difficult or impossible.

I'm not saying women shouldn't have careers. I'm not saying those careers can't be important. I am agreeing with the article's point that women have a limit to their fertile years, while men -- for all practical purposes -- do not. If having a family is a priority, you have to treat it like one.

Did you have your family earlier or later in life? If you waited, did you feel any sense of the biological clock ticking?