ParentDish

Children Could Benefit from Medical Research, Study Says

Tom Henderson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Babies, Research Reveals: Toddlers & Preschoolers, Research Reveals: Big Kids

Credit: Getty Images

You read about all these studies and research projects on ParentDish. Have you ever thought to yourself, "Gee, I wish scientists from Pennbrook University would do medical research on my child"?

Most parents overlook the possible benefit of children participating in medical research. How do we know? Guess what? There's been a study.

Researchers from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health surveyed parents earlier this year and found one in nine adults have participated in medical research -- compared with only one in 20 children.

A university press release also reports that 68 percent of adults are aware of medical research opportunities for themselves. However, 84 percent of parents are not aware of medical research opportunities for children.

So, c'mon, kids, who wants to play guinea pig? It's not as bad as it sounds.

"Medical research is the backbone of improving medical care. Without volunteers, medical research cannot move forward," Matthew Davis, an associate professor at the University of Michigan's medical school, says in the release.

Participation in research is essential to continued medical progress, Davis says.

Over the last 100 years, infant mortality in the United States has been reduced by 90 percent. Millions of deaths from diseases such as polio, diphtheria, pneumonia and influenza have been prevented by vaccines.

Children with life-threatening diseases such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and diabetes now survive beyond childhood, into adult years.

All thanks to kids participating in medical research.

"Awareness about research opportunities, which is a necessary step before participation, is reasonably high among adults but strikingly low for children's research," Davis adds. "To improve participation rates among children, researchers and institutions evidently need to do a better job of getting the word out to parents."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

When New Mom Can't Breast-Feed, Dozens of Women Help Out

Tom Henderson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Breast-Feeding

Credit: Getty Images

Eva van Dok Pinkley, a Brooklyn, N.Y., actress and magazine researcher can't breast-feed her newborn because she had a double mastectomy last year.

No matter. The London Daily Mail reports 25 women are pumping and donating their breast milk.

"What they are doing, it's not easy to do," van Dok Pinkley tells the newspaper. "I'm just stunned at the amount of trouble that they are going through for me. I think of them and what they have done and give thanks."

Van Dok Pinkley got pregnant last September after a battle with breast cancer so intense she had given up having children. She had abandoned hope after miscarriages, failed fertility treatments and then her cancer.

When she and her husband, Stuart, finally found out they were having a baby, she knew she couldn't breast-feed. So she began doing research on the Internet.

After consultations with doctors and lactation consultants, the Mail reports, she began asking for donations from other expecting mothers at her yoga studio, via email lists and through friends.

Among the women who responded was Kristi Guigliano, the mother of an 8-month-old boy.

"The first time Eva and I met, it was a very emotional thing to, first of all, have found someone so perfect, so close and so in need of the milk," Guigliano tells the newspaper.

The Mail reports the women are either ongoing donors, one-time donors or soon-to-be moms who have pledged milk if they have some left over.

"When they told me what they were doing, I thought, 'Only in New York,' " Stuart Van Dok Pinkley tells the Mail.

Only in New York? Not really.

In 2009, ParentDish reported on Robbie Goodrich, a widowed English professor in Marquette, Mich. When his wife died shortly after his son, Moses, was born, more than two dozen women shared their breast milk with the infant.

Related: Women Rally Around Widower to Breast-Feed Infant Son

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Stroke Rates Up in Pregnant Women, New Moms, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

We've asked this before, but don't pregnant women have enough to worry about already?

Now, you can add an increase in stroke rates to their list of health concerns.

According to the Wall Street Journal, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found the rate of pregnant women being hospitalized for strokes rose 47 percent between 1994-95 and 2006-7, while the rate rose 83 percent for women who had given birth within the last three months.

Now, those numbers are still very low, the newspaper reports, with just .22 hospitalizations for every 1,000 deliveries, but, still, the numbers have experts concerned.

The findings, published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, could be a result of pregnant women being at risk more and more often for things such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, all risk factors for stroke, the Journal reports.

Lead study author Elena Kuklina, an epidemiologist at the CDC's heart disease and stroke prevention division, tells the newspaper women should get general health exams before they plan to get pregnant to determine any issues that could be reversed.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

His Lordship: Lazy 14-Year-Old Hooligan! Get a Job!

Tom Henderson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Credit: Amazon

"Boy for sale!"

A member of Britain's House of Lords is beginning to sound like something out of "Oliver Twist." Lord Jones says he's had it up here with hooligans and wants to put them to work.

Half a mo', guvnah.

This is Britain. So make that, e's ad it up to ere with ooligans and wants to put them to work, e does.

No matter how you pronounce it, the politician formerly known as Digby Jones, the head of the Confederation of British Industry, says young scalawags should be sent out to work at age 14 to "earn a few bob" rather than being forced to stay in school.

His Lordship tells the London Daily Mail the unruly and disruptive would be better off getting jobs and starting apprenticeships. He adds firms are being forced to recruit overseas because of the lack of properly skilled British workers.

"We've got to appreciate that the world has changed and there are loads of kids in school today who at 14 are more mature, and so many of them are disruptive," he says.

"This isn't about saying, 'School's out, away you go kids.' This is about going to a technical college, doing a couple of days a week on a vocational course and going into a business or indeed a public sector employer and getting the link in their mind, in their DNA, that if you get better skilled, you make more money," he adds.

With a weak pound, Lord Jones suggests that not-so-Great Britain could re-establish its manufacturing base.

Russell Hobby of the National Association of Head Teachers cries bullocks.

"Allowing children to leave school at that age, without good levels of literacy and numeracy, would trap them in low-paid jobs for the rest of their lives," he tells the Daily Mail.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Gap Sparkle Backpack

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fashion

Your kid is sure to sparkle at school with this backpack from Gap. Credit: gap.com

It may seem like you're just getting into the swing of summer, but back to school shopping season is already upon us. New clothes, new shoes, new supplies, and, of course, a new backpack are all on our lists.

And, knowing a very girlie girl, or two, we can't help but be drawn to this spectacularly sequined backpack from GapKids. Available in pink, light blue, black and silver, it's just perfect for your little shining star. It's never too early to add a little glam to your gear.

At gap.com, $30.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Teacher Reinstated After Blogging That Students are 'Whiners'

Tom Henderson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Credit: Getty Images

A teacher in suburban Philadelphia blogged that her students are "rude, disengaged, lazy whiners."

No doubt. They're high school students.

But can anyone be that honest and remain employed? Natalie Munroe has defied the odds. Reuters news service reports the English teacher will return to face a fresh crop of rude, disengaged, lazy whiners in the fall. She might just select different adjectives.

Munroe was suspended with pay earlier this year after her comments ("My students are of out of control," she blogged) turned parents into a chorus of scorched cats.

Although school officials have reinstated her, Reuters reports Munroe has misgivings about returning to Central Bucks East High School on Aug. 30. She had to be escorted from the building in February.

"She wants to be an effective teacher and does not know what environment she will be going back to," her lawyer, Steven Rovner, tells Reuters.

Meanwhile, Munroe is blogging again. This time, Reuters reports, she's outlining the sequence of events that led to her return. She whines (uh, make that complains) she had to contact the district five times about returning and portrays the phone calls as unpleasant.

Not that it will keep her out of the classroom. She would just prefer a different high school.

"She's a teacher and will be glad to be going back to the classroom," Rovner tells Reuters. "As a teacher, she is like a celebrity now. Emotions would not be as high if she went to another school."

Related: Teacher Calls Students 'Little Criminals' on Facebook

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Pregnant Moms Who Use Mouthwash Not as Likely to Have Preemies, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

"Floss, floss, floss!" You've been commanded by dentists for years to heed that advice. Now, it may be time to add "mouthwash, mouthwash, mouthwash!" to your oral health routine.

A new study finds pregnant moms with gum disease have a better chance of delivering full-term babies if they use mouthwash while they're expecting, Reuters reports, as preggo women with periodontal disease have more premature babies than moms with healthy gums.

Researchers found when women used an alcohol-free mouth rinse, the risk of early labor seemed to be decreased by three-quarters, according to the news service.

Reuters notes staff and funding from the study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, came from Procter and Gamble -- a company that makes mouthwash.

The study doesn't draw specific conclusions, but Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, lead author and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, tells the news service dental care is crucial.

"They need to use a soft toothbrush and floss the right way," wrapping the floss around the tooth, she told Reuters in an earlier interview. "The first goal with almost all dental disease is prevention, prevention, prevention."

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rachel Zoe Working on Children's Fashion Collection

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Celeb Parents, Celeb News & Interviews

When one of the world's best-known fashion stylists has a baby, you just know a children's line can't be far behind.

And, so is the case with Rachel Zoe. The reality show star who dresses celebs like Anne Hathaway, Cameron Diaz and Kate Hudson on Bravo's "The Rachel Zoe Project," is a new mom to Skyler, 4, months, with hubby Rodger Berman, and she tells ABC's "Nightline" she is working on a kiddie collection.

"Let me tell you, there is going to be a lot of boys' clothes in my line," she tells the news show.

Of course, Skyler, naturally, already has an amazing collection of clothes. His closet, shown on "Nightline," is, as Zoe would say, ba-na-nas. Huge and filled with the usual stuff -- you know, Missoni sweaters here, a Gucci bomber jacket there -- she tells the show he is fully dressed until age 2.

It won't be the first collection for the stylist. Zoe already sells affordable styles on QVC and plans to launch an upscale collection of clothing and bags this fall, according to "Nightline."

"Every day I wake up thinking, what can I do next and what more can I do?" she tells the show. "With my husband by my side, and now Skyler, my son, and the team that I have, I feel like anything is possible."

But while motherhood has changed her lifestyle -- and some of her clothing choices -- she tells the show you won't catch her in sweats. "But you will catch me in less jewelry," she says, adding that she will hold Skyler when she's wearing her trademark 6-inch heels, but she won't walk with him while she's in them.

Zoe does have some advice for moms when it comes to fashion.

"Wear your clothes," she tells "Nightline." "What are you saving up for? I'm wearing my sequins at 12 noon to lunch, and I'm wearing, you know, five cocktail rings to the supermarket."

And new moms should think functional.

"Chunky jewelry and sky-high heels are reserved for night," Zoe tells the show. "During the day you have to keep it minimal. You need to be realistic. I can't honestly hold my son, feed him and push a stroller in a sequin ball gown and 6-inch Atwoods, as much as I would love to."

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Bathtub Pads Recalled

Tom Henderson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Credit: Getty Images

Pads sold to keep children from falling in the bathtub may have the opposite effect. They're not sticking to the tub and could pose a hazard to children.

Bathtub Non-Slip Pads (made by Prime-Lime Products Inc.) are being recalled because some of the pads are defective.

A company press release, reprinted in the Sacramento Bee, says the voluntary recall was issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in cooperation with company officials.

"Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed," the press release says. "It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product."

No injuries have been reported.

The whale-shaped, white pads are made out of vinyl and textured surfaces with adhesive backings. They're supposed to help prevent children from slipping and falling in bathtubs. The pads come in sets of 12 and 15.

Each set contains pads ranging in size from 2- to 4-inches tall.

The defective pads were sold at Ace Hardware and Menard's Inc. nationwide between May 24, 2010 and June 13, 2011 for about $6.

The model number is S-4630 and SKU number is 049793846303. Both are printed on the back of the packaging.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Kids are Like Scientists, and Not Just Mad Ones

Tom Henderson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Credit: Getty Images

"Experiment. Make it your motto day and night. Experiment. And it will lead you to the light." -- Cole Porter

We commonly refer to something simple as mere child's play.

However, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University say there is nothing "mere" about child's play. Children are actually performing complex experiments.

They are little scientists, Wired magazine reports.

To prove just how scientifically children approach their work, researchers gave a group of them a toy that lights up and plays music when the child places certain beads on. When children didn't know which beads would activate the toy -- what scientists call "ambiguous evidence" -- they tested each variable in turn.

Laura Schulz, a professor at MIT, tells Wired it's like someone trying unsuccessfully to open a door with a key.

"You might change the position of the key, you might change the key, but you're not going to change both at once," she says.

Researchers say their study begins to "bridge the gap between scientific inquiry and child's play."

Remember that the next time you find flour scattered all over the kitchen. Scientific discovery can be messy.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Cellphones Don't Raise Risk of Brain Tumors in Kids, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Big Kids, Research Reveals: Tweens, Research Reveals: Teens, Health

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Put down that cell phone, child! It'll rot your brain and give you cancer!

No reason to put the fear of God into your iPhone-loving kid. We can't comment on the brain rot, but a new study does show that children who use cell phones have no greater risk of getting brain cancer than kids who don't use them, Reuters reports.

Researchers looked at brain tumor patients ages 7 to 19, to gauge their risk of getting cancer from cellphones, and found the patients weren't any more apt to be phone fanatics than the control subjects who were cancer-free, according to the news service.

"If mobile phone use would be a risk factor, you'd expect cancer patients to have a higher amount of usage," Professor Martin Roosli, who conducted the study, published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, tells Reuters. The research was partly funded by cellphone operators, the news service adds, although they had no part in the study's design, analysis or interpretation of data.

The World Health Organization said in May that cellphone use could increase the risk of some types of brain tumors, Reuters reports. But this study didn't find a connection.

"What we found was that there was no (significant) difference in the amount of use," Roosli tells the news service, adding that any risk "would be a really small risk."

Roosli tells Reuters future studies should look at longer-term use of cellphone use among kids.

"(This study) provides quite some evidence that use of less than five years does not increase the chance of a brain tumor, but naturally we don't have a lot of long-term users," he tells the news service.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Kids With Special Needs Get (Gasp!) Bullied

Tom Henderson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Special Needs, Bullying

Credit: Getty Images

Brace yourselves for a shocker. Kids with special needs -- who struggle with medical, emotional or emotional issues -- tend to have more problems in school and are bullied more often than other kids.

Researchers at the Poindexter Institute for the Painfully Obvious reached this conclusion after examining their middle school yearbooks and remembering how they spent all of seventh grade trapped inside their lockers while asking if someone would please pass them their inhalers.

Their conclusions were backed up by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

According to U.S. News & World Report, researchers there tracked more than 1,450 kids in fourth through sixth grades from 34 rural schools. A third of the kids had problems such as asthma, chronic pain, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities or emotional and behavioral problems.

These children were a more likely to be (wait for it, wait for it) bullied or feel socially isolated. These conclusions were further confirmed by everyone who has ever attended public school.

"Health affects school performance," lead researcher Christopher Forrest tells U.S. News. "Special health care needs have manifold effects on school outcomes that increase the likelihood that these kids are not going to successfully transition to adulthood."

Researchers obtained data from kids and their parents from a questionnaire. Children were classified as having a special health care need if they had a condition lasting at least 12 months and needed prescription drugs, therapy, counseling or other services.

School records on attendance, grades and standardized tests also were analyzed.

Kids with special health care needs "have significant differences in their engagement in school and their school relationships as well as academic achievement," Forrest adds. "It sets up a trajectory for these kids that's highly distressing."

Communities can help if they look at the whole child, he says.

"I also believe it's the kind of challenge we're starting to understand in the 21st century," Forrest says. "We have to look at the child as a whole person ... and recognize that individuals need health systems and education systems to work together."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Celeb Clan Close-Up: Brooke Shields and Her Pretty Babies

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Celeb Parents, Celeb News & Interviews

Brooke Shields and her family hit the blue carpet at "The Smurfs" premiere. Credit: Steve Sands, bauergriffinonline.com

Brooke Shields just seems to get better looking with age. The 46-year-old stunner hit the appropriately colored blue carpet recently for the New York premiere of "The Smurfs," which opens nationwide Friday.

With her were her funnyman hubby, Chris Henchy, and their daughters Rowan, 7, and Grier, 5.

We love the matching mother and daughter clutches. Smurf-tastic!

Permalink | Email this | Comments

P'kolino Little One's Art Easel

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Toys, Gadgets, Activities: Big Kids

The P'kolino Little One's Art Easel is two-sided for double the fun. Credit: pkolino.com

Want to foster your kids' love of art, but get tired of picking up loose pieces of paper and broken crayons off the floor all the time? Set them up with an art easel!

This new double-sided easel from P'kolino allows two children to create at the same time. One side has a chalkboard, the other a whiteboard. Just add a paper roll when the lil' ones feel inspired to make their drawings more permanent.

P'kolino Little One's Art Easel is available Aug. 15, but can be preordered now, $80, at pkolino.com.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Parents' Attitude Affects Kids' Diabetes

Tom Henderson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Special Needs, Research Reveals: Toddlers & Preschoolers, Research Reveals: Big Kids, Research Reveals: Tweens, Health

Credit: Getty Images

Kids with diabetes need to regulate their diets, monitor their blood-sugar levels and take the appropriate amount of insulin.

They also need parents with the right attitude.

Researchers at the Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel find that parenting styles and attitudes play a big role in how well teenagers manage their diabetes.

Internal Medicine News reports lead researcher Maayan Shorer and her colleagues defined three parenting styles:

Authoritative. This is characterized by clear limits on the child set by the parents in a caring, noncoercive manner.
Permissive. This is characterized by few efforts by the parents to direct and limit the child's behavior.
Authoritarian. This is characterized by a coercive, harsh and punitive approach and parental attempts to control the child's behavior.

Researchers looked at 100 adolescents, as well as 79 mothers and 63 fathers, and found an authoritative approach, especially by fathers, resulted in kids doing a better job managing their diabetes. On the flip side, kids did a lot worse when parents were either permissive or authoritarian.

The worst results came when kids picked up on a sense of helplessness, especially among mothers.

There are several morals to the story, researchers tell Internal Medicine News. One of the biggies is that dads need to get more involved.

"Unfortunately, our clinical experience along with the empirical evidence suggests that compared with mothers, fathers tend to take a too-small role in their child's diabetes management and exert fewer efforts at monitoring the child," Shorer says. "We believe fathers should be more engaged in their child's routine diabetes care, and to do so, specifically, by adopting an authoritative stance."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Tooth Fairy Latest Victim of the Economy

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Credit: Getty Images

Cutting back on cable, new clothes and trips to the gas pump are all indicators of a bad economy, but when the Tooth Fairy starts shorting kids, you know things are serious.

The Denver Post reports U.S. kids are getting an average of $2.60 a tooth these days, compared with $3 a year ago, according to a recent survey by Visa. For those who don't like math, that's $.40 less than last year -- but still a heck of a lot more than we used to get, when a quarter was considered a score.

Thorton, Colo. fourth grader Alicya Rodriguez tells the Post she gets a $1 a tooth. She may want to have a word with the Tooth Fairy. The average amount traded for teeth in the West is $2.80, while kids in the East get $2.10, kids in the South get $2.60 and kids in the Midwest get $2.80.

"The survey gives parents the opportunity to start talking with kids - even pretty little ones - about money management," Jason Alderman, Visa's senior director of financial education, tells the newspaper.

Not sure what you, er, the Tooth Fairy, should spend per tooth? Dr. Rhea Haugseth, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, tells the Post parents should just be reasonable, and pay no more than $5.

"I tell them there are 20 baby teeth and they need to think about what that could cost," Haugseth tells the newspaper.

Best start saving now.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Pregnant Man Sheds Baby Weight, Shows Off New Bod

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Yeah, we get jealous when we see the Madonnas and the Victoria Beckhams and the Jessica Albas of the world go from pregnant back to size 0 in what seems like a matter of hours.

Now we have Thomas Beatie to add to our list. So, no Beatie isn't a super star celebrity, but the transgender man has made headlines for giving birth to three children.

And, now, the New York Daily News reports, he's gotten himself in post-baby shape that would even make Madge envious.

The Oregonian, 37, known in the press as Pregnant Man, has traded his baby weight for ripped abs, according to the newspaper, and E! reports it was done through a combination of diet, exercise and testosterone doses.

E! also adds Beatie is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Beatie, born a woman, has three children with his wife, Nancy, the Daily News reports. He says he does not plan to have a full sex change, according to E!, as he says he is legally considered a man already.

The Daily News reports Beatie had 10 years of sexual reassignment therapy, including chest reconstruction surgery.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Helping Kids With Credit, From Suze Orman

the editors at MarloThomas.com — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Expert Advice: Tweens, Expert Advice: Teens

Personal finance expert Suze Orman explains one reliable method to ensure solid credit for your children.

Don't Miss from Marlo Thomas:

Smart Investing
Suze hammers on a few simple, reliable guidelines for navigating the complexity of investing.

Negotiating a Salary
Suze Orman responds to a question about salary negotiation in a surprising, shrewdly intelligent, and hugely motivating way.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Kids Are All Right, Even if Their Parents Grow Pot

Tom Henderson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News

Credit: AP

Just because the folks next door are drug dealers doesn't mean they're bad parents.

In fact, researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children say the children of couples who operate marijuana grow rooms are often extremely healthy, physically and emotionally. And they rarely use illegal drugs.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports researchers question whether parents caught growing marijuana should automatically lose custody of their children.

"After examining 75 of the kids over several years, we came to very clear conclusions that a vast majority of these kids are doing well -- well fed, well kept, doing well in school and developing well," lead researcher Gideon Koren of the University of Toronto tells the CBC. "Taking a small child from his or her parents in a well-adapted environment causes fear, anxiety, confusion and sadness."

Traditional procedure in Toronto, the network reports, has been to remove children from homes where illegal marijuana operations have been discovered and place the kids in foster care.

Patrick Lake, executive director of York Region Children's Aid Society, tells the CBC child welfare workers have learned more about the effects marijuana growing operations have on children since 2006, and have changed how they maintain the children's safety.

"We have developed a more customized and comprehensive process to determine best response, on a case-by-case basis, while looking for ways to safely maintain children with their parents or relatives," Lake says.

Koren tells the CBC he hopes Canadian authorities will see the children of pot growers a little differently after his study.

"When police and children's aid go into that situation, they have to look much more carefully on what happened to that child, and not blanket-wise moving kids out of their homes," he says.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

In Vitro Kids More Advanced, But is it Nature or Nurture?

Tom Henderson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

British researchers have found children conceived through in vitro fertilization start school with verbal skills eight months more advanced than those born through unplanned pregnancies.

It has nothing to do with biology, researchers at Oxford University tell the London Daily Telegraph. Rich and educated couples can afford in vitro fertilization more than poor couples, who are more prone to unplanned pregnancies.

That's why, researchers tell the Telegraph, their study found children who came as a surprise where at least five months behind other kids at age 5 and eight months behind the in vitro crowd.

There differences disappeared when family background was taken into account.

Dorothy Bishop, a professor of developmental neuropsychology at Oxford, tells ther paper the study shows how important it is to take social factors into account when looking at children's development.

"Children from unplanned pregnancies have lower scores on cognitive tests than those from planned pregnancies, but they are also much more likely to come from single parent, low income households," she says. "Once this is taken into account, there is no impact of an unplanned pregnancy on children's development."

Oxford researcher Claire Carson analyzed data on 12,136 children. She concluded the differences were explained by the "generally advantageous socioeconomic position" enjoyed by those born after fertility treatment.

Children born after unplanned pregnancies were more likely to have poor, young or less educated mothers, and to have less access to "books, puzzles, trips to library," Carson found.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments