Pregnancy, Diet, Asthma, and Eczema
    Pregnancy, Diet, Asthma, and Eczema

    What Mom eats during pregnancy appears able to help protect her kindergarten-aged child from asthma and eczema. A little over ten years ago, researchers at the University of Aberdeen proposed that the…

    Conscious Preconception
    Conscious Preconception

    The "trimester" before pregnancy is an important window of opportunity for a baby's health, whether this is a first pregnancy or a later one. And during pregnancy, the weeks between when conception ha…

    A Fresh Start
    A Fresh Start

    When I meet with parents before their baby is born, I like to take a moment to reflect with them about this momentous time. I often ask them to consider what habits they now have that they wish they h…

    Young woman wearing a bathrobe while sitting in a bathtub eating noodles. What we eat during pregnancy changes food preferences.
    Does what I eat during pregnancy change my baby’s food preferences?

    What Is There for the Baby to Smell? The amniotic fluid is like a living bowl of salty soup. The cells in the baby's nose can detect the ingredients in that soup and send messages about them to the br…

    Born Polluted
    Born Polluted

    A July 2005 study by the Environmental Working Group tested newborns for the largest number of chemicals ever. The analysis found an average of 200 industrial chemicals, pollutants, and pesticides alr…

    Preventing Asthma
    Preventing Asthma

    Dr. Greene's take on preventing asthma... Asthma is the leading serious chronic illness in children. More than 6 million children suffer from asthma in the United States alone. Steps parents take befo…

    Born at Home
    Born at Home

    For some parents, the idea of planning to have their baby born at home feels natural and normal; for others, especially in high-tech countries, the idea of a home birth may feel frightening and unnece…

    Smoking, Pregnant Monkeys, and Vitamin C
    Smoking, Pregnant Monkeys, and Vitamin C

    All pregnant women, not just women who smoke, should hear the news about vitamin C and nicotine. About 450,000 babies are born each year in the United States to women who smoke (this is about 1 in 8 b…

    Stark Rubella Contrasts
    Stark Rubella Contrasts

    The World Health Organization estimates that about 100,000 children each year are born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), a major cause of severe birth defects such as blindness, deafness, heart …

    Smoking Changes Kids' Genes
    Smoking Changes Kids’ Genes

    Tobacco contains many compounds capable of damaging DNA and causing cancer. When a woman smokes during pregnancy, tobacco compounds from Mom's bloodstream slip across the placenta. They can be found b…

    Breathing for Two
    Breathing for Two

    Dr. Greene's take on breathing for two... What happens when women with asthma get pregnant? Does their asthma get better or worse? Should they use more asthma medicines when pregnant? Or less? How doe…

    Nuts! Allergies, Omega-3s, and Yogurt
    Nuts! Allergies, Omega-3s, and Yogurt

    We're just beginning to learn about how diet in pregnancy affects asthma, eczema, and allergies in children. We know that over 90% of food allergies in young children are to one of five food: milk, eg…

    Shampoo and Brain Cells
    Shampoo and Brain Cells

    When Dr. Elias Aizenman declared that a common shampoo and ingredient might harm developing babies. brains, it triggered a flurry of news reports, many of them with enough information to alarm people,…

    Pregnant woman looking into a refrigerator and holding her tummy as if she's sick. What medications during pregnancy can be used?
    Medications during Pregnancy

    Almost half of the pregnant women in the in the United States receive prescriptions from their doctors for medications that the FDA has determined have no evidence to suggest safety during pregnancy, …

    Vaginal Birth Reduces Allergies
    Vaginal Birth Reduces Allergies

    One of the benefits of vaginal birth is the gift of Mom's beneficial bacteria to the baby. Normally, these quickly take up residence in the newborn's gut. Cesarean sections can be life-saving interven…

    Count to 30 and Cut
    The Power of Waiting: Optimal Cord Clamping

    The timing of clamping and cutting the umbilical cord can make a difference in babies' health - especially for babies born early. Clamping too late can lead to blood thickening, lung problems, and can…

    preeclampsia
    A New Clue to an Old Mystery

    About 1 in 12 women who are pregnant develop an important combination of swelling, elevated blood pressure, and protein in the urine that we call preeclampsia. The unborn baby's symptoms are not as ea…

    What Color Eyes Will Your Baby Have?
    What Color Eyes Will Your Baby Have?

    In Dr. Greene's groundbreaking book From First Kicks to First Steps he describes how eye colors (and many other things) are inherited. How will the traits of Mom and Dad combine to create a brand new …

    Pregnant and Depressed?
    Pregnant and Depressed?

    Health Canada has issued an August 2004 advisory that certain anti-depressant medicines taken during the third trimester of pregnancy may cause symptoms in the baby at birth. Health Canada is the coun…

    Reducing Caesarean Sections
    Reducing Caesarean Sections

    Because of the high rate of caesarean sections in Latin America, researchers thought they might be able to reduce the c-section rate by 25 percent (without any additional complications) by instituting…