Here are some characteristics of the middle born child or children.

The middle or second born child or children often have the sense of not belonging. They fight to receive attention from parents and others because they feel many times they are being ignored or dubbed off as being the same as another sibling. Being in the middle a child can feel insecure. The middle child often lacks drive and looks for direction from the first born child. Sometimes a middle child feels out of place because they are not over achievers and like to go with the flow of things.

Being a middle child would mean they...

Routine and inexpensive genetic testing could save a significant number of children from being given drugs that fail to help their asthma and may even make it worse, scientists say.

It is accepted that specific medicines work better on some people than on others. Drug companies are exploring the possibilities for personalised medicines: drugs targeted to an individual’s genetic makeup, which will therefore be much more effective.

But the reverse also holds true: that some drugs are likely to be ineffective and cause more side-effects in some people than in others.

A study, carried out by r...

‘Pregnant women exposed to pollen shortly before birth are more likely to have children with severe asthma,’ is the somewhat alarmist headline in the Daily Mail.

The news is based on a large Swedish study that aimed to investigate the relationship between exposure to pollen during pregnancy and the first few months of a child’s life, and the risk of the child requiring hospitalisation for asthma in the first year of life.

The researchers found that high pollen exposure during the last trimester of a mother’s pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of the child being admitted to hospi...

Looking at how kids’ brains responded while viewing «Sesame Street» videos, researchers found that the more kids’ brains acted like those of adults, the better they performed on tests.

The findings may seem obvious. Why wouldn’t kids with adult-like brains score better on tests? But study lead author Jessica Cantlon said there’s more to the research.

«It’s a step in the direction toward understanding what typical brain development looks like and predicting what might be going wrong,» said Cantlon, an assistant professor in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Roc...

The Swedish study of more than 1.6 million births in five Nordic countries included nearly 30,000 women who had filled in a prescription for an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) during pregnancy.

The researchers found that the 1.79 percent of mothers exposed to an SSRI had higher rates of stillbirth (4.62 versus 3.69 per 1,000) and postneonatal death (1.38 versus 0...

Today, mothers of newborns find themselves confronting a common dilemma: Should they let their babies «cry it out» when they wake up at night? Or should they rush to comfort their crying little one?

In fact, waking up in the middle of the night is the most common concern that parents of infants report to pediatricians. Now, a new study from Temple psychology professor Marsha Weinraub gives parents some scientific facts to help with that decision.

The study, published inDevelopmental Psychology, supports the idea that a majority of infants are best left to self-soothe and fall back to sleep on ...

The American Academy of Pediatrics has two New Year’s resolutions for schools: Keep the school nurse and don’t drop recess.

The recommendations are part of two new policy statements published in Pediatrics.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says there’s a growing trend in schools to take away recess and use the time to teach subjects.

«There is pressure on schools to increase performance on standardized testing, and a lot of times teachers are using withdrawal of recess as a punishment for children,» says Robert Murray, MD, a co-author of the recess policy statement and a professor at ...

Brain changes found in adults with certain gene variants linked to conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and autism can also be spotted in brain scans done on newborns, a new study indicates.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine said these brain changes could open new avenues for research.

«These results suggest that prenatal brain development may be a very important influence on psychiatric risk later in life,» study author Rebecca Knickmeyer, an assistant professor of psychiatry, said in a university news release...

With the New Year comes the inevitable resolution to live a healthier lifestyle over the coming months. If you are a parent, you may also have resolved to try to get your kids to eat better as well. I have set this goal for myself many times in the past, but have been stymied by the time and preparation needed to get there. No matter how good my intentions, I quickly fall back into my old habits.

I want this year to be different, so I sought out professional advice and turned to the Alexandria-based founder of Mai Health Now, LLC, Certified Health Counselor and Wellness speaker Mai Trinh Joube...

Polaroid Introduces A Fun, Interactive, Durable Tablet Designed For Kids

MINNEAPOLIS, January 3, 2013– Polaroid is pleased to introduce a tablet specifically designed for children- a 7.0″ kids tablet. Featuring the Android 4.0 OS, the tablet combines all the fun and entertainment kids love with the security, durability and educational content that provides parents with peace of mind. The tablet will be on display in the Polaroid Booth #13613 & Southern Telecom Booth #13022 at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show, Jan. 8-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Polaroid kids tab...