FRIDAY BRIEFS:

Routines are good. Routines are effective. Routines are adaptive. As a rule of thumb, most parents should use structured routines with their children.

I could end this post right here. The research about routines is so strong  that I feel comfortable breaking this blog’s policy of not providing clinical advice when saying that unless you have specific clinical reasons, most parents of infants and toddlers should use bedtime, mealtime, and other daily routines. But in the science-based spirit of this blog, let me talk briefly about one more study showing the benefits and effectiveness of bedtime routines, and then I will explain how to implement a bedtime routine. Read More

In my clinical work, I often see parents struggle when placing their young children on epileptic medications. This hesitation is often in response to a common research finding indicating that some antiepileptic medications are associated with significant side-effects, including reduced cognitive capacity (although in most cases these side effects are not as severe as the risk posed by untreated epilepsy). But while many studies have explored the association between childhood use of antiepileptic drugs and cognitive performance, less is known about the effects of prenatal exposure to these drugs. Specifically, given that suspending their medication regime is not an option for many adults, it is important for expecting mothers and clinicians to understand which medications may pose the greatest risk to the fetus and which medications may be relatively safe. Read More

Friday’s Column “Focus on Language” by Nicole Hess.

I get this question ALL the time. In fact I just gave a talk to a group of preschool teachers and this question came up: Can teaching sign language to my baby delay his talking? Let’s look at what the research tells us about using signs with babies. In an article published in the American Journal of Speech Language Pathology Elizabeth Crais, et al. provided an overview of the research on gestural communication and its effect in language development. For years, actually since I began practicing, I have used gesture development in early intervention. However, only recently has this practice been actively researched. This is in part due to the expanding research on Autism. Yet, most parents when told that the use of gestures helps verbal development fear that gestures will replace words. It seems that the research does not support that fear.
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A review of: Vennemann, M., Bajanowski, T., Brinkmann, B., Jorch, G., Yucesan, K., Sauerland, C., Mitchell, E., & , . (2009). Does Breastfeeding Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? PEDIATRICS, 123 (3) DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-2145 Read More

This afternoon, as I worked on a study on children of depressed mothers, I came across an article about the effects of breastfeeding on the brain electrical activity of babies. I usually only review recent research, but this study is worth an exception, especially in light of our recent review of Hanna Rosin’s article on the Atlantic magazine questioning the strength of the link between breastfeeding and IQ (see my review here). Read More