During pregnancy, your breast starts growing even before your belly becomes bigger. Estrogen and progesterone trigger the growth of breast tissue and, by the birth of a baby, each breast will add about one pound in weight or even more. Health experts say that, rather than during breastfeeding, it is during this period when you can lose the shape of your breast. Do the following exercises to maintain the shape of your breast and prevent saggy breast. Full story

Contrary to what some people think, moodiness, despondency and depression are not symptoms of the adult life with its hardships. A new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry shows that depression may assault us starting from the tender age of three. Furthermore, it may deepen and even become a chronic state of mind. Full story

Scientists from the University of Iowa believe that if the child if physically active at the age of five, he or she has higher chances of staying slim in the future. Dr. Kathleen Janz, the author of the study, explains that children who are physically active during the pre-school period less often become overweight during school years than those children who are not active. Scientists call it "savings effect", since children receive the "dividends" from their early activities in the future (similar to the way it works with the savings bank accounts). Full story

Pregnant women sometimes think their belly grows much too quickly, or, on the contrary, they can hardly notice it for some reason. Learn how to make sure that the size of your belly is ok. Full story

Parents who have babies should cut down on watching TV because it's bad for the language development in their babies, recent study says. With the TV turned on, parents talk to their babies less, so babies get worse at acquiring speaking skills. Researches studied how the TV influences the babies aged from two months to four years old and found that every extra hour of a TV turned on slashed the number of words the parents told to their babies by 500-1000. Full story

OnePoll, a British company reports, their recent survey has shown that both first-time expecting mothers and fathers gain weight during the pregnancy period. On average, fathers-to-be gain 14 pounds (6.5 kg) and put on approximately 2 in (5 cm) in waist. For the most part they gain weight due to the increased consumption of high-calorie foods such as chips, pizza, sweets, and beer. OnePoll reports, that every fourth expecting dad has to completely change his wardrobe by the time the baby is born. Full story

According to a recent British poll, only one out of four parents spends enough time, playing with their kids. Children and their parents said commitments and pressures of modern life get in the way of spending time together, which makes them unhappy. Only one out of four parents has enough time to play with their children, according to researchers from Play England who conducted the poll. Full story

No matter how much you are excited about pregnancy, it also brings anxiety and fears. These fears are quite natural, but you can foresee and eliminate some of them. During pregnancy, you must focus on the health of your breast. Even the smallest tumor may start expanding. Unremoved fibroadenoma (benign tumor) may get in the way of lactiferous ducts, hamper lactation and provoke mastitis or other dangerous diseases. Full story

By the end of pregnancy, the pressure on the legs increases by 25-40 pounds and their veins pump 1.5 liters more blood than before. This is why you feel them as if filled with lead and it’s like torture to stand upright for just a short period of time. The following tips will help you prevent varicose veins during pregnancy. Full story

DNA tests to establish fatherhood at home have hit pharmacies in Britain. Despite a sales pitch, the test could not be carried out at home completely. First, a user has to collect cheek cells from the father and the child and then to send DNA samples to a lab. After 5 days (or after one day for vip-version of the test), the lab will return 100% reliable result showing if the user is a biological father. Regular test will cost £160 and VIP-version will go for about £300. Full story

Kerry Greaves, a woman from York weighing 308 pounds, decided to get slim surgically so her daughter would not be teased at school. But she died after her stomach surgery. Miss Greaves suffered serious complications after having gastric band. She died from organ failure despite 14 following operations to save her. The mother of the deceased, Anne Greaves, said that Kerry had done it for the sake of her daughter, Melissa, because she didn’t want her to be teased that her mother was fat. Full story

Breastfeeding was discovered to be a strong factor that can prevent malignant cancer growths in the breast. While it doesn’t work for women who have no family cancer history, the difference it creates for high-risk women with a positive family history is quite a considerable one. A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine gives an impressive figure: women who have breast cancer handed down in their family can lower the possibility of developing cancer growth in the breast by 59 percent through nursing their babies. Full story

Regular afternoon nap can help ease such problems in children as hyperactivity, anxiety and depression. Recent studies provided the evidence for that claim. The results of a study among 62 children aged 4-5 years old, presented at the annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting in Seattle, pointed that a day regimen with the room for an afternoon nap is a good thing for a child’s psyche. Full story

There is one premature delivery per ten births and a minor number of women may give birth as early as after 32 weeks of pregnancy. This increases the risk that a child maybe handicapped and many very preterm babies do not survive. Researchers at the Imperial College in London say premature birth disables a baby not only because underdevelopment but also because the process, triggering premature delivery, influences the fetus directly. They are sure that prevention of premature birth can significantly lower the risk of having a handicapped baby. Full story

Vitamin D deficiency means an insufficient serum level of vitamin D. It is a condition which is linked with low calcium content, high blood pressure and cholesterol content, and conducive to contracting bone and heart diseases. Pediatrics published a study that says that of ten American children seven have vitamin D deficiency in different forms. Full story

Scientists from Bristol University conducted a sociological study and found out that seafood boost pregnant women's mood. During the study they examined the nutrition of 10 thousand women; the women had to complete a survey noting how much seafood they consumed during pregnancy and how she felt during that period of their life. Full story

Swedish economists have calculated how much parents spend on their children from the moment they are born until the graduation exam (Swedish students graduate at 19). According to their calculations, average parents spend 100 thousand Euro per child. If there are two children in the family, then expenses fall a little bit and average to 90 thousand Euros ($144 thousand). Full story

According to Dr. David Walsh, associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, England, the labor pain is beneficial for both mother's and child's health. He stresses that painkillers, such as epidural anesthesia, disturb the natural process of psychological connection between mother and child. Full story

During pregnancy, especially with the onset of the third trimester, a belly becomes increasingly larger as a fetus and subjacent tissues grow in size. And as the skin doesn't keep up with the growth, it results in overstretching and torn subcutaneous tissues. These tissue tears emerge as richly pink spots on the skin and then pale into white scars. They are scars indeed, formed in the area of tears which have been restored with connective tissue, as with any external cut. Besides belly, pregnancy stretch marks may appear on hips, buttocks and breasts. Full story

American scientists discovered that babies suffering from colic have high concentration of specific bacteria in their intestinal microflora. Microbiologists from the University of Texas Health Science Center suggested that colic can be caused by bacterial inflammations triggered by disorders in the intestinal microflora. The study, which was reported by The Daily Telegraph, found that feces of children suffering from colic were discovered to have high concentration of bacteria from the family Klebsiella as well as substances indicating the presence of inflammatory processes in the intestines. Full story

According to WHO official reports, the introduction of correct breastfeeding will make a difference of 1.3 million saved children’s lives every year. It lessens the risk of babies contracting pneumonia, diarrhea and other illnesses, to a considerable extent. Health experts assert that breast milk provides all the nutrients the infant needs during the first half year. Full story