Ear infections need to be treated with antibiotics. Newborns and infants should be bathed daily. New parents are deluged with advice on how to care for their babies. This book explores common baby health myths--in areas such as feeding, sleeping, toilet training, and illness--to help them separate baby facts from baby fiction.

The most important period of your child's health is the nine months before birth. Cutting edge research in a new field known as "metabolic programming" reveals a startling new fact: what a mother eats during pregnancy has a far greater effect on her child's future development, overall health, and resistance to disease than was previously thought. In fact, adult chronic illnesses long blamed on an unhealthy lifestyle or genetic influences are now believed to be a direct result of the uterine environment during pregnancy. Now, thanks to this pioneering new book, you can "program" your baby's future health by eating right, gaining the appropriate amount of weight, and avoiding toxins--starting even before conceiving. Dr. Barbara Luke, a nationally recognized expert in the field of public-health nutrition, provides a complete, practical nutrition and lifestyle program that covers your entire pregnancy, month by month--and the first two years of your baby's life. Here is everything you need to know to raise the healthiest baby possible, including: - What to eat when you're trying to conceive and when you are pregnant - Practical strategies that protect your child against hypertension, diabetes, and obesity - Special dietary needs for women in every age group, from under 25 to over 40 - Quick, easy menus, helpful charts, and checklists - Replenishing fluids: how much do you need to drink? - The nutritional needs of mothers carrying twins or "super-twins" - New strategies for overcoming morning sickness - Helping your growing child eat right and stay healthy Pregnancy is your window of opportunity to boost your baby's health at birth, through childhood, and beyond. Let this book help you take the most advanced, scientific approach to preventing disease and optimizing health!

A unique campaign of scientific baby judging spread across the United States in the early years of this century. Beginning at state fairs, it spread to towns and cities of all sizes. By the movement's peak in 1913 and 1914, scientific baby contests were held at 40 state fairs and several hundred county fairs and city contests. The baby health contest identified the healthiest infants in a region, while teaching parents how breeding and environment could produce a superior crop. Then, quietly, the contests slipped into obscurity. This work traces the development of the baby health contests from their rural beginnings at agricultural fairs. Details are provided about the early instruments used for assessing infant development, the organizations and individuals behind the better babies movement, and the methods of promoting prize babies. The controversy generated by the competition for prizes is explored, as are the role of the Children's Bureau in the contests, the business aspect of the contests, and the spin-offs of the health contest idea.

Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby is the ultimate pregnancy guide. Authors Siobhan Dolan, M.D., and Alice Lesch Kelly offer clear, friendly, authoritative, and essential advice, based on the latest research and findings, empowering mothers-to-be and new moms with more information and positive steps than have even been available before to ensure both a healthy pregnancy and a healthy, happy newborn. Supported and sponsored by the March of Dimes—one of America’s largest, most widely recognized non-profit organizations and the country’s #1 most trusted source of health information for parents, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll—Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby is a must-read for all mothers-to-be.