Sunday, January 2, 2011

Introducing Science Sundays!

Starting next Sunday, and hopefully every Sunday after that, I'll be discussing some scientific research on a topic related to childbirth, breastfeeding, or baby parenting.  This will be sort of similar to my previous post on whether you can tell baby boys apart from baby girls (from the neck up).

On a given week, I may either highlight one particularly interesting study, or, if the topic is narrow enough, provide an overview of all of the work that has been done in the area.  I'll also comment on the scientific strengths and weaknesses of the work that I discuss--in other words, do I believe the results?  I have a fair amount of training in the sciences, but that doesn't mean that I automatically believe everything I read in a scientific journal--if anything, the more I've learned about scientific research, the more I've learned how to be skeptical of some results!

Rather than picking each Sunday's topic myself, I would love to respond to someone's question.  Have you always wondered what the evidence is for or against a particular medical intervention?  Or are you just curious why baby's eyes are blue?  Or whether babies who have regular nap-times are healthier?  Email me at ahaircutandashave at gmail dot com with a question you'd like to see featured!  I'll let you know if I use your question (and I will ask permission to quote you).  Or you can just leave your question in the comments.

Happy Sunday!
Teaching some science

5 comments:

  1. Oh oh! Is organic worthwhile? Been meaning to research this myself.

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  2. organic baby food, you mean? or organic EVERYTHING, like including organic baby shampoo, organic cotton crib sheets & clothing, etc?

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  3. You might be interested by this article:
    http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20101219/breastfed-kids-may-get-higher-test-scores

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  4. Well, I meant organic food, and is there any evidence that it's better for babies. I guess I'm slightly curious about organic everything (including what you listed), but not as much because it's not ingested. I'm more concerned about ingesting pesticides. However, organic food uses organic pesticides, which I don't think have been proven to be safer, but I'm not sure. I did see one study saying that organic fruits/vegs had fewer residual pesticides on their surfaces, compared with their non-organic counterparts. But that's as far as I got.

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  5. circumcision -- health risks & benefits. i thought remember reading an article recently about how being circumcised lowers risk of stds and such later in life, but i'm not sure.

    that regular naptime idea is intriguing.

    looking at high-level working moms (like you, i'll be a physician in a few years), child spacing, urban vs. suburban vs. rural living, and other, similar semi-controllable factors and how they influence child development/achievement/etc.

    thanks! this is a cool idea. =)

    katie
    doctorsterry.com

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