For nine years, the greatest challenge Kim Yates Grosso faced each day was keeping her daughter Tessa safe. Tessa was so severely allergic to milk, wheat, eggs, nuts, shellfish and assorted other foods that as a toddler she went into anaphylactic shock when milk fell on her skin. Kim never left her with a baby sitter. Read on.

Does an organic strawberry contain more vitamin C than a conventional one? Maybe or Maybe not. Stanford University scientists have weighed in on the “maybe not” side of the debate after an extensive examination of four decades of research comparing organic and conventional foods. Read on here.

HONG KONG — A month after large batches of Chinese baby formula were found to contain dangerous levels of mercury, state media outlets reported Monday that the authorities have discovered more shipments of contaminated formula, this time poisoned with a cancer-causing toxin. Read more here.

Babies with life-threatening allergic reactions to milk or egg often don't get prompt treatment, despite their caretakers having been given medicine to counter the attacks, a new government-funded study shows. Read on here.

Miralax — an odorless, tasteless laxative — has become a go-to response for childhood constipation. For constipated children in excruciating pain, Dr. Tricia Jean Gold, a pediatrician in Brooklyn, has no problem recommending Miralax or a PEG generic laxative, which draws water into the colon to soften stool.

"You don't have time to sit around eating prunes," she said. "You need to get them out of pain." That said, in recent years, she has started to see a pattern of parents coming to her frustrated that their child has been on Miralax for 18 months already and their "pediatrician just keeps saying 'take it' " without offering any guidance.

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By The New York Times, 05/26/2012

Babies given extra amino acids in their formula ate less and felt sated sooner than with regular cow's-milk formula, in a new study whose results challenge the idea that bottle-feeding diminishes a baby's ability to regulate its own food intake. Read the full article here.

By Reuters, 03/30/2012

At least once a week, someone, usually a woman over 50, asks me about vitamin D. Perhaps a routine checkup has revealed a deficiency, prompting the doctor to recommend an over-the-counter supplement or, in severe cases, large prescription doses to correct the problem. Often, though, the concern is bone health. Without vitamin D, the body cannot properly absorb calcium, and bones become fragile. Read the full article here.

By The New York Times, 03/12/2012

Women who have low levels of vitamin D in their blood during pregnancy increase their odds of having a child with language problems.A new study from Australia suggests that white women who had the lowest stores of vitamin D during their second trimester were nearly twice as likely to have a child with language difficulties than women with the highest blood concentrations. Having good stores of vitamin D, the so-called "sunshine vitamin," in the blood while pregnant -- especially during the second and third trimesters -- is needed since this is when certain parts of the fetal brain involved in language-learning develop. This is also a critical time for the creation of brain pathways and structures that play a role in a child's emotional and behavioral development. Read the full article here.

By WebMD, 02/13/2012

When you're pregnant, you're the center of the world. Everyone asks you how you are, if they can do anything to help, and if you really shouldn't be getting some more rest. Fast forward a few months and you're on your own with a screaming infant at two 'o clock in the morning. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and wonder what happened? Where did you go? This flip side to motherhood is not often talked about. Giving birth is only the beginning of a long and laborious journey, and it's vital for new moms to be proactive about maintaining inner and outer wellness. Read the full article here.

By City Weekend, 12/19/2011

On December 8th, Claire Jones-Hughes invited mothers to participate in a breastfeeding flash mob. She'd been told to stop feeding her baby in a cafe and was fed up. As the founder of Brightonmums.com, she tapped into her online community to spread the word. "We have chosen a central public venue, where there is space to be seated but also be noticed," she wrote. And, she followed up with a purposeful column in The Guardian. "After being verbally attacked for not covering up while feeding my four-month-old, I decided it was time to make a statement to show that mothers will no longer tolerate being harassed for feeding our babies in public." That day, 40 moms showed up at the Clock Tower and breastfed their babies in front of Christmas shoppers. Read the full article here.

By Huffington Post, 12/16/2011

Back before computers moved into our exam rooms, I tended paper growth charts ritually at every checkup. Pink for girls, blue for boys. Age on the X-axis, weight on the Y-axis. I paid particular attention to the charts of infants, plotting weight and length and head circumference with my pen month by month to show parents how their babies were growing, to reassure them when they worried that there wasn't enough breast milk or because their babies were spitting up a little. It's a primal impulse to worry about an infant's growth. But experts on child nutrition, mostly enlisted nowadays in the battle against childhood obesity, point out that some of our standard infant feeding practices and attitudes may need revising, including some of those encouraged by pediatricians like me. Read the full article here.

By The New York Times, 12/12/2011

The key to a healthy cereal breakfast is to roll down the cereal aisle, grab your tried and true box of Cheerios, and get out before your child even asks about Tony the Tiger or that toucan dude on the box of Froot Loops. Of course you can say no. But it’s all too easy to agree to a little experimentation and come home with a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, only to realize that a serving contains more sugar than three Chips Ahoy! cookies.Read more here.

From The New York Times, 12/12/2011

Powered formula intended for babies is just another in list of Japanese products said to be contaminated by radiation. Read the full article here.

By Aljazeera, 12/07/2011.

It’s time to talk about that age-old parenting question: How do you get your kids to eat their vegetables? Having read all the horror stories about stubborn, veggie-hating children, I decided on pre-emptive strikes by giving Maia the green stuff as soon as she was weaned off of breast milk. Her earliest encounters with solid foods included finely chopped spinach leaves boiled with rice, and served like a watery porridge. Read full article here.

From The Washington Post, 11/19/2011

With so many reports of poor food safety standards in the media, it’s hard to know if the food we’re eating is safe for our families. Are you worried about the source of your fruits and vegetables? You’re not alone. Many families, Chinese and expat alike, are as well. Food safety has got a lot of attention this year, for good reason, but there is no need to panic. There are things you can do to give you peace of mind.  First of all, eliminate packaged and processed foods, snacks and drinks, to reduce your risk of things being contaminated due to processing. It’s also a lot healthier for your family. Second, there are plenty of organic produce choices to explore in Shanghai. Read full article here.

From Shanghai Family Magazine 10/22/2011