Babies born with Hirschsprung disease need an operation to remove the section of bowel that cannot move stool along. Surgeons can do it in the first month of life or wait a few months. Three studies published in 2025 and 2026 found that both timings are safe, but that they trade different things…

Babies born with serious heart defects can develop a dangerous bowel illness called necrotizing enterocolitis, which most people associate with very premature infants. Three recent studies show that in full-term babies with critical heart disease it is uncommon — roughly two to seven in every…

When a premature baby loses much of the intestine to a bowel emergency, the question families live with is whether the gut that remains will one day absorb enough food on its own. A 2025 report from Qatar found that four in five extremely premature babies with short bowel syndrome eventually came…

Biliary atresia is a rare liver condition in newborns in which the tubes that carry bile out of the liver become blocked. Surgery works best when it happens in the first six weeks of life, but most babies are still diagnosed later than that. Two recent studies suggest that a simple blood test…

Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which a baby's intestines develop outside the body, pushing through a small opening in the abdominal wall beside the belly button. Surgeons return the bowel to the tummy gradually, using a soft pouch called a silo, and then close the opening. New research suggests…

Spontaneous intestinal perforation is a small hole that can open in the bowel of the tiniest premature babies, usually in the first week or two of life. A ten-year study of 858 extremely small newborns in Taiwan found that two common intensive-care treatments — a steroid called hydrocortisone, and…

When a newborn develops jaundice — the yellow tint of the skin and eyes caused by a normal but temporary buildup of a substance called bilirubin — the usual treatment is phototherapy, a special blue light that helps the body clear it. A new study asked whether adding friendly gut bacteria, known as…

When one of the smallest premature babies develops a hole or dying tissue in the intestine, surgeons must choose quickly between two operations: a small bedside tube that drains the belly, or a full operation to open the abdomen and remove the damaged bowel. For years no one knew which choice gave…

A common newborn blood test called the Coombs test looks for one specific cause of jaundice: antibodies from the mother attacking the baby's red blood cells. A large 2025 review pooling 28 studies and 20,935 newborns found that when the test is positive it does raise the odds a baby will need…

A new study suggests that some newborns with mild jaundice may not need to stay in the hospital overnight under the lights. Researchers found that a shorter, 10-hour daytime course of light therapy worked about as well as the usual round-the-clock treatment for carefully chosen low-risk babies…

A quick, painless breath test can help doctors safely give fewer newborns light treatment for jaundice. In a study of 2,500 babies, adding this test to the usual jaundice assessment lowered the share who needed the lights from about 22 out of 100 to about 19 out of 100 — without any increase in…

A large 2026 research review combined the results of 12 earlier studies involving 1,144 newborns and found that stronger, higher-dose phototherapy lowers jaundice faster and shortens treatment time compared with gentler, lower-dose light. The benefit was largest for premature babies and those with…