A large randomized study across 39 U.S. hospitals found that for premature babies with an inguinal hernia — a common groin hernia — it is generally safer to repair it after the baby leaves the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) than before. Babies whose surgery was delayed until after discharge…

A big new study found that when newborns going through opioid withdrawal need medicine, giving a dose only when their symptoms flare up — instead of a fixed, around-the-clock schedule — helped them become medically ready to go home about two days sooner and with far less total medicine…

A large study across ten hospitals in the Netherlands tested whether an online "sepsis calculator" could safely reduce the number of newborns given antibiotics in their first hours of life. Compared with the usual checklist approach, hospitals using the calculator started antibiotics in far fewer…

Premature babies can develop a serious eye condition called retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, in which blood vessels in the back of the eye grow abnormally and, in severe cases, can pull the retina loose and cause blindness. A recent study called FIREFLEYE next followed 100 very premature…

Caffeine is one of the most common medicines given to premature babies, used for decades to help them breathe. A large 2024 review that combined 15 trials and 3,530 infants found that caffeine probably reduces chronic lung disease and a common heart-vessel problem, and is linked to better movement…

When a baby is born deprived of oxygen and develops a brain injury called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, the standard treatment is to cool the baby's body for three days to protect the brain. During those three days the baby needs medicine to stay calm and comfortable, and for years that medicine…

When a newborn baby has a seizure, it is frightening for everyone — the family and the medical team alike. A new research review published in 2026 pulled together 26 earlier studies, covering nearly 10,000 babies, to answer a question that has lingered for decades: of the two medicines doctors most…

A large 2025 study combined the results of 51 separate trials involving 11,661 premature babies to ask a practical question: do probiotics — the "good bacteria" sold for gut health — actually protect tiny infants from a serious bowel disease called necrotizing enterocolitis, and if so, which…

When a baby is born, the first thing the care team does is measure its weight, length, and head size and compare those numbers to other babies born at the same point in pregnancy. Two 2026 studies from the same research group rebuilt these comparison charts using modern methods and very large…

A medicine that doctors have given to premature babies for more than forty years was finally put to a careful, modern test — and the results are mostly reassuring. In a study of 80 very premature infants, a diuretic called furosemide (brand name Lasix) did not add to the overall number of side…

A new study of 89 very premature babies tested whether a painless bedside lung ultrasound—rather than clinical signs and oxygen levels—should decide which babies receive surfactant, the medicine that helps stiff, immature lungs stay open. Babies whose care was guided by ultrasound were far less…

When a baby is born many weeks early, their tiny body cannot make enough red blood cells, and most premature babies end up needing blood transfusions. A large United States study tested whether a weekly injection of darbepoetin — a long-lasting version of a natural hormone that tells the body to…