Mothers who have, or used to have, Graves' disease carry antibodies that can cross the placenta and briefly over-stimulate their baby's thyroid gland. Three 2026 studies show that a blood test in pregnancy can pick out the small number of babies at real risk, that hospitals do not always complete…

When a very premature baby develops a blood infection, doctors around the world agree that antibiotics are needed, but they do not agree on how long to give them. A survey of 382 neonatal intensive care units in 12 neonatal networks found that the usual course ranged from under a week to three…

Many babies born very early have an open blood vessel near the heart, called a patent ductus arteriosus, and doctors sometimes give medicine to close it. A Canadian study of 1356 babies born before 29 weeks found that four common treatment options (three medicines, one of them given at two doses)…

Many babies born extremely early have an open blood vessel near the heart, and doctors have long debated whether medicine to close it early helps. A small 2026 trial in babies born before 26 weeks used repeated heart scans to give medicine only to babies with a large blood flow; it showed a bigger…

In poorer countries, babies under two months old with signs of a possible serious infection have long been sent to hospital for a week of injections. A study of 7001 babies in Africa and south Asia found that babies with just one milder warning sign did as well with two days of injections plus…

New research from the United States suggests that when states give parents paid time off around the birth of a baby, fewer mothers develop high blood pressure in pregnancy and fewer very young babies need emergency care for breathing infections. One large study also found very small increases in…

When a baby is about to be born between 22 and 25 weeks of pregnancy, families often have to decide whether the birth should be by cesarean section (an operation through the belly and womb). A large US study of nearly 100 000 such births found that mothers who had a cesarean were more likely to…

In Massachusetts and some other US states, babies exposed to opioids before birth were automatically reported to child protective services, even when the parent was taking prescribed treatment. When one Boston hospital reported only specific safety concerns, reports fell by about half, with no…

Babies born very early are going home from hospital a few days later than they used to, and part of the reason seems to be how each hospital does things. A German hospital that taught parents early to tube-feed their babies sent many of them home about two weeks sooner, and those babies grew just…

Scientists can now estimate a child's "biological age" from tiny chemical tags on the DNA inside cheek cells. A Canadian study of 102 three-year-olds who were born very early found that children whose DNA clock read further ahead of their real age scored slightly higher on thinking and movement…

When a baby is born very early, families and doctors sometimes have to weigh survival against the chance of lasting health problems. A 2026 review of 24 studies with more than 4,600 people found that parents and adults born preterm usually put survival first, while health professionals worried more…

When a baby in neonatal intensive care develops an infection, antibiotics can be life-saving, but giving them for longer than needed can also cause harm. A large French study of 504 babies found that checking a blood marker called procalcitonin every two days helped doctors stop antibiotics about…