Health
How to Protect a Newborn from Colds
A cold in a fortnight-old baby is genuinely a different situation from a cold in a five-year-old — small airways, immature immunity, and the obligate...
6 min read
Articles on Baby Health and Development
Expert guides, tips, and insights to help you and your family live healthier lives. From preventative care to wellness strategies, find everything you need to make informed health decisions.
Health
When to See a Doctor for Pyelonephritis
A urinary tract infection that has reached the kidney is a more serious situation than a straightforward bladder infection — and in young children the...
6 min read
Health
A Pediatrician's Guide to the First Month with a Newborn
The first month is the steepest learning curve most parents will ever face — and most of it is learnt by doing, not by reading. From the clinical side...
7 min read
Health
What a Paediatrician Does with a Newborn in the Maternity Hospital
The hours after birth are a blur for parents, and behind that blur is a quiet, structured set of clinical assessments. Knowing what the paediatrician...
6 min read
Health
Parasites in Children Under Three: Symptoms and Treatment
Parasites are one of those topics that sound dramatic and are usually entirely manageable. They're more common in young children than parents realise,...
6 min read
Health
Normal Weight and Height Standards for Newborns
Birth weight and length come out of the maternity unit as a number on a card and almost immediately become a number people compare. Once you understan...
5 min read
Health
Why Newborns Tremble or Startle
The first few weeks of newborn life are often a startling experience for the parent — those sudden full-body jerks, the chin-quivering after a cry, th...
5 min read
Health
Why a Newborn's Skin Colour Looks Unusual and When It's Normal
Newborn skin is a moving target. In the first hours alone it can shift from beetroot-red to dusky pink to blotchy purple-mottled and back again. Almos...
5 min read
Health
How to Know if a Newborn Is Healthy
The first month with a newborn is usually spent counting things — breaths, nappies, feeds, the rise and fall of a tiny chest at 2 a.m. Most of what yo...
6 min read
Health
A Newborn's First Smiles
The first real smile rearranges the relationship. Up until that point, the bargain feels lopsided — you give nourishment, sleep, and your full nervous...
5 min read
Health
First Sounds: Newborn Crying
Crying is the only language a newborn has. Most parents arrive home expecting to crack the code within a week and feel quietly inadequate when they're...
6 min read
Health
How to Monitor a Newborn's Weight
Weight is the single most objective number you have for whether feeding is working. It also generates more parental anxiety than almost anything else...
6 min read
Health
How to Recognise Meningitis in a Child
Meningitis is the diagnosis most parents quietly fear, and the fear is rational — it's one of the few illnesses in childhood that can move from lookin...
5 min read
Health
What Meconium Is and When a Newborn Should Pass It
The first nappy is one of the more startling moments of new parenthood. Meconium looks nothing like normal stool — it's almost black, sticks like roof...
4 min read
Health
Is It Safe to Go Outside When a Child Has Measles
Measles is one of the most contagious illnesses on the planet, and the practical question — can we just nip out for some fresh air? — has a simple ans...
4 min read
Health
Allergies in Infants: How to Identify the Cause
Working out what an infant is reacting to is harder than the parenting forums make it look. Babies meet five new foods in a fortnight, the worst eczem...
6 min read
Health
The Moro Reflex and Others: How Infant Reflexes Work in the First Months
A newborn arrives with a small library of pre-installed software — automatic responses that don't need teaching, run at brainstem level, and disappear...
7 min read
Health
Household Allergies in Toddlers: What to Do
The toddler with the runny nose that never quite clears, eczema that flares overnight, or a cough that turns up at 2am every winter — household allerg...
7 min read
Health
Growth and Weight Standards for Children Under Three: A Parent's Chart Guide
Growth charts are one of the most powerful tools in paediatric medicine — and one of the most misunderstood by parents. This guide explains what the l...
4 min read
Health
Gas in Newborns: What Helps Most
Gas is one of the most common newborn complaints, and one of the most solvable. Unlike colic — which has many causes — gas-related discomfort often ha...
5 min read