To Boost a Preschooler’s Language Skills, Consider Reminiscing

Book sharing is a popular way parents engage young children in conversation. Not all parents are comfortable with book sharing and not all children like having books read to them. Research provides an alternative. To boost the quality of a preschooler’s language experience and skills, consider reminiscing with them. Findings show reminiscing is very good at eliciting high quality speech from parents, and in many ways, is just as good as book sharing (wordless picture books).

Fathers Key to Supporting Breastfeeding and Safe Infant Sleep

Fathers can make a huge difference in whether an infant is breastfed and placed to sleep safely, according to a recent survey of new fathers via the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) for Dads. This new tool is modeled on the annual surveillance system that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health departments have used for more than 35 years to survey new mothers. By utilizing PRAMS for Dads, this article is the first to describe father-reported rates of infant breastfeeding and sleep practices in a state-representative sample. Findings are published in the journal Pediatrics.

Close Relationships with Parents Promote Healthier Brain Development in High-Risk Teens, Buffering Against Alcohol Use Disorder

For teens at elevated risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), close relationships with parents can help mitigate their genetic and environmental vulnerability, a new study suggests. The offspring of people with AUD are four times more likely than others to develop the disorder. Increasing evidence suggests that this heritable risk may be either amplified or mitigated by the quality of parenting.

Study shows how new fathers respond to “Dadvertising”

The nurturing ad elicited more positive feelings, perceptions of the dad and attitudes toward ad and brand. However, the researchers were surprised that results also showed that higher levels of anxiety around fatherhood produced fewer positive emotions in response to the dadvertisement and produced greater perceptions that the dad in the ad was weak.

Depression in Dads of Preemies Deserves More Attention

While postpartum depression in new mothers is well recognized and known to increase if the newborn requires intensive care, depression in new fathers has not received much attention. A large study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that both parents with a baby in the NICU are at risk, with depression symptoms identified in 33 percent of mothers and 17 percent of fathers. Strikingly, the probability of reporting depression symptoms declined significantly for mothers but not for fathers after the baby came home.