brain development

Infants who don’t sleep through the night don’t seem to be at higher risk for cognitive or motor development problems, a Canadian study suggests. Deciding when or whether to train infants to sleep through the night is one of the most fraught issues new parents face, with some previous research suggesting that insufficient sleep may lead to a range of developmental problems for babies. Less is known, however, about whether babies’ development is influenced by how many of their sleeping hours occur in a long uninterrupted…

For newborns, skin-to-skin contact with parents and caregivers may help shape how their brains respond to touch, a sense necessary for social and emotional connections, a new study suggests. Plenty of previous research has linked skin-to-skin touch with developmental benefits for both premature and full-term babies, ranging from improved growth and sleep to better motor development. Research has also tied breastfeeding and other forms of supportive touch to less discomfort during from needle sticks and other painful…