Do fat babies stay fat?

A total of 203 children included in a study of feeding practices and weight in infancy were reviewed four to five years later. Although in infancy 28 (14%) of the children were obese and a further 52 (26%) overweight, in childhood most were of normal weight and fatness, with only 5 (2-5%) obese and 22 (11%) overweight, Three of the five obese children were also obese as infants, but only one in nine obese infants was obese at 5 years. Weight in infancy does not necessarily indicate later body size. Tall stature of the children was probably related to their socioeconomic environment.     

Premature babies and pharmacology.

In his research on the action of various drugs in newborns, Dr. Jacob Aranda of the Centre for Perinatal and Developmental Pharmacology Research in Montreal draws upon his expertise in both neonatology and pharmacology. His work has led to the acceptance of caffeine as a standard treatment of apnea in premature infants, and his current studies of ibuprofen as a possible treatment of cerebral intraventricular hemorrhage, a serious problem in some premature babies, have yielded promising results. Other areas being tackled by Aranda and his colleagues include pain control for newborns and the elusive pathology of sudden infant death syndrome. By shedding more light on neonatal development and the principles of drug action in newborns, these research projects will help to improve the odds for many babies who suffer the setback of being born too soon.