Babies

LOS ANGELES -- Taiko and Gemma Chen may not celebrate all 15 days of the lunar new year, nor do they believe they are sweeping away prosperity by cleaning the house. But there is one centuries-old tradition the Asian-American couple still swears by: having a baby in the Year of the Dragon, considered the most auspicious year in the 12-year zodiac cycle.

Having a baby, so the cooing commercials say, changes everything.

While perhaps not changing everything, parenthood does set in motion an array of hormonal and even structural changes in the brains of Mom and Dad, in ways that researchers continue to try to understand.

Recent studies have made it clear that, contrary to the ditzy moments once dismissed as "mommy brain," mothers of newborns -- whether or not they already have kids -- tend to experience growth in key brain structures that influence motivation and maternal behavior.

LOS ANGELES -- Every year, the networks trot out some show or other that revolves around a baby, and every year, I start counting the hours before that baby vanishes. Last year, it was baby Hope from "Raising Hope"; this year, it's baby Amy from "Up All Night." Five episodes into the latter, and creator Emily Spivey was already on flashbacks so we could experience the days leading to the birth. Pregnancy is, after all, much more interesting than new parenting because (and here's me pointing out an elephant in the writers room) babies are very boring.

CHICAGO -- Researchers say there's a new way to tell if infants are likely to become obese later on: Check to see if they've passed two key milestones on doctors' growth charts by age 2.

More than 20 years ago I did a bunch of stories on the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at McKay-Dee Hospital.

What an experience. A child born too early is a major challenge. Science tries to duplicate the womb, but the best it can come up with -- which is pretty amazing -- is a crude and expensive imitation.

LOS ANGELES -- The rate of births among teenagers, preterm births, injury deaths for teens and binge drinking are all declining, and that's good news for America's children, according to a new government report issued Thursday. But more young teens are using illicit drugs, more are likely to be living in poverty and fewer have parents who are working full time, according to the report, "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2011."