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The best place in the world to be a mum is Norway, where maternal and child mortality rates are low, women’s life expectancy and years in school are high, and the average maternity leave is about one year, according to Save the Children’s 12th annual Mothers Index. Australia and Iceland join Norway at the top, while Afghanistan comes in last. There, women have a life expectancy of 45 years – the world’s lowest – and one of every 11 women dies in childbirth. One of every fve children in the country doesn’t live to age fve.

anked 18th.

ontrary to the common perception that chubby babies are healthy bies and will naturally outgrow their baby fat, excess weight tends to sist,” says Leann Birch, chair of the US-based Institute of Medicine’s dhood obesity prevention committee. Almost ten per cent of babies d toddlers carry too much weight for their size. In a recently released ort, the committee suggests that everyone who cares for children eds to help reign in the baby fat, including paediatricians, who they say ould track weight gain at every routine visit.

source: www.npr.org

A high percentage of babies in the region are not enjoying the benefts of long-term breastfeeding, according to a survey commissioned by the Hong Kong Nutrition Association (HKNA), and carried out by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacifc Studies, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Results showed that while 80 per cent of respondents had tried to breastfeed their babies, over 50 per cent did so for less than three months – far below the six months recommended by the World Health Organization. Respondents gave a variety of reasons for stopping short: 45 per cent said they

stopped because of work, and 36 per cent said they did not lactate enough to support their child’s feeding habits.

The HKNA will now encourage the government to help educate mothers on the importance of breastfeeding, and press them to consider reforming and extending maternity leave.

ren with attention-ivity disorder have one dd to their list: kids n years old with ADHD

o cross the street safely on their own.

ch found that while children with ADHD may look as if they are sing the street solo – they do stop and look both ways before crossing ways good at judging how much time they need to cross safely.

source: HealthDay News

finger on the pulse

baby fat

not long enough

The world’s population is expected to reach seven billion by the end of this month, according to projections by the United Nations. About fve babies are now born every second.

notable Norway