It's 3 a.m. "Mommy, can I sleep with you?" What you respond with in your sleepy stupor may have an impact on your child's risk of becoming overweight.

Being overweight might be hurting more than your health. If you're a woman, it could be hurting your job prospects and your salary opportunities as well.

Nobody wants to be yelled at on the playing field.  Supportive and fun sports environments can have a real impact on the stability of a child. Learning emotional management skills and lower rates of depression are just part of the benefits. Having fun while exercising has more than just physical perks. Research points to ‘caring climates’ for sports activities to improve feelings of depression and ability to manage negative thoughts. Find your child a fun sport to join! Mary Fry PhD., Associate Professor of health, sport and exercise science at the University of Kansas,...

"Living against the clock," forced into a schedule because of a job or other responsibilities that conflicts with your natural internal clock, may be contributing to weight gain.

Shedding pounds before getting pregnant can reduce a number of health risks - but it may also add a few points to your child's reading and math scores. A recent study has found a link between a mother's weight before pregnancy and their children's cognitive skills: obese women's children score lower on math and reading tests when they were 5 to 7 years old. Get to a healthy weight before becoming pregnant. Lead author Rika Tanda , a nursing doctoral candidate at Ohio State University, and colleagues wanted to investigate potential connections between a mother's pre-pregnancy ob...

Obesity and its related health problems cost big money. Prevention efforts to keep the rates of obesity stable could save Americans 550 billion dollars over the next 20 years. 

Of course you adore your adorably chubby little toddler, but you do know how much of that chubbiness is normal or whether your child might actually be overweight? Many moms don't. A recent study found that the vast majority of mothers whose toddlers were overweight had a different perception of their little ones and could not correctly identify an image representing their baby's body size. Ask your doctor if your toddler is a healthy weight. Erin Hager, PhD, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, led the study of 281 pairs of moms and their toddlers, with an average a...

When it comes to feeding babies, it's not just what you feed your child but how you feed your child. Even breastmilk in a bottle affects weight gain differently than milk directly from the breast. A recent study has found that infants fed only by bottle gained more weight each month than if they were only breastfed, regardless of whether the bottle had breastmilk or another food. Breastfeeding is better than bottle - when possible. Lead author Ruowei Li, PhD, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesi...

The electronic babysitter may do more than keep your child occupied. Too much TV watching may also be contributing to your child's unhealthy eating habits. A recent study found a link between the amount of TV a child watches and a higher likelihood of having poor eating habits, like skipping breakfast, eating sweets or fast foods, or drinking more sweetened drinks. Give your child healthy options for TV snacking. Leah Lipsky , PhD, and Ronald Iannotti , PhD, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md . studied patterns ...

Changing characteristics of people in the last century in the western world have had some unlikely effects. Rising levels of gastric cancer, for example, caused one researcher to examine whether obesity could be the cause. A group from North Ireland's Queen's University Belfast published an overall analysis of obesity and digestive tract cancers, looking at cancers both in the stomach and throat. Ask your doctor about how to get started on long term, effective weight loss. Researchers concluded that absolutely obesity indicated higher chances of both forms of cancer, but surpris...