Tag Archives: babies

Fertility Drugs, not IVF, Are Top Cause of Multiple Births

When I spoke in New Zealand, I learned that the country’s national health service pays for two rounds of in vitro fertilization (IVF), each time implanting a single embryo. A recent report by Nancy Shute for NPR reveals some fascinating findings. She writes that a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine relates that drugs such as Clomid and injectable hormones account for the largest percentage of triplets and higher-order multiples in the United States. Fertility drugs are cheaper and […]

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Sleep Expectations and Sleep Training Techniques

I’m sometimes consulted when both parents are exhausted and irritable. Consulting The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley, and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins, by Dr. Marc Weissbluth offers some good suggestions. Both authors write extensively about the biological importance of sleep. Pantley explains that a baby’s biological clock begins maturing at 6-9 weeks and does not work smoothly until 4-5 months. Dr. Weissbluth asserts that when infants are 12-16 weeks, daytime sleep starts to regularize and bedtime is earlier. […]

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