Infant Care and Infant Health Resources

General Information

• Other topics on NICHD's site that might be of particular interest to new parents and infant caregivers include:
  • Breastfeeding and Breast Milk
  • Newborn Screening
  • Pre-Pregnancy Care and Prenatal Care
  • Preterm Labor and Birth
  • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Adventures in Parenting (PDF 929 KB)
  (Available in Spanish as ¿Qué Significa Ser Padres? (PDF 51 MB)
  This 67-page booklet is a guide to parenting based on RPM3 (Responding, Preventing, Monitoring, Mentoring, and Modeling). The booklet briefly explains how these terms pertain to parenting. Then it is divided into age groups (0 to 3 years, 4 to 10 years, and 11 to 14 years) to show how these principles apply during each stage of a child's early life, using stories about children and their parents to illustrate.
• Safe to Sleep^® Campaign
  This important educational effort, formerly known as the Back to Sleep campaign, focuses on actions parents and infant caregivers can take to help infants sleep safely and to reduce the risk of SIDS and other causes of infant death.
• NIH Health Information: Infant and Newborn Care
• National Library of Medicine MedLinePlus
  • Infant and Newborn Care
  • Breastfeeding
  • Toddler Health
  • Premature Babies
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • Parent Information: Infants (Ages 0-3)
  • Extreme Heat
• March of Dimes: Caring for Your Baby
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
  • HealthyChildren.org
  • AAP Policy Statement on Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk
  • AAP Policy Statement on the Changing Concept of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
  • Jaundice in Newborn
  • Car Safety Seats
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
  • All About Sleep
  • Heat Illness
  • Infant Jaundice
  • When Your Baby’s Born Premature
• Heat Stress from Enclosed Vehicles (journal article)
• National Safety Council: Learn How to Avoid Heat-related Illnesses and Death
• WHO Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding

Services, Resources, and Support

Car Safety

• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a professional organization whose mission is "to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults." Among the resources it offers parents is a listing of car seats and safety seat manufacturers . Also, AAP provides some general instructions on car seat installation.
• The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists provides a list of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on car safety.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides a listing of inspection stations to help parents confirm that their infant's car seat is correctly installed. Find the inspection station nearest you.

SIDS Risk Reduction

• NICHD Safe to Sleep^® Campaign summarizes the best ways to reduce an infant's risk for SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death.
• How to Keep Your Sleeping Baby Safe: AAP Policy Explained is published by the AAP . The guidelines were written especially with child care providers in mind.

Tips and Tools for Infant Care and Safety

• Safety Checklists and more are available from the AAP . This website offers downloadable growth charts, immunization records, and safety checklists.
• The AAP offers information about starting solid foods and other nutrition topics .
• Babies Need Tummy Time! explains the importance of making sure infants get enough time on their tummies to help their physical development.
• The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers a booklet entitled The Safe Nursery. This booklet can help parents and caregivers prevent dangers from furniture and baby equipment.
  • To check for recalls and safety advisories for car seats, strollers, and other baby equipment, consult this online resource provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• The AAP maintains a listing of pediatric healthcare providers that can be accessed here: Find a Pediatrician .
• All About Sleep , produced by the AAFP, is an article (also available as an audio recording) that helps parents and caregivers understand their child's need for sleep and the child's sleep patterns. It also offers tips to establish a bedtime routine that can help the whole family get a good night's sleep.

Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from NICHD, NIH, or HHS.

• Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch (IDDB)
  NICHD’s IDDB, part of the Division of Extramural Research (DER), sponsors research and research training aimed at preventing and ameliorating intellectual and related developmental disabilities.
• Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch (PGNB)
  The PGNB, part of the DER, is the focal point within NICHD for nutrition science and pediatric endocrine research and training. The PGNB is supporting several areas of research pertinent to infant care and infant health. For example, the Growth and Development program is focusing on basic research about growth-promoting polypeptides and hypothalamic-releasing factors that interact to influence normal growth and physiological development. PGNB also supports basic and clinical studies of the etiology of growth retardation and treatment for this disorder.
• Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch (PPB)
  The mission of NICHD’s PPB, part of the DER, is to improve the health of mothers and children, with focuses on maternal health, pregnancy, fetal well-being, labor and delivery, and the developing child. The PPB supports research to determine the basic mechanisms of normal and disease processes; identify new treatments, methodologies, and preventive strategies; assess the dissemination and actual impact of therapeutic and preventive interventions; and increase scientific resources through recruitment and training of investigators.
  • NICHD Neonatal Research Network (NRN) is a collaborative network of 18 neonatal intensive care units and a data coordinating center, formed in 1986. NRN’s mission is “to facilitate the advancement of neonatal care by establishing a network of academic centers that, by rigorous patient evaluation using common protocols, can study the required numbers of patients and can provide answers more rapidly than individual centers acting alone.”
• Division of Intramural Research (DIR)
  Research within NICHD’s DIR includes the development of vaccines for bacterial diseases, especially those found in children. DIR investigators study, uncover, and reevaluate clinical, epidemiologic, and immunologic data. They evaluate investigational vaccines suitable for clinical study in experimental animals and then submit them to the appropriate institutional review board and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for evaluation of their safety and immunogenicity in adults, children, and infants, and, finally, for their efficacy.
• Safe to Sleep^® Public Education Campaign
  NICHD is the lead agency in support of the Safe to Sleep campaign. This important educational effort, formerly known as the Back to Sleep campaign, focuses on actions parents and infant caregivers can take to help infants sleep safely and to reduce the risk of SIDS and other causes of infant death. The Safe to Sleep^® campaign incorporates NICHD’s research findings on SIDS, as well as the latest safe sleep recommendations.
• American Association of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD): Guideline on Infant Oral Health Care (PDF 66 KB)
  In this document, updated in 2011, the AAPD proposes recommendations for preventive strategies, risk assessment of oral health, anticipatory guidance, and therapeutic interventions to be followed by dental, medical, nursing, and allied health professional programs.
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Expansion of Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment
  This 2011 report updates the AAP's recommendations for further reducing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related deaths of infants.
• American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement on Circumcision
  This statement discusses the benefits and risks of circumcision as well as other factors to consider when discussing the procedure with families. It recommends use of procedural analgesia if circumcision is performed.
• Child Health USA 2011
  This report of the Health Resources and Services Administration (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is the 21st annual statistical report to highlight the health status and service needs of America's children. It provides data to practitioners of child health to assist them in planning, developing, and implementing effective programs to meet public health challenges related specifically to children. The report contains easy-to-access graphs and charts summarizing significant indicators of children's health status and offers statistics, figures, and references.
• Datasets from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD)
  The SECCYD is a comprehensive longitudinal study initiated by NICHD in 1991 to answer questions about the relationships between child care experiences, characteristics of child care, and children's developmental outcomes. Qualified researchers may apply to use the datasets.
• Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies
  This report by the Institute of Medicine reviews factors related to overweight and obesity among children from birth to age 5 years, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. It recommends policies that can alter children's environments to promote the maintenance of healthy weight. The first years of life are important to health status and well-being throughout the life span, and preventing obesity in infants and young children can contribute to reversing the epidemic of obesity in children and adults.

Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from NICHD, NIH, or HHS.