Beyfortus (nirsevimab-alip) is a monoclonal antibody shot that effectively protects babies from RSV but there is a great deal of confusion and misinformation about what it is and how it works.

It is not a vaccine. Here is a clear explanation and a review of the evidence for parents.

Gas and colic and fussiness do NOT mean you are doing something wrong as a parent. But they can make you desperate and exhausted. Some parents swear by gripe water. Others feel it doesn’t do much. Here’s the data.

In young infants, a fallen hair (or a thread) can get tangled around a finger, a toe, or genitals and constrict the flow of blood. We see this most often in infants under 6 months, but it can be seen in toddlers and older children (in this case, it is usually the result of them intentionally winding something around the area or, unfortunately, because of child abuse).

The best way to treat diaper rashes is to minimize skin irritation and apply a protectant/barrier to help skin heal.

Diaper rashes occur because skin irritation is more likely in warm, moist areas. Irritation is the most common cause of rashes in the genital area. Skin (and baby skin in particular) is easily irritated when it is left in a moist, warm environment. Stool and urine can also be irritants.

Hiccups come up frequently at pediatrician visits, and are a common source of worry for parents. But they shouldn’t be. In fact, they may actually have a purpose in newborns, and be a way of teaching them how to control their breathing.

Any infant death is awful. Little is known right now about why some infants are more susceptible to SIDS than others. The truth is that this research is promising, but it doesn’t change much from a practical perspective.

Typically, babies with constipation present with harder, more pebble-like poop, or sometimes even blood in the stool. Contrary to popular belief, frequency of stooling is not how we define constipation. Newborn babies can poop as frequently as 8-10 times per day or as infrequently as once every 8-14 days. Both can be normal as long as poop consistency is normal.

In general, because the symptoms of ear infections are so non-specific and infants and toddlers cannot tell you their ear hurts, the only way to know definitively is to have the ear examined.

About 25 percent of infants have at least one ear infection in the first year of life. They are painful, and they are frustrating.

Newborn babies have immature GI systems which are naive when it comes to digestion. As they start to feed, there is an adjustment process, and gas is a normal byproduct of that process. Gas is a result of an imbalance between the air that goes into the system and the air that comes out of the system.