The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a vaccine that treats five childhood ailments in a single dose. Pentacel would reduce the number of injections children get before they are 18 months old by as many as one-third.

It is the first 5-in-1 pediatric combination for immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). The vaccine is approved for administration as a four-dose series at two, four, six and 15 to 18 months of age. The first dose may be given as early as six weeks of age

The use of a pacifier or 'dummy' by babies has been identified as a risk factor for acute otitis media (AOM), a type of common ear infection, new study says.

The researchers from University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands studied almost 500 Dutch children who used dummies or pacifiers. The study spanning five years found that the pacifiers almost double the risk of recurrent ear infections in those who used it as compared to the non-users

The United States has seen the highest jump in the percentage of underweight babies in the past 40 years, says a nationwide report released Thursday by Kids Count.

The report is troubling because underweight babies, born at less than 5.5 pounds, face the highest infant mortality rate and are at high risk of experiencing long-term disabilities

Many U.S. hospitals and birthing centers, particularly in the South, are not providing maternity care that is fully supportive of breastfeeding, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

A CDC study published Thursday analyzed responses from nearly 2,700 birth facilities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico

In yet another benefit of the sunshine vitamin, scientists have found that sun exposure and vitamin D helps ward off juvenile diabetes. The findings suggest that a lack of vitamin D, which the body produces when ultraviolet light hits the skin, has a role in the development of type 1 diabetes in children.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that children who live in countries at higher latitudes, such as Canada, where there is less sunlight for much of the year, are far more likely to develop juvenile diabetes than kids who live at or near the equator