Monthly Archives: September 2016

It’s only mild Encephalopathy; now can we stop worrying?

I learnt as a fellow that infants whose maximum grade of HIE was Sarnat 1, or mild, had normal outcomes. I recognized that the data to support that were limited, but one of the best older studies was by my … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | 2 Comments

It doesn’t make much difference how often we feed babies

Over the years there have a number of studies comparing two different feeding regimes. Most recently there has been a comparison of 2 hourly vs 3 hourly feeds and a comparison of feeds every 3 hours compared to 4 feeds … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Doctors are cheap

I’m sure most of us don’t think that the little trinkets (pens and notepads and such) or a few slices of pizza that we might receive from a drug company affects what we prescribe for our patients. We would be … Continue reading

Posted in Not neonatology | Leave a comment

Antenatal Consultations before very preterm birth; what do parents want?

Gaucher N, et al. Personalized Antenatal Consultations for Preterm Labor: Responding to Mothers’ Expectations. The Journal of pediatrics. 2016. Call me biased, but I think is a game-changer. (One of the authors is my wife and colleague, another is a … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Theatrical Placebos in Neonatology

Acupuncture is nonsense. There I have said it. I’ll probably get at least a few comments for this post, but I’m not backing down. Acupuncture is based on pre-scientific ideas about how the body works, believing that some sort of … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | 5 Comments

Reducing apnea

When a baby has an apneic spell, we often respond by physically stimulating them. Usually they will start breathing again; but how does that work? If it is more than a coincidence (and I think it is, even though there are … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Leave a comment