Keri Russell Expecting Second Child

Keri Russell (35), former star of the hit show Felicity, is expecting her second child with husband Shane Deary! The actress is reportedly four months along. The new addition will be joining the couple's only son, four-year-old River. Russell and Dreary were married on Valentine's Day in 2007.

Russell is currently slated to start filming "Austenland," a Jane Austen-inspired film that’s being produced by Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Keri Russell Pregnant With Second Child [Popeater]

Best of the Web: Parenting and Pregnancy News

Katie's Hoop Practice at 35 Weeks Pregnant [YouTube]

5 Wardrobe Staples for Your First Trimester [Babble]

Stopping smoking when already pregnant can boost baby's health [GuardianUK]

Scientists Discover Why More Educated Women Have Fewer Children [Jezebel]

New Study Implicates Environmental Factors in Autism [NYTimes]

Current Understandings of Postpartum Depression May Be Wrong [DigitalJournal]

5 Things I've Learned With My 1-Month-Old Baby [Babble]

Late Talkers Not at Risk for Behavior Problems Later On [WebMD]

Milk Truck Mobile Breastfeeding Vehicle [Babble]

Martha Stewart creates web series for children [TheCelebrityCafe]

Dogs Can Tell Identical Twins Apart

Parents of identical twins often have special tricks that can help them identify one child from the other. Some parents paint one child's finger nail and others will use a colored bracelet or pacifier. Even though people are often unable to tell identical twins apart, a new study reveals that well-trained dogs can sniff out the difference between them.

Even DNA tests can’t match the identity of one identical twin over the other, but after centuries of research, scientists were finally able to prove that dogs can tell identical twins apart. Scientists in the Czech Republic used trained police dogs to complete their study, since these canines are already able to pick a criminal out of a lineup just by scent. The dogs were given swabs that contained scents from the bellies of two sets of identical twins and two sets of fraternal twins. The canines sniffed the swabs and then were asked to seek out the matching scent out of seven possibilities. The dogs were able to choose the correct match every time.

The research says a lot about the enhanced sense of smell in dogs, but it does nothing to reveal what allowed the dogs to make the correct choice.  The twins used in the study came from the same environment and ate the same foods. Scientists continue to be baffled by what makes identical twins different, but clearly there is something that dogs pick up on that we do not.

How have you been able to tell identical twins apart that you’ve encountered?

Dogs can tell identical twins apart, just by scent [MSNBC]

July is Cord Blood Awareness Month

Cord Blood Awareness Month was established by a society of The American Hospital Association in an effort to better educate expectant parents on the value of their child's umbilical cord blood. This valuable source of stem cells could be used to treat a variety of different diseases.

Every year, 35,000 Americans are faced with life-threatening illnesses that require stem cell treatments. Cord blood is a painless, effective source of stem cells that is routinely thrown away after birth. In the last 20 years, cord blood has been used in over 14,000 stem cell transplants for diseases such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia and even cancer. Today, the potential value of cord blood can't be overestimated as it could be used as treatment for juvenile diabetes, hearing loss and many other common diseases. Promising clinical trials are evaluating its use as treatment for traumatic brain injuries and cerebral palsy as well.

Banking your cord blood is easy, regardless of whether you decide to donate it to a public bank or to privately bank it for your family's use. Talk to your doctor about the banking options in your area. To learn more about the uses of cord blood and private banking, please visit the Cord Blood Education Center.

What will you do with your child's cord blood? 

Cord Blood Awareness Month [Cord Blood Registry]

Cord Blood Awareness Month is Here: Share the Value Today [The Stem Cell Source]

Babies Detect Sadness in Human Voices

If you're trying to shield your baby from negative emotions, your efforts may be in vain. A recent study has found that babies between three and seven months old are quite good at detecting emotions in the voices of adults and clue in to sad sounds over all other noises.

British researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see which parts of the brain light up in the brains of sleeping babies when exposed to different types of sounds. The babies in the study showed increased brain activity when they heard neutral sounds from people such as sneezing or coughing, more so than when they heard sounds from toys or splashing water. Babies were not only more interested in hearing the sounds of people, but they increasingly tuned in if people were making sad sounds, such as crying. Surprisingly, the areas of the brain that lit up in the babies were very similar to the areas that light up in adults when they hear the sound of another person's voice. The researchers marveled at how advanced the processing of sounds appears to be in the brains of babies. 

Previous research has shown that babies can distinguish between the voices of men, women, children and adults and that they particularly respond to the voice of the mother from birth. These findings contribute to how we understand language development in babies and lets parents know that their babies might be hearing more than they would expect. 

Does it seem like your baby knows when you're sad?

Babies are specially attuned to our voices and emotions [Eurkealert]

Friday Wrap-up: Parenting and Pregnancy News

Tia Mowry Welcomes Son Cree Taylor [People]

Epilepsy, psychiatric drug taken in pregnancy may cause dev. delays[LATimes]

Five Tips for Avoiding a Cesarean [HealthNewsDigest]

Fetus size link to asthma chances [Yahoo]

How New Dads Can Become Great Parents [PsychologyToday]

Even CEOs played with toys when they were kids [Reuters]

No Crying in First Class [WSJ]

Ewan McGregor and Wife Adopt Baby No. 4 [CelebrityBabyScoop]

Laila Ali: The Breastfeeding Mistake I Didn't Make Again [People]

Denise Richards Adopts a Baby Girl [People]

Spanking on Tape

When a scientist set out to record parents in order to learn more about yelling at children, he ended up collecting data on a disciplinary action he didn't expect to see at such a high frequency. The parents he recorded were not just yelling, they were spanking and slapping their children too. The result of his research is an interesting look at a disciplinary measure that has become culturally taboo and yet remains prevalent among parents.

Spanking isn’t without any merit. In fact, hitting and spanking can correct behavior in the short-term and doesn’t appear to lead to long-term damage to the child if done infrequently. However, many studies have revealed that frequent hitting and spanking can lead to long-term emotional and behavioral problems, most notably resorting to violence to solve problems.

Despite the societal pressure and scientific findings that push parents to avoid spanking, Professor George Holden was surprised to find that 36 parents out of the 37 he studied resorted to slapping or spanking. It’s one of the first studies to record data on spanking without using self-reporting by participants. The reasons for spanking and slapping varied widely – in one case it was because a child was fighting with his sister, in another a child was trying to turn the pages of a book too quickly. The researchers were surprised that the irony of using violence in order to stop a child from being violent was lost on many parents. The parents were from a range of economic and cultural backgrounds.

Do you intend to use spanking as a form of discipline?

The First Real-Time Study of Parents Spanking Their Kids [Time]