Babies

In an odd yet understandable marketing strategy, the folks behind E!'s new reality show "Mrs. Eastwood & Company" have spent a lot of pre-premiere publicity time explaining what the show isn't. Which is to say, Clint Eastwood. The legendary actor and director will appear in but a few episodes and then only briefly. He will not, for instance, be slamming doors or engaging in filmed therapy sessions with his wife, Dina, around whom the show revolves (see title.) That doesn't mean the show is not about Clint Eastwood; it is. If the principal characters -- Dina, her 15-year-old daughter Morgan and 19-year old stepdaughter Francesca -- were not related to him, there would be Absolutely No Reason to watch this, which, by reality show standards, promises to be tame to the point of sedation.

Lorex's newest video monitor thinks small -- baby small. The Live View Video Baby Monitor lets caregivers keep an eye and ear on little ones, and with its light weight and easy interface, is a good bet for trips. The parent unit has a bright 2.4-inch LCD screen and a stand that doubles as a belt clip. In the dark, the camera switches to black and white night vision. Up to three additional video camera units can be added to the system, so caregivers can monitor up to four rooms.

Some good buys for your health and your pocketbook: Buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Buy frozen otherwise. Frozen is cheaper and may even be better for you than fresh. That's because produce is usually frozen at its ripest, which is usually when it maxes out in nutrient content too. Some nutrients do break down or leach out in the freezing process, but most make it through.

In Los Angeles, red carpet treatment is not just for celebrities. Here, mere mortals can find specialists - medical concierges, cat whisperers, image consultants - for almost everything. And that includes experts who are hired to help families prepare for their newest members. Enter the baby planner. Before the advent of the current expert culture, it was a role that used to be filled by mothers, grandmothers and best friends, doling out advice, shopping lists and favors.

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

At South Gate High, teen-agers are lining up to have babies. Students in a teen-age pregnancy prevention program--the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County--spend several days lugging around frighteningly lifelike baby dolls that wail at unpredictable intervals. The $220, computer-controlled "baby" with a recording of a newborn's cries cannot be quieted unless properly cuddled and "fed" by inserting a key into its monitoring device.

Autism treatment works best the earlier a child is diagnosed and begins therapy. A new screening test for babies at their 1-year-old check-up may be reliable enough to be used in pediatricians' offices around the world, said the authors of a review of the method. The screening test was performed on 10,479 1-year-olds in San Diego. The babies were the patients of 137 different pediatricians. Parents or guardians gave their permission for the babies to be screened. Using a checklist that took about five minutes to complete, doctors asked questions about the child's use of eye contact, sounds, words, gestures, object recognition and other forms of communication.

It's NOT a boy. Nor is it a girl. Not yet anyway. That's a ways down the road. But seeing as baby showers are the "it" event right now, I feel like I should plan ahead. So who wants to host this sucker? FYI: Online site Baby-shower.com suggests you create a 10-week timeline. Hmm. Let's make it 12 weeks. After all, you'll need three months to come up with a hip theme, hire a live band and concoct a signature drink -- the "infantini" or a "gin 'n' colic," perhaps?

Many parents slather Vicks VapoRub on their sniffling, coughing kids when they're sick -- because, by gosh, that's what their parents did to them. For children under the age of 2, the folksy remedy could be dangerous, researchers warned today.

Just over a year ago, 16-month-old Delaney Lucille Gonzalez walked with her family into UCLA Medical Center for routine surgery to repair a cleft palate. Three days later, she was disconnected from life support and died in her mother's arms. "To bring a healthy child in there for surgery so minor," her mother, Jodi, said recently, clutching a headband she had made for Delaney, "you just don't accept that she's going to die."

In 2005, leaders of a gang that sold crack and other drugs near MacArthur Park decided to add a new business venture: extorting the vendors who crowd the streets each evening, selling clothes, pirated DVDs and electronics to supplement a hardscrabble existence. The new effort led to a bloody consequence in September 2007, when an 18-year-old tasked with gunning down a defiant vendor accidentally shot to death a 3-week-old infant. The baby's death triggered a large-scale crackdown on the clique that culminated with a two-month trial that began in March.

"The Avengers," as you may have heard, is the biggest thing to happen to America since World War II but, you know, louder and more troubling. At the end of the matinee I witnessed, audience members actually cheered, believing what they'd just seen was some sort of documentary. Manhattan had been saved, which is almost always a cause for celebration, though I met this one New Yorker the other day at the rent-a-car place: swaggery young Italian guy, you know the type. The New Yorker said he didn't like L.A. because "ders nuttin' to do hair," which translates roughly into "there is nothing to do here.

A new study of low-income mothers of toddlers has found that two-thirds did not correctly perceive their children's size. And most - including all of the misperceiving moms with kids who were overweight - thought their kids were too small, not too big.    The discovery, which echoes findings in older children, illustrates how perceptions about weight complicate doctors' efforts to keep kids healthy, wrote Dr. Eliana Perrin in an invited commentary...

The number of baby boomers dying from a "silent epidemic" of hepatitis C infections is increasing so rapidly that federal officials are planning a new nationwide push for widespread testing. Three in four of the estimated 3.2 million people who have chronic hepatitis C - and a similar proportion of those who die from the disease - are baby boomers. Deaths from the virus nearly doubled between 1999 and 2007 to more than 15,000, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

Here's some depressing news to kick off your week: The proportion of pregnant women who are addicted to opiates increased nearly fivefold between 2000 and 2009. Accordingly, the proportion of babies born addicted to the drugs who experience withdrawal after birth nearly tripled during the same period. These calculations come courtesy of researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh, who reported their findings in a study published online Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley are expecting their first child. "Adam and I are excited about having a baby and the blessing that he or she will bring to our lives and to our family and friends," the pregnant Mowry-Housley told People magazine. "We can't wait to meet this little miracle!" The former "Sister, Sister" star, 33, and Housley, 40, got hitched   last May in Napa Valley, where her husband's family owns a vineyard. They and are expecting their baby in November.

Her first baby wasn't due for four days, but Misa Hayashi was advised by her obstetrician during a routine exam to check into the hospital that day. "The doctor said the baby was too big for me to push out and we should go ahead and induce labor," says the Alhambra woman, 24. "I didn't really question it. Induction sounds so common. We went home and packed a bag and checked in at the hospital." Once there, however, Hayashi's plans for an uncomplicated birth faltered.

For Wang Zan, nine months of pregnancy and a caesarean delivery were difficult enough. The last thing she wanted was a monthlong ordeal that her mother and generations of mothers before her had to endure afterward. According to this tradition, the woman must stay in bed behind closed windows, cover her head, give up bathing, washing her hair and even brushing her teeth.

Looks as if Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have some gifts to grab: Son Jack Osbourne and his sister Kelly are both celebrating new additions to the family this week. Jack, featured on the family's star-making MTV reality show, welcomed daughter Pearl on Tuesday with his fiancee, Lisa Stelly.  Already 8 pounds, 6 ounces, little Pearl should eventually have the upper hand on the other addition to the clan: Kelly Osbourne just adopted a Pomeranian named Story. "I got a new dog that i rescued she's a pom that was pretty much kept in a [cage]

Swiss food and nutrition giant Nestle plans to shell out $11.9 billion to buy Pfizer's nutrition unit, whose products include baby formula brands SMA and Promil. The division is expected to reel in $2.4 billion in sales this year and gets 85% of its revenue from emerging markets, whose large and rapidly growing populations are a key target for Nestle. Pfizer has the fifth-largest infant formula business in the world, according to research group Euromonitor International, ranked behind Nestle, Mead-Johnson Nutrition Co., Groupe Danone and Abbott Laboratories, respectively.