subject: What's It Mean To Be Parents? [print this page] Expectant mothers should be careful of what they eat - especially during the first trimester of their pregnancies. A Cal Poly/Brown University study examined the food intake of 285 pregnant women and recorded their babies' weights at birth and at 6 months. Overweight and obese women who consumed more than 20% of their calories from sweets were more than twice as likely to have overweight or obese babies at birth and at 6 months than heavy women who consumed less than 20% from sweets. Expectant mothers who eat sweets can exercise more or enjoy the fact that sweet dreams aren't fattening.
Older fathers are likely to have less intelligent children. That was the result of a study published in the Journal of Medical Genetics. Scientists looked for "copy number variation" DNA mutations in approximately 3,500 people with "intellectual disabilities". They found the mutant gene in 227 people. Further analysis of the 118 with available data on their parents showed 90 people received the mutant gene from their father and these intellectually disabled people were much likelier to have an older father. Unfortunately, the scientists didn't specify how old older is. Especially when talking about father/child genetics, the term older is "relative".
Thin parents pass on thin genes. Researchers at London's University College did a 5-year study evaluating this "inter-generational transmission" in 7,000 families with young children and teenagers. They determined parental weight strongly influenced thinness in children. For example, a child with 2 thin parents was twice as likely to be thin compared to a child with parents in the normal or upper half of the weight range. It seems weight-related genes give you a small appetite or a big one. Unfortunately, the study didn't evaluate if the inter-generational transmission continued into adult life - or if it disappeared into "thin" air.
When it comes to parents in general, supposedly 11% regret what they named their child. That's according to a 2011 Baby Center survey. Two reasons given for the regret were being influenced by trends and discovering other parents had chosen the same name. In 2010 the Social Security Administration listed Isabella as the most popular girl's name, a name inspired by the movie series "Twilight". Then there's Apple, Bronx, Genesis, Jayden, Jaxon, Presley, Sunday and Trinity. Parents want their child's name to stand out - but not like a sore thumb. The science of names is stuck with the name onomastics.
