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Research

Caregiver-mediated supports in general have shown mixed evidence for enhancing language outcomes in infants at higher likelihood of autism. While caregivers play a substantial role in caregiver-mediated supports, little is known about whether caregivers' own subclinical autistic features - known as broader autism phenotype - may moderate infant language outcomes. 

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To investigate how caregivers of children with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy and severe developmental impairments describe meaningful change for functional domains and why it is important.

Research

Acquisition and development of the oral microbiome are dynamic processes that occur over early life. This study aimed to characterize the temporal development of the oral microbiome of predominantly breastfed infants during the first two years of life.

Research

Family Day Care (FDC) is an essential service supporting Australian families requiring convenient, versatile, and quality education and care for their children. FDC educators’ mental wellbeing (MWB), often overlooked, is vital to ensure optimal education and care. This study aimed to gauge Australian FDC educators’ MWB and identify factors positively or negatively affecting MWB.

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Dietary patterns characterised by high intakes of vegetables may lower the risk of pre-eclampsia and premature birth in the general population. The effect of dietary patterns in women with type 1 diabetes, who have an increased risk of complications in pregnancy, is not known. 

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Research suggests there is considerable opportunity to improve children's movement behaviors while they are being cared for by their grandparents. An understanding of the extent to which grandparent practices facilitate children's engagement in physical activity is critical to the development of health interventions targeting grandparent caregivers.

Research

Ingestion of prebiotics during pregnancy and lactation may have immunomodulatory benefits for the developing fetal and infant immune system and provide a potential dietary strategy to reduce the risk of allergic diseases. We sought to determine whether maternal supplementation with dietary prebiotics reduces the risk of allergic outcomes in infants with hereditary risk.

Research

Childcare services such as preschools and long day care centres have been identified as a key setting to promote physical activity in early childhood as they provide access to large numbers of children for prolonged periods. Yet, specific standards for the type and amount of physical activity children accumulate whilst attending childcare are lacking. The purpose of this study was to derive population-referenced percentile values for children's total movement and energetic play whilst attending early childhood education and care services.

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Medications are commonly used during pregnancy to manage pre-existing conditions and conditions that arise during pregnancy. However, not all medications are safe to use in pregnancy. This study utilized privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) to examine medications dispensed under the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to pregnant women in Western Australia (WA) overall and by medication safety category. 

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Caregivers of individuals with neurodevelopmental and chronic health conditions require health literacy (HL) skills for the long-term management of these conditions. The aim of this rapid review was to investigate the efficacy of HL interventions for these caregivers.

Research

First Nations Peoples endure disproportionate rates of stillbirth compared with non-First Nations Peoples. Previous interventions have aimed at reducing stillbirth in First Nations Peoples and providing better bereavement care without necessarily understanding the perceptions, knowledge and beliefs that could influence the design of the intervention and implementation. 

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Human milk is rich in immuno-modulatory factors that have the potential to shape immune development and influence allergy risk in children. In this article, we describe how breast milk may contribute to making the infant less prone to developing allergies.

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The objective of this review is to investigate First Nations populations' perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and myths about stillbirth.

Research

Vaccination in pregnancy is the best strategy to reduce complications from influenza or pertussis infection in infants who are too young to be protected directly from vaccination. Pregnant women are also at risk of influenza complications preventable through antenatal vaccination. Both vaccines are funded under the National Immunisation Program for pregnant women in Australia, but coverage is not routinely reported nationally. 

News & Events

The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers are offering a free nutrition and lifestyle program for plus sized mums and their babies who live in the Joondalup area.

Research

There is an urgent need for scalable interventions to promote physical activity in early childhood. An early childhood education and care physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies (Play Active) has been proposed for scale-up in Australia. 

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The objective of this study was to explore Australian children's engagement in physical activity and screen time while being cared for by their grandparents.

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Many children do not accumulate sufficient physical activity for good health and development at early childhood education and care (ECEC). This study examined the association between ECEC organizational readiness and implementation fidelity of an ECEC-specific physical activity policy intervention.

News & Events

A study by researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia has found Aboriginal mothers are at a significantly greater risk of preventable death than other Australia