How long should you breast-feed your baby?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has reaffirmed its position in recommending that mothers breast-feed exclusively for the first six months of a baby's life.

Then from 6 to 12 months, the group recommends introducing solids along with nursing.

The group cites evidence that breast milk can be protective against many childhood illnesses – like ear infections and asthma – and can help reduce the risk for sudden infant death syndrome.

That's just one health headline making the news. Here are a few more:

• Many families consider exercise-based, interactive video games a good ways to get kids up and moving – so Baylor University researchers put them to the test.

They studied 80 kids. Half were given active video games, and the other half got sedentary games.
They all wore special meters to measure activity levels for more than a month. The results were surprising.

"They ended up finding not much of a difference between the two groups,” said orthopedic surgeon Dr. Susan Joy.

In many cases kids were literally just going through the motions, finding low-intensity ways of playing the games.

• Millions of kids get exercise by playing baseball and softball, which are popular and safer than other sports for children ages 6 to 17. Nevertheless, shoulder and elbow injuries from overuse are common.

Now, the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness is focusing attention on a more rare and serious injury – commotio cordis.

When young players are directly hit in the chest by a ball in the area over the heart, that can cause cardiac arrest. It is actually the second-leading cause of death in athletes younger than 14, because their chest walls are more easily compressed.

Click here for the full report from the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness.