In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how overstimulating babies with lots of toys can affect their learning, and on how vegetarian and vegan diets affect children’s health. We then talk about tummy time - what it is, why it was developed, why it’s problematic, and how babies can get similar benefits in other ways. We finish by talking about why different women have different levels of risk when birthing at home or in hospital, and why you might want to weigh up risks beyond mortality.
For more information on tummy time, see this article:
https://guenbradbury.substack.com/p/is-tummy-time-necessary
Topics covered
* How do Christmas presents affect children?
* Do vegetarian and vegan diets affect children’s health and growth?
* What is tummy time?
* Why is tummy time problematic, and what else can we do?
* Why are the risks of maternal mortality in home vs hospital birth equivalent in the UK?
These other podcasts cover related topics:
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Notes
“Repetition is key to early learning as parents are warned not to stimulate babies with too much information.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/02/the-secret-to-making-your-child-clever/
“In conclusion, this systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that lacto-ovo-vegetarian and vegan diets in childhood can be nutrient-rich and support healthy growth when carefully planned. These diets may confer health benefits, including greater consumption of plant foods and improved cardiovascular risk profiles, while also aligning with ethical and environmental values. However, they pose a higher risk of specific nutrient deficiencies if key nutrients are not supplied through fortified foods or supplements.” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10408398.2025.2572983?
“The evidence for the global agreement on the association between the prevalence of stunting and chronic undernutrition in modern and historic populations is weak. We find overwhelming evidence to support the vision that stunting is the natural condition of human height also in the affluent and well-nourished social strata of feudal rural and urban societies.”
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajhb.23693
References on home and hospital birth in this article:
Hello! My name’s Guen. I’m a veterinarian by background and I’ve worked in health innovation for a decade. I spent eighteen months living in traditional villages across Africa and South America, learning from communities that raise children in very different ways. My passion is helping parents, doctors, and teachers identify small things they can do to set children up for better long-term physical health.
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