(Editor's note: For more about sunscreens and the Environmental Working Group's findings, see also Sun Essentials -- Updated.)

The simple rule of sunscreen - the higher the SPF and the thicker the slather, the better - has come under doubt.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington-based research group and habitual gadfly to the business world, has found that 4 out of 5 of the nearly 1,000 sunscreen lotions analyzed offer inadequate protection from the sun or contain harmful chemicals. The biggest offenders, the EWG said, are the industry leaders: Coppertone, Banana Boat and Neutrogena.

While 3 out of 3 industry leaders are rather upset with the EWG report, and while some dermatologists criticize it for hyperbole, the report does underscore several long-standing health concerns: 

Sunscreens do not offer blanket protection from the sun and do little to prevent the most deadly form of skin cancer; reliance on them instead of, say, a hat and protective clothing, might be contributing to skin cancer; and the Food and Drug Administration has yet to issue any safety standards, mysteriously sitting on a set of recommendations drafted 30 years ago.

UPDATE: The Environmental Working Group has compiled a "Cosmetic Safety Database" that includes an extensive database on the results of an investigation on sunscreen products.

"Does your sunscreen work? An investigation of nearly 1,000 brand-name sunscreen products finds that 4 out of 5 contain chemicals that may pose health hazards or don't adequately protect skin from the sun's damaging rays. Some of the worst offenders are leading brands like Coppertone, Banana Boat, and Neutrogena.

More than a million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. every year, but FDA still hasn't finalized sunscreen standards first announced 30 years ago. ... Meanwhile, companies are free to claim but not provide broad spectrum protection. Until FDA requires that all sunscreens be safe and effective, Environmental Working Group's comprehensive sunscreen guide—including a list of 143 products that offer very good sun protection—fills in the gaps."

Click to print a handy sunscreen guide from the EWG. (PDF)

With the summer season upon us, here is some very important information on protecting your skin and that of you children and babies from the summer sun.

Remember that even though if it's overcast, the sun's rays are still peeking through enough to damage the skin. 

And once the weather gets warm enough, it is not recommended to cover the stroller or your baby with a heavy blanket to protect them from the sun. Use muslin blankets that breathe and hats with visors and ear coverage and use only the safest of skin protection products.

Organic, non-toxic suncreens with an SPF of 15 is what you should be using and which should be applied frequently. 

Sunscreen and Your Family
by Ruby Gonzalez, Erbaviva.com

Sunscreen is a must have for yourself and your family. Pregnancy affects hormone levels making pregnant women more susceptible to hyper pigmentation as a result of sun exposure. Also new moms should be extremely concerned over proper coverage for their babies and children. There are a lot of misconceptions about SPF factors and sunscreen ingredients.

In theory the SPF is a multiplier that can be applied to the time taken to burn. For example, someone who would burn after 12 minutes in the sun would expect to burn after 2 hours (120 minutes) if protected by a sunscreen with SPF 10.

Every child is an individual, of course. His or her innate personality helps shape how life unfolds. Environment (including us, the nurturers) plays a role, too: "There are differences in how we handle boys and girls right from birth," says David Stein, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Virginia State University in Petersburg. "We tend to talk more softly to girls and throw boys in the air."

But it's also true that each gender's brain, and growth, unfolds at a different rate, influencing behavior. Leonard Sax, M.D., author of "Boys Adrift," believes parents raise girls and boys differently because girls and boys are so different from birth -- their brains aren't wired the same way.

So, can we finally answer the great parenting debate over which sex is more challenging to raise? Much depends on what you're looking at, and when:

Now, a mother flying without her child will be able to bring breast milk through the checkpoint, provided it is declared prior to screening.

TSA is also modifying the rules associated with carrying breast milk through security checkpoints. Mothers flying with, and now without, their child will be permitted to bring breast milk in quantities greater than three ounces as long as it is declared for inspection at the security checkpoint.

Breast milk is in the same category as liquid medications.

When carrying formula, breast milk, or juice through the checkpoint, they will be inspected, however, you or your infant or toddler will not be asked to test or taste breast milk, formula, or juice. Our Security Officers may test liquid exemptions (exempt items more than 3 ounces) for explosives.

When traveling with your infant or toddler, in the absence of suspicious activity or items, greater than 3 ounces of baby formula, breast milk, or juice are permitted through the security checkpoint in reasonable quantities for the duration of your itinerary, if you perform the following:

Bedtime has become much easier for Cassandre Collazo and her baby Kassandro now that she has discovered infant massage.

"At night, I find by massaging her back, massaging her feet, she goes into a calm state," Collazo told FOXNews.com. "And it's easier for her to get to sleep after that."

It has been proven that infant massage can relieve ailments such as colic, constipation, growing pains and teething. Studies have also found that infant massage can also improve learning ability.

Collazo is one of dozens of parents participating in a free infant massage class at a public school in New York City. The group meets once a week for two hours.

As the practice grows less common in the U.S., parents weigh the medical, social and religious pros and cons.

For nearly all of Nada Mouallem's pregnancy, she and her husband, Tony, had a running argument. She wanted to have their son circumcised. He didn't. "Many days, I'd go off and research all the pros. He'd go and research all the cons. Then we'd get together at night and fight," she says.

Arguments about circumcision often polarize today's parents. The procedure, dating to ancient Egypt, is -- in simple terms -- the removal of the foreskin, the piece of skin that surrounds the tip of the penis. But imbued in that small piece of skin are passionate opinions on sex, money, religion, tradition, health, hygiene, human rights and locker room pressure.

Parents of baby boys have to weigh all those factors.

Forty years ago, when almost every male born in this country was circumcised, the decision was easier. In 1965, 85% of boys born in the United States were circumcised, so parents followed the crowd.

But as of 2005, 56% of newborn boys were circumcised, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which analyzed hospital-based circumcisions that year. That figure varies by region: In the report, 75% of boys born in the Midwest were circumcised, 65% in the Northeast, 56% in the South and only 31% in the West. Factors influencing the decline, experts say, include immigration from Latin America and other countries where circumcision is less common, declining insurance coverage and a tendency for parents to choose less medical intervention.

No one expects a 3-year-old who loves to dress like a princess to swear like a sailor.

But early exposure is not so uncommon. Who's to blame? Well, there's a pretty apt quote from a 1970 Pogo cartoon: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

The "us" are parents. A few weeks ago, I put a question out to hundreds of mothers on a local list-serv asking for anecdotes about the first time they heard their children use inappropriate words.

Many responses were similar to mom Julia Gordon of Silver Spring, Md. She was in her car, in a hurry and trying to park.

When Li Min's maternity leave ended, she asked her parents to take her baby to her office every day so she could breastfeed him.

"We would use any room we could. My mother guarded the door while I fed the baby," Li, a public relation manager for a foreign firm in Shanghai, said.

"But as I became busier at work, it became harder and harder to find time to feed the baby. As a result of that and because of the pressure of work my milk began to dry up.

"After two months I stopped breastfeeding. I wish I could have carried on for longer."

Li's predicament is similar to that of many working women trying to balance their professional lives with motherhood.

A recent survey by the China Consumers Association, which interviewed 15,000 mothers in 30 cities, found that just over half of them breastfed for six months or more.

Midnight feedings, thousands of e-mails, puke on your newly dry-cleaned suit and carrying a breast pump to and from the office. The first week back at work for any new mother is grueling. If all that isn't enough to make a mom break down, there's the simple fact that it's really hard to leave your newborn.

But having a positive experience the first week back is crucial. "It's a make or break in a lot of ways for your return to work," says Carol Evans, CEO and president of Working Mother Media and author of This Is How We Do It: A Practical Guide for the Working Mother. "It either sets you on the road to a positive experience or deepens a problematic one."

The good news is there are things large and small these working mothers can do to make the first few days smooth -- enjoyable, even. New moms say two things in particular are quite helpful: Start on a Wednesday so you aren't away from the baby for a full five days, and connect with other new, working mothers. That support network is invaluable, they say, because other new moms validate your feelings, listen to your concerns and--the ones who have slightly older children-- can assure you that things do get easier.

Moms find new connections, outlets through blogs

It used to be that mothers would gather at someone's kitchen table to drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and chat while their children raced through the neighborhood playing games until the street lights came on. (See the definition of "coffee klatch.")

Fast forward a couple of decades: Cigarettes can kill. Coffee is available on every corner. And few children have that kind of unscheduled time anymore. But women still gather support from each other even if they never meet face to face.

It's all there on the Internet.

Here’s a list of 100 recommended books your children should have been read to before starting  school to get them ready to read.

Most books can be gotten at your public library, and it’s a great weekly adventure for you and your children. I used to take mine starting at six months to story time at the library. Some libraries have pajama reading time, which is also a lot of fun.

Start reading in utero and never stop. You’ll be surprised how quickly your newborn/infant/toddler will pick up on the love of reading and many will get a head start in learning to read before they begin school.

It’s a learning adventure that doesn’t cost you anything but will be worth more than you can ever imagine.

Robyn O'Brien likes to joke that at least she hasn't started checking the rearview mirror to see if she's being followed.

Part Two of Two

The plight of a Rancho Mirage girl born with Tay-Sachs sparks effort in getting more information to parents.

Troubled by the health history and backgrounds of some anonymous egg and sperm donors, leaders in the fertility industry have said in recent weeks that they would create a national registry to track donors and birth outcomes.

He and the other researchers believe the robot, dubbed UD1, holds the promise of opening up new horizons for disabled infants, especially those with orthopedic problems or muscular dystrophy. Wheeled robots could enable them to move and explore the world around them, which studies suggest is critical to their development.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have been working for years on powered mobility for toddlers. However, Galloway said, conventional wisdom has held that because of safety issues, children aren't considered ready for that until age 4 or 5; the earliest age doctors might recommend powered mobility is age 3.

That means too many children are at risk of losing out on the important early link between mobility and their overall development, he said.

"As soon as you're reaching, as soon as you're walking, your cognition explodes," Galloway explained.

Approximately 1 million doses of 2 childhood vaccines have been recalled by Merck & Company, Inc, because of potential contamination, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised healthcare professionals this week.

The voluntary recall involves 11 lots of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine (Pedvax Hib) and 2 lots of Hib/hepatitis B vaccine (Comvax) that were shipped after April 2007. The same products manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur are not affected.

According to Merck, routine testing of equipment used to make the vaccine identified the presence of a pathogen (Bacillus cereus). Although subsequent testing revealed no contamination of individual doses, their sterility cannot be ensured, and healthcare professionals are advised not to administer any vaccine from these lots.

"The kinds of things that parents who have recently had their children immunized with either the PedvaxHIB or Comvax [vaccines] might look for are local skin bumps or abscesses at the site of injection; those kinds of things might emerge...up to about a week after vaccination," said Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases in a December 12 news conference.

Part One of Two

The particulars of Alexandra Gammelgard's egg donations are a bit of a blur to her.

Between the ages 18 and 21, she donated to at least four infertile couples, using two, maybe three, agencies that paid her from $5,000 to $15,000 for each donation. She was trying to pay for her education at UC San Diego and didn't keep track of the details.

"The college years of your life go by so fast, and you do so many crazy, random things that it's hard to remember it all," Gammelgard, now 23, says.

She believes at least four children were conceived from her eggs, results she was proud of. In recent months, however, she got grim news: One has Tay-Sachs, a neurological disease that usually kills its victims before age 5.

A child can develop the disease only if both parents carry a relatively rare genetic mutation. Gammelgard said she had no clue she was a carrier; she hadn't been tested because she wasn't in the groups at highest risk.

She knows now. The couple raising the sick child contacted the agency that arranged Gammelgard's egg donation. The agency told her.

U of O nursing mothers are now offered refrigerators to ensure privacy at work.

When University research analyst Mary Gatlin gave birth to her son Jackson six months ago, she saw no reason not to return to work soon after. But when she brought a bottle of breast milk with her each day, she encountered some storage problems.

She and her coworkers share a refrigerator in their break room, but "the last thing I wanted to do was store breast milk around people's lunches and old leftovers," Gatlin said. Instead, she was forced to bring a cold pack, store it near her, and hope the bottle stayed cold enough to last until the end of the day.

"As a new mom, it was just one more thing to worry about," Gatlin said.

Gatlin's worries are now over, thanks to a refrigerator loan program the University made available to nursing mothers in October. The program allows faculty and staff members to store breast milk in personal refrigerators in their on-campus offices, giving new mothers the opportunity to return to work quickly and facilitating the balance between work and childcare.

"Having the rental fridge has eliminated that source of stress," said Gatlin.

Before 1st Birthday, Babies May Know Who Acts Naughty or Nice

So say researchers at Yale University's psychology department, including graduate student J. Kiley Hamlin.

"Our results suggest that infants, just like adults, are able to tell the difference between those who act positively vs. negatively toward others, and that they tend to approach those who act positively and to avoid those who act negatively," Hamlin tells WebMD via email.