An expert panel wants the Food And Drug Administration to withdraw its approval for Makena, because a large study shows the drug doesn't work. But some doctors say the evidence isn't clear-cut.

(Image credit: Jill Lehmann Photography)

Some hospitals are putting cameras in their neonatal intensive care units to reduce the number of people — and germs — from entering. But some NICU staff may not want to be watched around the clock.

Holding a newborn on a parent's bare chest has long been used to help premature babies. Hospitals increasingly recommend it for full term babies, too. Doctors say it reduces pain and lowers stress.

Babies born premature are at risk for eye damage that can cause blindness, like it did for Stevie Wonder. Babies who are fed breast milk are much less likely to be affected.

Brain scans found abnormally weak connections in the brains of premature infants may make them more prone to develop autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other emotional disorders.

A small study found that women with diverse microorganisms in their birth canals were more likely to give birth before their babies reached full term than women with less microbial variety.

Sometimes one person's insight transforms medicine. Dr. John Clements is one of those people. In the 1950s he discovered a slippery lung substance key to breathing, and to the survival of tiny babies.

Babies in the neonatal intensive care unit often get multiple tests and treatments a day. Not all of them help, and some can hurt. Neonatologists have picked the five least likely to do good.

If parents don't have a name teed up, hospitals often give babies temporary ones, like Babygirl. But those generic names can be dangerously confusing, especially in the neonatal intensive care unit.

(Image credit: Leanne Temme)