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Young parents should not trust the internet
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Don't trust too much those useful tips and recommendations related to your child's health that you find on the Internet. There is a high probability that these tips are wrong.
Experts analyzed 13 of the most common topics related to baby health that young moms and dads search for on Google. A total of 100 websites that made it to the top of the search results were reviewed. The information contained therein was compared with data from portals recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
It turned out that only 43.5% of sites provided accurate information on key child health topics, including things like sudden infant death syndrome. More than 25% contained inaccurate recommendations, and 28.1% contained false information. If we exclude relevant sites, it turns out that 39.2% of portals contain false information.
The worst situation in this regard was in blogs - only 30.9% of them provide correct information. The best were sites recommended by the government - 80.1% contain reliable information. Many blogs and popular sites, for example, spread the opinion that it is completely safe to sleep with a baby in the same bed, although in fact this can lead to suffocation of the baby.
In this regard, researchers from the University of California emphasize that they do not intend to dissuade young mothers and fathers from seeking advice on the Internet. It is simply worth double-checking information on such important topics as children's health in several unrelated sources. And preferably, those financed by state health authorities.
The results of the study were published in The Journal of Pediatrics.