Why Some Small Babies Have Different Brain Development

You might be wondering why some babies who are small for their gestational age (SGA) have different brain development by the time they're five years old. Researchers looked into this by studying a bunch of SGA kids from a U. S. study done between 2001 and 2007. They found that SGA kids who were born as part of multiple births, especially those without any fertility treatments, had lower reading and math skills compared to their peers who were singletons. Interestingly, SGA kids from singleton births whose moms smoked and didn't gain enough weight during pregnancy also had lower reading and math scores. It wasn't just about how well the babies did immediately after birth, as the differences didn't change much based on their Apgar scores. So, it seems that being part of a multiple birth or having a mom who smoked and didn't gain enough weight can affect a small baby's brain development. It's like they face an extra challenge that their peers don't have to deal with.