Parent/carer

Parents who worry about when their baby will take to toddling have nothing to fear, according to research published in the journal Acta Paediatrica. The study found that an infant who begins to walk at the age of nine months is unlikely to be any more advanced later in life than one who is a late walker.

Playing action video games can help dyslexic children to improve their reading skills, and is more effective than some traditional teaching methods, according to an Italian study.

After just 12 hours of gameplay, dyslexic children were able to read an additional 0.39 syllables per second than they could previously – an improvement that would take them more a year to develop naturally.

Schoolboys in the UK should receive the HPV vaccine to protect against throat cancer, a charity has urged.

The jab was introduced in 2008 for girls, to immunise them against the virus that causes cervical cancer.

The Throat Cancer Foundation says the vaccine protects against other cancers and has urged the government to extend the programme to all 12-year-olds.

So far Australia is the only country to routinely offer universal vaccination to boys and girls. The measure has also been recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control.

Research suggests that a mother can cut her risk of ovarian cancer by almost two-thirds if she breastfeeds her baby.

Scientists found that the longer a mother breastfeeds, the greater the protection against the cancer.

The research adds to the evidence of the health benefits of breastfeeding, with studies previously showing that it is linked to a reduced chance of developing breast cancer.