Recently published results of a global study examining pre-term births reveal that male babies face greater risks while growing inside the womb, at birth and after birth.
The study, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, examined more than 15 million babies born prematurely worldwide. It found that boys have a 14 percent greater chance of being born prematurely than girls; preterm boys also have a higher risk of disability and death than preterm girls.
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Current medical practice in the United States is to give babies their first measles shot between 12 and 15 months, while in Canada, that measles shot is given at 12 months. But a new study out of Quebec shows that waiting until 15 months offers children better immunity against the measles later on.
In a recent large measles outbreak in Quebec, students who had gotten their first measles shot at 12 months were found to be about six times more likely to come down with the measles than those who had gotten their first vaccination later.
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A new study found that babies who were bottle-fed were more than twice as likely to develop hypertrophic pyloric stenosis than babies who were breastfed. This condition involves a narrowing (stenosis) of the place where the bottom part of the stomach ends and the first part of the small intestine, the duodenum, begins. It is caused by an enlargement (hypertrophy) of the smooth muscle that surrounds this passageway, the pylorus (from the Greek pyloros or gatekeeper).
As the pylorus gets thicker, food has increasing difficulty emptying from the stomach into the small intestine. This results in babies experiencing what is referred to as “projectile vomiting,” where vomit comes out forcefully and often, sometimes at an arch.
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Good oral health is an important part of our general health. But researchers have found that an expectant mother’s oral health also has the potential to affect her unborn infant’s health. Bacteria from the mother’s mouth can get into the mother’s blood, from where it reaches the amniotic fluid that surrounds the baby, and the baby can then swallow the bacteria.
Studies have shown that these oral bacteria can increase the risk of a premature birth or a low-birth-weight baby, start contractions prematurely, or cause the baby to get an infection — either as a newborn, or while the infant is still inside the uterus.
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Using 4-D scans, psychologists have uncovered that a baby learns to open its mouth in preparation for putting a hand in the mouth several weeks before full gestation.
Researchers from Durham and Lancaster universities in England performed 60 scans of 15 healthy fetuses at monthly intervals, between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. The youngest fetuses were more likely to touch the upper part and sides of their heads. But as the fetuses got older, they began to more often touch the lower part of their faces, including the mouth; the lower part of the face is the more sensitive part. By 36 weeks, a greater number of the babies began opening their mouths before touching them, suggesting that they were able to anticipate that they were about to touch their mouths. Younger fetuses tended to open their mouths after having placed their hand on it, meaning that they were responding to the touch.
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Many women who are having twins opt to have C-sections, to improve chances of having safe deliveries. But a new study, published in October, 2013, in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that moms and babies do equally well, whether the deliveries are vaginal or by C-section. Surgery was only performed when there were complications that could make vaginal delivery dangerous, such as when the second twin had entered the birth canal with the buttocks or feet first, rather than the head; this condition is known as a breech birth.
An experienced doctor is able to determine when to switch from a planned vaginal delivery, to a caesarean delivery, to improve odds that there will be no bad outcomes for the mother or for the babies. In the case of this study, which examined 2,800-plus deliveries, women who were planning to have their twins vaginally wound up getting C-sections 44 percent of the time. But this was still a big improvement over moms who had planned to have C-sections, and who got the surgeries 91 percent of the time (the other 9 percent went into labor and delivered their babies before a C-section could be performed).
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Knowing natural ways to treat a young baby’s fever may come in very handy, being that fevers are quite common in young children. Further, products with acetaminophen are not recommended for children under 2 years of age, and ibuprofen is not recommended for a baby younger than 6 months.
It’s important for parents to understand that a temperature or fever, in itself, isn’t necessarily bad. After all, a higher temperature is the body’s way of killing off bacteria or viruses that are causing an infection. When the body’s initial immune responses don’t manage to kill the invading microbes, or if the immune response has somehow been obstructed, the body sets its internal temperature higher, which kills off the germs.
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The wonders of modern science afford us conveniences that we humans never before had. But sometimes, things can get carried away. Take, for example “elective deliveries” — the term used when mothers-to-be pick the date when their babies will be born, as the actual due date draws near.
Studies indicate that the number of elective deliveries in the United States rose significantly between 1994 and the mid 2000’s. Many moms feel that they’re ready to birth their babies once they’ve gone past the 36th week of pregnancy. This may be partly due to the common error of thinking that four weeks equals a month, so that nine months, the proper time of gestation, should be at about 36 weeks. But that calculation overlooks the fact that a month is not 28 days long, but either 30 or 31 (unless it’s February) — which means that the proper gestation time is actually about 40 weeks.
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If you give birth at a conventional maternity ward, chances are when the baby is born, you will be surrounded by various hospital personnel who will quickly pick up the newborn once the umbilical cord is cut, then transport her a few steps to the small table where she will be cleaned. The baby will then be quickly wrapped, or swaddled, in a small bed sheet or a baby blanket.
The idea with swaddling is that it gives babies comfort by somewhat recreating the “cocooned” feeling the baby had while she was still inside your body. Swaddling also binds baby’s extremities close to the body, so that she won’t startle herself awake when she jerks her little limbs while she sleeps.
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A study published online in August, 2013 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing found that breastfeeding for six months or longer could delay diagnosis of breast cancer by about 10 years. But the protective benefits were cancelled out if mom was a smoker.
The study, conducted at the University of Granada in Spain, examined medical records of more than 500 women aged 19 to 91, who were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer between 2004 and 2009 at a university hospital in the province of Granada.
Non-smokers who did not have children or who breastfed for less than three months were diagnosed with breast cancer at an average age of 57; non-smokers who breastfed between 3 and 6 months were diagnosed at a similar age of 56. Non-smokers who breastfed longer than six months, on the other hand, were diagnosed at an average age of 68 — more than 10 years later. However, women who breastfed longer than six months but were smokers were diagnosed at an average age of 47, or 21 years earlier. These results held steady, even when family history of breast cancer was factored in.
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