A report released earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that close to one-third of all American women of reproductive age got an opioid painkiller prescription filled each year from 2008 to 2012. This is of concern to health authorities because these medicines are known to cause serious birth defects.
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Something for men to take note of: a new Harvard study has found a connection between consumption of fruits and vegetables with high pesticide residue and lower sperm counts, a lower percentage of normal sperm and less ejaculate, compared to men who ate produce with lower residue, and even men who ate almost no produce at all.
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A study published in late March, 2015 showed that fetuses of mothers who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy had more facial and self-touching movements, such as opening their mouths, sucking their hands, grimacing, and touching their heads and eyes with their hands.
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A study published in late 2014 in the journal Pediatrics found that between 2.4 and 4.8 percent of children in the United States may have some type of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
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You may have heard about the controversy regarding what the best time is, to clamp and cut the umbilical cord once an infant is born. And you may have also heard about delivering the placenta the natural way, by letting it detach and drop down all on its own, without anyone pulling on the cord.
The recent measles outbreak in California has doctors urging parents to vaccinate their children against the disease, as both the number of cases and number of states reporting cases continue to grow, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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We hope that if you are expecting a baby, you are brimming with joy and anticipation. But we know that in every life, there is sorrow, and maybe circumstances have you feeling glum and you’re thinking about taking antidepressants, or you are already taking them.
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What Are the Pros and Cons of Water Birth?
Far too many mothers know firsthand the frequent pitfalls of giving birth in a regular hospital, on a bed. The pain can be excruciating, often prompting women to use hospital-administered drugs. The baby can take many hours to come. An episiotomy may be performed. The obstetrician may rupture the amniotic sac with a stick in an attempt to speed up a slow labor; but tearing the amniotic membrane can lead to other complications.
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Two chemicals commonly found in plastics have been linked to lower I.Q.’s in children when the mothers were exposed to higher amounts of the chemicals during pregnancy, according to a new study by researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
The two compounds are di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP); they belong to a class of chemicals called phthalates which are used for varied purposes, including making plastics softer and less brittle, improving spreadability of products like household paints and nail polish, and extending shelf life of scents in grooming products, household cleaning liquids, detergents and air fresheners.
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Back in 1995, a study by two child psychologists from the University of Kansas found that children whose parents were professionals were exposed to almost twice as many words as children in working class families; the latter in turn heard twice as many words as children in welfare families, the study noted.
In the ensuing years, much was made by governmental entities and developmental psychologists about exposing children, starting from birth, to a lot of words spoken by their parents and caregivers, which had been theorized by the study’s authors to be key to a child’s language acquisition and school success later on.
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