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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If you gave birth recently and you’re struggling to lose the weight you gained during pregnancy, you’re like most women, says a new study published online in December, 2014 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The study followed almost 800 women who had given birth, from five geographic locations in the United States, and measured the moms’ height and weight at 6 months and 12 months post-partum.
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Some parents may not think about it, but one of the things expecting parents ought to do before their little one is born, is to learn the proper techniques for placing the newborn in the car safety seat they’ll use, as well as installing the safety seat correctly.
According to a recent small study, the far majority of parents make one or more big mistakes when they place the infant in the seat or in installing the seat, as they drive home from the hospital with their newborns.
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For many years, scientists have been trying to answer the question, Is a child’s intelligence inherited from its parents, or can the environment in which the child grows up determine intelligence? The old “nature vs. nurture” debate. A new study has found that “nature” may play the bigger part, when it comes to IQ.
A small group of universities from several countries, including three from the United States (Florida State University, University of Nebraska and Western Illinois University), collaborated on a study that found that genetics, and not parenting style, are linked to a child’s verbal intelligence: Verbal IQ is not the result of parental socialization, the study found.
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A recent study from the University of Calgary has found that increasing numbers of parents are refusing to consent to their newborns receiving a shot of vitamin K at birth, due to fears about possible reactions to the high single dose of the vitamin, as well as the other ingredients that come with it.
Vitamin K is necessary for normal blood-clotting in both adults and children; however, babies are usually born with insufficient amounts of the vitamin in their system, as it doesn’t cross very well from the mother’s blood through the placenta. The mother’s diet does not affect the levels of vitamin K that her baby is born with to any large degree.
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You may have heard about the recent recommendation from Consumer Reports that all pregnant and nursing women avoid all types of tuna, due to concerns about mercury exposure for the unborn baby or newborn. This has a lot of women, and even some doctors, confused about whether to nix all tuna for pregnant or nursing women, or whether it is still safe to consume some tuna varieties.
Until now, public health experts agreed that albacore tuna (the white variety) was unsafe, due to its higher mercury content. But chunk “light” tuna (the darker kind) was always recommended as safe, so long as it was eaten in moderation. In fact, only in June of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration issued a joint recommendation that pregnant or nursing women eat a minimum of 8 to 12 ounces (2-3 servings) of low-mercury fish per week. Canned light tuna was included on the list of these safer fish that pregnant or nursing women could consume.
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For years, doctors have been urging women who get pregnant to give up cigarettes due to the many serious dangers that they pose to unborn babies and pregnant women. In the age of nicotine patches and nicotine gum, some physicians have even advised expecting women to switch to these, as they are believed to be less harmful to the baby than cigarette smoke.
But that may not be the case when it comes to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children. Read More
A baby’s age influences risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome, according to new research.
Younger babies are more likely to succumb to SIDS when they’re sharing beds with others, while older babies face a greater risk when there are objects in their cribs, such as blankets or pillows.
The study is the first to show that risk of death from SIDS appears to change with the baby’s age, according to lead author Dr. Rachel Moon, associate chief of general pediatrics and community health at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Bed-sharing is a big risk factor for SIDS death in babies under 4 months of age, said Dr. Moon. And for young, as well as older babies, it is important to insure that there is nothing else in a baby’s crib, other than the baby. This includes blankets, pillows, stuffed toys and bumper pads.
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The placenta is the organ that a pregnant woman develops inside her uterus, to transfer oxygen and nutrients to her baby via the blood, while removing gasses and other waste from the infant. Researchers once thought that the placenta was a “sterile” environment, devoid of any bacteria that might find its way to the growing baby attached by the umbilical cord. But a new study has uncovered that the placenta actually harbors hundreds of bacteria species; most of them are harmless or beneficial.
Scientists found about 300 types of bacteria; they then compared the distribution of bacteria types with those that had been found previously in other parts of mothers’ bodies, including the mouth, skin, gut and vagina.
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