Pregnancy
Eating During Pregnancy
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To eat well during Pregnancy you must do more than simply increase how much you eat. You must also consider what you eat. Although you need about 300 extra calories a day - especially later in your Pregnancy, when your baby grows quickly - those calories should come from nutritious foods so they can contribute to your baby’s growth and development.
Why It’s Important to Eat Well When You’re Pregnant
Do you wonder how it’s reasonable to gain 25 to 35 pounds (on average) during your Pregnancy when a newborn baby weighs only a fraction of that? Although it varies from woman to woman, this is how those pounds may add up:
Losing Weight After Pregnancy
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You could be lucky. I was - just once. When my middle daughter was born I actually weighed 10 pounds less than I had when I’d conceived her. That’s not something you can count on, though, and I can tell you that from experience as well. Most women start their lives as a new mom with an extra 8 to 15 pounds that they didn’t have pre-baby.
There’s a very good reason for that. God designed our bodies with nurture in mind. Part of that weight that you put on during Pregnancy was meant to nurture your baby AFTER birth. While your body requires an extra 300 calories a day to keep up with the nutritional demands of your baby during Pregnancy, a Breastfeeding mother requires at least 500 extra calories a day to produce enough milk and remain healthy.
Genetic Disorders Often the Cause of Birth Defects
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Although mothers often do all they can to maintain a healthy Pregnancy, babies still have birth defects.
Sometimes parents are told that an accident during the Pregnancy may have caused their child’s condition. But looking at the baby’s family history may reveal another source of the problem—genetics.
Too many Indigenous kids dying, AMA says
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The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says a survey showing an alarmingly high mortality rate among Indigenous children highlights the need for urgent antenatal care funding.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey found a 3.2 per cent mortality rate among Indigenous children under the age of five.
The figure is almost five times higher than for children from other backgrounds.
Could be that dad is not real father, report shows
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Perhaps one out of every 25 dads could unknowingly be raising another man’s child, a finding that has “huge” health and social implications, according to report released Wednesday.
Exposing so-called paternal discrepancy—when a child is identified as being biologically fathered by someone other than the man who believes he is the father—could lead to family violence and the breakup of many families. On the other hand, leaving paternal discrepancy hidden means having the wrong genetic information, which could have health consequences.
A UK-based research team reviewed scientific research dealing with paternity published between 1950 and 2004 and reports that rates of paternal discrepancy range from less than 1 percent to as much as 30 percent.
Single counseling session can cut prenatal drinking
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One short counseling session with a doctor or nurse can be enough to get pregnant women to reduce their drinking, a new study shows.
Drinking during pregnancy is associated with a range of birth defects and developmental disorders—from mild learning disabilities to, most seriously, fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS is a collection of birth defects and developmental problems that can include delayed growth, significant learning disabilities and abnormal facial features.
Because there is no known “safe” level of drinking for pregnant women, experts advise abstinence during pregnancy. Women who are trying to get pregnant are also urged to give up alcohol so they don’t end up drinking in the weeks soon after conception, before they know they are pregnant.
Foam treatment for varicose veins
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Injecting patients with a foam that expands in the blood vessels can successfully treat troublesome varicose veins, say doctors.
Between 20% and 30% of adults develop varicose veins, usually later in life or during pregnancy.
As well as looking unpleasant, varicose veins can ache, throb and itch.
More than 50 patients at Ealing Hospital in London have received the foam therapy with good results, says consultant Mr George Geroulakos.
Preemies thrive on formula with added fatty acids
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Formula feeds containing fatty acids—specifically docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA)—may improve the development of preterm infants, new research suggests.
The findings, which appear in the Journal of Pediatrics for April, are based on a study of 361 preterm infants who were randomized to receive formula containing DHA from algal oil and ARA from fungal oil, DHA from fish oil and ARA from fungal oil, or no supplementation. The babies were compared to a group of 105 full-term breast-fed infants.
Mercury dental fillings seem safe for moms-to-be
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Pregnant women who are given dental fillings—even those that contain mercury—do not increase their chances of giving birth to very small babies, according to new study findings.
These results contradict long-held concerns that it’s unsafe for women to get mercury-amalgam dental fillings during pregnancy, due to the potential harm mercury may pose to an unborn child.
“We did not see any evidence that (silver) fillings had an impact on birth weight,” told study author Dr. Philippe Hujoel of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Influenza vaccine safe at any stage of pregnancy
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Women in the second and third trimester of pregnancy can safely be immunized against influenza, according to a new study.
The influenza vaccine is “widely underused in all populations and age groups, and yet, it is one of two vaccines that is routinely recommended for pregnant women in the US (tetanus is the other one),” Dr. Flor M. Munoz from the Baylor College of Medicine told Reuters Health.
To reaffirm the safety of the vaccine, particularly when administered in the second and third trimester, Munoz and colleagues in Houston analyzed data from five influenza seasons (1998 to 2003).
