Under the terms of the new deal, Merck Serono will obtain exclusive rights to commercialise the Eeva Test in Europe and Canada, with the option to extend the arrangement to additional selected countries and regions.

The product received European CE Mark approval in 2012 and is a non-invasive diagnostic test used adjunctively to traditional morphology. It utilises time-lapse imaging and computer software to analyse embryo development.

It provides reproductive endocrinologists and embryologists with objective information that can help to assess embryo development and viability, leading to better in vitro fertilisation patient outcomes.

An evolving technology called PGS, or preimplantation genetic screening, is responsible for their success, said Dr. Paul Miller, a reproductive endocrinologist and medical director of the Fertility Center of the Carolinas.

"We take an embryo that is five days old and remove six to 10 cells from what we know is going to be the placenta," he said, "and then test them for all sorts of genetic abnormalities and the right number of chromosomes."

But first comes in vitro fertilization. With IVF, eggs are retrieved and fertilized in a petri dish, allowed to develop for five days, and then implanted in the mother. Because of PGS, only the normal embryos are implanted.

"It helps us identify which ones are developing along the right track," said William Roudebush, associate laboratory director. "Everything we do here — the air quality, high-tech instrumention — is to optimize the pregnancy potential."

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force today published a draft of their recommended guidelines and final evidence summary on prescribing low-dose aspirin as a preventive measure against preeclampsia for pregnant women at high risk for the condition. The Task Force strongly recommends doctors prescribe a small dose -- 81 milligrams per day -- beginning after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The Task Force, an independent, volunteer panel of health experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that advises government health agencies on medical guidelines, found low-dose aspirin every day lowered the risk of preeclampsia in high-risk pregnant women by 24 percent.

“…the babies had a rare condition called Twin[to]Twin Transfusion Syndrome.  That's when one of the fetuses gives up most of its blood and nutrients to the other through shared blood vessels on the placenta.”   

“TTTS affects about 15 percent of twins in the womb.”

In the 24 hours after birth, 47% of British new mothers are not aware of the post-natal symptoms that could put at risk their own life or that of their child. Including fever, weakness, difficulty in urinating, dizziness, nausea, bleeding, rash, swelling and pain in the vulvar or perineal area in the first case. Or bad breathing, loss of appetite, lack of responsiveness, dark lips, body temperature above 38 °, yellowish color of the skin, swelling of the top of the head in the second. Moreover, two thirds of obstetricians are not aware of the standards on post-natal care developed by NICE.

A woman's risk for postpartum venous thromboembolism (VTE) is highest in the first few weeks after delivery and then drops steadily through week 12, a new study suggests. Pregnancy complications increase the risk for postpartum VTE.

The study is one of the few to track the incidence of postpartum VTE on a weekly basis, lead author Naomi K. Tepper, MD, MPH, from the Prevention and Health Promotion and the Division of Blood Disorders, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues write in the May issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

It is well established that the risk for VTE rises shortly after birth, largely because of pregnancy-related hypercoagulability. However, most previous studies report an aggregate risk for a given time, rather than week-by-week. Different components of the clotting system return to normal at different times, ranging from immediately after delivery to 6 to 12 weeks later, and little is known about how these changes affect VTE risk.

A new Israeli study reveals that “kangaroo care” for premature babies has life-long effects on neurological and psychological development.

Conducted by Dr. Ruth Feldman – a professor in the department of psychology and in the Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University, and adjunct professor at the Child Study Center at Yale – the study shows that skin-to-skin contact between mother and newborn improves brain functioning later in life.

The concept of “kangaroo care” (named for the way that this marsupial carries her unformed offspring in her pouch) is not new. Introduced by neonatologist Edgar Rey Sanabria in 1978 in Bogota, Colombia — where access to incubators was limited — it is a method of using maternal body heat to prevent hypothermia in preemies.

In a new article published online today in the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, Professor David Haig argues that infants that wake frequently at night to breastfeed are delaying the resumption of the mother's ovulation and therefore preventing the birth of a sibling with whom they would have to compete.

It has already been documented that smaller gaps between the births of siblings are associated with increased mortality of infants and toddlers, especially in environments where resources are scarce and where infectious disease rates are high, and Professor Haig believes that the benefits of delay are such that the selective forces are strong enough to have engendered a significant evolutionary response.

Professor Haig says, "The duration of postpartum amenorrhea is a major determinant of interbirth internals (IBI) in natural fertility populations with more frequent and more intense nursing, especially at night, associated with prolonged infertility. Natural selection will have preserved suckling and sleeping behaviours of infants that suppress ovarian function in mothers because infants have benefited from delay of the next birth. Maximal night waking can be conjectured to overlap with the greatest benefits of contraceptive suckling."

A new study has revealed that women who choose to breastfeed their children are half as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those who don't. Arthritis, which causes pain and swelling in the joints, is twice as common in women than men, and its occurrence in women increases steadily up to their mid forties.

The research, published in the journal of Rheumatology, studied more than 7,000 women, and found that the women who chose to breastfeed, especially for lengthy periods of time, were around half as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

“Being illegal or not and getting arrested or not is not the main concern here!” Anderson exclaims “This event simply triggers the obvious need for more education on how breastfeeding will fit into one’s lifestyle, including the intake of alcohol” she goes on to say “but mothers need to be aware of how much they are drinking and time their feeds accordingly.”

Breast milk is made from blood and therefore alcohol is excreted into breastmilk as it is into the blood stream. The amount of alcohol in the blood is the amount of alcohol in a mothers milk. Alcohol will be in the breastmilk 30-60 minutes after starting drinking. As the breastmilk is filtered constantly it is excreted from the milk. As a general rule, it takes 2 hours for an average woman to metabolise the alcohol from 1 standard drink and therefore 4 hours for 2 and so on. Alcohol is not stored in the milk just as it doesn’t remain in the blood.

Dr Grzeskowiak says the health benefits of continued breastfeeding greatly outweigh any perceived risk to the baby from antidepressant medication.

"This is a really important message because we know that breastfeeding has immense benefits for the child and the mum herself, including a degree of protection against post-natal depression," he says.

Disclaimer: 
The material included on this site is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation.  Krystyna and Bruss Bowman and Bowman House, LLC accept no liability for the content of this site, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.  This blog contains information about our classes available in Chandler, AZ and Payson, AZ and is not the official website of The Bradley Method®. The views contained on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of The Bradley Method® or the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth®.

“The numerous concerns raised during the two-day meeting made it clear that there are still gaping holes in the data and countless issues to work through. But a strange thing happened: Many people from across the political and professional spectrum unexpectedly found common ground. Apparently most people can agree that anyone who hopes to wield that kind of power carries the burden of proof that their technique works, that it would be safe, and that there are no better alternatives.”

“Why do babies move about so much while they are developing in the womb, particularly flexing their arms and legs? We know that if they don’t move enough, they are born with skeletal problems such as thin, fragile bones,” said Developmental Biologist and Associate Professor in Zoology, Paula Murphy, who is the senior author of the study. 

“Highly regulated signalling systems are needed for Mother Nature to follow the complex ‘recipes’ of genetic expression that enable the development of normal skeletons. What often surprises people is that mechanical signals also feed in to these signalling systems, and it is the movement of an embryo that sparks these.” 

The U.K. Department of Health recommends that pregnant women – and those trying to conceive – should abstain from alcohol, or at the most, consume no more than one to two units a week. A unit is defined as 10 ml of pure alcohol, one to two units is equivalent to a glass of wine.

 

What the researchers found was that more than 50 percent of women in the white-affluent-educated socioeconomic class drank, on average, four units a week in their first trimester and only went down to two units or less in the second. Those who consumed more than the recommended two units a week were twice as likely to give birth to unexpectedly small or premature babies as women who abstained completely.

Snoring can sometimes be attributed to a sleep disorder known  as sleep apnea, which causes one to momentarily stop breathing while asleep. This can happen a few times a night or, in more severe cases, up to hundreds of times, causing the amount of oxygen in the blood to decrease. Untreated sleep apnea can lead to other health problems, and in pregnant women, can increase the risk of pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see why doctors would be concerned about an infant’s health if its mother was snoring during pregnancy and had a sleep disorder. To find out just what these snoring risks were, the scientists who conducted the new study followed more than 1,600 mothers during their pregnancies; one-third of the pregnant women studied were regular snorers. Among the snorers, quite a number had cesarean deliveries; not only that, many were emergency C-sections. Another trend noticed among the mothers who snored was that their newborns weighed less than average. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but smaller infants have been found to be more prone to certain medical conditions.

A combination of two hormones makes a difference in giving relief to people with chronic pain, according to a small, preliminary study, Newsmax Health.

…

Oxytocin is known as the "love hormone" and has been linked to positive human emotions. Human chorionic gonadotropin plays a role during pregnancy.

“Our goal is to provide more services for the natural community,” said Windy Virgil, director of women’s services at Centennial Hills Hospital. “We want women to feel like they have a place where they can go and give birth without too much intervention.”

The hospital plans to provide two mobile water birth units that will be available between April and June.

“The water helps ease the pain of childbirth,” Virgil said. “The moms in the natural community advocated for this service since it provides significant pain relief (without the use of epidurals).”

Lewis, a midwife for thirty years, and a staunch advocate for parents and families, found the situation heartbreaking. In Trinidad and Tobago — as in many other Caribbean territories — fathers are routinely denied the right to witness the birth of their children. Lewis, largely through the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Midwives, has been lobbying for years to get the situation changed.

Until four years ago, it seemed like early elective delivery was a textbook example of evidence widely ignored. These are induced or cesarean section deliveries after 37 completed weeks but before 39 completed weeks of gestation, when not medically necessary. The reason is usually convenience — the family is coming in for Christmas or the obstetrician will be off next week.

Delivery at 37 or 38 weeks was widely considered benign — but it is not. Infant mortality is at least 50 percent higher for babies at 37 or 38 weeks than at 39 or 40 (at 41 weeks the rate rises again). These babies are also more likely to suffer breathing, feeding and developmental problems.

Like many working moms, I’ve developed strategies to keep my days more organized and (kinda sorta) sane. I reached out to fellow moms to compare notes; these are the tried-and-true habits that make our lives as working moms work.

On Monday night's episode of "Teen Mom 2," Kail was seen telling her doctor of her plans to have her placenta encapsulated. Unfortunately, the doctor seemed completely repulsed by the idea and informed Kail that they didn't offer that service at the hospital in which he worked.

Caused by a raised level of bilirubini and characterised by yellow colouration of the skin and the whites of the eyes, neonatal jaundice is one of the most common conditions needing medical attention in newborn babies. It is estimated that more than 430,000 babies - around 60% of all term and 80% of all pre-term babies - develop jaundice in the first week of life.

For most newborn babies jaundice does not mean there is any underlying disease and is generally harmless, particularly when it develops after the first 24 hours of life. However, jaundice in the first 24 hours of life can be a sign of underlying disease and needs urgent assessment. If jaundice is not identified early and treated effectively it can result in kernicterus, a rare but serious neurological condition which is associated with long term problems such as cerebral palsy, hearing loss and visual and dental problems.

Disclaimer: 
The material included on this site is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation.  Krystyna and Bruss Bowman and Bowman House, LLC accept no liability for the content of this site, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.  This blog contains information about our classes available in Chandler, AZ and Payson, AZ and is not the official website of The Bradley Method®. The views contained on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of The Bradley Method® or the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth®.
Bradley Method® natural childbirth classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, Payson

The biggest news in birth over the last week: wait!!! So hopeful that the newest guidelines from ACOG and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine will be taken to heart and that we will see a clear reduction in the primary cesarean rate within the next few years.

Kite was working in private practice in London in the early 1990s when a woman in her early 40s came for hay fever relief, not mentioning that she been trying for a baby for years. Three sessions later, she was pregnant and she referred two other friends who also went on to conceive.

"There's been some real progress cutting down the amount of twins," said Dr. James Goldfarb, medical director of the Fertility Center at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center.

Even more significant is the fact that the decline in triplets and other multiples has remained steady, he said.

"It's so important; those babies often have a lot of problems," he said. "Many will show up with cognitive or physical disorders." The chance of having a child with cerebral palsy is more than 20 times higher with a triplet birth than a singleton birth, he said.

A Framingham company is planning a late-stage trial of what it hopes will be the first-ever drug to treat the potentially deadly pregnancy disease, preeclampsia.

First described by Hippocrates around 400 B.C., preeclampsia has been fatal to mothers and babies for centuries, surfacing in the World War I-era PBS drama, “Downton Abbey.” While it is known to cause a rapid rise in blood pressure that may lead to seizure, stroke or organ failure, Yann Echelard, CEO of rEVO Biologics, said that as yet, nobody knows the exact cause of preeclampsia.

Show more patience in the delivery room: That’s the prescription being given to the nation’s obstetricians.

New guidelines say doctors should give otherwise healthy women more time to deliver their babies vaginally before assuming that labor has stalled.

Obstetricians are being told to show more patience in the delivery room.

New guidelines say doctors should give otherwise healthy women more time to deliver their babies vaginally before assuming that labour has stalled. The recommendations are the latest in years of efforts to prevent unnecessary cesarean sections.

“Labour takes a little longer than we may have thought,” said Dr Aaron Caughey, who co-authored the guidelines for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

The recommendations are being published jointly by two groups of pregnancy specialists — ACOG and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine — amid growing concern that C-sections are overused.

Previous studies have suggested that long-term health effects linked to cesarean births include childhood asthma and type 1 diabetes, the news release noted. In examining a possible link between this surgical procedure and obesity, the researchers analyzed information compiled from 15 studies that included more than 38,000 women from 10 different countries.

The new review, published Feb. 26 in PLoS ONE, found that the average body-mass index (BMI) of adults born by cesarean section was about one-half unit greater than the average BMI of babies born vaginally. BMI is a measurement of body fat that takes height and weight into account.

It should be noted that the study found an association between cesarean birth and increased odds of being overweight or obese in adulthood, but it didn't prove cause-and-effect.

The review of postpartum weight loss combined results from studies to determine if diet and/or exercise affected breastfeeding. Authors of the review concluded that, for those who only dieted, there was no effect on milk volume, compared to those who did not diet. Women who exercised did not have any difference in milk volume, nor was there any difference in their infants’ weight gain compared to women who did not exercise. For women who engaged in a program with diet and exercise, there was no difference in milk volume or the likelihood of exclusively versus partially breastfeeding compared to women who had usual care. There was also no difference in the women’s infants’ weight or length gain. These results were only based on four studies in which women were exclusively breastfeeding, and none of these studies examined breastfeeding duration, so there is a need for more research in this area.

From the evidence available, it does not seem that diet and/or exercise negatively affects milk volume in postpartum mothers.

Caffeine has long been used to treat premature infants with breathing problems. But Karamchandani found extending treatment to 35 and 36 weeks rather than the customary 34 weeks reduced the number of hypoxia episodes by as much as 50 percent.

"I don't have a very good explanation for why twins or triplets seem to be at high risk for anorexia," Goodman told Live Science. "It's truly a bit of a mystery to me."

The findings are even counterintuitive, because the study showed having a sibling (other than a twin) tended to protect against developing anorexia, Goodman said.

...

The risk of another eating disorder, bulimia, was higher in babies born with a high birth weight, according to the study. This is a more expected result, because high birth weight is linked to childhood obesity, and being overweight in childhood is a risk factor for bulimia, Goodman said. The researchers were not able to account for all the factors that might explain the findings, such as stress during pregnancy or early feeding habits. It's also possible that genetic factors might predispose a child to a high birth weight, as well as bulimia, Goodman said.

Future research is needed to confirm the findings, and to determine the underlying explanation for the links, Goodman said.

Breastfeeding is important for your baby. It nourishes nurtures and helps your baby bond with you. But at times some babies tend to suckle more than the usual, even if their hunger is satisfied. Many term this prolonged suckling as comfort suckling or comfort nursing.

Comfort nursing is often noticed during the initial days after the birth. Many doctors’ advice mothers against such a practice and to limit the duration of the feeds. But there are also practitioners and experts who believe that comfort suckling is as important for the baby as it is to breastfeed.

Just like breastfeeding helps your baby to get all the vital nutrients and food, comfort suckling helps your baby to receive all the emotional support needed to feel secure out of the womb.

It has been a long winter break...finally getting back into reading and collecting the latest news around the web for you!  Some really interesting finds this week about new fertility options, the role of Vitamin D in pregnancy, and always, breastfeeding.  SO excited to learn that another state in the USA is making another push to protect breastfeeding MotherBabies with a breastfeeding protection code. In addition, Missouri is also adding to their breastfeeding laws to protect breastfeeding mothers from contempt of court if they can't serve jury duty.

FERTILITY
Vancouver's Olive Fertility Centre Introduces New Embryo Screening Shown to Increase IVF Success

"This technology allows us to improve the chances of a healthy pregnancy for our patients as well as being an invaluable research tool that enables us to collect new data on human embryo development," says Dr Jason Hitkari, a reproductive endocrinologist, UBC clinical professor, and medical director at Olive Fertility Centre. A major challenge with IVF is identifying the best embryo to transfer back to the mother’s womb.

Women who are deficient in vitamin D in the first 26 weeks of their pregnancy may be at risk of developing severe pre-eclampsia, a potentially life-threatening disorder diagnosed by an increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine, according to research by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

“For decades, vitamin D was known as a nutrient that was important only for bone health,” said lead author Lisa Bodnar, PhD, MPH, RD, associate professor in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology. “Over the past 10 to 15 years, scientists have learned that vitamin D has diverse functions in the body beyond maintaining the skeleton, including actions that may be important for maintaining a healthy pregnancy.”

The existing standard of prenatal monitoring involves bulky belts and wires that have to be hooked up to machines to detect and read out data. This means the technology is available only in hospital settings and requires expertise to use.

With the epidermal electronic patch, anyone with access to a smartphone, which Coleman noted outnumbers those with access to water in many developing countries, could monitor fetal heart rate and uterine contractions, among other metrics.

The Embrace infant warmer is small and light and looks like a miniature sleeping bag and is easily transported to rural villages. It uses a phase change material, a proprietary wax-like substance with the ability to maintain a constant temperature while still supplying heat to the baby. This allows the infant warmer to stay at a constant temperature (98.6 F/ 37 C) for up to six hours to maintain the babies’ body temperature. The infant warmer (miniature sleeping bag) absorbs heat from heater (phase change material) and slowly releases the heat over a period of time.  After four hours, the infant warmer can be re-warmed by submerging it in boiling water for a few minutes and the entire sleeping bag can be sanitized in boiling water.

Price difference? $300 USD compared to the $20,000 price tag of a traditional incubator.

“Given the risks associated with the initial cesarean and its implications in subsequent pregnancies, the most effective approach to reducing overall morbidities related to cesarean delivery is to avoid the first cesarean,” explained Saade. “The implications of a cesarean rate of 30 percent or more—since approximately one in three pregnancies are delivered by cesarean—have significant effects on the medical system as well as on the health of women and children. It is essential to embrace this concern and provide guidance on strategies to lower the primary cesarean rate.”

Although a history of depression among expectant mothers remains the greatest single risk factor for postpartum depression, a new study finds that fear of childbirth may also predispose some women to the condition.

In a paper published Friday in the journal BMJ Open, researchers concluded that fear of childbirth increases the risk of postpartum depression about threefold in women without a history of depression, and fivefold in women with known depressive disease.

Most of the drugs that we routinely use in neonatology do not have a specific license for neonatal use. This is true I think in every jurisdiction around the world, the USA, Canada, Australia, and Europe, but I don’t know enough about other parts of the world. In fact for most of the drugs that we use there is very little neonatal data that would allow licensing.

"This new methodology has recently been used to investigate cortical processing of touch and speech sounds in a large group of full-term and preterm neonates," said Dr. Nathalie Maitre, one of the two researchers behind the experiment, "It has also been used to characterize the effect of neuro-rehabilitation in the brains of young children with cerebral palsy." Dr. Maitre also said that its application could lead to wider adaptations in treating infants and adolescents with brain injuries, for example, or in addressing abnormal sensory experiences in the neonatal period during intensive care hospitalization.

The case stems from the Kansas City area where a young mom now sits in contempt of court for trying to be excused from jury duty because she wanted to stay home and breast feed her child.

Senate Bill 502 aims to excuse breastfeeding moms.  But there are catches - they must get a doctor’s note, and they have to be discreet.

"I wish it was better, I wish it didn't have the word discretion.  Why is that?  Because discretion is up to a person's discretion and it's not a good word for a law,” said Erin O’Reilly of La Leche League.

O’Reilly said judges in the city already give nursing mothers a break on jury duty but the rest of the state is a different story, even outside the courtroom.

The House of Delegates Health Committee has passed a bill (H.B. 4335) legally establishing a woman’s right to breastfeed in public.  West Virginia is one of the only states that does not provide for that protection in code.

The legislation  has been introduced a number of times in recent years, but has failed to clear both houses.  During Wednesday’s committee meeting, Del. Barbara Fleischauer (D-Monongalia) urged lawmakers to approve it.

"Nurse Purse was born out of necessity," said Adrienne Frohlich, founder of Nurse Purse.  "When I returned to work as a busy Speech Language Pathologist commuting around New York City, I was frustrated with the lack of options to transport my breast pump.   As any Mom knows, carrying around multiple bags for multiple purposes is impractical and difficult – especially when navigatingNew York City public transportation.  I searched and searched for a single bag that would hold my coolers, pump accessories, work materials and personal items - and also look great.  When I couldn't find any viable alternatives, I knew there was need I could fill." 

Happy New Year!!  Wishing all of our readers many blessings as you welcome the new year.  I trust your holidays were wonderful and that you are looking forward to all the promise of a fresh slate.

Couples struggling with infertility often turn to assisted reproductive therapy in an effort to start the family of their dreams. A study out of the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Institute found that pregnancies conceived with assistance such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) are more likely to end in stillbirth, preterm birth, low birth weight, or neonatal death, compared with natural pregnancies.

"More research is now urgently needed into longer term follow-up of those who have experienced comprehensive perinatal disadvantage," said lead researcher Professor Michael Davies from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute. "Our studies also need to be expanded to include more recent years of treatment, as the technology has been undergoing continual innovation, which may influence the associated risks."

Pregnant women who are vaccinated against the flu are significantly less likely to deliver premature or low-birth-weight babies compared to unvaccinated expectant mothers, new Canadian research finds.

Based on more than 12,000 women in Nova Scotia who gave birth in the immediate aftermath of the H1N1 flu pandemic, the study adds to mounting evidence that the flu can have “really detrimental effects for both mothers and their babies,” said first author Alexandra Legge, a fourth-year medical student at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

High levels of bacteria are associated with water breaking 

prematurely in pregnant women, a new study indicates.

Researchers arrived at their findings by analyzing samples of amniotic sacs (fetal membranes) from 48 women after they gave birth. The report is published in the Jan. 8 online issue of the journal PLoS One.

Nearly one-third of early deliveries are associated with premature rupture of fetal membranes, and it's important to learn more about why this happens, the researchers noted.

It's a sad reality that a lot of moms are familiar with postpartum depression. For anyone that has suffered from this type of clinical depression, you know the impact it can have on both the lives of the individual suffering, and those around her. There have been studies upon studies to find a way to eradicate the symptoms; some have been proven helpful and others not so much. But what if you knew of something that could eradicate all the above? Something so simple, natural and readily available. Would you give it a try? What if that particular “something” just happened to be encapsulating your placenta and eating it? Ew. But what if it really worked?

Not only does it work, but it does much more than combat the “baby blues.” January Jones, Kim Kardashian, Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Tamara Mowry-Housely all rave about their experiences with encapsulation. Before you allow your stomach to churn, put down your lunch for a few moments and take a few moments to learn more about placenta encapsulation and postpartum depression.

Scientists have found two new genetic causes of neonatal diabetes - a form of diabetes that occurs in the first 6 months of life. 

The research by the University of Exeter Medical School provides further insights on how the insulin-producing beta cells are formed in the pancreas. 

The team discovered that mutations in two specific genes which are important for development of the pancreas can cause the disease. 

At age 10, the children who had received maternal contact as infants slept better, showed better hormonal response to stress, had a more mature functioning of their nervous system and displayed better thinking skills.

Premature babies who cry a lot may be more likely than other preemies to have behaviour problems by the time they reach preschool, a new study suggests.

Experts said the reasons for the finding are not certain, and no one knows whether "interventions" to soothe preemies' crying would ward off behaviour issues later.

"In many ways, this study raises more questions than it answers," said Dr Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioural paediatrics at Steven & Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Centre in New Hyde Park, New York.

For older children and adults, RSV is usually like a cold. Since there isn't a good vaccine against it, Dr. Starke says parents of babies should act fast if their baby has trouble breathing.

"You notice their chest going in and out, they're breathing rapidly, those kids need to be seen right away," he said.

Dr. Starke says there's no treatment for RSV, so parents may want to be extra cautious about taking their babies out in public during this RSV epidemic.

The latest study documented in the journal Rheumatology, was conducted on more than 7,000 older Chinese women. It revealed that breastfeeding was strongly related to a reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Mothers who breastfed, their risk of rheumatoid arthritis came down by almost half compared to those who never breastfed.

There were studies conducted prior to this that focused on the association between breastfeeding and RA, but the results produced were mixed.  It is a well known fact that breastfeeding benefits infants. But there has been growing evidence that breastfeeding has a positive impact on the health of the mothers too. This latest cross sectional study examined the association between breastfeeding and RA and also on the intake of oral contraceptives.

I didn't include it in the roundup listing, because I hope that by now, everyone has seen this:

“Oliver Lush-Camps is more than just a miracle to his parents, Katy and Jonathon; he’s a miracle to science. Born with the help of the Wessex Fertility Clinic, little Oliver is the first baby to be born using the ground-breaking time-lapse photo technology, Eeva (Early Embryo Viability Assessment).”

Researchers have  for the first time determined the genome sequence of human egg cells without destroying them.  The feat, reported today in Cell, could help couples who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) by allowing them to choose a genetically healthy embryo to implant into the mother without disturbing the embryo's growth.

"We are trying to understand what is causing the increased risk of problems for pregnancies achieved by in vitro fertilization," said Pisarska. "It is the first study of its kind in humans and it is unique because we will be able to look at the earliest point in human pregnancy, when the fertilized egg implants, to determine if the adverse outcomes are the result of the genetic make-up of the parents that led to problems conceiving in the first place, or whether it is the result of the infertility treatments themselves."

Investigators found that an imbalance of angiogenic factors, proteins required for the development of the placenta and the health of blood vessels, is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. Increased levels of an anti-angiogenic protein called sFlt1 in pregnant lupus patients placed them at increased risk of placental insufficiency and preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening complication. Scientists determined that higher levels of sFlt1 reduce the activity of other angiogenic proteins (placental growth factor, PIGF; vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF) that are necessary for growth of the placenta and the mother’s blood vessels.

“Pregnant women with lupus or antiphospholipid syndrome are at increased risk for adverse outcomes, particularly preeclampsia, yet identification of those destined for complications has been elusive,” said Jane Salmon, MD, director of the Lupus and APS Center of Excellence at Hospital for Special Surgery and lead author of the study. “We prospectively studied patients to see if we could find a biomarker early in pregnancy that would predict a poor outcome.”

Almost two-thirds of women who attempt a natural delivery after having a cesarean section for their first birth are successful, according to a study recently published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The study, conducted by the Office for Research and Clinical Audit (ORCA) at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, aimed to investigate the factors that determine the uptake and success rate of vaginal birth after cesarean.

The data from 143,970 women, who had their first baby by cesarean section between 2004 and 2011, showed that just over half (52%) attempted a vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) for their second baby.

Labor-induced births for no medical reason increased at a relative rate of 77.7% at rural US hospitals from 2002 through 2010 compared with a relative rate increase of 17.3% for urban hospitals, according to an

article published in the January 2014 issue of Medical Care.

With as many births that take place in the United States every year, the trends have major health, policy and financial implications as current health reform measures go into effect, and rural–urban differences should be considered when implementing payment policies, the researchers write.

Historically, a full-term pregnancy is calculated as 40 weeks after the last menstrual period. A term pregnancy occurs at 37 weeks or beyond, and an early-term pregnancy is considered to be 37 weeks to 38 weeks and six days. According to the researchers, approximately 10 to 15 percent of all deliveries in the United States are performed before 39 completed weeks of gestation without a true medical indication for early delivery.

"Morbidity and mortality rates have increased in mothers and their babies that are born in the early-term period compared to babies born at 39 weeks or later," says Jani Jensen, M.D., obstetrician and lead author of the study. "There is a need to improve awareness about the risks associated with this."

The increased risks for newborns include morbidity, such as respiratory (breathing) difficulties, feeding difficulties and problems such as cerebral palsy although the overall risk is low. These morbidities can also lead to higher rates of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

An elective early-term delivery requires a pregnant woman to be induced, which involves medication or procedures to help start labor. This can lead to a prolonged labor requiring deliveries with instruments such as forceps or a vacuum and may cause infection or hemorrhaging. There is also an increased risk of needing to have a cesarean delivery, and long term there could be more surgical complications for the mother. "It's not an entirely benign procedure that we are talking about," says Dr. Jensen.

There is nothing more relaxing than a hot bath - especially for a mama who has given birth. An easily prepared combination of herbs can add to the natural healing qualities of warm water; a Sitz bath following birth can help ease bruising, tears and abrasions that often accompany many vaginal (and Cesarean Section) births. The ingredients needed for this simple Sitz bath can be found in local health or bulk food shops, equally, one can acquire these herbs from any accredited online herbal shop.

Why won’t your baby let you put him on a 4-hour breastfeeding schedule that other moms talk about?

Why does it seem that your baby wants to nurse all the time?

Because the 4-hour schedule isn’t normal. 

Research has shown that frequent nursing may be more biologically normal than the three-or four-hour schedule new parents are expecting!

Think about it. How often would you eat if you were trying to double your weight in less than six months? 

Plus it is simply not as healthy.

They even tell us adults that 6 smaller meals are better than 3 regular meals for our bodies. Why should babies need less?

Children with Autism often struggle with emotional bonding, which is facilitated by the oxytocin system. However, it has been found that breastfed children have higher oxytocin levels, boosting their chances of evading Autism. Medical researchers have further confirmed that breastfeeding significantly strengthens the nervous system of both the child and its mother.

For five months, the family bonded in the NICU after scrubbing clean from the outside world, around tubes and machines, and between visits from nurses and doctors. Jane fought with necrotizing enterocolitis – a gastrointestinal disease that can result in death for premature babies. As babies her same age were leaving the unit for their homes, Jane was kept under watch as she grew strong enough to breathe on her own. Even as a tiny being in an isolette, the baby was filled with love.

A bigger selection of topics today...check out the news if you are "trying" to get pregnant, and more motivation to keep your pregnancy healthy, low-risk and as stress-free as possible.  Also, new study from ACOG that shows that there may be risks with the use of Pitocin.

“Previous research has shown that what mothers eat during pregnancy affects the health of their offspring. But now, a new study suggests that a father's diet prior to conception could also play an important role in their child's health, particularly when it comes to consumption of folate.”

"The early childhood diet and that of the mother during pregnancy determines the health of a child later life. This is the claim that the EU-funded research project Early Nutrition is trying to substantiate by the time it is due to be completed in 2017." 

“As a newborn passes through the birth canal, the microbiome of a mother’s vagina ends up in the offspring’s gut. In the first study, the team, led by Tracy L. Bale, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and the School of Veterinary Medicine Department of Animal Biology at Penn, found that changes in the microbiome produced by stress in pregnant mice altered the microbe population in the newborn’s gut and correlated to changes in the developing brain.”

…

“In a parallel animal study, Bale and colleagues were looking for predictive biomarkers of maternal stress and found that a specific protein in the placenta, OGT, may have implications for brain development in offspring. The single enzyme is known as O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine transferase or “OGT,” which is important in a wide variety of regulatory functions, including development.

The researchers found that placentas associated with male mouse pups had lower levels of OGT than the placentas associated with female pups, and levels of OGT in the placenta were even lower when their moms were stressed.”

"A Swedish study of children admitted to hospital within the first year of life for lung infection has found that the increased risk this poses for later development of asthma is exacerbated by low gestational age.

Early respiratory infection and preterm birth are both known to be markers of increased subsequent asthma risk, but the relationship between these two factors has been unclear."

"These results suggest that Pitocin use is associated with adverse effects on neonatal outcomes. It underscores the importance of using valid medical indications when Pitocin is used.”

"Maternity care may play a role in determining a mother’s overall level of satisfaction during birth and months after labor. A mother’s decision on the mode of baby delivery and whether they opt for pain relief during labor will affect her overall happiness. A recent study finds a vaginal birth without epidural anesthesia increases the odds of happiness for new moms."

"For the third straight year the United States has fallen in rank in the World Health Organization’s international ranking for maternal mortality. The U.S. currently ranks 58, meaning in 57 nations women have a better chance of surviving childbirth than they do here. The U.S. fares a little better in infant mortality, ranking 34 in the world at keeping infants alive through the birth process. If this sounds outrageous, consider also that the U.S. spends more money on maternity health care than any other developed nation. Licensed midwife Sondra Londino, who recently opened Birthroot Midwifery, a private practice in the Fall Creek area, explains why out-of-hospital births have increased by 41 percent from 2004-2010 and how a midwifed home birth provides a safe and satisfying birth experience." 

“Our report suggests that progestin prophylaxis can reduce the rate of recurrent spontaneous preterm birth when barriers to care and treatment are aggressively removed and that the gestational age at initiation may affect the success of progestin prophylaxis," the authors write.”

“When people find out that I'm an at-home Dad, there's often an image that comes to mind that is not quite accurate, and is largely fueled by the "TV depiction" of stay-at-home and work-at-home Dads: A group of four or five guys standing around a park with outward-facing babies dangling from their chests. If this happens anywhere, I have not witnessed it, nor been a part of such a gathering in the past 4+ years of my career as a parent. When I have seen babies worn by other parents (and sometimes myself), the big question has always been "which way is the right way - inward or outward." It's been the subject of vigorous debate among parents, but the folks at Boba Family just might have the answer, and that answer is inward.”

“Professor Christophe Lacroix at the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH-Zurich, led a study which found  the important good bacteria that babies receive from breast milk comes from their mothers gut. This is part of the innate support that assists babies with acquiring strong immune systems. It is also part of building colonic health and the babies gut.”

Therapy Dogs Help Students De-Stress During Finals

"Whether it's taking a break from the books, the workplace, or even the crowds at some of the country's busiest airports, four-legged friends are being used to help people feel good.

Scientifically, that's exactly what they're doing. Dr. Katherine Zupancic is a professor at SCC and says when people play with animals during stressful times, a hormone called Oxytocin is released that makes people happy."

From 1011HD http://bit.ly/1h3m6cs

Cheng and colleagues conclude that while women planning home births are less likely to experience obstetric intervention, their babies are more likely to be born in poor condition. Do their data warrant that conclusion?

To begin with, the relevant question isn’t the tradeoffs between planned home birth per se and hospital birth. It is: “What are the excess risks for healthy women at low risk of urgent complications who plan home birth with qualified home birth attendants compared with similar women planning hospital birth?” This study can’t answer that question. Here’s why:

At medica - the world's largest medical trade fair, held in Dusseldorf - a new device has been unveiled that could help the smallest of babies make it through their first weeks.

Waiting only one minute to cut the umbilical cord for a pre-term baby greatly reduces complications, says Alberta Health Services.

“Now, in that minute before we clamp the cord, a baby takes his first breaths and pulls in some blood from the placenta. This extra blood stabilizes the baby’s blood pressure and it is thought that the stem cells help fight infection and repair damaged cells.”

European studies show that the delayed cord clamping also significantly reduces the risk of brain injury and hospital-acquired infection. And it cuts the need for blood pressure support in babies born between 22 and 36 weeks of gestational age.”

"Canadian PKU and Allied Disorders (CanPKU) is delighted with the B.C. government's decision to provide funding for special low-protein medical foods for patients affected by Phenylketonuria (PKU) and similar inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs). Medical foods play a critical role in preventing devastating neurocognitive, psychiatric and physical symptoms, and in some cases even death, caused by PKU and 24 other rare, inborn metabolic disorders. The foods are one of three medical components of CanPKU'sComprehensive Brain Protection Strategy for People with PKU submitted to the B.C. government in February 2013."

"Iodine is essential for the human body. This trace element is especially crucial for infants in order to ensure healthy development. Iodine deficiency can disrupt growth and damage the nervous system. In iodine-poor regions, such as Switzerland with its iodine-deficient soils, iodised salt is recommended for use in cooking and the food industry. So newborns generally receive enough of the trace element through breast milk and baby food containing added iodine. However, iodised salt or supplemented baby food are not available everywhere, particularly in remote areas of developing countries, and do not always reach vulnerable segments of the population."

"A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that infants who are breastfed may also have a better diet in preschool. This study combined four different groups from Britain, France, Portugal and Greece, totaling nearly 10,000 children. The goal was to try to understand how early breastfeeding practices affected fruit and vegetable intake in children 2- to 4-years-old."

"It is only in recent history that Western society has drifted away from carrying their babies to a caring method where the baby is left lying on his or her own with scheduled feedings. This trend disrupts the bonding an infant has with his or her mother, and sends the infant into stressful situation."

Disclaimer: 
The material included on this site is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation.  Krystyna and Bruss Bowman and Bowman House, LLC accept no liability for the content of this site, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.  This blog contains information about our classes available in Chandler, AZ and Payson, AZ and is not the official website of The Bradley Method®. The views contained on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of The Bradley Method® or the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth®.

In a more detailed multivariate analysis of data from 2010, the authors found that a good perinatal outcome was positively associated with embryo transfer on day 5 (29.6% vs 23.3% with embryo transfer on day 3; adjusted odds ratio, 1.17 [95% CI, 1.04-1.32]) and elective single-embryo transfer (44.7% vs 24.9% with no elective single-embryo transfer; adjusted odds ratio, 2.32 [95% CI, 1.92-2.80]) but was negatively associated with tubal or uterine factor infertility or with non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity of the maternal recipient. Recipient age was not significantly associated with the likelihood of a good perinatal outcome. These findings have immediate clinical relevance and also raise some intriguing questions.

U.S. women are increasingly using donated eggs to get pregnant, with often good results, although the ideal outcome — a single baby born on time at a healthy weight — is still uncommon, a study found.

That ideal result occurred in about 1 out of 4 donor egg pregnancies in 2010, up from 19 percent a decade earlier, the study found.

High blood pressure (HBP) is a common medical problem encountered during pregnancy. Women are closely monitored throughout pregnancy for changes in blood pressure to prevent health complications that put the mother and the fetus at risk for health complications. Although women’s BP levels may return to normal post-partum, they are found to be at an increased risk for a future stroke, according to a recent study.

Miscarriage is the term used for the spontaneous loss of an embryo or fetus within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Nearly 1 million miscarriages are said to occur in the U.S. each year. Although miscarriage is quite common, there's still a taboo around it. Many women experience shame and guilt after a miscarriage, and there are also a number of misconceptions about this most common complication of pregnancy.

An understanding of what makes labor normal is, of course, necessary for understanding what makes it abnormal. Obstetricians have traditionally used Friedman’s labor curve to help decide if it’s time to intervene, either with a caesarean section — the surgical delivery of the baby through the lower abdomen — or with operative vaginal delivery — using a grasping tool such as forceps to help. But C-sections, performed more often today than ever before, present their own risks, including predisposing women to disorders in future pregnancies. So, one major benefit of the new “normal” could be fewer C-sections, making childbirth safer for both mother and baby.

The new understanding is that, instead of a single definition of normal, there are several variations, all of which allow a woman to remain in the early (latent) phase of labor for two, three or even four hours longer than in decades past, before labor is considered abnormal. This is especially important for first-time mothers, who tend to labor longer than in subsequent pregnancies.

New mothers may be told that they will be back to 'normal' within six weeks of giving birth, but a new study has found that most women take much longer to recover.

Dr Julie Wray, of Salford University, interviewed women two to three weeks, three months and six to seven months after they had given birth to gain a unique insight into postnatal recovery.

She concluded that it takes a year to recover from childbirth. Her study also revealed significant dissatisfaction amongst new mothers with postnatal services.

Adding mild hypothermia to neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in infants with very severe cardiorespiratory problems did not improve neurological outcomes at 2 years, a randomized trial found.

Right now, though, what is the best technology? All car seats have to adhere to federal regulations, so don’t worry about buying a dud. I said “buying,” because you shouldn’t accept hand-me-downs; most car seats expire after about six years, in part because the plastic and harness webbing degrade from heat and cold. As far as I could find out, there are no comprehensive online databases matching best and worst car seats to various car models, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does rank many popular car seat models for “ease of use,” which includes whether they are compatible with most cars and whether their installation manuals are actually decipherable. (Most aren’t: one study reported that car seat manual instructions “exceed the reading skills of most American consumers.” Yes, scientists actually study these kinds of things.)

Every mom I talked to had a different way to hold her baby while nursing, a different breastfeeding "style" so to speak. So which one was right? All of them. Every darn one of them. 

How you breastfeed a baby, it turns out, doesn't matter all that much. What does matter is that mom and baby are both comfortable and the little one is getting to eat. The real trick is finding what works for you.

Disclaimer: 
The material included on this site is for informational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation.  Krystyna and Bruss Bowman and Bowman House, LLC accept no liability for the content of this site, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.  This blog contains information about our classes available in Chandler, AZ and Payson, AZ and is not the official website of The Bradley Method®. The views contained on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of The Bradley Method® or the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth®.