With over 4 million births in the United States and between 128 and 138 million births in the world every year, the need arises for proper care during pregnancy. Here are some tips for taking care of yourself during your pregnancy.
Get Prenatal Care
The number one most important thing you can do to insure you have a healthy baby is to get prenatal care from a reputable doctor. Regular prenatal checkups can detect potential problems early, determine whether a c-section may be needed, determine the sex and just insure things are going smoothly. A prenatal checkup will generally include blood and urine tests to check for bacteria, blood sugar problems, high blood protein levels, iron levels and other typical complications of pregnancy. Your blood pressure and weight will also be checked. Ultrasounds may also be done to check the growth of the baby and its position in the womb.
Eating Right
In addition to prenatal care, it's essential that you eat right. Balanced meals are crucial, as you are now feeding your baby, as well as yourself. A diet with plenty of whole grains, high quality proteins, fruits and vegetables and dairy is usually recommended for most expectant mothers. It is also recommended that you avoid some items like too much caffeine, artificial sweeteners and any raw or not fully cooked foods like eggs, fish or meat. Also not recommended are soft cheeses and unpasteurized dairy products as these can contain bacteria that could cause an infection. Some types of fish contain higher levels of mercury, which should be avoided, these fish include tuna, shark, swordfish and mackerel. Only two or three servings of fish are recommended for most pregnant women. Above all, drink plenty of fluids, especially water, during your pregnancy.
Vitamins & Supplements
In recent years, studies have found that the B vitamin, folic acid, helps to prevent birth defects when taken during pregnancy. Doctors recommend you take 400 mcg every day. Your doctor may also recommend a multivitamin formulated for pregnant women as well. Many women also take other vitamins and supplements during pregnancy, but be sure to let your doctor know what other supplements you're taking. Consulting a nutritionist or naturopath can be beneficial and they can customize a supplement plan for your specific health needs.
Exercise
In general, most pregnant women can do the same types of exercises that they did while they weren't pregnant. Though some types of weight lifting, very strenuous exercise, as well as certain yoga poses and pilates movements aren't recommended for pregnant women. You should do your research to make sure you are doing safe exercises for your baby. Generally, swimming and walking are excellent, lower impact exercises for pregnant women and are therefore most recommended.
Dealing With Morning Sickness
Vomiting and nausea are the two most prevalent symptoms of morning sickness in pregnant women. Some ways to alleviate morning sickness include eating more small meals throughout the day instead of 3 larger ones and also eating less greasy or fatty foods.
Prevention Of Complications
Taking care of yourself from the moment you are pregnant can not only protect the health of yourself and your unborn baby, but it can also prevent post birth health complications, including postpartum depression. Postpartum can be prevented by getting proper physical and mental health care during pregnancy, but if after birth, you still come down with a level of postpartum depression, it can be dealt with by using medication or counseling, including an innovative online counseling method, called eCounseling. eCounseling provides effective counseling services by certified counselors, for treating postpartum depression right in your own home.
Remember to take care of yourself during pregnancy, since you're not just taking care of yourself anymore, but also another living being.
Source :http://www.americanchronicle.com
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Physical and Mental Health During Pregnancy
SSRI anti-depressants may cause stillbirth
Canadian researchers at the University of Ottawa compared the health of babies born to 972 women taking SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) with that of babies born to mothers who did not use anti-depressants.
They found that women using the drugs were twice as likely to have a stillbirth. They were also almost twice as likely to have a low birth weight baby, reported the online edition of BBC News.
Babies born to women using SSRIs were also more likely to have seizures, the study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology said.
SSRIs work by increasing levels of the mood chemical serotonin in the brain. Babies born to women using SSRIs were also more likely to have seizures, the researchers said.
"Left untreated, the physical and psychological effects of depression can lead to problems during pregnancy," said Charlotte Davies of Tommy's, the baby charity.
"Sufferers of depression are far more likely to smoke, as well as lose their appetites and in extreme cases are more likely to attempt suicide, which can all have devastating effects on mother and baby."
Whilst this study has found a correlation between SSRIs and pregnancy complications, it has in no way confirmed a clear causal effect between the two.
The researchers said women using these anti-depressants should be fully briefed about the potential risk by their physicians. Pregnant women could opt for other types of anti-depressant medication, they said.
Source :http://www.spiritindia.com
Baby death spotlights services to disabled
From the start, social workers were concerned for Seth. They were present in the emergency room when he was born and visited his mentally disabled parents' Abingdon apartment in the days after he went home to make sure he was receiving proper care.
But after that, alleges the boy's maternal grandfather, Jesse Stacey, a retired Aberdeen police officer, the social workers didn't do enough.
He complained to them that his daughter, Giovanna Mosley, and her husband, Richard, who was left with brain damage from a car accident, weren't properly caring for his grandson. Social workers returned to the apartment in April and found the 7-week-old child unresponsive in his crib. Seth was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Last week, the Mosleys and a man who was living with them were arrested and charged with second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse resulting in death. The three were ordered held without bond yesterday during a hearing in which a prosecutor alleged the two men had "tossed the baby around" and the mother had not intervened.
The case is likely to draw new attention to the challenges faced by mentally disabled parents and the support agencies assisting them. As recently as 50 years ago, the mentally disabled could be forcibly sterilized, but today the government recognizes their rights and only intervenes if the parents request help or if there are allegations of abuse and neglect.
"It shouldn't be assumed that having a disability and an inability to parent are things that co-exist," said Lauren Young, director of litigation for the Maryland Disability Law Center. "There has to be a vigilant analysis, not focusing on disability but the parent's conduct, that needs to be examined. ... They have rights to have families, too."
Stacey said his daughter does not understand that her son is dead, underscoring her mental shortcomings and the need for social services to have kept close watch over the new parents. He believes Seth should have been taken from the couple at birth.
"There were enough issues raised [by the department] about their ability to take care of a child that they should've never been able to leave that hospital," said Stacey, 56.
Jerry Reyerson, the county's director of social services, said the agency was actively involved with the family and aware of "issues" that required greater scrutiny. He said he could not comment on specifics related to the case because social workers are likely to be called to testify.
"We were actively involved with this family," Reyerson said. In general, the agency tries "to do as much as we can while respecting fundamental parents' rights."
Though there is little research in the field, one estimate placed the number of children born annually to mentally disabled parents at 120,000 - with as many as 40 percent ending up in foster care.
A 1993 study by a quality care commission in New York found many parents with mental retardation had low self-esteem and resisted help from outsiders. Nearly half of the families were subjected to allegations of abuse or neglect, and one-fourth of the children did not receive adequate medical care, dental care or nutrition.
But in 2002, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that social service officials must offer services tailored to the needs of mentally impaired parents who do not want their children placed for adoption, siding with a Westminster man who officials said was well-intentioned but unable to care for his two children.
The man, identified in court papers only as "Mr. F," had limited intellectual capacity, resulting in his feeding his younger child pumpkin bread that was past its expiration date and wanting to take his children swimming at a pool that has no shallow section. But the court said social service officials must evaluate parents and refer them to suitable programs.
Social service agencies typically get involved through a referral from someone such as a health professional, neighbor or teacher who reports concerns about a child's care, and a Social Services employee investigates whether the child is in danger, said Elyn Jones, a spokeswoman for the Maryland department of human resources.
The number of programs available for mentally disabled parents has grown in the past 10 to 15 years, but advocates say they are still inadequate because of the large number of adults in need.
"The mandate of most child protective services is to support the integrity of the family," said Barbara Whitman, director of family services and studies at St. Louis University School of Medicine. "When you have to allow for somebody to fail, and that failure is the death of a child, that's where we question our laws."
At a bail review hearing yesterday, Assistant State's Attorney Bruce M. Smith told the judge that the man who had been living with the Mosleys, 21-year-old Daniel Evan Reilly, had "vigorously shook the infant saying 'Stop it. Stop it,'" on the day of the baby's death and that Reilly had told law enforcement officers that he and Richard Mosely had shaken the baby before.
Seth had suffered hemorrhaging, left and right optic nerve damage, and was severely underweight, Smith said.
Source : http://www.baltimoresun.com
Nicotine In Breast Milk Disrupts Infants' Sleep Patterns
A study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center reports that nicotine in the breast milk of lactating mothers who smoke cigarettes disrupts their infants' sleep patterns.
"Infants spent less time sleeping overall and woke up from naps sooner when their mothers smoked prior to breastfeeding," says lead author Julie A. Mennella, PhD, a psychobiologist at Monell.
The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, raise new questions regarding whether nicotine exposure through breast milk affects infant development.
While many women quit or cut down on smoking while pregnant, they often relapse following the birth of the baby. Mennella comments, "Because nicotine is not contraindicated during lactation, mothers may believe that smoking while breastfeeding will not harm their child as long as the child is not exposed to passive smoke. However, there has been very little research on either short- or long-term effects of nicotine delivered through breast milk."
Nicotine is a pharmacological stimulant that affects the developing brain and has been shown to cause long-term behavioral and learning deficits.
In the Monell study, researchers measured the feeding behavior and sleep patterns of 15 breastfed infants over a 3-1/2 hour observation period on two separate days. The infants were between two and seven months of age. All mothers were current smokers who abstained from smoking for at least 12 hours before each observation period.
Each mother smoked one to three cigarettes immediately prior to the observation period on one day and refrained from smoking on the other. On both occasions, mothers breastfed their infants on demand over the ensuing 3-1/2 hours. Following each feed, mothers laid infants down on their backs in a crib or on the floor.
An actigraph strapped to the infant's ankle enabled researchers to measure activity and sleep time. Levels of nicotine and cotinine, a major metabolite of nicotine, were measured in breast milk samples provided by the mothers before each feed, allowing researchers to determine the dose of nicotine passed to each infant.
Total sleep time over the 3-1/2 hours declined from an average of 84 minutes when mothers refrained from smoking to 53 minutes on the day they did smoke, a 37% reduction in infant sleep time. This was due to a shortening of the longest sleep bout, or nap, and to reductions in the amount of time spent in both active and quiet sleep.
The level of sleep disruption was directly related to the dose of nicotine infants received from their mothers' milk, consistent with a role for nicotine in causing the sleep disruptions.
Infants consumed the same amount of breast milk on both days, suggesting that they were accepting of tobacco flavor in breast milk. Previous research from Mennella's laboratory has shown that infants demonstrate increased enjoyment of flavors experienced through transmission in breast milk.
Noting that children whose mothers smoke are more likely to smoke as teenagers, Mennella speculates that early experiences with tobacco flavor during breastfeeding may increase its appeal later in life.
She comments that additional studies are needed to examine the long-term developmental effects of nicotine delivered through breast milk.
An earlier study from Mennella's lab demonstrated that breast milk nicotine levels peak 30 - 60 minutes after smoking one or two cigarettes and clear by three hours after the smoking episode. Emphasizing the many benefits of breastfeeding on infant health and development, Mennella notes that lactating mothers who smoke occasionally can time their smoking episodes to minimize nicotine exposure to their child.
The present findings highlight the need for targeted smoking cessation programs that address issues relevant to lactating women. Mennella suggests that concerns about tobacco flavor in their milk and disruptions of their infants' sleep may help motivate breastfeeding mothers to abstain from smoking.
Lauren M. Yourshaw and Lindsay K. Morgan also contributed to the study.
Funding was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Source : http://www.sciencedaily.com
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Baby teeth cavities on the rise
Preschoolers today are more likely to have cavities than they did a decade ago, according to a recent study from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The percentage of children ages 2 to 5 who have had at least one cavity in their baby teeth was 28 percent in 1999-2004. This is up from 24 percent in 1988-1994, the study said.
One cause of the increase could be from the child's diet, said John Williams, a pediatric dentist in Jackson.
"Parents need to have an active role in what their child eats and drinks," he said. "Don't let them go to bed with a bottle or sippy cup unless there's only water in it. Apple juice, even from concentrate, has a lot of sugar in it."
Keeping the amount of sweet things consumed to a minimum is good, Williams said.
"When people hear "sweets," they think "candy." But it's more than that. Anything with carbohydrates has sugar. And potato chips stay on the teeth far longer than any candy does."
Children's medicines can also cause problems, said Ralph Nixon, also a pediactric dentist.
"Almost all liquid mediciations have a very high sugar content," he said. "Children need to brush after taking any oral medication or vitamins."
Tammy Stout has been trying to teach the importance of healthy teeth to her 4-year-old daughter, Haley.
She has also been taking her to the dentist for two years.
"I just want her teeth be to taken care of from the very beginning," she said. "She can already brush her teeth on her own, and I just supervise."
Other things parents can do: Limit the amount of juices a child has during the day, and provide calcium-rich snacks such as cheese and yogurt instead of cookies or candy, Williams said.
Stout heard about the danger of tooth decay and wanted to prevent it for Haley.
"I just know how important it is for her teeth to be healthy," she said.
Aside from teaching her daughter how to brush her teeth, Stout also tries to feed her daughter healthy foods and follows Williams' instructions.
But eating right is only part of the fight to prevent tooth decay in those baby teeth, Williams said.
"Parents need to be informed," Williams said. "Thinking it's just their baby teeth, they're going to fall out anyway is the wrong attitude to have. Bring children in to the dentist to be checked. Whenever I have a young child in here, I use it as a time educate the parent about proper care."
Some think there's no need to worry about cavities because their baby teeth are going to fall out anyway, Nixon said.
"Yes, they do fall out," he said. "However, if they have cavities and are not treated, the infection is very acidic and can cause damage to the forming permanent teeth.
"Children who do not have healthy teeth can not chew food correctly, especially foods high in fiber such as apples and celery. That can result in constipation."
As soon as the first six teeth have come in, parents should start brushing, Williams said.
"In fact, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends cleaning the baby's gums before teeth even come in."
Children can start effectively brushing on their own around the age of six, Williams said.
"I usually gauge it by, if they can tie their shoes, they can brush their teeth."
Source : http://www.jacksonsun.com