Articles in the Pregnancy Category
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Baby, child, and parent news headlines Recent news headlines about safer school supplies, new parents and sleep deprivation, and more. Child health and wellness A new report from the Royal Horticultural Society has found that when children work in school gardens they develop increased life skills, greater literacy and numeracy and are more responsive to the challenges of adult life.— Treehugger A new study finds that girls are more likely today than in the past to start developing breasts by age 7 or 8. The issue is of concern for both medical and psychosocial reasons.— The New York Times (free registration required) According to a study from the Urban Institute…49% of American babies born into poor families will be poor for at least half their childhoods. Those poor at birth are more likely to be poor between ages 25 and 30, drop out of high school, have a teen nonmarital birth, and have patchy employment records than those not poor at birth.— Center for Media Research The Apps for Healthy Kids competition is part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign. The competition calls on software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging interactive tools and games that help communicate healthy lifestyle choices.— Supermarket Guru Back-to-school The Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) has released a free Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies. In addition to phthalates, PVC can also contain lead, cadmium and organotins, all of which can have adverse health effects and have been linked to asthma, obesity and learning disabilities.— inhabitots Parent wellness Women who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have high-birth-weight babies, which may increase the children's risk of becoming obese later in life, a new study suggests.— USA Today A recent sleep survey in the UK found that parents lose an average of six months’ sleep during the first 24 months of their child’s life. According to the Silentnight survey, about 10 percent of parents only managed to get 2.5 hours of continuous sleep each night.— inhabitots The Good Men Project was launched in June and is one of a crop of new magazines…that cater to men with features about parenting, relationships, and mental health as opposed to articles about sex and sports common in some traditional men’s publications.— Boston Globe (via boston.com) Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Baby, Consumer Reports, Headline, News, Parenting, Pregnancy »
Baby, child, and parent news headlines Recent news headlines about safer school supplies, new parents and sleep deprivation, and more. Child health and wellness A new report from the Royal Horticultural Society has found that when children work in school gardens they develop increased life skills, greater literacy and numeracy and are more responsive to the challenges of adult life.— Treehugger A new study finds that girls are more likely today than in the past to start developing breasts by age 7 or 8. The issue is of concern for both medical and psychosocial reasons.— The New York Times (free registration required) According to a study from the Urban Institute…49% of American babies born into poor families will be poor for at least half their childhoods. Those poor at birth are more likely to be poor between ages 25 and 30, drop out of high school, have a teen nonmarital birth, and have patchy employment records than those not poor at birth.— Center for Media Research The Apps for Healthy Kids competition is part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign. The competition calls on software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging interactive tools and games that help communicate healthy lifestyle choices.— Supermarket Guru Back-to-school The Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) has released a free Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies. In addition to phthalates, PVC can also contain lead, cadmium and organotins, all of which can have adverse health effects and have been linked to asthma, obesity and learning disabilities.— inhabitots Parent wellness Women who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have high-birth-weight babies, which may increase the children's risk of becoming obese later in life, a new study suggests.— USA Today A recent sleep survey in the UK found that parents lose an average of six months’ sleep during the first 24 months of their child’s life. According to the Silentnight survey, about 10 percent of parents only managed to get 2.5 hours of continuous sleep each night.— inhabitots The Good Men Project was launched in June and is one of a crop of new magazines…that cater to men with features about parenting, relationships, and mental health as opposed to articles about sex and sports common in some traditional men’s publications.— Boston Globe (via boston.com) Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Baby, Consumer Reports, News, Pregnancy »
Baby and family health news Babies, children, and adolescents deficient in vitamin D A study in the April 2010 journal Pediatrics finds babies need more vitamin D . Researchers estimated that over the first year of life, less than one quarter of the babies were getting the amount of vitamin D now recommended for infants (400 IU/day) by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The group most deficient was babies who were exclusively breastfed. Read the full Health blog post. Multivitamins and higher breast cancer risk I started taking a multivitamin when I was pregnant, and I kept on taking it when I was breastfeeding, sleep-deprived, and feeling like my body needed all the help it could get post-pregnancy. But even after my sleep, meals, and life had become more routine again, I continued to give myself this extra jolt of nutrients each day. But it's uncertain whether multivitamins deliver on such expectations. Read the full Health blog post. Is it safe to eat slightly grayish beef? Almost certainly yes. That graying is caused by oxidation, typically a harmless result of sitting on the shelf for a long time. It can also signal bacterial growth, which can lead to spoilage but generally won’t make you sick. And since bacteria contaminate only the outer areas of solid meat cuts, they’re readily destroyed by the high surface temperatures generated by cooking. Read the full Health blog post. New standards for organic meat The Department of Agriculture has strengthened the rules for producers of organic milk, beef, and lamb. The new standards will require that all organic animals have year-round access to the outdoors. Ruminant animals, such as cows and lambs, will be required to graze on pasture during the entire grazing season and get at least 30 percent of their dry nutrition from the pasture while they are grazing. Read the full Health blog post. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
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Insecticides and birth defects in boys New research from England suggests that there’s something else to be careful about during pregnancy: insect repellents and insecticides. Researchers looked at 471 baby boys born with a malformation called hypospadias, where the opening of the penis appears on the underside, rather than the tip. (Surgery can correct the problem in most cases, although no surgical procedure is completely without risk.) The boys’ mothers were asked about their lifestyles. Compared with the mothers of healthy babies, mothers of boys with hypospadias were more likely to have used insect repellents during the first trimester of pregnancy. Read
Baby, Consumer Reports, News, Pregnancy, Reviews, Toddler »
Bassinet and cradle safety guidelines The best beds for babies are full-sized cribs , so consider bassinets, cradles, and bedside sleepers with caution. Bassinet and cradle manufacturers can voluntarily comply with the ASTM standard for these products (indicated by a JPMA seal on the package)—and certification can provide a layer of protection—but at present aren’t required to. If you decide to buy or use a bassinet or cradle, you can’t be too careful. Here are more safety considerations to keep in mind when you’re looking at these baby beds: Buy certified and buy new. Although it’s not a complete guarantee of safety, buying a certified product adds a layer of protection. Certified products must meet the ASTM standard requirements such as correct spacing of side slats or bars. In 2008, for example, 900,000 Simplicity 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 convertible close sleeper/bedside sleeper bassinets (200,000 of which also carried the Graco logo or a Disney Winnie-the-Pooh motif) were recalled because the bassinet has metal bars that can be exposed when the Velcro flap that covers them is not properly secured—and the bar spacing exceeded the maximum 2 3/8 inches allowed under the federal crib standard, forming a strangulation hazard. Beware: Some of those bassinets could still be in circulation online and at tag sales and secondhand shops. (See two more babies die in Simplicity bassinets .)
Baby, Consumer Reports, Pregnancy »
Folic acid may reduce risk of heart defects in babies From the moment that “+” sign appears on a pregnancy test, expectant mothers (and fathers) have plenty of planning, nesting, and stressing to do before their baby’s arrival. Although tasks like picking a name can wait, making sure you get enough folic acid cannot. In fact, doctors advise women to make sure they get enough of this nutrient before they even become pregnant, as this can reduce the risk of spina bifida and related birth defects. Now, a new study suggests another reason to be vigilant about getting enough of this vitamin: a lower risk of serious heart defects. Using government databases, researchers tracked serious heart defects among babies born in Quebec, Canada, in the 9 years before folic acid was added to grain products, and in the 7 years after. They found little variation in the annual rates of serious heart problems before folic acid was added, with around 1.64 babies in every 1,000 having these defects. In the years following, however, serious heart defects decreased, affecting around 1.47 babies in every 1,000. Learn more about the study, and how much folic acid you should take, in the rest of this Health blog post. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Baby, Consumer Reports, Moms, Pregnancy »
Can you eat during labor? They don't call it labor for nothing. Delivering a baby can be exhausting work, lasting 10, 20 or more hours for some women. So how can moms-to-be keep up their strength? How about a fortifying snack of…ice chips? After eating-for-two throughout pregnancy, women are often advised not to eat at all during labor. Does food help or hinder labor? Neither, according to a large study released last month, which found that women’s deliveries were remarkably similar whether they snacked or fasted. The study involved more than 2,400 healthy women in England who were having their first baby. They were randomly split into two groups. In one, women were advised to consume only water and ice chips during labor. In the other, women were encouraged to eat small, regular amounts of food, such as bread, cookies, fruits, low-fat yogurt and fruit juice. Researchers found little difference between the groups in: How long labor lasted How often the women vomited Whether they needed C-sections Whether their deliveries were assisted with forceps or a vacuum There were also no differences in the babies’ overall condition at birth or their chance of being admitted to a special care unit. These findings suggests that the fast-or-snack question is perhaps best left to the mom-to-be at the time of labor, assuming she is healthy and expected to have a normal delivery. Read the rest of this post on our Health blog . And see our report on safer childbirth for related information. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Baby, Consumer Reports, Pregnancy »
Cord blood banking: Doctors weigh in The promotional pitches started early in my pregnancy, even before all my friends knew I was expecting. There were brochures in the mail, flyers at my doctor's office and ads in pregnancy magazines—all counseling me to privately bank the blood from my newborn’s umbilical cord to preserve the valuable stem cells within. Doing so would provide a type of biological insurance, in case my baby or another family member needed a stem-cell transplant or related therapy in the future. As someone who tends to overplan and prepare, this seemed like a no-brainer to me. Stem cells, I knew, are cellular building blocks that can develop into hundreds of other cell types. Scientists think they may hold the key to treatments and even cures for Parkinson’s, diabetes and a range of other diseases. And stem-cell transplants are already used to treat some cancers, and immune, and blood disorders. Wouldn’t I want my baby to have her own ready supply of perfectly matched stem cells, just in case? Of course. What parent wouldn’t? Read the rest of this post on our Health blog . Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences