Pregnancy and Health

Alcohol binges early in pregnancy increase risk of infant oral clefts

A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts. The researchers found that women who consumed an average of five [...]

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Helping Women With Diabetes For Healthy Pregnancies

Pregnancy is a time of great excitement and anticipation. It also can be a time of anxiety, especially for women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Pregnancy in women who have diabetes is automatically considered high-risk. But a new, easy-to-read booklet has information to help women with diabetes experience safe, healthy pregnancies. For Women [...]

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Researchers Block Maternal Alcohol Related Fetal Brain Damage

In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces. The cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle [...]

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Pregnant women put children at risk with alcohol consumption

It is not breaking news that alcohol consumed during pregnancy can cause disorders in the unborn fetus. But, there are still women that don’t know and understand the risk they put their child in when they consume alcohol. According to a recent large-scale study conducted within a population in Norway, they found that alcohol binges [...]

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Pre-Term Infants’ Brains Linked To Pregnancy

Brain development in infants who are born very prematurely is still incomplete. Factors that cause premature birth may have an impact on the development of the premature infant’s brain both during pregnancy and later on after birth. A project conducted as part of the Academy of Finland Research Programme on Neuroscience (NEURO) is concerned to [...]

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Docs Don’t Deliver ‘No Smoking’ Message To Pregnant Women

While everyone knows that smoking is bad for you and that smoking while pregnant is bad for baby, too, pregnant smokers don’t receive much help from their physicians to quit smoking, and few quit once they enter prenatal care, according to a new study. The study found that almost half of pregnant New Jersey smokers [...]

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Pregnant Women Unaware, Misinformed About Flu Shots

Despite national health experts’ long-standing recommendation that women receive a flu shot while pregnant, three-quarters of women responding to a new national survey are unaware or unsure of these recommendations, and only 20 percent of those who are currently pregnant plan to get a flu shot this influenza season. Results from the survey of pregnant [...]

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Black Women Face More Obstacles To Early Prenatal Care

One in five black women in Oklahoma faces barriers to starting prenatal care, such as transportation problems, inability to obtain a doctor’s appointment when wanted and not being able to begin prenatal treatment when wanted, according to an Oklahoma State Department of Health report released on Tuesday, the Oklahoman reports. The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring [...]

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UK pregnant women offered gift vouchers, beauty treatments to quit smoking

The NHS plans to offer treats to pregnant women who smoke so as to encourage them to quit. Pregnant women who smoke are to be offered gift vouchers and beauty treatments to encourage them to quit. The incentives, which also include baby goods, will go to those women who can prove they have kicked the [...]

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Gaining Too Much Weight During Pregnancy Doubles Risk Of Having Heavy Baby

A study by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research of more than 40,000 women and their babies found that women who gained more than 40 pounds during their pregnancies were nearly twice as likely to have a heavy baby. Published in the November issue of Obstetrics %26amp; Gynecology, the study found that more than [...]

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Secondhand smoke linked to fertility problems in women

If you need another reason to quit smoking, consider that it may diminish your chances of being a parent or grandparent. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that women exposed to second hand smoke, either as adults or children, were significantly more likely to face fertility problems and suffer miscarriages. An [...]

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Children May Be Aggressive If Mother Smoke During Pregnancy

Women who smoke during pregnancy risk delivering aggressive kids according to a new Canada-Netherlands study published in the journal Development and Psychopathology. While previous studies have shown that smoking during gestation causes low birth weight, this research shows mothers who light up during pregnancy can predispose their offspring to an additional risk: violent behaviour. What’s [...]

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