Medicine.org - Reproductive Health

Caffeine During Pregnancy Increases Risk of Miscarriage, New Study Says

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:21:33 -0500

High doses of daily caffeine during pregnancy -- whether from coffee, tea, caffeinated soda or hot chocolate -- cause an increased risk of miscarriage, according a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study controlled, for the first time, pregnancy-related symptoms of nausea, vomiting and caffeine aversion that tended to interfere with the determination of caffeine's true effect on miscarriage risk. The research appears in the current online issue of American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Breastfeeding Is Not Always the Best Method for Baby

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:15:19 -0400

A myth exists that breastfeeding is good for the mother and good for the infant. For the most part, this is not myth but fact. Women who don't have health problems should try to give their babies breast milk for at least the first six months of life. Breast feeding offers many benefits to the baby. Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong and healthy toddler. Some of the nutrients in breast milk also help protect your infant against some common childhood illnesses and infections. It may also help your health. Certain types of cancer may occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies.

Figures Don't Lie: Some Interesting Statistics on America's Health

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:42:34 -0400

It’s always interesting to note what the health trends are in America. For the most part, most of us feel only good trends will be seen, as don’t we live in the richest nation on Earth? But that is not true, especially for the poor, ethnic groups, or the young. Witness the statistics from a very recent report from the CDC cited below .

FETAL AND PERINATAL MORTALITY

Pregnancy: How Much Weight Gain Is Good?

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:08:07 -0400

Pregnancy is always a time when women worry about 'looking fat', or 'looking like a whale', or a number of other metaphors used for the weight one gains during pregnancy. So, how much weight gain is good?

You should gain weight gradually during your pregnancy, with most of the weight gained in the last 3 months. Many doctors suggest women gain weight at the following rate:

2 to 4 pounds total during the first 3 months (first trimester)

Over the Teeth, Through the Gums: Look Out Baby.........Alcohol and Pregnancy

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:12:52 -0400

For every drink you have, your baby also has one. Alcohol is a substance that passes easily and quickly across the placenta membrane. How much alcohol is good for the baby? One drink? Just a little wine? The obvious answer is none. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt your baby’s growth. Your baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life. Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.

Do Women Go Into "Heat"?

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:49:11 -0400

Estrus refers to the phase when the female is sexually receptive ("in heat").
Animals go into ‘heat’ to signal to other animals mating time is ripe for potential pregnancy. Ovulation is about to occur. Animals in heat will no doubt become pregnant if a viable female and male mate. For years now, humans have excluded themselves from the estrus cycle. Researchers have termed this ‘concealed ovulation’.

Older Mothers More LIkely to Have C-Sections

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:56:44 -0400

By looking at insurance claims, it is estimated that almost 100,000 women elect to have Caesarean sections, when there is no medical need.
This statistic is a concern, as Caesarean sections are major abdominal surgeries. The mother is more at risk, and so is her infant.

Therefore, when it was noticed that most of these surgeries were due to older women (above 35 years old) concern levels were raised even further.

A Healthy Home for Your New Baby; Pre-Conception Care

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:46:53 -0400

It used to be as soon as you thought you were pregnant; you would go to your doctor, who would promptly give you a bottle of pre-natal vitamins. Some of the readers may remember these huge horse tablets that were part of every normal pregnancy.

Other than that, you were considered healthy if you didn’t gain too much weight during pregnancy and saw your doctor on a prescribed basis.
Now we know that is not enough. To prepare a healthy home for a baby, you must begin prior to becoming pregnant. This care is called preconception care.

A Healthy Home for Your New Baby; Pre-Conception Care

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:46:53 -0400

The “Urge” to be a Mommy is Genetic

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:34:27 -0400

The number of children per family is now slightly over 1 per couple in developed countries, such as Europe or the United States. This is not enough to replace the mating couple. Should we adapt standards such as China did on the number of births required? Of course, our democratic history would not permit such a mandate.

Then what are we to do? Will the Caucasian race disappear?

Some are truly worried that today’s culture which fosters less and less children per household may bode ill, or extinction of the Caucasoids, for developed countries.

Should Women Who Smoke Be Discouraged from Breastfeeding?

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:03:37 -0400

In the news recently is the difficulty giving up cigarettes when pregnant. Apparently, a lot of the difficulty is the underlying mental health issues, mainly depression, which approximately 30% of these women have. Treating the depression may be a more effective, than lecturing them about a habit they already acknowledge may harm their baby.

Now information surfaces about cigarette smoking and those who are breast feeding. Although women who use recreational drugs or don’t moderate their alcohol intake, may be actively warned to not breastfeed; this is no longer true with nicotine. Nicotine was retracted from the list of drugs contraindicated in breast feeding, as apparently, the benefits outweighed the risks.

For Some, Child Birth Is Still Deadly

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:57:40 -0400

As recently as 90 years ago, it was not uncommon for American women to die during childbirth. Since then, sanitation, medical advances, and more knowledgeable women have significantly decreased this tragedy.

It used to be that the number of women who died during childbirth outranked the number of infants who died. Today, the number of infants who die in childbirth remains a lot higher; almost 700 babies die out of every 100,000 births.

Programming Your Child's Future Is Possible

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:31:56 -0400

How much do the foods you eat when you are pregnant, affect the baby’s health as they mature into adulthood?

An observation made during a famine which occurred during WWII in Europe indicated that if the mother had inadequate food during the first trimester, the baby had heart disease. However, lack of food occurred during the second trimester, contributed to kidney disease in the child. And, if the mother went hungry during the last trimester, the baby was much more likely to have insulin resistive type of diseases such as diabetes.

The Thin Blue Line Is Obsolete In Predicting Pregnancy

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:32:34 -0400

Am I pregnant? The answer to this age-old question once demanded a combination of guesswork, intuition, and time. The earliest written record of a test for presence of pregnancy was in 1350 BC in Ancient Egypt. A woman urinated on barley over the course of a few days. If the barley grew, the woman was pregnant. Sound ridiculous? Studies done show that 70% of the time, this method worked.

Breast Feeding Causes Death of 13 Day Old Infant

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:56:30 -0400

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is concerned that nursing infants may be at increased risk of morphine overdose if their mothers are taking codeine and are ultra-rapid metabolizers of codeine. The agency has reviewed all available information on this subject since a medical journal reported the death of a 13-day old breastfed infant who died from morphine overdose. The morphine levels in the mother's milk were abnormally high after taking small doses of codeine to treat episiotomy pain. A genetic test showed that the mother was an ultra-rapid metabolizer of codeine.