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Breastfeeding proven to lower risk of Alzheimer’s in moms.
As more research becomes available, it is increasingly clear that breastfeeding children provides infinitely more long-term health benefits to both baby and mom. Now, a new study shows that mothers who breast feed run a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life. The research, which was published recently in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, indicates the link may have something to do with key biological effects of breastfeeding. Scientists also found that breastfeeding for longer periods of time decreased overall risk.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
Honey has golden touch in helping beat bacteria at Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
THE healing powers of honey have been known about for thousands of years, dating back to the Ancient Egyptians, who put it on wounds. But with the invention of penicillin and other antibiotics last century, it fell out of use in modern medicine. Now, a leading doctor at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital is using honey to tackle wound infections in patients from newborns to the elderly. Results after a year suggest that honey is effective in beating bacteria, including some superbugs. Not only has it killed MRSA, it has also halved infection rates for women who have given birth by cesarean section and healed hard-to-treat leg and foot ulcers. Read more.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
“We’ve reached the end of antibiotics.”
A high-ranking official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared in an interview with PBS that the age of antibiotics has come to an end. “For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and covers of magazines that talked about ‘The end of antibiotics, question mark?’” said Dr Arjun Srinivasan. “Well, now I would say you can change the title to ‘The end of antibiotics, period.’” Srinivasan, who is also featured in a Frontline report called “Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria,” said that both humans and livestock have been over-medicated to such a degree that bacteria are now resistant to antibiotics. “We’re in the post-antibiotic era,” he said. “There are patients for whom we have no therapy, and we are literally in a position of having a patient in a bed who has an infection, something that even five years ago we could have treated, but now we can’t.” Read more.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
U.S. Breastfeeding Report Card
Read the Centers for Disease Control’s press release announcing the 2013 Breastfeeding Report Card. Breastfeeding rates have continued to rise over the past decade. The percent of babies breastfeeding at six months increased from 35 percent in 2000 to 49 percent in 2010. And the percent of babies breastfeeding at 12 months also increased from 16 percent to 27 percent during that same time period. The data show that babies who started breastfeeding increased from 71 percent in 2000 to 77 percent in 2010.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
Flaws in Recent Home Birth Research are Misleading
A recent press release by the authors of a new study raised alarming headlines in a few media outlets, suggesting that babies born at home had a ten-fold higher death rate than babies born in the hospital. First, it is vitally important to note that this study did not actually examine rates of stillbirth, but rather 5-minute Apgar scores. The press release is completely misleading and inaccurate on this point. Read Wendy Gorman’s two-part analysis of the study in Science & Sensibility: A Research Blog about Healthy Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond, from Lamaze International. Part I and Part II.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
Understanding the Effects of Early Skin-to-Skin Contact on Mother and Baby
The care delivered during the immediate postpartum period is traditionally driven by routine and is often times filled with interventions that require the newborn to be separated from its parents. However, there is mounting evidence that offering early and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth has tremendous benefits to the mother and infant. Once we understand the benefits, the effort required to eliminate the barriers to implementing this simple practice seems relatively small. In this one-hour webinar, Dr. Raylene Phillips will outline the physiologic and psychological effects of early skin-to-skin contact. She shares both the scientific evidence and practical tips on how to implement this practice in your local hospital.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
Increased risk of Guillain-Barre linked to H1N1 flu vaccine
Older adults who got the H1N1 flu vaccine in 2009 had a slightly increased risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, but the shots weren’t linked to birth defects in babies of vaccinated women, according to two new studies released recently. Researchers claim that despite the extra cases of Guillain-Barre, reported in eastern Canada, the flu shots still did more good than harm. Guillain-Barre is an autoimmune disorder, meaning that the immune system attacks the body, as though it’s going after a foreign invader. It is most commonly seen as an after-effect of bacterial infections. The condition is marked by nerve damage that causes muscle weakness, loss of reflexes, and paralysis. The phenomenon was a target of research during the H1N1 pandemic, in part because the swine flu vaccine from 1976 was linked to Guillain-Barre in the United States. Read more.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
Midwifery care leads to better outcomes.
A systematic review of over 16,000 women published in The Cochrane Library showed a decreased incidence of preterm birth, fewer labor and birth interventions, and greater satisfaction in those women who received continuous care from a small group of midwives throughout their pregnancies and births. Read the press release here.
Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News Blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.