December 16, 2011
Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 5:08 pm
All new parents spend endless hours watching and wondering over their infants. This puts them on the front line so far as noticing when things seem amiss.
Parents are almost always the first to notice the signs of positional plagiocephaly, the medical term for an unusual flattening of the skull. It is usually on the back or on one side of the head, and it can be identified by the position of the bald spot that all babies get as they rub their heads on the bed covering. Positional plagiocephaly is common and found in as many as one in 30 infants. It occurs when an infant’s malleable skull is moulded by constant pressure. Often, that pressure may be part of the uterine environment. In other cases, that pressure is exerted when babies spend too much time sleeping in a single position or it can be associated with torticollis, a tightening in te muscle on one side of the neck.
If you notice your baby developing a flat spot on his or her head, consult your health visitor or GP right away. With the correct advice, and if noticed early enough the flat spot can be effectively treated through simple repositioning techniques. Plagiocephaly repositioning techniques are a form of physiotherapy for infants, and should not be implemented without input from a health care professional.
Repositioning Techniques for Plagiocephaly
Which part of your baby’s head is flattened? A useful guide here may be to think of the top of your baby’s head as a clock with the 12:00 mid day position at your baby’s nose. If you notice that your baby’s flattened spot is at the five o’clock position, at the back and right of your baby’s head, then you need to choose seven to nine o’clock positions deliberately as contact points and keep these in mind during all your interactions with your baby.
Positioning Your Baby While Awake
If you breastfeed, try feeding so that pressure is put on the side of your baby’s head that does not show flattening. Take care not to hold the part of your baby’s head that’s affected by positional plagiocephaly.
If you bottle feed, move your baby around so that no pressure is on the flattened part of the head. Position that point against your chest or arm. If your baby falls asleep in your arms, again be turn your baby’s head away from the flattened area. Yes, your baby may be disturbed when he or she is repositioned, but this is something you are doing for your baby’s own good.
When you take your baby out in a buggy or carrier, use a small towel to lift the flat part of your baby’s skull away from the hard surface inside the carrier. Do the same thing in a car seat or a bouncer. Whenever possible, make sure there is visual stimulation so that your baby will have plenty of incentive to turn his or her head so that the flat part does not make contact. Make sure your baby has plenty of supervised tummy time during the day!
Positioning Your Baby While Asleep
The Foundation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) recommends that you should always place your baby on the back to sleep. This advice has saved thousands of baby’s lives. If your baby has a plagiocephaly position the head so that the flat spot does not touch the cot mattress. There are several pillows and cushions on the market. If you decide to use these always follow the manufacturer’s advice to ensure safety in sleeping. If the flat spot is at the back of your baby’s head, this may mean making a little pillow that can move your baby’s head off the affected spot. If you do this, make sure to clear it with your infant’s physician so that you are complying with his or her recommendations.
If by the age of four to five months, you are not seeing any improvement, you may consider using a helmet to gently correct the head shape as your baby continues to grow.
Since 2003 Technology in Motion has been providing treatment for plagiocephaly and brachycephaly (flat head syndrome), conditions which involve the deformation of the head of an infant.
October 28, 2011
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 7:15 am
Four days after a devastating earthquake separated a two week old child and her mother Semiha Karaduman was reunited with her 16 day old child Azra who made national headlines after she was found in the rubble of a building in Ercis after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the region.
At the time they were both taken to the hospital where they were treated before they were allowed to see each other again. The rescue of the pair has become a shining silver of hope for those who are still hoping to find their loved ones alive after the devastating earthquake.
The priority in Turkey this week has been on finding shelter for the thousands of families who are now homeless and the chances have become very slim that there will be any more survivors found. Since the earthquake originally struck the death toll has increased up to 532 from the original reports of 80 some and the injury toll is up to 1,650.
The Sunday earthquake was the largest in over a decade with more than 600,000 estimated to have been affected by the earthquake in some form. Snow and rain that occurred overnight diminished the hopes that more survivors would be found.
October 18, 2011
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 2:58 am
One of the hardest things about being a new parent is the sleepless nights and troubled days when your baby cannot get off to sleep easily. Sometimes it can seem as though there is nothing that will put your new arrival to bed. This is something that will wear on new parents and quickly become a source of immense frustration. This article is going to look at a few ways to help your baby drift off to sleep.
One of the most important things is to ensure that your baby is relaxed. Trying to force a baby to sleep will only serve to stress them out and make the situation worse. Do not panic if your baby is not sleeping, they will fall asleep when they need to but there are some ways to speed up how fast they drift off.
Parents will often find the babies initially sleep better with the parents or in the pushchair. This is a problem because you actually want the baby to sleep in their cot. A good idea is to let the baby fall asleep in the pushchair and once they have done that move them to the cot. It is important that you sleep without your baby so they get used to not having you present.
A routine is essential for a baby, and sleep is no exception. Make sure that you put your baby to sleep at the same time every night and try to ensure that the nap time in the day is at a regular time. Doing activities before bed such as singing lullabies or taking a bath will let your baby know that it is almost bedtime.
A good night’s sleep is more likely to be achieved by happy babies. Having a good caregiver to nurture the baby will make them feel secure and happy. This is vital for babies sleep and also their well-being. A baby sling is a good way to engage with a baby and will also mean that during the daytime they stay relaxed.
One of the main reasons the babies wake up in the night is because they are hungry. Make sure that they eat enough during the day and remember that they burn a lot of the energy while they are playing. A baby that goes to bed full is less likely to wake up in the night and complain and cry about being hungry. A warm bottle of milk will also help your baby drift off to sleep at night.
Both light and sound paly an important part of the babies rest. Ensure that the room your baby sleeps in has good curtains so they block out all light, otherwise your baby will wake up as soon as the sun rises. Many babies are disturbed by noise so try to make room as quiet as possible. On the other hand repetitive noises can be very soothing for a baby and help them go off to sleep. Consider buying a CD with natural sounds, or recording yourself singing lullabies.
December 14, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 10:28 pm
The uterus is a female sexual organ, in which the fertilized egg matures before birth. All female mammals have a uterus. Processes occurring within the uterus are described by the adjective ‘in utero’.
The shape of the uterus of the woman resembles an upside-down pear and at the upper end of the uterus is the fundus of the uterus, the fallopian tubes (tubes). Next to the uterine fundus it is divided into a body (corpus uteri), an isthmus and the cervix (cervix uteri), which is divided into the peg of the vagina, cervix, and the outstanding portion overlying supra-vaginal.
In a woman who has not had a baby, it is, on average, about 7cm long. The normal situation is the so-called ante version, which means the womb is inclined from the vagina to the front. The degree of inclination is dependent on the filling of the bladder and rectum.
In addition, the uterus has a bend between the body and neck, which is called ante flexion. For an enlarged uterus (e.g. by prolonged confinement in a supine position, during pregnancy), a bending backward (retro flexion) may occur. A back tilt of the stretched uterus is called retroversion, in combination with a bend backwards.
Neighbouring institutions of the uterus are the bladder in front of it, the underlying bowel to the front and ovaries to the side. The side of the uterus are the pelvic vessels, below the pelvic floor. The connective tissue supporting structures of the uterus consist of several bands called the parametrium.
The blood supply of the upper part of the institution is on the abdominal aorta, outgoing ovarian artery, the lower part of the internal iliac artery and the outgoing uterine artery.
Layer
The uterus, like all the hollow organs, are made up of three layers. Outside lies the perimetrium, a smooth glossy coating of the serosa. The main part of the wall forms a layer of smooth muscle, the myometrium. The liner is a mucous membrane, which is called the endometrium.
The inner cavity is called the cavum uteri. The endometrium is controlled in the monthly cycle. If fertilization does not take place, then occurs primate menstrual bleeding (menstruation).
Non-human primates also show cyclical changes in the endometrium during the sexual cycle. There is no menstruation it with them, however. For a successful fertilization and implantation of the fertilized ovum (zygote), it continues to grow and makes the uterine lining to supply the growing embryo, safe. After the birth in primates, the endometrium to the placenta is expelled as the afterbirth.
Change in size during pregnancy
The uterus rises developmentally. The prepubertal uterus is relatively small. After puberty in humans in are 50 – 10 inches tall and expands greatly during pregnancy from the top and sides. It reaches by the end of pregnancy, up to the ribs. After delivery, it shrinks back. After menopause, it is smaller again.
October 22, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 5:09 am
A recent study found that if you are born during October and November, you are more possibly going to suffer from some sort of food allergy by age four than if you were born in June or July. A Finnish study discovered that almost one in ten autumn babies had food allergies and only five in ten summer babies.
Autumn babies were more predisposed to milk and egg allergies by a third than summer babies. Some experts believe the results prove the condition is because of early foetal exposure to pollen.
It seems that babies who have their earliest development stages during the pollen season have a greater risk of developing all sorts of allergies than babies who do not. Why pollen exposure would trigger food allergies is absolutely unknown, although it seems to make common sense that it might trigger reactions to pollen, grass, leaves, etc.
Experts stress that while the results of the studies are intriguing, couples should not attempt timing their pregnancies to have babies with less allergic concerns. The relation to the season and environmental causes is just too controversial.
There are other studies that have been done in an attempt to correlate season of birth attributes with things such as ADHD and MS. Nothing definitive has ever been proven in these season to symptom correlations and it is highly likely that the allergy studies may go the same way.
Environment should always be a considered factor in any of these studies, say experts, and that factor has just not been taken fully enough into account in these allergy studies and many of the other season of birth studies.
October 16, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 1:08 am
After years of heart break, a woman from Birmingham was able to give birth to a healthy, strapping baby boy. Elizabeth Baker lost four babies, each only six weeks along, before the miracle of her 6lb, 11oz baby, Isaac.
Elizabeth was the beneficiary of groundbreaking research performed in order to discover if women who were given steroids during their first two weeks of pregnancy could be giving their children a fighting chance against killer cells by suppressing their immune system. The condition of killer cells in some women’s bodies causes the immune system to attack the embryo as if it were a foreign body, eventually killing it.
Elizabeth’s immune system was so overactive and filled with NK, killer, cells that it had to be suppressed almost to the point of nonexistence. Still, all she had to go through was well worth welcoming her son into the world, she and husband Jeremy agree.
The couple says that they were absolute wrecks right up to the moment of birth and even that didn’t go so well, as Isaac went into distress and had to be delivered by emergency caesarean.
Elizabeth was amid a group pf women involved in a clinical study and, although she cannot know whether she received a placebo or the steroid, the successful birth of Isaac leads her to believe that she was among the number given 20mg of Prednisolone every day.
The steroid is usually used to treat eczema and asthma. In this case it was used to reduce the amount of killer cells in women’s bodies. The process itself is very risky for the mother, as she must be extremely careful to avoid infection, to which she becomes highly susceptible.
Elizabeth will tell you; however, that she and Jeremy, and Isaac believe it was well worth taking the chance.
September 11, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 2:57 am
The new ‘modern man’ who is attempt to hold down a full time career while having a full role in their children’s daily lives are finding out that it is impossible to actually ‘have it all’ in the same way that independent ‘modern woman’ found out about twenty years ago.
This is what a study performed by the Medical Research Council revealed this week after it found that about one out of every five fathers who was trying to do it all faced depression by the time their first child enters secondary school.
The MRC study is a notable piece of research that took into account almost 87,000 families. It found that three percent were depressed during the first year of their first child’s life with the number of depressed fathers rising to 10% when their child reached age four, 16% by the time the child was eight, and 21% by the time their child reached the age of 12.
Mothers were also affected with 13% reported depressed by the time their first child reached their first birthday increasing up to 24% by the fourth birthday, 33% by the eighth birthday, and 39% reported depression by the time their child reached their 12% birthday.
However, the larger problem is the postnatal depression syndrome that seemed to be almost equally shared by fathers.
Postnatal depression counsellor, Liz Wise, stated that postnatal depression is a much larger problem for fathers even though it is usually only woman that are addressed. She continued to say that even mothers with postnatal depression have almost no support with the options for fathers practically non-existent.
August 11, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 2:58 am
After a miscarriage many women need a break to recover from the trauma before they start to try for a new baby.
However, while it may seem wise to wait, waiting for an extended period of time to get pregnant again can actually increase the risk of having an additionally complicated pregnancy the next time around.
A new British study outlines that women that get pregnant within six months of having a miscarriage have a better chance of their second pregnancy progressing in a healthy fashion with a low risk of a second miscarriage.
The NHS advises women to wait for three months before they once again attempt to get pregnant while the World Health Organization on the other hand recommends that a woman wait for six months.
However, researchers now believe that waiting could be harmful, especially for women that are over the age of 35, who are even more likely to have troubles getting pregnant and an equally high risk of birth defects.
The research team was from Aberdeen University and took a look at the data from about 31,000 women that got pregnant after a miscarriage.
Those that conceived six months or less after the miscarriage were about 44% less likely to have a second miscarriage than those that waited between six to twelve months to try to get pregnant again.
Those that got pregnant within six months were also less likely to suffer from an ectopic pregnancy which usually results in a forced termination. In addition, they were ten percent less likely to give birth to a premature baby or require a Caesarean.
November 16, 2009
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 5:49 am
The charity Sands reports that about 500 babies die each year after birth or are stillbirths in Scotland, but that many of these deaths could have been prevented if care were better in neonatal units or if they were not quite as stretched.
Sands are asking the Scottish Parliament to provide additional funds for neonatal research funding and better care in neonatal units including full staffing. According to the charity, the UK needs to recognize that death in the neonatal wards is a large health issue that needs serious attention.
In Scotland last year there were 325 stillborn babies; which is ten times more than the cot death rate, and according to Sands the number has stayed steady for the last thirty years without improvement.
Moreover, an additional 168 babies died in their first month of life after birth making Scotland home of one of the highest infant death rates across Europe. In order to combat the problem Sands claims that the Scottish government needs to work on a national strategy.
Chief executive of Sands, Neal Long, said that the infant deaths are a tragedy of national proportions and that the deaths of infants have been ignored for too long by the Scottish government.
He continued to say that there is enough concrete evidence that shows with a little more research and better neonatal services many of the deaths could have been prevented.
Long also commented that Scotland improve the situation around if Parliament and care makers had better communication about decision making and if the services were better organized.
November 5, 2009
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 6:43 am
Lesbian couples that want to seek fertility treatment in Scotland will soon be able to on the NHS.
After the government was involved in legal action with a lesbian couple, they decided to set up an advisory group, which is expected by the beginning of next year, to recommend that lesbians should have equal access to fertility services from NHS.
Julia McMullan and her partner Caroline Harris fought against the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde chapter, at the beginning of this year for the right to receive free fertility treatment like any other couple.
Although the trust argued that their case was not the true definition of an infertile couple, it backed down from its stance after the couple threatened to sue on the terms of discrimination.
Currently the NHS Lothian provides IVF via a donor and donor insemination to lesbian couples in a ‘case by case’ basis.
A spokeswoman for the NHS stated that at the moment NHS guidelines do not exclude same sex couples, and that there are some NHS boards throughout the region that do allow same sex couples to seek infertility services.
A spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church has already attacked the recommendation, stating that the money is being spent frivolously, when people with terrible illnesses cannot get the treatment that they require.
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