Should You Exercise While Pregnant?

It is one of the most common questions medical experts are asked.  It comes up in the office and even in social settings.  The question is, "Should you exercise while you are pregnant?"  The answer is yes.  Exercise and proper conditioning can help with the labor and certainly improve your overall blood supply to the baby.  In addition, stretching, flexibility, and exercise are quite helpful and can help at the time of delivery.  But, there is a longer answer we need to stress.  Women who are pregnant need to realize they should not expect to do more than when they were not pregnant.  That's a very important point.  

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Toilet Training Battle

It is a source of constant problems for parents. Should they toilet train their baby? Are they affected by the toilet training? Are they doing a good job? Many parents get upset about it. The bottom line is your child will learn to use the toilet. Don’t put so much pressure on your child that your child actually feels that they have to deal with the toilet training under a gun. The bottom line is this…this is one of the first times your child can exhibit independence and it will be a battle. It’s not done easily.

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Adjusting Children to a New Baby

We always get excited about having a new addition to the family. Everybody wants to welcome the child, but sometimes a sibling may not welcome that child with open arms. In fact, a sibling can get downright hostile. What we have realized about newborns is the fact that the siblings often are upset about the lack of attention that they’re going to get. That’s why when you’re pregnant you should talk to your child about the fact that a new child is coming. Make them part of the process. Make them feel as if they can contribute as well. It will make a very big difference.

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Research on Oxytocin and Delivering Babies

There's an interesting report in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Actually, the research was done at Tulane and the University of North Carolina.  They worked together.  What they found is teaching hospital staff in Uruguay and Argentina might have better ways to deliver babies by reducing the chances of the new mom experiencing significant blood loss and undergoing an episiotomy.  Here's what happened.  The researchers worked with hospital staff providing workshops and one on one training in order to promote oxytocin use during labor and discourage episiotomies.  An episiotomy is an incision in the mother to aid the baby's exit.  After the intervention finished, even a year later, oxytocin use during labor was up 2% to 84% and episiotomies were down 41% to 30%; gains that were not seen at hospitals that did not have those interventions.  Chances of blood loss decreased by 45% to 70%.

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Preparing for Pregnancy

Preconception care is so important and it’s important for many reasons. First of all, a woman needs to know, if she’s going to become pregnant, what she’s facing. What are the pros, the cons, the concerns? But in addition to that, how do you prepare to have a healthy baby? What are the things you can do? For instance, are there certain foods you should eat? Folic acid is a very important vitamin that should be taken before a woman becomes pregnant, and throughout the pregnancy. A lot of women aren’t aware of that, the importance of folic acid. All of these things need to be evaluated and stressed.

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A Fascinating Study of Baby Cradling and Maternal Stress

A British study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry suggests that mothers who cradled their baby on the right side may be struggling with extreme stress. The study suggests that baby cradling habits may indicate whether the stress could become increasingly hard to handle and lead to depression. As many as ten percent of new mothers develop postpartum depression. Identifying warning signs could potentially help health care providers identify mothers who might be prone to emotional difficulties. The majority of mothers prefer to cradle their baby on the left side.

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Having the Baby Blues

They are called the “baby blues.” The “baby blues” are a period of time after a baby is born where you essentially can have a feeling of depression. “Baby blues” actually is a period of time for a week or two after you have your baby where you may be a bit down. Mostly counseling and a little bit of extra attention can help you through this. But if it continues, please make sure you get the treatment you deserve; you do not want to ignore it.

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What are the Benefits of Bottle Feeding?

Bottle feeding doesn’t necessarily get good press. You hear a great deal about breastfeeding and the advantages of that, but bottle feeding actually can be quite effective. First of all, mom can spend plenty of time with the baby at the nipple of the bottle. As long as mom is bonding with the baby, that’s what’s important. Secondly, bottle feeding can be effective from the nutritional standpoint because they are now making formula, and have been making formula, that simulates what the human body has. So, all in all, bottle feeding can be a very good thing.

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Testing for the Sex of Your Baby

If you are pregnant, the odds are quite good you’re curious whether or not you’re going to have a boy or a girl. It goes with the territory. You want to know if your baby will be healthy. Will your baby look like mom or dad? What color eyes will he or she have? Yes, the sex of the baby is also a curious point. Are you going to have a boy or a girl? Well, perhaps you've heard advertisements for home test kits designed to tell if you’re going to have a girl or a boy. In fact, a test kit is available over the Internet claiming to be able to tell a woman who’s just six weeks pregnant, whether she’s having a boy or girl. At the present time, the best techniques are those used by health professionals. These include: Chorionic villus sampling, which can be done quite early; you can have amniocentesis, which is done later; and even later, just by simply doing a very accurate, detailed pelvic ultrasound. As for the test kit, let the buyer beware.

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