Pregnancy and Baby Blog

A 2-month old baby was rescued from a locked car by authorities from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls after the employees discovered that the child’s parents were nowhere in sight.

The campus authorities said that they put baby safety first after discovering the child on at about 8:20 pm on a school night near the soccer fields.

Jim O’Connor, university spokesperson, said that the car windows were rolled up and that the baby’s parents were nowhere to be seen. He added that the officers had no choice but to break the windows and immediately take the child to the nearest hospital for medical checkup.

O’Connor said that the child was doing fine but could not say how long the baby had been in the car.

Weather reports that night revealed that the temperature reached 88 degrees that night which could be dangerous for a two-month old baby.

Authorities are currently investigating the matter and are now searching for the child’s parents. There’s no indication yet if charges will be filed against the parents for neglect. This incident, however, did trigger the awareness on the importance of baby safety.

A study revealed that baby nursing or breast feeding your baby for at least a year can decrease the risks of acquiring breast cancer by five percent. If you continue the habit for more than two years, then the risks is further reduced to fifty percent.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Data Bank on BreastFeeding, despite the positive outcome of the study – only one out of four women knew about this. In another study, about 44 percent of babies were breastfed.

In China, women tend to breastfeed their children longer than those in Western countries. This resulted to reduced incidence of breast cancer by up to 63 percent in the span of six years.

For baby girls, breastfeeding is beneficial too. According to the study, the milk that they get from their mothers can aid in supporting their immune system thus reducing the dangers of cancer when they grow up.

Baby nursing is beneficial to both the mother and baby because estrogen, a female hormone, is suppressed. It has been discovered that cancer cells are at times dependent on estrogen in order to grow. This means, if estrogen is inhibited, then so does the cancer cells, if there’s any.

Destination Maternity Corporation, a global leader on maternity lingerie and apparel, announced via a press release that it has signed up an exclusive distribution deal with U.S. retail giants Maternity apparel retailer signs distribution partnership with Sears, Kmart and Sears. This is to meet the needs of moms and moms-to-be in the country. The distribution deal starts in October this year.

According to the release, the maternity apparel company has re-launched its Two Hearts Maternity collection. This will be made exclusively available in more than five hundred Sears and one hundred Kmart stores nationwide. The maternity apparel will be competing with brands like Freya.

Products that are up for purchase are casual sportswear, swimwear, sleepwear, dresses and maternity lingerie. Most of the items are priced under thirty dollars.

In the past, Destination Maternity has partnered with Sears for product distribution. The partnership lasted for four years. This time, the company is coming up with new products that will surely be a hit among moms.

Destination Maternity Chief Executive Officer Ed Krell said that the multi-year agreement is a win-win situation for both companies because this brings the consumers closer to both brands. Sears is the fifth largest retailer in the United States with more than 3,000 outlets stores in major cities nationwide.

A mom from Grand Forks, North Dakota has finally pleaded guilty to charges of child neglect last week following the international furor over the incident where she was breast feeding her six-week old baby despite being “extremely intoxicated.”

The incident, according to the authorities, took place on February 13 this when 26-year old Stacey Anvarinia was seen speaking inaudibly and was feeding her baby. The officers at that time were responding to an unrelated call in the neighborhood.

Prosecutor Meredith Larson informed the judge that the officers, based on their official report, called the nearby Altru Hospital for medical advice on the implications of breastfeeding a baby while intoxicated. The hospital informed the authorities that it is dangerous thus prompting the officers to inform the young mom.

Alcohol is said to pass into the milk which means it could be extremely dangerous to conduct baby feeding while drunk because the baby could ingest a lot and may be fatal.

Despite the warnings, Anvarinia allegedly continued to breastfeed the baby. For now, the young mom entered an open plea since there was no plea agreement made with the prosecution as of press time.

The sentence will be given on August 7. Anvarinia could face up to five years in prison for the charges.

Despite the financial crisis, most Australian mothers won’t let that problem get in their way in spending quality baby clothes and diapers for their babies.

According to the reports, moms are estimated to spend nearly $4 billion on baby clothes, toys, blankets and other merchandise this year despite the rising cost of commodities. This means an average mom would spend about $5,400 on their babies needs alone.

Makers of diapers will certainly have a field day in terms of profits as 2 billion diapers are expected to be bought this year, or about 5.6 million units a day.

Analysts said that a lot of mothers now have professional careers which make them financially stable and able to buy stuff for their babies. Designer goods are blooming in the market which attracted the attention of the parents to buy “only the best” for their infants.

It is no wonder why popular fashion lines have created a label just for the kids such as Baby Gucci and Esprit Kids.

Practical moms also spend on more expensive items. According to one of the mothers interviewed, she said that the high quality of the baby clothes they bought could mean comfort for their kids and at the same time, they can be handed down to their next baby.

New moms spend a lot on themselve as well. Despite the recession the sales on maternity bras and clothes is still growing.

Bristol Palin, the daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has signed up to take part in a countrywide campaign to increase awareness of teenage pregnancy prevention. This campaign is organized by non-profit group Candies Foundation.

Bristol Palin grabbed headlines during her mother’s campaign for Vice Presidency last year when it was announced that she’s having a baby out of wedlock. The 18-year old has been chosen by the foundation to become one of the Teen Ambassadors. Part of her responsibilities is to take part in town hall meetings where issues relating to teenage pregnancy are discussed.

In a statement, Palin said that she is a “living example” for teenagers everywhere. She added that it would be a great achievement on her part if she successfully prevents one teenage girl from getting pregnant early.

In December last year, Palin gave birth to a son. The father was her former boyfriend Levi Johnston.

The foundation was established eight years ago with a goal of educating the American youth on the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy. In order to continue its drive, the site is selling t-shirts with appropriate slogans to discourage teenage pregnancy.

A latest study revealed that baby names coming from popular celebrities of the moment tend to lose popularity over time and it fades faster than by that time it became famous.

This study was conducted by Gael Le Mens and Jonah Berger who went through a century’s worth of information in terms of choices of baby first names in France and the United States. The researchers were checking the cultural practices and choices when it comes to parents’ naming their offspring.

Aside from the textbook information, the researchers asked a significant number of would-be-parents on what names they’ve considered for their children. The sample baby names provided by the researchers have been ranked according to preference.

The results based on combining the survey and historical data revealed that names that became become popular at a certain point faded fast while those less-trendy baby names stayed the same. Findings showed that the more popular the baby name is, the faster it becomes “obsolete.”

The survey revealed that parents-to-be are now more hesitant these days to actually mimic the names given by celebrities to their babies. This is in order to avoid identity-crises that might be encountered by the child in the future.

The researchers’ report can be read at the Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which will be released later this week.

The baby shower season is here once more. Expect your mailbox to have those intricately designed invitation cards that bear the name of your friends’ upcoming baby shower.

However, even though you are happy for your friend, you can’t help but think of the additional expenses you are going to make to buy gifts especially since you are trying to stay on your budget.

Worry no more, here are some great gift ideas that won’t cost much but will be very significant to the recipients since it promotes baby safety, hey it will be a change from pink maternity bras wont it?

• Smoke alarm ($10) and carbon monoxide detector ($20): You might find it unusual to give these items but these are really useful. According to a study conducted by Home Safety, only a few parents think of installing these items. Both the smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector could not be bought at baby products store so go to your nearest hardware or retail store and check out the bargains.

• Child Proofing Kit ($25): This is definitely a must have for new parents in order to protect their babies from untoward accidents.

You can also do a little research using the internet before making the purchase. The aforementioned items may not get the biggest appreciation during the baby shower but you’ll know in your heart that you’ve just given your friend a really huge favor. That’s what really matters.

People Magazine has confirmed through its sources that “Project Runway” host Heidi Klum is pregnant with her fourth child. This serves as the 35-year old German supermodel’s third child with singer-husband Seal. She had a daughter from a previous relationship with Flavio Briatore, an Italian businessman.
According to reports, the baby is due in the fall.

Seal also made the announcement during a performance at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Thursday. Before he sang the song “A Change Is Gonna Come,” he excitedly told the crowd: “Heidi and I are having another baby!”

Klum was seen in the audience with her three children.

Us Weekly magazine quoted the source who said that the happy couple has always wanted to raise a big family.

As for those who are close to Klum, her pregnancy did not come as a complete surprise since the supermodel herself said that she still wanted more kids. In another magazine interview, Klum revealed that her hubby always find her very beautiful when pregnant.

The rumor about her pregnancy arose when redesigned gowns for her leaked on the internet. The adjustment was made to make room for her growing belly.

New research revealed that teenage pregnancy can increase a girl’s tendency to become very fat or obese in later years as compared to those who don’t get pregnant.

According to Dr. Erica Gunderson of Kaiser Permanente, findings revealed that “adolescence has been identified as one of the critical periods of development that set the stage for the onset of obesity later in life.” Their findings were published at the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The researchers added that childbearing can provide greater influence on fat accumulation among teenagers. This is based on their investigation wherein they studied 1,890 women who enrolled in a national study of growth and health during their childhood years. These women had been followed up each year for the next 10 years since enrolment.

According to their results, 17 percent of the respondents gave birth to a child between 15 to 19 years old, 4 percent bearing more than one child, 10 percent were pregnant but did not have a child and the rest (69 %) did not get pregnant within that period. There were 983 African-American girls and 907 white girls involved in the study.