Something called “Scientific impact paper (number 37)”, might not be expected to attract much attention. But, news sites and parenting forums alike have been rife with comments attacking the release. The…
Hospitals provide much-needed medical care and treatment for women who run into difficulty in childbirth. But many women and babies have medical intervention and treatment without good reason. We’ve become…
Research has shown benefits to mothers and babies when fathers are involved.
Pixabay
We all have different expectations about how involved dads should be during pregnancy and childbirth. In the UK, it’s generally seen as a good thing and research is now beginning to show that it matters…
Indian women who had migrated to Australia were more likely than Australian-born women to have caesarean sections or instrumental births, the study found.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34547181@N00
Some groups of migrant women in Australia are at a higher risk of medical interventions in childbirth that may lead to health problems for the mother or child, a new study has found. Medical interventions…
Timing sex around ovulation doesn’t change the odds of having a boy or girl.
Image from shutterstock.com
Despite most parents ultimately just wishing for a healthy baby, there are many cultural and social factors that can drive the desire for a baby of a particular sex. The medical technology for sex selection…
Experts have said the new study does not demonstrate a causal link between low Vitamin D levels and pregnancy problems.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Australian experts are urging caution over a new study that suggests a link between insufficient vitamin D and pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and lower birth weight in…
Ultrasound footage of wallabies in the uterus could help threatened marsupials reproduce.
Arthur Chapman
The private lives of marsupials are difficult to study. Many of them are nocturnal, very rare or overly sensitive to being put under intensive surveillance in captivity. Until now we’ve had to be satisfied…
Smoke-free public areas are now common in Australia.
AAP/Kalo Fainu
Smoking bans have been linked with a reduction in the risk of preterm baby deliveries in a new Belgian study. The study, published on the British Medical Journal website today, included more than 600,000…
Sex. It’s what got you into pregnancy, but is it also the pathway to getting you out? Around a quarter of all Australian pregnancies are medically induced, with a third of those inductions occurring due…
Chrissie Swan and her management have attracted massive media attention in the aftermath of photos of her smoking being published.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
The past week has seen a torrent of news coverage about Chrissie Swan, who “confessed” to smoking while pregnant with her third child. The confession was followed by myriad commentators and op-eds criticising…
Broadcaster and commentator Chrissie Swan certainly opened her own can of worms yesterday with her admission she has been smoking while pregnant with her third child. Swan’s “confession” came to light…
Most pregnant women only need to eat the equivalent of an extra two pieces of fruit and half a glass of milk a day.
Flickr/flequi
We’ve all heard people sprout the phrase, “go on, you’re eating for two now” at barbecues, dinner parties and wherever food is being served, forcing pregnant women to decline offers of more and more food…
Private health insurance policies have played a crucial role in the rising rate of caesarean births.
Chimpr
The proportion of women who give birth by caesarean has risen dramatically in the developed world over the past few decades, with rates in Australia almost doubling, from 18% in 1991 to 31% in 2008. Until…
After weeks of speculation about the contents of her uterus, it was revealed overnight that Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is indeed pregnant. However, Catherine is in the early weeks of her…
There is no evidence to support the claim that eating peanuts or peanut butter during pregnancy will make your child allergic to peanuts.
Image from shutterstock.com
Anyone else have the feeling something radical has happened with peanut allergy in the past 30 years? I don’t recall knowing anyone allergic to peanuts or peanut butter as a child in the 1980s, yet today…