Probiotics May Help Ease Colic

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20100816/probiotics-may-reduce-crying-from-colic

A probiotic supplement may help parents trying to soothe a colicky baby, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Turin, Italy, found that a few daily drops of lactobacillus reuteri, a bacterium that can help improve digestion, significantly reduced crying among infants with colic.

Recent research suggests that colic may be linked to an immature immune system struggling with bacterial imbalances in the gastrointestinal tract, and that high levels of E. coli bacteria in particular may contribute to colic symptoms.

Researchers compared 25 healthy infants who were randomly assigned to receive drops of Lactobacillus reuteri to 21 healthy infants who were assigned to receive placebo drops. All the infants were diagnosed with colic, born full-term at a healthy gestational weight, had no history of gastrointestinal disorders, were breastfed, and did not receive any other probiotic supplements during the week prior to the study. The infant's mothers were also advised to avoid cow milk in their own diets during the study period.

After a 3-week period, crying was reduced in both groups, but the Lactobacillus reuteri infants showed the greater reduction. From a mean of 370 minutes of crying per day at the start of the study to 35 minutes. The placebo group's mean crying time dropped from a mean of 300 minutes per day to 90 minutes. Stool analysis also showed a significant reduction in the presence of E. coli among infants who received the Lactobacillus reuteri drops.

Researchers speculate that infants in the placebo group may have experienced an improvement because of reduced cow's milk in the mother's diet.

Overall, the findings support the belief that Lactobacillus reuteri may help reduce colic symptoms by improving gut motility and function, which could reduce gas in the gastrointestinal tract and abdominal pain and cramping. It also appears to reduce levels of harmful E. coli.

Top Surprises For New Parents

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/slideshow-top-surprises-of-parenthood

1. All your time is baby time - Newborns sleep up to 18 hours per day, but that is broken into small chunks. Between naps there is feeding, changing and a lot of holding needed. After the first hectic weeks, babies will begin to take longer naps at more predictable times.

2. You've joined the parent club - Strangers smile at you. Mothers at church ask if you want to join them on a play date. Your boss asks how your baby's doctor visit went. The club is called parenthood, and you have a lot of company.

3. Your relationship changes - There's one more person to interact with, which means less time for just you and your partner. Try to set aside time for just the two of you.

4. Night is no longer for sleeping - Until your baby sleeps through the night, you can limit your deprivation by taking turns with your partner in getting up with the baby.

5. You'll have too many visitors - Family and friends will want to see the new baby, and bring endless stories about raising their kids and advise about raising yours. If you are feeling overwhelmed, it's ok to say "Lets make it another time." Good friends will understand.

6. You make more faces than a baby - Babies learn by watching and interacting with their environment. It won't be long before you find yourself doing a lot of "silly" things to encourage your baby's learning.

7. You need help - The constant attention that babies demand is exhausting. Ask for help from your partner. Each of you should have time each day while the other is taking care of the baby to do something that's just for you.

8. Babies need conversation - When you talk to your baby, she learns and you bond. Imitate your baby's vocalizations - "ba-ba" or "goo-goo" - then wait for your baby to make another sound, and repeat that back. This helps her learn the give and take of conversation.

9. Babies are expensive - The average middle class family spends $225,000 in the first 17 years of a child's life. That's just to provide food, shelter and other necessities. That doesn't include things like increases in health insurance, or saving for college.

10. Guilt is part of parenthood - You told yourself you were going to be a great parent, but there are times when you simply don't want to do it anymore. Now you feel guilty that you aren't enjoying every moment. Don't. It's natural to want a break from baby. Ask for help. When the baby is safe in his crib, call a friend. And take time to notice all the things that are going right.

Children of Sperm Donors Seek More Rights

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38679526/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

An increasingly outspoken generation of donor offspring want to transform the dynamics of sperm donation so that the children's interests are given more importance and it becomes easier to learn about their biological fathers.

Though Britain and several other European countries have banned anonymous sperm donations, it still seems far-off in the U.S., though the voices of donor offspring are being heard more widely and clearly than ever because of internet-based social networking and other recent developments, such as the new film, "The Kids Are All Right," which depicts 2 teenage siblings who track down their sperm-donor father.

The film opened just weeks after the release of a study by the Commission on Parenthood's Future, which surveyed 485 donor offspring. The study concluded that they were more troubled and depression-prone than other young adults in comparison groups, and recommended an end to anonymous sperm donation.

An increasing number of U.S. sperm banks offer identity-release policies, in which donors agree to let their offspring contact the donor when they turn 18. But many donors still opt for anonymity.

More than 28,000 people involved in anonymous donations - offspring, parents and donors - have registered with the Donor Sibling Registry, a web-based network run out of Colorado by Wendy Kramer. She started the registry so her donor-offspring son, Ryan, could find his siblings, and she says it has helped more than 7,400 people find half-siblings and biological fathers.

Prenatal Pesticide Exposure Tied to ADHD Risk

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38763223/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

Children whose mothers were exposed to widely-used pesticides such as malathion during pregnancy may be at increased risk of developing an attention disorder by age 5, a new study reveals.

Researchers found that the risk of attention disorders rose with increasing levels of metabolites - substances created when pesticides breakdown - measured in a pregnant woman's urine.

This finding comes after a report published earlier this year by Harvard researchers who found that school-aged children exposed to organophosphates, one of the most common types of pesticides, were more likely to develop symptoms of attention deficit disorder.

Pregnant women who are concerned about these findings can lower the risk to their fetuses by carefully washing fresh fruits and vegetables before eating them, and eat organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible.

Experts do not advise avoiding fruits and vegetables all together. The risk created by not eating them would be greater than the risk from the pesticides.

A Gift of Breast Milk Saves Baby

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/23/2167806/an-exceptional-gift-of-life.html

In an act of kindness and generosity, the mother of a premature baby who did not survive has helped another premature baby thrive against the odds.

Nicole Hendrix gave birth to a baby girl named Lillian on March 4th, 4 months early. Hendrix saved frozen breast milk for her baby, but sadly, Lillian didn't survive long enough to get most of it. She had suffered from a condition called necrotizing enterocolitis, where blood circulation was cut off to portions of her bowel.

Jennifer Robinson also gave birth 4 months early. On April 16 her son Max was born. He suffered from the same condition. Breast milk is believed to be protective against necrotizing enterocolitis, and it's the best-tolerated milk for infants recovering from the condition. When Jennifer Robinson could not produce anymore milk, Nicole Hendrix donated gallons of the milk that she had saved.

After multiple surgeries and four anxious months in intensive care, Max was finally healthy enough to leave the hospital, weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces. Hendrix was there to see him off. "It makes me feel that something good can come out of something bad," she said.

Often it is difficult for mothers of preemies to give their babies milk. Either their body isn't ready to produce milk or the stress of dealing with a critically ill child keeps the milk from flowing. Robinson was having trouble producing enough milk for her son and began searching breast milk banks, but insurance plans don't always cover the charges. She calculated that it would cost thousands of dollars per month.

When Lillian passed away, Hendrix had saved up a lot of milk, and asked the hospital if she could donate it. Hendrix found out that Robinson needed it. "This was a no-brainer," said Hendrix. "I feel I would have regretted it if I didn't. I feel I've given meaning to my daughter's life, if this can help save Max."

The families, who didn't know each other before, are now friends. "We instantly felt we had a connection," Robinson said. "If it weren't for Lilli, Max would not be here. Her little life made a hugh impact on his. Someday, he'll know about Lilli and how selfless her mother was."

Baby Talk May Be Important in Language Acquisition

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/642032.html

Baby talk is common across languages and cultures, but the brain mechanisms that govern it are not known.

Researchers at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Tokyo used functional MRI to assess brain activity in 35 first-time parents whose infants hadn't begun to speak (preverbal) and compared them to 30 men and women without any parenting experience. The study also included 16 mothers with toddlers who spoke two-word utterances and 18 mothers with children in elementary school.

The participants' brain activity was monitored while they listened to recorded baby talk, which triggers brain activation patterns similar to those that occur when someone speaks baby talk.

The brain scans revealed that mothers with preverbal infants had increased brain activity in the areas of the brain that govern language. This heightened brain activity did not occur in any other group, including mothers who children had started to speak.

Among mothers with preverbal infants, those who were extroverts had increased cortical activation in speech-related motor areas of the brain.

These results show that there are clear distinctions in how people process and generate baby talk. Baby talk acts as a link for linguistic transfer from mother to infant and plays a crucial role in the early stages of infant language acquisition, researchers concluded.

New Dads Give Off Hormone That Tightens Bond With Baby

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/new-dads-secrete-hormone-that-tightens-baby-bonds-israeli-study-shows-1.308463

A series of new studies suggest that new fathers, like moms, secrete hormones that strengthen their attachment to their infants.

Professor Ruth Feldman, a psychologist and brain scientist at the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center in Bar-Ilan University, led the study published this month in the journal Hormones and Behavior. Researchers studied the levels of oxytocin and prolactin produced in fathers when interacting with their infants.

Researchers found that fathers with higher levels of prolactin were more likely to play investigative games meant to arouse curiosity with their infant. Fathers with higher levels of oxytocin were more likely to establish a strong social connection with the baby.

In a previous study led by Professor Feldman, the levels of oxytocin were measured in moms and dads before and after interacting with their infant. It was found that oxytocin levels rose during play among both mothers and fathers, but in mothers this happened only when they gave the baby a lot of loving physical contact. The hormone level rose in fathers only when fathers gave a stimulating touch that encouraged the infant to explore.

"In this way, via coordinated interaction, parents shape children's ability to establish close relations, to feel empathy, to understand the feelings and intentions of others, and to trust in the other," Feldman says.

Pregnancy Weight Affects Child's Future Weight

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/04/born-to-be-fat/?iref=allsearch

A study in the British journal, The Lancet, found that expectant mother who watch their weight during pregnancy increase the chances their baby will maintain a healthy weight throughout life. Researchers also found that women who gain too much weight during their pregnancy tend to give birth to heavier babies who are at higher risk for obesity as children and adults.

Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues reviewed medical records of more than one and a half million women and children over a 15 year period. Each woman had 2 or more children. The researchers examined the differences in that amount of weight gained by the same mom in each pregnancy to see if these differences affected the weight of each child.

A woman who gained 50 pounds during pregnancy compared to 20 pounds had double the risk of having a high birth weight baby. The babies born to heavier moms weighed at least a third of a pound more than the children of mothers who gained less.

Scientists are still trying to pinpoint how excess pregnancy weight leads to the child gaining excess weight down the road. Ludwig speculates that some of the mother's excess calories make their way across the placenta, making the baby heavier, and also disrupting key stages of the baby's development. Extra glucose, and other factors, affect infant's genes and may cause permanent changes in the baby's tissues or in the brain regions that regulate hunger and metabolism.

This means these children tend to want to eat more, and may gain more weight than other children even when eating the same amount of food.

First Test Tube Baby Gives Birth

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20013014-10391704.html

The first baby to be born through in-vitro fertilization, Elizabeth Carr, is now 25 years old and just gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Although there was a lot of controversy surrounding so-called test tube babies at the time, Carr's birth ushered in a new age. People who would have been unable to conceive now had new hope.

Now a journalist, Carr, who changed her last name to Comeau to avoid notoriety, recently recounted her experiences with the media in a first person essay in the Boston Globe.

Doctors Told to Avoid 1 Brand of Flu Shot for Young Kids

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38578253/ns/health-cold_and_flu/

A government panel is recommending that doctors avoid giving a certain brand of flu vaccine to young children this year because kids in Autralia and New Zealand who were given the shot had a higher rate of convulsions and fever.

This flu vaccine is made by CSL Biotherapies, an Australian company. CSL is one of five manufacturers supplying the U.S. this fall, but only accounts for a small portion of the 170 million doses.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said doctors should avoid using the CSL vaccine in children between 6 months and 8 years old.

The panel said the vaccine could be used in children older than 5 if they were at greater risk of flu complications and no other vaccine was available.