Childbearing is glorified in part because women die from it.

- Andrea Dworkin






Pregnancy News From ScienceDaily

  • Don't 'Break The Waters' During Labor Without Good Clinical Reason, Concludes Cochrane Review
    posted on 10/16/07
    A Cochrane Review concluded that amniotomy, also known as breaking the waters, should not be used routinely as part of standard labour management and care. It found that it doesn't affect the woman's satisfaction with her childbirth experience, and doesn't result in the child being in better condition immediately after birth.

  • Hip Size Of Mothers Linked To Breast Cancer In Daughters
    posted on 10/10/07
    In a study of the maternity records of more than 6,000 women, scientists discovered a strong correlation between the size and shape of a woman's hips and her daughter's risk of breast cancer. Wide, round hips, the researchers postulated, represent markers of high sex hormone concentrations in the mother, which increase her daughter's vulnerability to breast cancer.

  • Copper: An Important Nutrient For Fetal Brain Development
    posted on 10/09/07
    Copper helps move telecommunications signals across phone wires, allowing people to talk to one another across long distances. Tiny amounts of copper, within certain enzymes in the brain, also help form key neurotransmitters that allow brain cells to "talk" to one another. Scientists now have described how adequate amounts of copper are important to brain function. Their animal model studies suggest that levels of copper intake are critical to the fetus during pregnancy -- a concept ca

  • Low Levels Of Perchlorate Exposure Are Safe For Pregnant Women, Study Indicates
    posted on 10/09/07
    Despite great concerns that small amounts of ingested perchlorate -- a chemical which is ever-present in the environment -- decreases thyroid function among individuals, it has no effect on the thyroid function of women in early pregnancy, including those with a low-iodine diet, according to a new study. Thyroid hormone is critical for the neurodevelopment of a fetus--particularly in the first trimester of pregnancy--and requires the mother to receive an adequate intake of iodine.

  • Cause Of Visual Problems Among Children Of Hypothyroid Mothers Found
    posted on 10/09/07
    Children of women with hypothyroidism—an under-active thyroid—who had elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, had a significantly reduced ability to see visual contrasts, compared to women with hypothyroidism with normal TSH levels during the first two trimesters, and pregnant women with normal thyroid levels, according to a new study.

  • Pregnant Women Should Eat Fish After All, Experts Urge
    posted on 10/05/07
    Fish consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding remains a heated topic. Fish is the dietary source with the highest levels of long-chain omega-3 essential fatty acids. However, there is concern about trace levels of methyl mercury that are present in fish. A new report recommends the consumption of a minimum of 12 ounces of seafood per week (salmon, tuna, sardines) or DHA-fortified eggs.

  • IVF Technique Enables Pregnancy Without Multiple Births, Study Finds
    posted on 10/04/07
    An in vitro fertilization technique that can avoid multiple births appears to be effective for women older than 35, according to new research. More than half the women in a retrospective study became pregnant after undergoing the procedure, called a single blastocyst transfer, which transferred just one embryo into the womb.

  • Low Maternal Cholesterol Tied To Premature Birth
    posted on 10/02/07
    Pregnant women who have very low cholesterol may face a greater risk of delivering their babies prematurely than women with more moderate cholesterol levels, according to new research. Scientists found that low maternal cholesterol levels also may lead to adverse birth outcomes, including premature birth and low birth weight.

  • Stop Eating For Two: Obese Moms-to-be Should Gain Less Weight Than Currently Recommended
    posted on 10/02/07
    A new study suggests current guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy should be revised. Severely obese women should lose weight during pregnancy, while obese women who are pregnant should gain less weight than currently recommended, according to new research. The findings run counter to current recommendations developed by the Institute of Medicine in 1990 that suggest women should gain at least 15 pounds during pregnancy and places no upper limit on pregnancy weight gain.

  • Possible Genetic Risk For Fetal Alcohol Disorders
    posted on 09/26/07
    New research in primates suggests that infants and children who carry a certain gene variant may be more vulnerable to the ill effects of fetal alcohol exposure. The study's results may also help to explain why some children of mothers who drink during pregnancy suffer birth defects, while others seem to escape unharmed.

  • Noninvasive Prenatal Testing By Analyzing Mother's Blood
    posted on 09/26/07
    Currently, prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases and genetic monitoring of fetal development require invasive procedures. New data has indicated that it might be possible to perform these processes noninvasively by analyzing fetal mRNAs in the blood of pregnant woman.

  • Repeat Steroids To Premature Infants Linked To Cerebral Palsy, Study Suggests
    posted on 09/25/07
    Repeated courses of a drug that is used to improve the survival of unborn premature babies also may increase the risk of cerebral palsy in those children, according to results from a multi-center study. The drug -- a corticosteroid called betamethasone -- is given to women at risk of premature delivery to hasten the development of their baby's lungs.

  • Weight Gain Between First And Second Pregnancies Associated With Increased Odds Of Male Second Child
    posted on 09/25/07
    Mothers who experienced an increase in weight from the beginning of the first pregnancy to the beginning of the second pregnancy may be slightly more likely to give birth to a baby boy during their second pregnancy.

  • Secondhand Smoke Increases High School Test Failure, Study Suggests
    posted on 09/24/07
    Teens exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a new study. Taking other known risk factors into account — for example, socioeconomic status, gender, prenatal exposure to smoking and active smoking during adolescence — researchers found that exposure to secondhand smoke at home decreased the odds of passing standardized achievement tests by 30 percent in 16- and 18-year-olds.

  • Multiple Corticosteroid Injections In Pregnant Women May Increase Cerebral Palsy
    posted on 09/23/07
    In pregnant women at high risk for preterm birth, a single injection of corticosteroids has been shown to reduce the baby's chances of having serious lung problems after birth. A new study shows that repeat courses of corticosteroids are linked to an increased rate of cerebral palsy among children of these mothers.

  • Teen Girls Report Abusive Boyfriends Try To Get Them Pregnant
    posted on 09/23/07
    Seven years ago, Elizabeth Miller was a volunteer physician in a community-based clinic in Boston, Mass., which offered confidential services to teens. She is still haunted by the memory of a 15-year old girl who asked her for a pregnancy test. It was negative, but two weeks later the girl was treated for a severe head injury in a nearby emergency room. The girl's boyfriend had pushed her down a flight of stairs.

  • Pregnancy May Slow -- Not Accelerate -- Progression To AIDS
    posted on 09/21/07
    A new study may help put to rest fears that pregnancy accelerates progression to full-blown AIDS in women with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy. The study revealed that pregnancy may, in fact, slow disease progression in these women.

  • Maternal Depression And Controlling Behavior Associated With Increased Stress Response In Infants
    posted on 09/20/07
    Teenage pregnancy is widely recognized to be a major public health concern. These young mothers face many life challenges and they have an increased risk for becoming depressed. How might the behavior of these young mothers be related to later psychiatric or behavioral problems in some of their offspring?

  • Old Drug Being Tested As Possible Pre-eclampsia Cure
    posted on 09/19/07
    Researchers are trying to determine whether a drug already available to heart patients can also be used to delay delivery in expectant mothers with severe pre-eclampsia. If so, this groundbreaking study would give hope to hundreds of thousands of women who experience this life-threatening disorder each year.

  • Should Genetic Screening Be Provided For Disease That Can Be Less Serious, Treatable?
    posted on 09/19/07
    Some couples in Israel whose fetus screened positive for Gaucher disease, which can range from being mild and treatable to being a severe disease, decided to have the pregnancy terminated, raising questions concerning the appropriateness of certain types of genetic screenings, according to a new study.

  • Women Prescribed Drugs Linked To Birth Defects Not Often Advised To Use Birth Control
    posted on 09/18/07
    Although prescription medications that may increase the risk of birth defects are commonly used by women in their childbearing years, only about half receive contraceptive counseling from their health-care providers, according to a large-scale study. The study found that one in six women of reproductive age filled a prescription for a medication labeled by the FDA as increasing the risk of fetal abnormalities.

  • New Clues To Breast Cancer Development In High-risk Women
    posted on 09/16/07
    Physicians who treat women with the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 often remove their patients' ovaries to eliminate the source of estrogen they believe fuels cancer growth. Yet they also know that anti-estrogen therapies don't work to treat breast or ovarian cancer that might develop. That paradox has led scientists to question exactly how, or if, estrogen is involved in cancer development and whether removal of ovaries makes sense.

  • Fat Mum Hastens Path To Childhood Obesity
    posted on 09/14/07
    A fat mother hastens a child's path to obesity, finds a new study. Other factors included too much time spent in front of the TV and rapidly piling on the pounds in early childhood. Children who had acquired a high percentage body fat by the age of 3½ were significantly more likely to be obese at the age of 7 than those with low percentage body fat.

  • A Child's IQ Could Be Affected By Maternal Epilepsy
    posted on 09/13/07
    A history of maternal epilepsy and its associated treatment may be linked to impaired intelligence later in life, says a new study.Researchers investigated the IQ levels of sons born to mothers with and without epilepsy, and found a correlation between intelligence and the illness.

  • 'Fruity Vegetables' And Fish Reduce Asthma And Allergies
    posted on 09/12/07
    Giving children a diet rich in fish and "fruity vegetables" can reduce asthma and allergies, according to a seven-year study of 460 children. The findings also reinforce the researchers' earlier findings that a fish-rich diet in pregnancy can help to protect children from asthma and allergies.

  • Low Vitamin D During Pregnancy Linked To Pre-eclampsia
    posted on 09/11/07
    Vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is associated with a five-fold increased risk of pre-eclampsia, reports a new study. A complication of pregnancy marked by soaring blood pressure, pre-eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and fetal illness and death. Pre-eclampsia affects up to 7 percent of first pregnancies, and health-care costs associated with pre-eclampsia are estimated at $7 billion a year in the United States alone.

  • Drug Could Improve Pregnancy Outcomes In Wider Range Of Women With Insulin Resistance
    posted on 09/11/07
    Women who are obese, have type 2 diabetes or a family history of type 2 diabetes could one day have more successful pregnancies because of a new study. This study, performed in mice, suggests that Metformin, the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetes drug, could potentially improve pregnancy outcomes in women with insulin resistance.

  • Ethnic Minorities Do Stick With Clinical Research
    posted on 09/10/07
    A significant number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds can be persuaded to take part in research studies, according to a new report. This contradicts previous research that suggests that ethnic minorities are less likely to volunteer for clinical research, possibly due to famous breaches of medical ethics, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

  • Overweight Mother Before Pregnancy, Overweight Child At Age Nine
    posted on 09/10/07
    New research shows children whose mothers had a high pre-pregnant body mass index or large mid-upper arm circumference in late pregnancy, have a greater fat mass index at age nine years than other children in their age group.

  • New 'Knock-out' Gene Model Provides Molecular Clues To Breast Cancer
    posted on 09/07/07
    New insights into the role of estrogen receptor in mammary gland development may help scientists better understand the molecular origin of breast cancer, according to new research.

  • Pregnancy May Increase Risk Of Developing Binge Eating Disorder
    posted on 09/07/07
    Pregnancy may open a window of vulnerability for developing binge eating disorder, especially for women from lower socioeconomic situations, according to a new study. In a long-term study of 100,000 pregnant Norwegian women, the researchers saw an unexpected increase in new incidences of binge eating disorder that began during pregnancy. The research is the largest population-based study of eating disorders during pregnancy.

  • Treatment For COPD May Need To Start Before Birth
    posted on 09/04/07
    Poor airway function shortly after birth should be recognised as a risk factor for airflow obstruction in young adults, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may need to start in fetal life. The authors conclude that individuals born with poorer lung function continue this trend up to 22 years of age, and that further research is needed into how the lungs develop in the fetus.

  • Passive Smoking Increases Sleep Disturbance Among Pregnant Women
    posted on 09/04/07
    Pregnant women exposed to passive smoking are more likely to have sleep disturbances such as subjective insufficient sleep, difficulty in initiating sleep, short sleep duration, and snoring loudly or breathing uncomfortably, according to a new study. The results also showed that pregnant women who smoke had the same sleep disturbances, and also experienced excessive daytime sleepiness and early morning awakening.

  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: 1 In 15 Women Affected Worldwide And Burden Likely To Increase
    posted on 09/03/07
    The diverse and complex female endocrine disorder polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects 1 in 15 women worldwide, is a major economic health burden that is likely to expand together with obesity, conclude authors of a recent article. Many body systems are affected in PCOS, resulting in several health complications, including menstrual dysfunction, infertility, hirsutism (excessive body hair growth), acne, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.

  • Baby's Conception And Birth Can Influence Dream Content In New Moms
    posted on 09/02/07
    The conception and birth of a child are emotional events that influence the dreams of most new mothers. In a surprisingly high number of cases, this influence reflects negative aspects of maternal responsibility, depicting the new infant in dreamed situations of danger and provoking anxiety in the mother that often spills over into wakefulness. These kinds of dreams are also accompanied by complex behaviors by new moms such as motor activity, speaking and expressing emotion.

  • Warning Signs Of Pregnancy Danger
    posted on 09/02/07
    Warnings signs such as increased stress could indicate that pregnancy-induced hypertension is reaching life-threatening levels. The condition is variable and can change quickly. A higher number of symptoms, such as headaches and dizziness, could also mean the condition is getting worse. Also known as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, pregnancy-induced hypertension occurs at about 20 weeks in 6 percent to 8 percent of pregnancies. The exact cause is not known. Severe forms of these condi

  • Higher Maternal Sugar Levels Increases Risk Of Childhood Obesity
    posted on 08/29/07
    Treating gestational diabetes can break the link to childhood obesity. The largest study of its kind, this research shows that childhood obesity risk rises with a pregnant woman's blood sugar level and untreated gestational diabetes doubles a child's risk of obesity. Authors looked at 20,000 mothers and children, and found treating gestational diabetes lowers the child's risk of obesity to same level of a mother with normal blood sugar levels.

  • Air Pollution Linked To Premature Birth In Pregnant Women
    posted on 08/27/07
    Women who lived in regions with high carbon monoxide or fine-particle levels -- pollution caused mainly by vehicle traffic -- were approximately 10 to 25 percent more likely to have a preterm baby than women who lived in less polluted areas. This was especially true for women who breathed polluted air during the first trimester or during the last months and weeks of pregnancy.

  • Designing Better Markers For Pregnancy-associated Pathological Conditions
    posted on 08/26/07
    Researchers report the most complete list so far of proteins present in the human amniotic fluid, the liquid that surrounds a fetus during pregnancy. The new information may be used to develop new or improved markers of pregnancy-associated pathological conditions, such as preterm delivery, intra-amniotic infection, and chromosomal anomalies in the fetus.

  • Infant Feeding Method Predicts In-hospital Weight Loss
    posted on 08/22/07
    Healthy, full-term newborn babies tend to lose weight during the first few days after their birth. A new study explores the reasons why certain newborns lose more (or less) than others and what conclusions can be drawn from the research.

  • Is Ultrasound As Useful As We Think?
    posted on 08/17/07
    The usefulness of fetal 'nuchal thickness' as a technique for attempting to diagnose Down's syndrome in obstetric ultrasound is overstated and reliance on this surrogate marker may result in the 'loss' of normal babies, according to a recent article. The author raises the possibility that ultrasound is not as useful as has been suggested.

  • Umbilical Cord Clamping Should Be Delayed, Says Expert
    posted on 08/17/07
    Clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord should be delayed for three minutes after birth, particularly for preterm infants, according to a new article. For the mother, trials show that early cord clamping has no ill effects, the doctor writes. But what about the baby?

  • Eating Junk Food While Pregnant And Breastfeeding May Lead To Obese Offspring
    posted on 08/15/07
    Mothers who eat junk food during pregnancy and breastfeeding may be putting their children at risk of overeating and developing obesity, according to a new study. The research suggests that pregnant and breastfeeding women should not indulge in fatty, sugary and salty foods under the misguided assumption that they are "eating for two."

  • Risk Of Common Vaginal Infection Linked To Preterm Birth Appears Higher For Blacks
    posted on 08/14/07
    Risk of a common vaginal infection linked to preterm birth appears to escalate when even one partner is African-American, according to a new study. When a pregnant woman has bacterial vaginosis, her risk of preterm birth increases. Now when gauging risk for bacterial vaginosis, researchers say physicians also should consider her partner.

  • Maternal Obesity Prior To Pregnancy Associated With Birth Defects
    posted on 08/09/07
    Mothers of babies born with some structural birth defects -- including missing limbs, malformed hearts and underdeveloped spinal cords -- appear more likely to be obese prior to becoming pregnant than mothers whose children are born without such defects, according to a new article.

  • Postpartum Hospital Discharges: When Is The 'Right Time?'
    posted on 08/07/07
    This nationwide study is the first ever to prospectively examine the decision-making process of over 4,000 mothers and their physicians around the readiness of mothers and their infants to leave the hospital after childbirth and finds that 17 percent are unready.

  • IUDs Safe And Effective In High-risk Patients, Study Finds
    posted on 08/06/07
    Researchers have found that intrauterine devices are safe and effective in a population of women previously not considered as good candidates for this method of birth control.

  • Pregnant Women Exposed To Birth Defect-causing Agent (Accutane) Despite Risk Management Program
    posted on 08/03/07
    More than 120 pregnancies were exposed to a birth defect-causing agent during the first year of iPledge, a mandatory program designed to prevent pregnant women from being exposed to the anti-acne medication Accutane and similar medications containing isotretinoin (a known teratogen or birth defect-causing agent), a report revealed.