Trusted Information for Healthy Pregnancies
emotions during pregnancy
Stress early in pregnancy increases risks to babies
May 10th
Stressful situations in early pregnancy can lead to the birth of babies who are underweight or born too early, new research from China shows. Timing of the stress, the researchers found, was the key.
"The findings are modest, but significant," the authors write in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The risks of premature births increased two-fold in women who were exposed to severe life events during their first and second trimesters - weeks 1-12 and 13-24, respectively. Premature birth, the authors note, is the single largest contributing factor in infant deaths in the developing world.
Researchers from Anhui Medical University, led by Dr. Peng Zhu, followed 1,800 pregnant women receiving prenatal treatment in 2008 at one hospital. The participants were surveyed on financial conditions, emotional support, traumatic events and their relationships with their spouses. Were jobs or fortunes lost, were family members cheated, did the family move, did a family member die or suffer an illness, or was there fighting or divorce?
There were 96 (5.3 percent) premature births and 55 (3.1 percent) low birth-weight babies.
Earlier studies have found that future moms with stressful lives were at greater risk of delivering preterm or low birth-weight babies. This study - looking at a long list of potentially stressful events experienced during pregnancy only - concluded that the earlier in pregnancy the stress occurred, the greater the risk.
The Zhu team found that premature birth was more than twice as likely if severely stressful events occurred during the first and second trimesters, but not the third. Low birthweight was nearly three times more likely if stress happened during the first trimester, compared to if it happened during the second or third trimester.
While for the most part consistent with earlier research, the Chinese researchers caution that the reach of their findings could be limited.
For instance, they warn that faulty memories, the small number of women in some of the stress categories, and the possibility that the list of stress events was flawed could weaken the power of the results.
The Zhu team concluded that health planners seeking to reduce the incidence of pre-term and low-weight births must take maternal stress into account when designing intervention programs.
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Depression while pregnant ‘linked to violent behaviour in children’
Feb 5th
Mothers who suffer from 'baby blues' while pregnant are four times as likely to have children who become violent teenagers, a new study shows.
The link remained even if the mothers did not suffer depression after their children were born.
Research has previously suggested that postnatal depression can affect a child's subsequent behavior.
But experts from Cardiff and Bristol universities and King's College London believe that theirs is one of the first studies to look at the effects of suffering depression before a child's birth.
Many women are depressed during their pregnancy and research by Tommy's, the baby charity, suggests that it may even be more common before the birth of a child than after.
It is estimated that as many as between 10 and 15 per cent of women could suffer the condition while they are expecting.
Prof Dale F Hay, from Cardiff University, who led the latest study, said: "Much attention has been given to the effects of postnatal depression on young infants, but depression during pregnancy may also affect the unborn child."
The study looked at 120 mothers from the Bristol area.
The researchers interviewed the women while they were pregnant, after they gave birth and when their children were aged four, 11, and 16 years old.
Their findings, published in the journal Child Development, show that women who were depressed while they were pregnant were four times as likely to have children who were violent by the age of 16 as the other mothers.
The children were also more likely to exhibit other forms of anti-social behavior, the research found.
However, the study also found that women who had been angry or disruptive teenagers themselves were more likely to go on to be depressed while they were pregnant.
Prof Hay added: "Although it's not yet clear exactly how depression in pregnancy might set infants on a pathway toward increased anti-social behavior, our findings suggest that women with a history of conduct problems who become depressed in pregnancy may be in special need of support."
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Acupuncture Found Effective Against Depression During Pregnancy
Feb 4th
In a study to be presented February 4 at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in Chicago, researchers will unveil findings that show that acupuncture may be an effective treatment for depression during pregnancy.
"Depression during pregnancy is an issue of concern because it has negative effects on both the mother and the baby as well as the rest of the family," said Dr. Schnyer, one of the study's authors.
About 10% of pregnant women meet criteria for major depression and almost 20% have increased symptoms of depression during pregnancy. The rates of depression in pregnant women are comparable to rates seen among similarly aged non-pregnant women and among women during the postpartum period, but there are far fewer treatment studies of depression during pregnancy than during the postpartum period.
Dealing with depression is difficult for pregnant women because the use of anti-depressants poses concerns to the developing fetus and women are reluctant to take medications during pregnancy.
In the study, an evaluator-blinded randomized trial, 150 participants who met the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) criteria for Major Depressive Disorder were randomized to receive either acupuncture specific for depression (SPEC, n=52) or one of two active controls: control acupuncture (CTRL, n=49) or massage (MSSG, n=49). Treatments lasted eight weeks (12 sessions). Junior acupuncturists masked to treatment assignment needled participants at points prescribed by senior acupuncturists. Massage therapists and patients were not blinded. The primary outcome was the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, administered by blinded raters at baseline and after four and eight weeks of treatment. Data were analyzed using mixed effects models and by intent-to-treat.
The results showed that the women who received SPEC experienced a significantly greater decrease in depression severity compared to the combined controls or CTRL acupuncture alone. They also had a higher response rate (63.0%) than the combined controls or CTRL acupuncture alone. Symptom reduction and response rates did not differ significantly between controls (CTRL 37.5% and MSSG 50.0%). Mild and transient side effects were reported by 43/150 participants (4 in MSSG; 19 in CTRL, 20 in SPEC). Significantly fewer participants reported side-effects in MSSG than the two acupuncture groups.
"The results of our study show that the acupuncture protocol we tested could be a viable treatment option for depression during pregnancy" said Dr. Schnyer.
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Stress, Anxiety Can Up Risk of Depression in Pregnancy
Jan 22nd
Stress, history of depression, lack of social support and unintended pregnancy are among the major factors that contribute to increased risk of depression in pregnant women, a new study shows.
Other important factors are maternal anxiety, domestic violence and having public insurance coverage, said the University of Michigan researchers, who reviewed 159 studies conducted between 1980 and 2008.
The study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Depression, which occurs in about 12.7 percent of pregnant women, can cause problems for mothers and babies, including pre-term delivery, preeclampsia, sleep disturbances and disrupted mother-infant bonding.
It's important for physicians to know how to identify depression in pregnant women, said the study authors, who noted that not all women who test positive on depression screening tests have or will develop clinical depression.
"We are hoping that [health-care] providers can use the presence or absence of risk factors such as those identified in our study to enhance their assessments for depression in addition to the information they obtain from the screening test," study author Dr. Christie A. Lancaster, a clinical lecturer in the obstetrics and gynecology department at U-M, said in a news release.
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Baby No.8 on the way for the mother of all surrogates
Jan 6th
After giving birth to seven babies, Jill Hawkins was happy to call time on her career as a surrogate mother.
But then she found she missed being pregnant so much that she decided to do it all again.
The 45-year-old was implanted with two embryos from a professional couple in their early thirties.
And last night Miss Hawkins said she was 'absolutely ecstatic' after a home pregnancy test revealed at least one of the embryos has started to grow in her womb.
It will be the first time she has carried a child not from her own eggs.
She will find out later this month if she is expecting one baby or twins.
Miss Hawkins, who has no children of her own, will hand over the baby - or babies - to the couple while still in the maternity ward.
She insists that she has no desire to keep a baby, and that she is continuing to be a surrogate mother because she loves being pregnant.
All the previous children she has given away have been conceived using her own eggs and sperm from the father which was artificially inseminated.
Miss Hawkins, who will be paid around £12,000 in 'expenses' for her pregnancy, had spent 18 months trying for an eighth baby, but without success.
'My eggs have just packed up which is not unusual for a woman of my age,' she said.
'I was worried that because my eggs aren't as strong as they were that the rest of me might not be up to it either.
'But I've had scans and there's nothing wrong with my womb so being a host should not be a problem.
In a previous interview, she insisted she would not undergo IVF treatment to become a surrogate mother for the eight time.
But it seems that the temptation was too great and Miss Hawkins stepped in to help a 32-year-old mother-of-one who is unable to become pregnant again because of the powerful drugs she had to take after a lung transplant.
The woman and her husband had six embryos frozen before the transplant - two of which are now in Miss Hawkins' womb.
Miss Hawkins, from Brighton, said: 'It's a new experience this time because they are not my biological children. I feel different.
'I feel there's not so much pressure on me because it's not my genes. I'm just providing the womb for the baby to grow in.
She added: 'Being a host is more of a hassle because of all the fertility drugs you have to take.
'The side effects can make you feel weepy one moment and then bursting with rage the next.'
Miss Hawkins, a legal secretary, is the most prolific surrogate mother living in Britain.
Carole Horlock, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, who has given birth to 12 surrogate babies, held the title before moving to France four years ago.
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Pregnant women develop emotion-reading superpowers
Dec 14th
Raging hormones during pregnancy prompt mood swings, but may also lead to a heightened ability to recognize threatening or aggressive faces. This may have evolved because it makes future mothers hyper-vigilant, yet it could also make them more vulnerable to anxiety.
Previous studies have suggested that a woman's ability to correctly identify fearful or disgusted facial expressions varies according to her stage of the menstrual cycle, with perception heightened on days associated with high levels of the hormone progesterone. Since levels of progesterone and other hormones rise dramatically in late pregnancy, Rebecca Pearson and her colleagues at the University of Bristol in the UK investigated whether the ability to read faces varies during pregnancy.
They asked 76 pregnant women to assign one of six emotions to 60 computer-generated faces before the 14th week of pregnancy, and again after the 34th week. Faces expressing happiness and surprise tended to be correctly assigned at both stages of pregnancy, but for faces expressing fear, anger and disgust, the accuracy rates were higher in late pregnancy.
This may increase the chance that the woman will spot potential threats to her and her fetus, and prime her to be hyper-vigilant once she becomes a mother. But it could have a downside. Pearson points out that people with clinical anxiety are also better at identifying negative emotions in faces. Pregnant women aren't clinically anxious, but "they might interpret negative or emotional things around them in a slightly more sensitive way", she says.
The finding builds on a recent study by Ben Jones of the University of Aberdeen in the UK who found that pregnant women - and women in stages of the menstrual cycle where progesterone levels spike - are better at identifying faces showing signs of sickness. "It's preventing them from becoming sick by interacting with people who are ill," he says.
The next step will be to examine whether pregnant women and new mothers are also more sensitive to emotional cues in babies' faces, Jones says.
Source
March of Dimes Reveals Pregnant Moms Biggest Fears
Dec 9th
The March of Dimes polled about 1,200 moms to find out exactly what it is that caused them to lose sleep (other than the fact they were pregnant!) while they were pregnant. The results were presented today at the March of Dimes National Communications Advisory Council luncheon where experienced, practicing obstetricians and gynecologists discussed the survey results, as well as some of the frequently asked questions their patients ask.
The March of Dimes poll found that the number one thing moms worried about was birth defects - 78 percent said they were worried their child would be born less than perfect. Stress was moms' second fear, with 74 percent answering that they were concerned if stress in their life would harm their baby's health. Preterm birth was a close third with 71 percent saying they were worried their baby would be born too soon.
"Women should discuss all their questions with their doctors and should be concerned about their overall health - quit smoking, control their blood pressure, weight and any chronic diseases, such as diabetes - before they become pregnant so they will have a better chance at a healthy pregnancy," said Dr. Diane Ashton, March of Dimes deputy medical director, who took part in the panel discussion.
Surprisingly, only 70 percent thought about the fear of pain of childbirth and 55 percent were worried that they wouldn't get to the hospital on time!
Other things moms worried about were:
- 60 percent worried they wouldn't be able to breastfeed successfully.
- 59 percent worried about losing weight after pregnancy.
- And, 59 percent worried about getting pregnant in the first place.
- Sushi and fish was the number one food concern, with 61 percent concerned.
The poll was conducted Nov. 6 to Nov. 13, 2009 using the online software Zoomerang. There were 123 valid responses from the 1,224 women from the March of Dimes Moms e-Panel and March for Babies Family Teams who were invited by email to answer the 65 questions. Some 90 percent of the women surveyed have a child who was born preterm. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents are employed, about 60 percent are between the ages of 25 and 34, 90 percent have children under the age of five and 95 percent had attended some college. The survey was written by Betty Wolder Levin, Ph.D., professor of Public Health, Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
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Many Pregnant Women Take Drugs Harmful to Baby
Nov 30th
With the help of their doctors, women planning to become pregnant should take an inventory of the medications they take, researchers from Canada advise.
In a study, they found that many pregnant women still take medications long known to cause birth defects.
Some medications with known fetal risk, such as drugs that control epilepsy, are essential during pregnancy, Dr. Anick Berard, at the University of Montreal in Quebec, noted in an email correspondence to Reuters Health.
Other medications, such as those that treat severe acne, anxiety and psychiatric drugs, antibiotics, and many drugs prescribed for heart disease and medical conditions, "can and should be avoided," according to Berard.
Women should understand the side effects of any drug they are taking -- especially drugs treating a chronic condition -- and plan pregnancies to avoid or minimize risks such drugs pose to babies, Berard added.
For the 5 years between January 1998 and the last day of 2002, Berard and colleagues analyzed the prescriptions filled by pregnant women for drugs available at the time and known to pose fetal risks.
Their report, in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, shows 56 percent of 109,344 pregnant women filled at least one medication prescription. A total of 6.3 percent (6,871 women) did so for at least one medication known to pose a risk to the fetus.
"These pregnancies were associated with an elevated number of (pregnancy terminations) and babies born with major (birth defects) in comparison with the expected numbers in the population," they note.
Specifically, terminations occurred in 47 percent of the pregnancies exposed to drugs with known fetal risks. Six percent of these pregnancies ended in miscarriage.
By contrast, in the much larger non-exposed group about 36 percent of the pregnancies had been terminated and fewer than 5 percent ended in miscarriage.
Berard's team further identified birth defects in 8.2 percent of 2,842 infants exposed to risky drugs during gestation and available for assessment, compared with 7.1 percent of the 59,287 infants not exposed. This is "a statistically significant difference," they note.
They emphasize, however, that it cannot be concluded that the drug exposure caused the birth defects. These pregnancies may have also been exposed to other harmful agents or maternal health conditions, they point out.
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