Trusted Information for Healthy Pregnancies
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Basics for Clinicians and Patients
Sep 21st
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Basics for Clinicians and Patients Omega-3 fatty acids have broad general health benefits across areas in medicine. They are anti-inflammatory and have well-established cardiovascular benefits. In addition, several studies have shown that supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids may improve outcomes in those receiving standard treatment for major depression and bipolar disorder. [...]
Should SSRIs Be Tapered Prior To Delivery?
Sep 8th
Increased muscle tone, jitteriness, sleep disturbance, irritability, feeding problems, mild respiratory distress and myoclonus have been reported as symptoms of a potential neonatal distress syndrome related to exposure to SSRIs in late pregnancy. The average duration of symptoms reported is 48 hours. It is estimated that between 25-30% of SSRI-exposed infants are at risk for [...]
Massage Therapy for Depression
Aug 23rd
There are currently 100 clinical trials registered on clinicaltrials.gov using massage as a treatment. Six are listed for the indication of depression. A small minority are focused specifically on treating depression or anxiety, while in many the effects of massage for patients with serious medical conditions are being explored. Infant massage is also under study [...]
Non-Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Antenatal Depression: A Quick Review
Jul 27th
About 15% of women suffer from depression during pregnancy, and the rate of depressive illness is greater in women with pre-existing histories of depression. While there are data to support the use of certain antidepressants during pregnancy, many women are reluctant to seek pharmacologic treatment during pregnancy and may benefit from efficacious non-pharmacologic options. In [...]
Anxiety During Pregnancy Predicts Worse Outcomes
Jul 14th
In treating pregnant women with mood or anxiety disorders, we tend to focus primarily on the reproductive safety of psychotropic medications; however, it must be recognized that withholding or withdrawing pharmacologic treatment for depression or anxiety during pregnancy may carry some degree of risk. Untreated psychiatric illness in the mother cannot be considered a benign [...]
Depression and Anxiety: Do They Impact Infertility Treatment?
Jun 30th
Infertility affects an estimated 10-15% of couples of reproductive age. Several studies have indicated that patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) experience high levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Multiple risk factors for anxiety and depression during infertility treatment have been identified; these include being female, age over 30, lower level of education, lack of [...]
Mark McGrath and Fiancée Welcome Twins
Apr 29th
Thursday morning Mark McGrath's fiancée, Carin Kingsland, gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl - in Los Angeles.
Son Lydon Edward weighed in at 5 lbs., 7 oz. upon his arrival at 9:54 a.m., daughter Hartley Grace came one minute later, weighing 4 lbs., 8 oz., McGrath's rep told PEOPLE exclusively.
"We are so lucky," McGrath told PEOPLE. "I don’t think you can prepare for the love we are feeling."
After 16 years of on-and-off dating, the Sugar Ray frontman, 42, and Kingsland, 37, an aesthetician, became engaged last New Year’s Eve and confirmed in April that they were expecting twins thanks to IVF.
"These two kids will be the luckiest kids in the world in terms of their mom, that’s for sure," says McGrath, who will host Fox’s Don’t Forget the Lyrics! this fall and tour with Sugar Ray in the summer. "They’ll get a lot of love. "
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Sex of baby drives response to pregnancy stress
Apr 29th
University of Adelaide research is showing that the sex of the baby determines the way it responds to stressors during pregnancy and its ability to survive pregnancy complications.
Male and female babies during pregnancy show different growth and development patterns following stressors during pregnancy such as disease, cigarette use or psychological stress.
The research is being carried out by the Robinson Institute's Pregnancy and Development Group, based at the Lyell McEwin Hospital and led by Associate Professor Vicki Clifton.
"What we have found is that male and female babies will respond to a stress during pregnancy by adjusting their growth patterns differently," said Associate Professor Clifton.
"The male, when mum is stressed, pretends it's not happening and keeps growing, so he can be as big as he possibly can be. The female, in response to mum's stress, will reduce her growth rate a little bit; not too much so she becomes growth restricted, but just dropping a bit below average.
"When there is another complication in the pregnancy - either a different stress or the same one again - the female will continue to grow on that same pathway and do okay but the male baby doesn't do so well and is at greater risk of pre-term delivery, stopping growing or dying in the uterus."
Associate Professor Clifton said this sex-specific growth response had been observed in pregnancies complicated by asthma, preeclampsia and cigarette use but was also likely to occur in other stressful events during pregnancy such as psychological stress.
She said this sex-specific growth pattern was a result of changes in placental function caused by the stress hormone cortisol.
In female babies, increased cortisol produces changes to the placental function which lead to the reduction in growth, but the increased cortisol levels in a mother carrying a male baby doesn't produce the same changes in placental function.
Associate Professor Clifton said this research could lead to sex-specific therapies in pre-term pregnancies and premature newborns. It was also important in helping obstetricians more accurately interpret growth and development of the fetus in at-risk pregnancies.
"We are looking at what events during pregnancy cause changes in how the baby grows, what's behind this and ways in which we can improve the outcomes for pregnant women and their babies," she said.
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This Week’s Celebrity Baby Bumps
Apr 28th
Isla Fisher looks great in a blue scarf and skinny jeans, Dannii Minogue goes gorgeous in a sparkling evening gown, Claudia Schiffer is spotted out in a mint green floral frock, Amy Adams starts working with black as she nears the end of her pregnancy, and Mario Lopez's girlfriend looks cute in purple.
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Breast-Feeding During Pregnancy: A Painful, Controversial Choice
Apr 28th
I had a positive pregnancy test when my first daughter was just 9 months old, and I immediately called my ob-gyn to share the news.
"Stop breast-feeding," she told me, and dutifully, I weaned my daughter that night.
A week later, when I miscarried what turned out to have been a chemical pregnancy, I had two things to mourn: the baby I'd expected, and the nursing relationship I'd ended with my daughter.
I wondered, even if the pregnancy had continued, was it necessary to wean her? Why would my doctor have said that?
What I’ve learned since that day has changed my mind entirely about nursing during pregnancy. In fact, if I am lucky enough to get pregnant while breast-feeding, I’d want to continue the nursing relationship, even extending into a “tandem nursing” situation after the baby is born.
In all my years of playing with my young children in parks, I have never once seen an obviously pregnant woman breast-feeding. Why not?
Many times, apparently, it’s very painful.
According to Wendy Haldeman, one of the founders of the Los Angeles–based The Pump Station, it can hurt to breast-feed during the first trimester. “The nipple soreness is just something the mother has to endure,” she tells me. “Some can; others find it is just too painful to continue.”
Local mothers who attempted nursing while pregnant agreed with Haldeman. “By the time I was about 2 months pregnant, nursing became excruciatingly painful,” Amanda, a local mom, tells me. “I almost cried every time I went to nurse, it hurt so bad. I ended up weaning my son at that point.”
Milk supply can also diminish. “My experience is that if the first baby is over a year, the milk supply is not as much of a concern,” Haldeman says. “Infants under 9 months of age frequently need to be supplemented with formula because the mother simply can’t produce enough milk.”
Basically, your body begins producing a different quantity and quality of milk sometime in the second trimester. This is spelled out in Breastfeeding for Dummies by Sharon Perkins, RN, and Carol Vannais, RN:
“Somewhere between four and eight months of pregnancy, your milk does start changing from mature milk back to colostrum, the first type of milk that you gave your baby. The colostrum usually tastes a little different than mature milk, so you may find your baby not as interested in this new menu item and starting the process of weaning.”
But if I could bear the pain and my baby could bear the “new menu item,” is it a good idea from a medical perspective?
“In most circumstances, breast-feeding can be continued during an uncomplicated pregnancy,” says Pamela Berens, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center, at Houston, who researches lactation and breast milk.
However, she explains that if your health-care provider has instructed you not to have intercourse, then you may not want to reconsider breast-feeding.
Apparently, both orgasm and breast-feeding trigger a release of oxytocin, which some women may want to avoid, as it can cause uterine contractions. “The increased oxytocin could be problematic in the patient that is experiencing preterm labor,” Dr. Berens says.
Dr. Berens advises that women with a history of preterm labor, placenta previa, or a “classical” C-section uterine incision consider weaning. However, these reasons occur later in pregnancy, so the mother wouldn’t need to wean abruptly in her first trimester.
Also, Dr. Berens recommends weaning for women with severe hypertension (high blood pressure), severe vascular or renal disease, or a prior “growth restricted” infant (a cautionary recommendation based on what Dr. Berens describes as a “small body of research that suggests that the weight of the infant born to the mother that breast-fed during her pregnancy may be very slightly reduced”).
Though no research has found any increased risk of miscarriage in women who continue breast-feeding during pregnancy, women might want to consider weaning if they are experiencing bleeding during early pregnancy, says Dr. Berens.
But be sure to confirm the pregnancy is viable. “If the pregnancy has already miscarried or is ‘non-viable’ (meaning no fetus has formed or the fetus has no heartbeat), then there is no benefit to weaning,” Dr. Berens says.
If only I’d heard that sound advice four years ago! Armed with this knowledge, I know that for any future pregnancies, I’ll hold on to my nursing relationship with much more confidence.
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