High Rates of Scarlet Fever Reported

Public Health England says there have been 868 notified cases in the first eight weeks of 2014, compared to 591 in the same period in 2013. This figure is at its highest for this time of year since 1990. The bacterial illness causes a distinctive rash, high temperature and sore throat as well as a white coating on the tongue. Cases are more common in children although adults can also develop scarlet fever. Although most cases of scarlet fever go away in about a week without treatment, treatment is recommended. This is because treatment reduces the length of time you are contagious, speeds up recovery and reduces the risk of complications from scarlet fever. There's no evidence that catching scarlet fever when pregnant will put your baby at risk. However, heavily pregnant women should tell healthcare staff if they have been in contact with someone who has scarlet fever.

Resurgence of scarlet fever reaches 24-year high 10th March 2014 bbc.co.uk

Read about Scarlet Fever on the NHS website

Probiotics in pregnancy not linked to asthma rate in infants

Taking probiotics has health benefits but preventing childhood asthma isn't one of them, shows newly published research led by medical scientists at the University of Alberta. "Taking probiotics had no effect on the asthma rate," said Azad, who works in the Faculty's Department of Pediatrics. "We haven't shown there's any harm in giving probiotics, but it can't really be advised as a strategy to prevent asthma. "That doesn't mean probiotics aren't good for other reasons. There's really good evidence that probiotics are beneficial to infants who are born pre-term and suffer from a bowel condition. There's also good evidence that probiotics might prevent eczema. Her team made another interesting finding that warrants more research: babies who received probiotics as infants or in utero had higher incidences of lower respiratory infections. But "more research is required "

Taking probiotics during pregnancy has no effect on asthma rate amoung infants News Medical. net 9 December 2013

Exercise in pregnancy boosts babies' brains

Babies' brains showed more mature patterns of activity, linked to better mental performance in later life, when their mothers took at least three 20-minute sessions of moderate exercise a week. The early stage findings are the first from a randomised controlled trial in humans to show that a pregnant mother's exercise routine could have such an impact on her baby's brain.
"We know exercise is good for all kinds of things in pregnancy. It makes mothers feel better, gives them more control over their weight gain, and also has an impact on their child's weight gain in life. We're saying here's an added bonus, that exercise gives your child a head-start in brain development," said Elise Labonte-LeMoyne at the University of Montreal.
Pregnant mothers who exercise boost babies' brains, claim researchers The Guardian 10/11/13

Breath tests to target smoking in pregnancy

Pregnant women should be tested to see if they are smoking, and if they are they should be helped to quit, according to the body which issues guidance to the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says midwives should give carbon monoxide tests to all women they see at antenatal appointments. An estimated 21% of women smoke during pregnancy. This harms foetal growth and development, with smokers three times more likely to have a baby with low birth weight — a leading cause of infant death.
Pregnant mothers to be tested to see if they are smoking, under new NHS guidance - The Independent 12 May 2013

UK 23rd best place to become a mother

The UK has failed to make the top 20 in a list of the best places to be a mother - falling behind its neighbours Ireland and other European countries such as Germany and France. In a list of 176 countries in the Mother’s Index, contained in Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers report, the UK is ranked at number 23. Finland, Sweden and Norway take the top three slots respectively while for the first time, countries in sub-Saharan Africa - where 10% to 20% of mothers are underweight due to poor nutrition or under-age pregnancy - take up each of the bottom ten places in the annual index.
The detailed and thorough report also looks at what can be done to save newborn lives in industrialised countries. Increased access to family planning and better sexual health education for youth are among the recommendations, as unplanned and teenage pregnancies are high risk factors for newborn mortality. Also wider use of kangaroo care and better breastfeeding support including Baby Friendly hospitals.
State of the World's Mothers 2013 - Save the Children 

Low MMR Vaccination Rates Put Measles Eradication Plans Under Threat

Outbreaks of measles are putting Europe's commitment to eliminate the disease by 2015 under threat, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Levels of vaccination have been too low in some countries, particularly in rich western European nations. It says catch-up vaccination campaigns, such as the one launched in the UK, are needed across the continent. Experts said it was not too late to hit the target, but "extraordinary" effort was needed.

Measles causes high fever and a rash and can be fatal.

Threat to Measles Elimination Plans - BBC News 7th May 2013

Kids who eat the same as their parents have healthier diets

Eating the same food as parents had a greater impact on a young child's health than any other factor, including social background and snacking between meals according to research at the Centre for Population Health Sciences at Edinburgh University. Researchers said that Britain was almost alone in Europe in "dumbing down" with children's meals in restaurants and at home, rather than encouraging them to eat what the adults were eating. There is growing concern about the rise of ready meals marketed at young children, and about children being overfed with foods that often lack key nutrients.
"If children were eating what their parents eat – and, like the French, eating round the table – then we wouldn't have the iron deficiency problem we have," said Dr Colin Michie, chair of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's nutrition committee. He said children could have problems with deficiencies in iron, vitamin D and to a lesser extent zinc, and he was seeing lots of children with eating difficulties who were fed "sitting alone" by busy parents, and parents who made two or three different meals for adults and faddy children.
In light of the study, which looked at 2,000 five-year-olds, the paper recommends that government advice to families should be kept simple to help establish good eating habits early.
5th May 2013 The Guardian

Hospitals 'are ignoring advice on caesarean sections'

Advice drawn up by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says elective caesareans should not be performed until after 39 completed weeks so that the baby's lungs can develop fully. Otherwise, babies can suffer neonatal respiratory morbidity – serious breathing problems – which can prove fatal.
But a report out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which represents the UK's 11,500 maternity doctors, reveals that the procedure is carried out before 39 weeks in 37% of such births in England and as many as 52.5% in some hospitals.

The RCOG's report says the overall proportion of elective C-sections performed before 39 completed weeks has fallen from 61% in 2000-01, but still stood at 30.3% (20,674 babies) in 2011-12.
Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said: "NHS practice on this is damaging and isn't helpful to babies. Hospitals' preference for doing so many elective C-sections before 39 weeks leads to morbidity and mortality in babies, because the babies' lungs aren't properly developed and so they stand a higher chance of being resuscitated and also of ending up in neonatal intensive care."
2 May 2013 The Guardian

Mild Iodine Deficiency in Womb Associated with Lower Scores on Children’s Literacy Tests

A longitudinal study, published in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, examined standardized test scores of 228 children whose mothers attended The Royal Hobart Hospital’s antenatal clinics in Tasmania between 1999 and 2001. The children were born during a period of mild iodine deficiency in the population. As 9-year-olds, the children who received insufficient iodine in the womb had lower scores on standardized literacy tests, particularly in spelling. However, inadequate iodine exposure was not associated with lower scores on math tests. Researchers theorize iodine deficiency may take more of a toll on the development of auditory pathways and, consequently, auditory working memory and so had more of an impact on students’ spelling ability than their mathematical reasoning ability.

newswise.com 30 April 2013

Review: 'Feeding Made Easy' by Gina Ford

by Jo Clover

I’m really quite overweight and when it came time to move on from stage 3 of my daughter’s weaning I had to really think hard about what to do. I am absolutely determined that my daughter will grow up comfortably eating a wide variety of food, that she will spell asparagus (without the spell check as I just did) before Pringles, that she won’t need salt on the table or even biscuits in the tin. But as I said, I’m really quite overweight, I did achieve a size ten, aged 22, but it was more related to cigarettes, alcohol and diminishing student loan than to what I was eating. I thought about asking my sister, who’s my usual encyclopaedia when it comes to all things babyish, but she is also overweight – and, more importantly, so are her children. I’ve talked to my health visitor, nurse and GP who told me about healthy eating (I know the theory), my mother (but she raised me, so ditto sister issues), my (skinny) best friend and my NCT buddies, all totally useless. The problem has been that they assume that I’ve got healthy habits underpinning my unhealthy habits, and I don’t. I’ve never willingly eaten healthily, and I know, I’m absolutely positive, that I’m not the only one.

I needed someone to say: here’s a menu planner, here are the recipes – they’re easy, and here’s a shopping list in order to take the responsibility away from me. I was surprised how few books there were available that were specifically designed for toddlers and families! This one offers all of the above; it also makes suggestions on what to get for children when you’re in a restaurant and what to pack for picnics and long journeys, even on how to handle fussy eaters. If you’re scoffing at this, then stop reading now – you clearly don’t need a menu planner, you’re probably not overweight and don’t have a background of poor eating habits, if you don’t like being told what to do, well, you’re probably not looking for a menu planner anyway! But if you don’t want to pass your bad habits on, if you want your children to have the sort of health (by which of course I mean waistline and self esteem) that you don’t have and that you imagine that slim people do have, then maybe it’s worth thinking about letting someone help you to plan.

The recipes are great – they really are easy to make, Homemade Lamb Burgers, Salmon and Coconut Curry, Moroccan Lamb and, of course, Hearty Bean Soup are among our best loved, not to mention everyone’s favourite Green Monster Pasta. Oaty Breakfast Pancakes make a great snack, and Carrot and Pear Honey Muffins are sweet enough for even my tooth.

We’re now in Week 8 of Gina Ford’s “Feeding Made Easy” (£12.99 Vermilion), I’ve tweaked the menu planners to include Granny’s cottage pie and my own whiney sausages, taken into account that she is at the childminder’s three days a week, that my husband is late home on Fridays, that I have limited access to the kitchen on Tuesdays and have invested in the right sized Tupperware. What I’ve ended up with is a little green folder with the last 8 weeks’ shopping lists, receipts and meal planners with notes I’ve made for the next time; the healthiest diet I’ve ever had and the certainty that I am delivering what I aimed for: a balanced and happy diet for my daughter. I’m sure it’s saving me money too as I really know what I need to buy, and Tesco’s deliver on Monday lunch times while Gwen’s having her nap for just £3 so I don’t get distracted by special offers and can’t forget things.

Now if I could just stop myself from reaching for the crisps between meals.

Breastfeeding advice ignored by most mothers

Department of Health Statistics released

Reading the press release, 75% of children had complementary foods introduced into their diets before 6 months of age. The Telegraph chose to confuse introducing formula milk with introducing complementary foods.

Read the full press release here

Extract from Telegraph article below

Mothers are advised by midwives and health visitors to breastfeed exclusively for six months if they can, eschewing mixing in formula milk or starting them on solids until that age. But a survey of the parents of almost 2,700 babies and toddlers across the UK has shown very few indeed adhere to the official guidelines.
It discovered that 96 per cent of parents started weaning their children before six months - meaning that, at the very most, only four per cent breastfed exclusively for that period. Of the three-quarters of mothers who breastfed to some degree, 57 per cent gave up before the baby was three months old, and a further 22 per cent by six months. The report suggests parents are either not aware of the guidelines - or are choosing to ignore them.

The Telegraph 13th March 2013

Health Protection Agency Urges Pregnant Women To Take Up Whooping Cough Vaccine Offer

Three babies died from whooping cough in October as one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in decades continues, Health Protection Agency figures for England and Wales show. It brings the number of deaths in newborns, who are most at risk of fatal complications, to 13 this year. There were 1,614 infections last month, bringing the total to 7,728 this year. A UK-wide campaign to vaccinate pregnant women, to pass protection on to their children, is under way. There are surges in whooping cough cases every three to four years. However, the current outbreak has affected nearly 10 times as many people as the previous outbreak in 2008.

30/11/12 BBC News

Winter Bugs

by Hannah Lazarus

Winter is on its way – and so are the bugs!!

I was struck down with suspected winter vomiting bug on Monday evening. It came out of nowhere!

It was ok though – my husband said he’d stay at home the next day and look after our 14 month old daughter while I rested up.

Then he was hit with it four hours later! And worse than me. He eventually ended up in A&E on a drip!

When you’re ill, all you want to do is lie in bed and get some rest. But, as I’ve come to learn, Mums have to just get on with it! There was no chance for me to be the poor patient!

Surprisingly, my daughter, Maria, got away with it! She wasn’t ill at all. You think babies are such small, fragile things but they can actually be quite resilient!

However, this did mean that it was business-as-usual for her. “Mummy, can you read this book AGAIN....Let me climb on you one more time....Let’s press the button on this noisy toy over and over... oops, time for a nappy change!!!”

I guess the only thing you can do is be as prepared as possible for being ill. Get a few stocks in. Things I needed were alcohol hand gel (to stop the spread), a loaf of bread (keep one in the freezer), plain biscuits, sugary drinks and plenty of baby essentials (nappies, wipes, food, etc) so you don’t have make an emergency trip to the shops.

Hopefully, like Maria, you’ll get away with it too! But if you do get ill this winter, you can find advice on the NHS website

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Norovirus/Pages/Introduction.aspx

including advice on treating babies and children who have sickness and diarrhoea

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/diarrhoea-vomiting-children.aspx

and advice on looking after a sick child

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/looking-after-sick-child.aspx#close

Research finds childhood obesity risk factors

High birth weight, rapid weight gain and having an overweight mother who smokes can all increase the risk of a baby becoming obese later in childhood, research by experts at The University of Nottingham has found. The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, also discovered that children who were breastfed and were introduced to solid food later had a slightly reduced chance of becoming overweight. The findings come following a systematic review and analysis of data from around 30 previous studies looking at the impact of factors affecting babies during the first 12 months of their lives and their potential link with childhood obesity.

HealthCanal.com 29/10/12

Investment in breastfeeding could save NHS money: new study

NCT is one of the authors of a UNICEF-funded report published in October 2012 which shows that investing in breastfeeding support could save the NHS millions of pounds.

'Preventing disease and saving resources: the potential contribution of increasing breastfeeding rates in the UK' was led by Professor Mary Renfrew and takes a detailed look at the costs of not breastfeeding in the UK.

We know that the majority of women stop breastfeeding before they wanted to; a shocking 90% of women in the first six weeks. This not only causes distress and increases costs for families, it also costs the NHS through more hospital admissions and GP consultations.

The study looked at just a few of the illnesses where breastfeeding is linked to a reduction in risk  It found potential savings to the NHS from a moderate increase in breastfeeding of about £40 million each year, although the true cost savings are likely to be much higher. 

Some of the key findings were as follows:

If 45% of babies were exclusively breastfed for four months, and 75% of babies were breastfed on discharge from neonatal units, each year there would be:

• 5,916 fewer babies in hospital with respiratory illness, and 22,248 fewer GP consultations, saving around £6.7 million
• 3,285 fewer babies in hospital with gastroenteritis and 10,637 fewer GP consultations, saving more than £3.6 million
• 21,045 fewer ear infection GP visits, saving £750,000
• 361 fewer cases of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), saving more than £6 million

If half of first time mothers each year who currently don’t breastfeed were to do so for up to 18 months in their life, there would be:

• 865 fewer cases of breast cancer
• Cost savings to the NHS of over £21 million
• Improved quality of life equating to more than £10 million   

If the proportion of babies receiving breastmilk rose by 1% this could lead to a small increase in IQ so that, across the whole population, more than £278 million could be gained in economic productivity each year.  

A very modest increase in exclusive breastfeeding rates could lead to at least three fewer cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome annually, avoiding the loss of life and profound consequences for families and saving around £4.7 million.

Increasing breastfeeding rates could lead to around a 5% reduction in childhood obesity, which would save around £1.6million each year.

NCT is joining UNICEF UK in calling UK Government and policy makers to recognise that:

• Breastfeeding is a major public health issue
• Low breastfeeding rates results in significant costs to the NHS

And respond accordingly by:

1 Ensuring public services are fit for purpose
2 Strengthening legislation to protect breastfeeding
3 Supporting further research into the impact of breastfeeding on health

The full report can be found at http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Baby_Friendly/Research/Preventing_disease_saving_resources.pdf?epslanguage=en

Pregnant women to receive whooping cough vaccinations

Widely reported today - All pregnant women are to be offered vaccination against whooping cough when they are 28-38 weeks pregnant, the government has announced. The recommendation follows a sharp rise in the number of whooping cough cases in the UK. The scheme will begin on Monday 1st October 2012.

There is a large outbreak of whooping cough in the UK at the moment, with three times more cases in the general population than there were last year. In the first seven months of this year, 235 babies under 12 weeks old had whooping cough. Sadly, at the time of writing 10 of these babies have died. Babies are not vaccinated against whooping cough until they are two months old, so those who are too young to be vaccinated are at greatest risk.

You should be offered the whooping cough vaccination at a routine antenatal appointment when you are between 28 and 38 weeks pregnant. Getting vaccinated while you’re pregnant could help to protect your baby from developing whooping cough in its first few weeks of life.

28/9/12 NHS Behind the Headlines

NCT press release

Childhood obesity linked to sense of taste

A study reported in The Independent found that obese children have a less sensitive sense of taste than children of normal weight. The research, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, found the obese children were significantly less likely to identify the individual taste sensations correctly, particularly salty, umami, and bitter tastes. They also classed sweet tastes as a much lower intensity than other children.
The Independent 20/09/2012

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority launches consultation

UK researchers are working on new medical techniques that could allow women to avoid passing on genetically inherited mitochondrial diseases to their children. These techniques, which are IVF-based, offer options for affected families. However they are also at the cutting edge, both of science and of ethics. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has launched a public consultation to gather views on the social and ethical impact of making these techniques available to patients. Visit http://mitochondria.hfea.gov.uk/mitochondria/ to explore the issues and complete an online consultation. The consultation is open from 17 September to 7th December 2012.

6 month guidance on introduction of complementary foods under attack

An article http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/when-should-you-stop-breast-feeding-1259599 by Dr Miriam Stoppard (who has worked for Nestle since 2008) in The Mirror questioned whether the current advice to wait until 6 months before introducing complementary foods into your baby's diet was right.
Mike Brady, of Baby Milk Action, responds by looking at the reasons why the baby food industry want mothers to  introduce other foods early: http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/campaignblog210812
Particularly sinister is the quote from a the Cow & Gate Sales Director: "We suggest milk is merchandised on the left hand side of the fixture, followed closely by an early weaning block – jars and packet foods from 4 months – to stop mums drifting into home-made foods."

Baby's parents demand rickets death hospital inquiry

Rohan Wray, 22, and Chana Al-Alas, 19, of London, were accused of abusing baby Jayden but his fractures were later found to have been caused by rickets. They told the BBC that the Great Ormond Street and University College hospitals should have diagnosed the disease. The hospitals have defended their care of Jayden before his death in 2009. Mrs Justice Theis concluded that more research was needed on the impact of vitamin D deficiency and rickets on babies aged under six months. The couple's daughter, who has been in the care of Islington since her birth in October 2010, has now been returned to them.

bbc.co.uk 20/4/12