More breastfeeding 'could save NHS millions'

Analysis by Unicef UK suggests that the NHS could save millions of pounds if women breastfed for longer, due to the health benefits for mother and baby.

The figures suggest £11m could be saved each year by preventing infections, and £31m could be saved by reducing the cases of breast cancer.

The researchers said it was important to note that the findings didn't depend on persuading more women to breastfeed, but supporting those already breastfeeding to do so for longer.

Rosemary Dodds, senior policy adviser at the charity NCT and co-author of the study, said there had been enormous improvements in the past 20 years in increasing rates of breastfeeding for newborns but support in the community for women to breastfeed longer was lacking and the government had failed to lead on the issue.

Read more.

Foetal alcohol syndrome case dismissed by Court of Appeal

Our previous post mentioned a case being brought by a council in the North West of England because a child was born with foetal alcohol syndrome after the mother drank heavily during pregnancy.

The child is now in care after being born with severe brain damage, and lawyers for the council argued that the mother had poisoned her foetus.

Appeal judges have ruled that the mother had not committed a criminal offence.

Read more here.

Calls for stronger warnings about drinking during pregnancy

From the BBC website:

Campaigners and doctors are calling for stronger warnings about drinking during pregnancy, ahead of a legal test case on foetal alcohol syndrome.

The case will decide if a child born with serious disabilities caused by her mother's alcohol consumption should be compensated as a victim of crime.

Some estimates suggest thousands are born every year in the UK with serious health defects caused by alcohol.

Senior health officials have said there are mixed messages on the issue.

Read more.

Breastfeeding 'cuts depression risk', according to study

From the BBC News website:

Breastfeeding can halve the risk of post-natal depression, according to a large study of 14,000 new mothers.

However, there is a large increase in the risk of depression in women planning to breastfeed who are then unable to do so.

The study, published in the journal Maternal and Child Health, called for more support for women unable to breastfeed.

A parenting charity said mental health was a "huge issue" for many mothers.

The health benefits of breastfeeding to the baby are clear-cut and the World Health Organization recommends feeding a child nothing but breast milk for the first six months.

However, researchers at the University of Cambridge said the impact on the mother was not as clearly understood.

Read more here.

Cannabis doubles younger men's risk of infertility, study finds

Taking cannabis doubles the risk of men under 30 producing abnormal sperm which could significantly lower their fertility and prevent them from having children, according to the world’s largest study into lifestyle and sperm quality.
Researchers found that drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes do not appear to have any effect on the size and shape of sperm that men produce, although cannabis had a marked impact on sperm morphology in younger men.

Cannabis doubles younger men's risk of infertility, study finds

Liquid food linked to poisoning of babies was sent to 22 hospitals

A total of 18 babies are thought now to have been affected by a contaminated batch of intravenous fluid. One baby at London's Guy's and St Thomas' hospital has died, another 17 have blood poisoning.
Parenteral nutrition is supposed to deliver a variety of nutrients intravenously when a baby is unable to eat on its own.

Liquid food linked to poisoning of babies was sent to 22 hospitals

Evolutionary theory on why babies wake their mothers in the night

A leading evolutionary biologist has put forward the theory that an infant’s tendency to wake up in the night may have been a Darwinian tactic to make mothers breastfeed more, thus reducing their fertility and limiting the number of siblings that will be born, which in turn improved a child’s chances of survival.

Breastfeeding acts as a natural contraceptive during the first six months after birth, stopping women from menstruating. Encouraging the effect would have been beneficial for our ancestors, because the fewer siblings one had, the more competition there would be for scarce resources, and the lower the risk of infectious disease spreading, argues Professor David Haig, of Harvard University.

Read more: Babies evolved to wake new mothers in the middle of the night as a survival tactic, claims Harvard biologist The Independent 10/4/14

Mother's pregnancy diet affects baby's food preferences

Julie Mennella of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia says, "amniotic fluid is a complex 'first food' that contains chemicals that have both tastes and smells."

Pity the poor participants in this experiment carried out by Mennella. They had to sniff a bunch of amniotic fluid samples, and apparently had no trouble identifying the womb juice that had been extracted from women who had taken a garlic capsule 45 minutes before. All flavours tested so far, says Mennella, have been detectable in the fluid, including mint, aniseed, carrot and vanilla.

Another experiment by Mennella involved one group of mothers drinking 300ml of carrot juice four days a week for three weeks during the last trimester of pregnancy, a second group doing the same during the first two months of breastfeeding, and a control group giving carrot juice a wide berth altogether. The babies who tasted high concentrations of carrot in utero and in their mother's milk went on to happily eat more carrot during weaning. According to Peter Hepper, director of the Fetal Research Centre at Queen's University in Belfast: "foetuses exposed to garlic in the womb are more likely to prefer garlic in later life, indeed studies show up to the age of eight at least."

Read more: How a child's food preferences begin in the womb from The Guardian 8/4/14

Peterborough teen pregnancy rate falls

Improved sex education in Peterborough has been credited with reducing the number of teenage pregnancies in the city.
New figures show that for every thousand pregnancies in the city, girls aged 15 to 17 accounted for 28.1. The statistics relate to the last quarter of 2012 and for the same period in 2011, the number stood at 34.7 - and were even higher earlier in 2012 when it reached 43, one of the highest rates in the country.
Dr Henrietta Ewart, interim director of public health for Peterborough City Council, said: “We want young people to have the knowledge and confidence to delay sex until they are ready, and to be able to make informed and healthy choices."
Dr Ewart praised the work carried out by Peterborough Regional College (PRC) with youngsters, including young mums.
Despite the reduction in the city, the rate is still higher than the English average, which stands at 26.3.
The number of teenage pregnancies fell across Cambridgeshire as well as in Peterborough, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics. In the county there was a rate of 17.7 teenage pregnancies in every thousand in the final quarter of 2012, compared to 20.4 the previous year.
The national rate for England and Wales has been falling for a number of months, with the figure at the start of 2011 standing at 31.6, but falling to 26.1 by September 2012. There was a slight rise in the final quarter of the year, to 26.4.

Teenage pregnancy rate in Peterborough falls to lowest level for two years Peterborough Telegraph 9th March 2014

Legal status of foetus at centre of landmark case

A council - which cannot be named for legal reasons but is located somewhere in the north-west of England - is set to argue that a child who was born with serious health defects as a result of her mother's drinking habits should be given a compensation payout for being the victim of a crime. The child, who also cannot be named, was diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) at birth. She is now six years old and living with foster parents.

Susan Fleisher adopted a three-year-old girl who she later learned was suffering from FAS, and has since set up a charity - the National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome UK - to help people deal with the condition. The 67-year-old, whose daughter Addie is now 25, believes drinking while pregnant should never be considered a crime. "No mother deliberately holds a gun to their child's head," Mrs Fleisher said.

Current guidelines do not explicitly prohibit the consumption of alcohol for expectant mothers. The Department of Health guidance says that "women who are pregnant or trying to conceive should avoid alcohol altogether". But then it goes on to say that "if they do choose to drink, to minimise the risk to the baby, we recommend they should not drink more than 1-2 units once or twice a week, and pregnant women should not get drunk". The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also concedes there is "uncertainty about how much alcohol is safe to drink in pregnancy".

However, in the case of the six-year-old girl at the centre of these ongoing proceedings, the mother did not adhere to anything close to these restrictions. An earlier tribunal hearing found she had "consumed grossly excessive quantities of alcohol" and had been "using drugs".

Janet Fyle, professional policy adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said while FAS was not common, it could have devastating effects. While she could not comment on the legal case specifically, she added: "It's wrong for a woman to consume large amounts of alcohol while she is pregnant. But let's get away from the moral judgement. It is sold over the counter, as are cigarettes. And the law says the foetus has no legal status as it cannot live independently of the mother."

Pregnancy drinking examined as possible crime in landmark case bbc.co.uk 5th March 2014

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

Maternity Units Seriously Short of Staff

A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee has said most maternity units do not have enough senior doctors, with poorer care at weekends leaving women at higher risk of complications. The report said women and babies were being left at higher risk of infections and injury at weekends because of shortages of staff, with just 47 per cent of units having enough consultants, and a national shortage of 2,300 midwives. MPs said shortages of midwives and lack of beds meant more than a quarter of maternity units had to close to new patients for half a day or more between April and September 2012.

Half of maternity units are short of senior doctors warn MPs The Telegraph 31 January 2014

Risk of heart disease shaped in early pregnancy

A link between poor growth in the first trimester and early risk factors for heart disease has been identified for the first time. A study in the British Medical Journal adds to evidence that heart risk is set long before adulthood. A team at the Erasmus University Medical School examined links between the child's size at the first scan (10 to 13 weeks) and markers of future cardiovascular health at the age of six (central body fat, high blood pressure, high insulin levels and high cholesterol). "Impaired first trimester foetal growth is associated with an adverse cardiovascular risk profile in school age children," they reported in the British Medical Journal.

Baby heart-disease risk 'shaped early in pregnancy' BBC News 23 January 2014

Smoking ban in cars unenforceable?

Nick Clegg has said he opposes as illiberal plans for a law banning smoking in cars when children are present. He said smoking in such circumstances was irresponsible but he did not see how a law could be enforced. MPs are expected to be given a free vote on the measure, after peers voted on Wednesday to back a ban being inserted into the children's bill. Speaking on LBC's Call Clegg programme on Thursday, the deputy prime minister said:
"I know the temptation is always to say there is a problem, where is the law? I am quite an old-fashioned liberal. I don't think you should legislate unless you think it is going to make a difference. I don't see how this is going to be enforced so families speeding along the M4 and mum or dad is smoking, how on earth are you going to properly enforce it?"

Smoking ban in cars with children unenforceable, says Nick Clegg The Guardian 30 January 2014

Cure for peanut allergy?

A potentially life-threatening peanut allergy has been essentially cured in nine out of 10 recipients of a new treatment which gradually escalates the amount of peanut protein the body can tolerate. Other treatments such as vaccines and antibodies are also under development, but the new oral immunotherapy is claimed to be the first to successfully allow people to tolerate such a food allergy. "We've shown fantastic results, with 80 to 90 per cent of children being able to tolerate eating peanuts regularly after treatment," says Andrew Clark of Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, UK, who co-led the team that developed the treatment.

Peanut allergy cured in children using immunotherapy New Scientist 30 January 2014

New evidence of pregnancy discrimination

The number of women forced out of their jobs because they are either pregnant or on maternity leave has more than doubled in the past decade, according to a major report. Research published today estimates that about 60,000 women suffer such discrimination annually, while the introduction earlier this year of £1,200 up front tribunal fees has exacerbated the problem by deterring tens of thousands from taking legal action against their employer. One in three of those who unfairly lose their jobs and win a tribunal are paid no compensation at all, and only four in 10 tribunal awards are paid in full. Since 2008, as many as 250,000 women have been forced out of their job simply for being pregnant or taking maternity leave, according to the report by the charity Maternity Action.

Pregnant? Don't expect your job back The Independent 8th December 2013

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

ADHD linked to social and economic disadvantage

A study by the University of Exeter Medical School discovered that a greater percentage of children with ADHD came from families below the poverty line than the UK population as a whole. The study found the odds of parents in social housing having a child with ADHD were roughly three times greater than for those who owned their own homes.The team also found that the odds of younger mothers having a child with ADHD were significantly higher than for other mothers. Mothers with no qualifications were more than twice as likely to have a child with ADHD than those with degrees, and lone parents were more likely to have a child with ADHD diagnosis than households with two live-in parents. 

Dr Ginny Russell, who led the study, said: "There is a genetic element to ADHD, but this study provides strong evidence that ADHD is also associated with a disadvantaged social and economic background.

"Some people believe that ADHD in children causes disadvantage to the economic situation of their family, but we found no evidence to support that theory. It's important to discover more about the causes of this disorder so that we can look towards prevention, and so that we can target treatment and support effectively."

Family poverty linked to children with attention disorder The Independent 26th November 2013

Belinda Phipps represented parents in House of Commons

Follow this link to watch a video of Belinda Phipps (NCT's CEO) representing parents to the House of Commons Public Account Committee session on maternity services in England: BBC Democracy Live

Traditional Breadwinner Families Now Largest Group In Poverty

According to figures from NatCen for Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), among the 1.3 million families with children living in poverty:

• 31% (400,000 families) are couple families with a single breadwinner;
• 16% (210,000 families) are dual earning couples;
• 8% (105,000 families) are working lone parents;
• The remaining families are either workless single parents or workless couples.

Another report by IPPR points out the number of single breadwinner couple families has been falling in recent decades, largely the result of social change, with more women wanting to work - but in some cases women need or want to work to make ends meet for their family. The report highlights the need to support more dual earning couples and to enable lone parents to work, or to work more hours, in order to reduce poverty.
Katie Schmuecker, Policy and Research Manager at JRF, said: “The traditional family model where one parent – usually dad – goes out to work and supports his family does not offer a guaranteed route out of poverty in Britain today. Our low pay jobs market means many families that are reliant on a single breadwinner find it hard to make ends meet.

traditional-breadwinner-families-now-largest-group-in-poverty Joseph Rowntree Foundation 13 November 2013