What a misnomer!  That queasy, sick feeling has a way of popping up any time and lingering for as long as it would like.  There are a precious few women who don’t experience morning sickness, but that is not the norm.  It’s a common side affect of pregnancy that has forced women to cope with it well into the second trimester.  For some unlucky women, it may linger throughout the entire pregnancy.

Researchers have not specifically identified the causes of morning sickness, and chalk it up to all the changes that happen in a woman’s body during pregnancy. Some even say that it is the body’s natural defense mechanism, warning mothers to stay away from foods that will be potentially harmful.  But regardless of the cause, since indigestion and nausea can’t be done away with altogether, they must be dealt with.  Here are some tips to help you survive what feels like the roller-coaster ride of pregnancy:

1. Take two crackers…

Two crackers before your head leaves the pillow is old but wise advice.  In other words, put some food on your stomach first thing in the morning before you get active to help keep your stomach settled.

2. Smaller is better

Smaller frequent meals can also help keep an ailing belly at bay.  Remember, your organs are shifting and the baby might be pressing on the stomach area, so there is less space for the stomach to expand for a heavy meal. Try eating smaller portions or dividing the meal into courses, eating each component of the meal (meat, veggies, starch, salad, etc.) separately and giving them time to digest.

3. When in doubt, do without

Avoid foods and smells that seem to trigger nausea. It may seem like this will be nearly every food or every smell, but once you identify the sensory culprits, avoid them like the plague.

4. Stabilize the sugar

No, that doesn’t mean to load up on sweets at mealtime.  The sugar we’re talking about is in your blood.  Eating something high in protein before going to bed helps your blood sugar stay more level.

5. Ginger is great!

Ginger in any form such as teas, cookies and even the spice itself can be helpful in preventing nausea.  Peppermint is another great natural nausea killer.  Either smelling it in aromatherapy form or sipping peppermint tea can help curb nausea. It’s also known to help with sagging energy levels.

6. Keep it cool

Have sips of ice water as the urge to purge strikes. Many women say that this helps them keep meals down as well.

7. Apply the pressure

Acupressure bands can be worn like bracelets and can curb nausea while you wear them. But be forewarned as one mom says, stand next to a bucket when you take them off!

8. Breathe easy

Don’t underestimate the power of your will. It might be mind over matter. Simply take a deep breath when nausea creeps in.  It may not curb the nausea but it just might you kept you from loosing your lunch.

9. Monitor your diet

Eat and enjoy the foods that you can, discard those you can’t and modify your diet accordingly.  Slowly add more foods to your diet one at a time.

10. Be prepared

We all need a little help to get through the day.  Turn your travel bag into your personal “Nausea Kit.”  A diaper bag like this one includes a smaller bag that can be filled with items like a gallon-size resealable plastic food bags (unzipped and ready to go) along with a small paper or grocery bag to put it in when used, gum, mints, hard candies, toothbrush, toothpaste, travel-size toothpaste, chewable antacid, bottle of water, crackers, pack of tissues, wet wipes and a calming lavender mist.  Choose the items that work best for you and keep it handy for those times when nausea strikes.

Linda Shrieves, a writer for the Orlando Sentinel, posted an article that explained the two researchers’ methods and what they discovered. Osnat and Phillip Teitelbaum, who authored the book “Does Your Baby Have Autism?” spent thousands of hours reviewing home videos shot by parents of children eventually diagnosed as autistic. They were watching for patterns in crawling and walking, which they compared to the same development in children without autism.  Here are three of several patterns that emerged among the children who were eventually diagnosed as autistic:

1. “Asymmetrical crawling,” as the Teitelbaums call it, means the baby “crawls with one leg in the crawling position and the other leg in the walking position.” In short, two sides of the body are doing different things.
2. Many autistic babies showed a preference for one side of their bodies. Normal infants may reach for a toy with both hands or alternate hands. Autistic babies seem to prefer and use only one hand. This is significant because children don’t become right- or left-handed until they’re four or five years old.
3. Some autistic children never crawl. They simply start walking. While this might impress and excite the parents, the Teitelbaums say it’s not a good sign, because it indicates there’s something wrong with their neurological development.

It’s important to keep in mind that not every child who crawls late or walks late is autistic. There’s a wide range of normal when it comes to child development. The Teitelbaum’s goal is to make parents aware of the warning signs “to help get more children in therapy earlier,” when researchers believe it benefits them most.

While all children love toys, there are actually some baby gifts that are helpful to autistic children.  Any toy for an autistic child that can be stacked helps them improve their motor skills, like this set of colorful, wooden spelling blocks (left.) Stories with repetition and/or rhyme help in the development of speech skills. Plush Mother Goose (right) contains three beloved nursery-rhyme characters and soft books that contain the rhymes. You can check online for lists of helpful toys for autistic children.

But there’s one wives’ tale that has gotten some validation from the medical community. The old saying that, “the mother loses a tooth for every child” may not be that far from the truth. Now, that’s a scary thought! For those of you who are staring at the possibility of a toothless grin, don’t worry. While tooth loss during pregnancy is common, it is preventable.

According to a recent study of 2,635 women conducted by Dr. Stefanie Russell, “women who have more children are more likely to have missing teeth.” Biological and behavioral changes related to pregnancy and child birth are likely to be a factor in tooth loss, according to Dr. Russell, an assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion at the New York University College of Dentistry. She found that:

* Pregnancy can make women susceptible to gingivitis (gum inflammation). Repeated pregnancies are likely to result in more frequent outbreaks of gingivitis that may lead to tooth loss in women with periodontitis.

* A woman may postpone seeking dental treatment because of financial concerns related to having children.

* Caring for more children may lead a mother to cut back on the time she devotes to herself, including her own dental care.

How do you counteract these biological and socio-economic factors? Rather than cut back on the number of children you might wish to have, make a commitment to take better care of your teeth. As I mentioned, tooth loss is totally preventable. Taking the time to brush and floss daily along with regular checkups can give you something to smile about! Keep your smile ready for those photos of you and your baby. There’ll be plenty of cameras around, and you will want to fill up an album like this with photos of you and your baby looking your picture-perfect best.

One sure-fire way to protect your smile is to limit sugary snacks. So skip the dessert at the baby shower and enjoy one of these delightful diaper cakes instead. The recipe for this cake includes all sorts of baby necessities, like booties, blanket, hooded towel and diapers, of course! A great twist on the angel food cake, it’s the sweetest Angel cake I’ve ever seen. Don’t you agree? It’s the perfect non-fattening gift for you and baby to enjoy.

Talk about having your cake and (not) eating it, too!

It’s amazing! It’s controversial! It’s spectacular! It’s a gimmick! It’s 4-D ultrasound–3-D with movement–and moms- and dads-to-be absolutely love it! You can check out a number of them on YouTube.

Apparently, the accuracy is so amazing, you’ll recognize your baby when it’s born. But for gathering medical information, some doctors say 4-D ultrasound adds little to what they already know from 2-D and 3-D ultrasound. According to the ABC-TV affiliate in Houston, TX, the controversy surrounding this imaging option is simply whether 4-D ultrasound is “a toy or medically necessary.” OB-GYN Dr. Joan Mastrobattista says the 4-D can find birth defects, like cleft lip, that the other scans don’t show. The technology is considered safe, although doctors recommend limiting the number of ultrasounds.

The price for a 4-D ultrasound is pretty reasonable. I found packages ranging from $159 to $199. If you decide to give a 4-D ultrasound as a baby gift, make sure you choose a reputable imaging center or medical institution where the power settings on the machines are monitored.

When you’re talking about a new baby, you can be sure there’ll be no shortage of photos and video–before and after the baby is born. That’s why Corner Stork Baby Gifts has a tremendous selection of photo frames–one of the most popular baby gift ideas around. Mom and Dad can keep track of baby’s first year with the “My First Year” Personalized Silver Photo Frame. And of course, there will be so many other photos taken along the way, an adorable photo album is always a welcome baby gift. Whether it’s 4-D ultrasound, photos or videos, one thing is sure–that precious little baby is the image of perfection!

First, the stats. According to an article on FoxNews.com, more than 12 million U.S. women use an oral contraceptive–better known as “the pill.”

That pill is 99% effective in preventing pregnancy. Pretty solid, right?

Between two and eight percent of women become pregnant each year while using it. Whaaaat?

Yes, and guess what? It’s not a pharmaceutical error. It’s a user error. Ladies, if you don’t follow the program as prescribed, you run the risk of that pill turning into a seven-pound baby.

Without further fanfare, here are the five things that Dr. Millicent Comrie of the Long Island College Hospital Center for Women’s Health says may cause the pill to become less effective or even–gasp!–fail:

• Not taking the pill at the same time every day. Since 1960, the amount of estrogen in birth control pills has dropped from 50 micrograms to 20 micrograms because of health concerns. With today’s “low dose” pills, it’s more important than ever that you take your pill every day AT THE SAME TIME to maintain a consistent amount of estrogen in your body during the 24-hour period.
• Missing a dose. Just don’t.
• Alcohol. Bet you didn’t want to hear this one. Yes, my friend, that cosmopolitan you enjoy with friends before the movie just may reduce the effectiveness of the pill. It seems that alcohol is metabolized by the liver, and any drug that affects the liver may also affect how the pill is absorbed by your body. If you’re a heavy drinker, you’re really taking a chance.
• Antibiotics/seizure medication. Neurological medications like dilantin and carbamazepine may diminish the pill’s effectiveness. Antibiotics are a problem because the pill is so low dose, though not as much of a concern as they once were.
• Taking a generic form of the pill. Forget about saving money here. Generic pills don’t contain the same amount of medicine as the brand names. With the FDA allowing a 15% variation in generic meds, and with the pills so “low dose” to begin with, even 15% can mean the difference between 2AM partying and 2AM feedings.

Feel free to share this important information with your friends on “the pill.” If you enlighten them, and they still choose to be careless about their pill protocol, may I suggest an adorable baby shower favor and a baby gift for their baby shower? The baby shower favor? A very meaningful, personalized champagne flute that celebrates the new baby and the bubbly spirits that probably brought her here today. And the gift? The “Lucky Ducky” Six-Piece Newborn Gift Basket! Celebrating the new little cutie who has his mom’s less-than-perfect memory to thank for being here.

A new report has just been released by Tokyo’s respected Tobacco Control Journal which has carried on an 8 year study following 7,402 children of smokers. A third of the children who had parents smoking within 10 feet of them within their first few months of life ended up in the hospital before they were even 1 year old. There was a significant decrease in their immune system that made them vulnerable to infectious and potentially lethal diseases. 45% of the children that were exposed to smoke within their first 6 months of life had to be treated for infectious disease before the 8 year study was completed.

Even with the onslaught of educational videos and commercials on TV and radio against smoking, it doesn’t appear to be enough since there are many parents simply ignoring the warnings and willing to take the chance of giving their child a potentially fatal infectious disease thanks to a decreased immunity.

Being an ex-smoker, I understand how difficult it is to quit and I plan on releasing a post about how I successfully quit without the use of any drugs or patches. And I had kids, but I never smoked around them. I always went outside to smoke regardless of what the season. So I implore you, not just for your own health, but also for your children. If you don’t respect your body and wellness, respect theirs and leave the house if you can’t control your habit. It’s not fair to a defenseless child that you injure them through your elected ignorance.

They will test their brain patterns and development and then once they see what is changing, they can apply their findings to infants and be able to detect it sooner. The test is normally done around 3 years old when the symptoms start becoming prevalent. Some children even develop normally and then start taking on symptoms in the third year. Scientists believe that the changes are always there, but maybe too small to notice until age 3. Professor Tony Charman, of the Institute of Child Health, who is involved in the Basis project, said: “It may be that things were not right before, but the differences were very subtle and wouldn’t be picked up in everyday interaction with parents. We hope that studying higher risk children in the first years of life will provide answers about whether there are subtle cues that can be detected early.”

Scientists believe that it will take several years of research before they can narrow down their findings and hopefully they will be able to offset or even reverse the effects of Autism. Professor Mark Johnson, of the Birkbeck Babylab, who is leading the Basis project, said that the aim was to be able to pick up signs of incipient autism at a very early age. In the longer term, the aim is to develop possible interventions that might reduce the number of susceptible babies that go on to develop autism.” he said.

The proper way for pregnant women to wear their seat belts is shown here in this diagram.

1. Wear the diagonal strap between your breasts, moving the strap around the side of your bump.
2. Make sure the lap strap sits comfortably under your bump. If it is over your belly button then it is too high. It should go from hip bone to hip bone, as low as possible.

“For pregnant women, the lap-belt portion needs to be worn low over the pelvis as stated in the article, so if there is a crash, basically, the bony pelvis is what the seat belt is restraining rather than [having the force] transmitted to the uterus or the abdomen,” Jones explained. “The shoulder belt should simply come up from the side, go between the woman’s breasts, and over the shoulder.”

Another surprising finding is that airbags deployed in the crashes they studied did not increase or decrease the resulting injuries of the women who were properly wearing seat belts. More in depth research data and statistics can be found on the US News and World Report website.

Studies however have proven that bottlefed children grow faster than breastfed children and that the difference is very noticeable. Jan Payne of the Queensland University of Technology states, “It is unnecessary for breastfed babies to be given artificial formula in many cases because there is a distinct difference in weight gain in the first 24 months between breastfed and bottle-fed babies.

“Babies who are fully breastfed and growing normally can be mistaken as ‘not thriving’ if their weight over time is compared to current growth charts. This is because their weight for age tends to fall below that for artificial formula-fed infants after about six months of age.”, she concludes.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed a new growth chart which should replace the growth chart currently in use mostly by the U.S. and the U.K.. Payne notes, “The WHO Child Growth Standards are based on a longitudinal international study of the growth of infants in good health who were exclusively or predominantly breastfed for at least four months,” she said.

There is a wealth of studies on the bottle versus breast debate and it’s one that is not tread on lightly. This may be the first of the pubic reports that indicates an advantage to bottle feeding that we’ve seen in some time. Although some may argue that the main reason for the additional growth is because of the artificial growth hormones that are present in most on the shelf baby formulas.

Let the Debate Begin!

The pregnancy rate rose over 12 percent among women 40-44 in 2005 and 2006.  That was the record breaking sharpest rise ever.  Now while the teen birth rate lowered, it wasn’t anything to brag about.  For every 1000 girls in the 15 to 17 age bracket, the rate only dropped from 41.1 to 40.7 percent.  For those confused by decimals, that’s only  4/10’s of a percent.  Not much to brag about.  Even the birth rate in girls younger than that, the frightening 13-15 age bracket, the pregnancy rate dropped from8.7 percent to 7.7 percent. And let’s face it, ANY drop in the birth rate in that age bracket is more than welcome.

The highest rate of conceptions was between the ages of 25 to 29 at 129 for every 1000 women.  Another interesting note which is a sign of the times, is that an enormous 56% of all of the 866,000 plus conceptions in 2006, were outside of marriage.  That number has always been on a steady increase every year for the past decade.  They do note however that 80% of those conceptions resulted in maternity as opposed to giving up the child for adoption, abortions, miscarriages, etc..

I guess we’re supposed to be comforted by these numbers somehow.  It just goes to show that society looks upon pregnancy risk and parenting as an afterthought to sexual relations.  The impending doom of which appears to be a very messed up generation of children forthcoming well into or the foreseeable future.  Waves and waves of them.  It’s a very disappointing report, but a wake up call for all of us that still hold onto those silly family values.