Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Supplements For Breast-Feeding Mothers Is Good For Premature Infants

Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Supplements For Breast-Feeding Mothers Is Good For Premature Infants.
Very too early infants have higher levels of DHA - an omega-3 fatty acid that's basic to the improvement and development of the brain - when their breast-feeding mothers believe DHA supplements, Canadian researchers have found. Researchers say a deficiency in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is common in very preterm infants, possibly because the ordinary diets of many in the or breast-feeding women lack the essential fatty acid, which is found in cold water fatty fish and fish lubricator supplements.

The study included breast-feeding mothers of 12 infants born at 29 weeks gestation or earlier. The mothers were given high-priced doses of DHA supplements until 36 weeks after conception. The mothers and babies in this intervention series were compared at date 49 to a control group of mothers of very preterm infants who didn't take DHA supplements.

The levels of DHA in the knocker milk of mothers who took DHA supplements were nearly 12 times higher than in the draw off of mothers in the control group. Infants in the intervention group received about seven times more DHA than those in the hold back group. Plasma DHA concentrations in mothers and babies in the intervention league were two to three times higher than those in the control group.

So "Our study has shown that supplementing mothers is a usable and effective way of providing DHA to low birthweight premature infants," review author Dr Isabelle Marc, an assistant professor in the pediatrics department at Laval University in Quebec, said in a item release. The DHA content in the breast drain of mothers who don't consume fish during the breast-feeding period is probably insufficient, according to Marc.

25 Percent Of Infants Suffer From Intestinal Colic

25 Percent Of Infants Suffer From Intestinal Colic.
Colic is a banal tough nut to crack for babies, and new research may finally provide clues to its cause: A niggardly study found that infants with colic seemed to develop certain intestinal bacteria later than those without the condition. What the researchers aren't direct on yet is why this would make some infants go on long crying jags each night for months. The study authors suspect that without the right balance of intestinal flora, the babies may know more pain and inflammation.

In particular, the study found differences in two types of bacteria. One is proteobacteria. The other is probiotics, which comprise bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. "Already in the first two weeks of life, limited significant differences between both groups were found. Proteobacteria were increased in infants with colic, with a more-than-doubled germane abundance.

These included specific species that are known to produce gas," said workroom author Carolina de Weerth, an associate professor of developmental psychology at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. "On the other hand, bifidobacteria and lactobacilli were increased in conduct infants. These included species that would set in motion anti-inflammatory effects. Moreover, samples from infants with colic were found to suppress fewer bacteria related to butyrate-producing species.

Butyrate is known to reduce pain in adults. These microbial signatures c explain the excessive crying". Results of the study appeared online Jan 14, 2013 and in the February picture issue of Pediatrics. Colic affects up to 25 percent of infants, De Weerth said. It is defined as crying for an unexceptional of more than three hours a day, in a general way between birth and 3 months of age, according to background dope in the study.

Little is known about what causes colic, and the only definitive cure for colic is time. The outrageous crying usually stops at around 4 months of age, according to the study. "Newborn crying is totally variable, and between 2 weeks and 8 or 10 weeks you can expect at least an hour of crying in a day. There may be some who whine less; some who cry more.

But, babies with colic really do watchword for three to four hours a day," said Dr Michael Hobaugh, chief of medical caduceus at La Rabida Children's Hospital, in Chicago. In the current study, the researchers tested more than 200 fecal samples from 12 infants with colic and 12 infants with obscene levels of crying (the guide group). Colic was determined at 6 weeks of age.

Correlation Use Drugs For Heartburn And The Percentage Of Birth Defects Of Children

Correlation Use Drugs For Heartburn And The Percentage Of Birth Defects Of Children.
Babies born to women who took a standard division of heartburn drugs while they were club did not appear to have any heightened risk of birth defects, a large Danish investigation finds. This class of drugs, known as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), include blockbusters such as Prilosec (omeprazole), Prevacid (lansoprazole) and Nexium (esomeprazole). All were ready by prescription-only during most of the work period (1996-2008), but Prilosec and Prevacid are now sold over-the-counter.

While the authors and an editorialist, publishing in the Nov 25, 2010 delivery of the New England Journal of Medicine, called the results "reassuring," experts still guide using drugs as little as possible during pregnancy. "In general, these are probably out of harm's way but it takes a lot of time and a lot of exposures before you see some of the abnormalities that might exist," explained Dr Eva Pressman, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and big cheese of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "My recommendations are always to circumvent medication exposure if at all possible.

There are very few life-threatening disorders that require these PPIs. There are other ways to get the same effect," added Pressman, who was not active in the study. "Most pregnant women have heartburn but most of it is somewhat easy to treat with simple antacids such as Tums and Maalox and Mylanta, all of which are locally acting and absorbed, and don't ask any risk to the fetus".

Even propping yourself up so you're in a semi-vertical position, as opposed to fibbing flat, can help, said Dr Michael Katz, senior iniquity president for research and global programs at the March of Dimes. The research was funded by the Danish Medical Research Council and the Lundbeck Foundation.

The authors of the recent study used linked databases to glean message on almost 841000 babies born in Denmark from 1996 through 2008, as well as on the babies' mothers' use of PPIs during pregnancy. PPI use by hopeful women was the highest between 2005 and 2008, when about 2 percent of fetuses were exposed, but risk during the critical first trimester was less than 1 percent.

On The First Day Of New Year Kills More Babies Than Any Other Day

On The First Day Of New Year Kills More Babies Than Any Other Day.
A green boning up finds that more babies hunger of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the United States on New Year's Day than any other daytime of the year. It's not clear why, but researchers suspect it has something to do with parents who eye-opener heavily the night before and put their children in jeopardy. "Alcohol-influenced adults are less able to protect children in their care. We're saying the same deed is happening with SIDS: They're also less likely to protect the baby from it," said muse about author David Phillips, a sociologist. "It seems as if alcohol is a endanger factor. We just need to find out what makes it a risk factor".

SIDS kills an estimated 2500 babies in the United States each year. Some researchers cogitate genetic problems present to most cases, with the risk boosted when babies sleep on their stomachs. Phillips is a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego who studies when such deaths happen and why.

He said he became prying how the choices made by parents may put on SIDS and launched the new study, which appears in the current issue of the magazine Addiction. Researchers analyzed a database of 129090 deaths from SIDS from 1973-2006 and 295151 other infant deaths during that take period. They found that the highest number of deaths from SIDS occur on New Year's Day: They picket by almost a third above the number of deaths that would be expected on a winter day.

Children Watch Television Instead Of Games If Obese Mothers

Children Watch Television Instead Of Games If Obese Mothers.
Many babies lay out almost three hours in bearing of the TV each day, a new contemplate finds, especially if their mothers are obese and TV addicts themselves, or if the babies are fussy or active. "Mothers are using small screen as a way to soothe these infants who might be a little bit more difficult to deal with," said superior study author Amanda Thompson, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. Other studies have shown that TV watching at such an at age can be harmful adding that TV can obstruct important developmental milestones.

The report was published online Jan 7, 2013 and in the February imprint issue of the journal Pediatrics. For the study, Thompson's span looked at more than 200 pairs of low-income black mothers and babies who took part in a consider on obesity risk in infants, for which families were observed in their homes. Researchers found infants as young as 3 months were parked in frontage of the TV for almost three hours a day.

And 40 percent of infants were exposed to TV at least three hours a date by the time they were 1 year old. Mothers who were obese, who watched a lot of TV and whose lassie was fussy were most likely to put their infants in front of the TV, Thompson's league found. TV viewing continued through mealtime for many infants, the researchers found.

Mothers with more training were less likely to keep the TV on during meals. Obese mothers are more likely to be inactive or admit from depression. "They are more likely to use the television themselves, so their infants are exposed to more television as well". Thompson is currently doing a swot to see if play and other alternatives can help these moms get their babies away from the television.

Scientists Are Studying The Problem Of Premature Infants

Scientists Are Studying The Problem Of Premature Infants.
A unrealized budding way to identify premature infants at high risk for delays in motor skills advance may have been discovered by researchers. The researchers conducted brain scans on 43 infants in the United Kingdom who were born at less than 32 weeks' gestation and admitted to a neonatal thorough carefulness unit (NICU). The scans focused on the brain's white matter, which is especially light in newborns and at risk for injury.They also conducted tests that measured certain brain chemical levels.

When 40 of the infants were evaluated a year later, 15 had signs of motor problems, according to the research published online Dec 17, 2013 in the newspaper Radiology. Motor skills are typically described as the demanding movement of muscles or groups of muscles to perform a certain act. The researchers purposeful that ratios of particular brain chemicals at birth can help predict motor-skill problems.

The Use Of Triple Antiretroviral Drugs During Feeding Protects The Child From HIV

The Use Of Triple Antiretroviral Drugs During Feeding Protects The Child From HIV.
In sub-Saharan Africa, many mothers with HIV are faced with an horrendous choice: breast-feed their babies and peril infecting them or use formula, which is often out of across to because of set or can sick the baby due to a lack of clean drinking water acaiberry. Now, two strange studies acquire that giving pregnant and nursing women triple antiretroviral drug therapy, or treating breast-fed infants with an antiretroviral medication, can dramatically prepare dispatch rates, enabling moms to both breast-feed and to take under one's wing nearly all children from infection.

In one study, a combination antiretroviral drug psychoanalysis given to pregnant and breast-feeding women in Botswana kept all but 1 percent of babies from contracting the infection during six months of breast-feeding. Without the narcotize therapy, about 25 percent of babies would become infected with the AIDS-causing virus, according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.

A flash study, led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that giving babies an antiretroviral narcotic once a time during their anything else six months of soul reduced the transmission dress down to 1,7 percent. Both studies are published in the June 17 progeny of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the United States, HIV-positive women are typically given antiretrovirals during pregnancy to elude disappearance HIV to their babies in utero or during labor and delivery. After the infant is born, women are advised to use formula as an alternative of breast-feeding for the same reason, said senior study author Dr Charles M van der Horst, a professor of medicament and contagious diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

That guts well in developed nations where formula is easy to come by and a good water supply is readily available, van der Horst said. But throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, soak supplies can be contaminated by bacteria and other pathogens that, especially in the scantiness of good medical care, can cause diarrheal illnesses that can be implacable for babies.

Previous investigate has shown that formula-fed babies in the region die at a high rate from pneumonia or diarrheal disease, leaving women in a Catch-22. "In Africa, boob bleed is absolutely essential for the first six months of life," van der Horst said. "Mothers there have knowledge of that. It was a 'between a sway and a hard place' copy for them".