Since I’m a woman and am aware that I am trying to write this blog for women, articles about pregnancy always catch my eye.
Here’s a pick of some of the best or most interesting that I’ve seen recently.
- It seems that BBC News has been getting excited about pregnancy at the moment. The first of their articles that I want to flag up is one about morning sickness. In particular it seems that taking certain medications can help with severe morning sickness and won’t necessarily damage the foetus. I have mixed views on this, but it doesn’t affect me since I’m not pregnant. It’s just important that those of you who are pregnant know that there are options available if morning sickness is a problem for you. I was particularly concerned by the comment in the article that some women end up having abortions of planned and wanted pregnancies because the morning sickness is too unbearable. That was worrying.
- The next BBC article is definitely something celebrate. They are starting to realise that they may be setting out too many rules and regulations for pregnant women (and even starting to encroach on their partners too). Sometimes a bit less rule-making can be a good thing.
- A final BBC article (which I find quite amusing following on from the previous one about there being too many rules and directions being set out for women) stating that women are damaging their feet by wearing the wrong footwear while pregnant. I have two complaints about this: (i) it’s not just pregnant women damaging their feet by wearing the wrong footwear, it’s just a bit more obvious with the extra weight pregnant women are carrying around; and (ii) is it really correct that flip-flops and similar shoes don’t provide enough support? Try comparing this alongside the barefoot debate!
- This isn’t an article about pregnancy, but I feel this is a suitable place to include it. An interesting though-piece about teenage girls reaching puberty at a younger age, exploring the consequent impacts of this and why it may be happening. Why did I think it fits here? Partly because there’s a risk of teenage pregnancies arising out of this younger age of puberty and partly because all those pregnant women out there may want to know about this in case they have a daughter!
- Not wanting to scare anyone who is pregnant, but a recent study has suggested that those who are pregnant and consume one or more servings of artificially sweetened drinks per day have a 38% increased risk of pre-term delivery. Taking the number of servings up to four or more per day increased that percentage to 78%. Thanks to Dr Briffa for bringing that to our attention!
- Cassandra Forsythe is a new mother and recently wrote about the consequent postpartum exercise incontinence that she has suffered from. I linked to this in a links post soon after she wrote it and was very glad to find that Cassandra did a follow up article about strengthening the glutes to reduce pelvic floor dysfunction, including a set of links to useful glute resources.
- This is another one of those “I don’t want to scare you all” articles. It seems that there are still preventable deaths among pregnant women and new mothers. Thankfully there has been a lot of noise about this in the media over the last few months and people like Annie Lennox are putting their voices behind the campaign to improve this situation.
- What are your thoughts on breastfeeding? From the viewpoint of someone who has never done it but who is a self-confessed diet obsessive I think breastfeeding is a fantastic idea. However, it was really good to read Cassandra Forsythe’s view on this, including whether she does it, what her views are about dieting while breastfeeding, whether you need to eat more than usual and anything else you can think of. Cassandra is definitely far more qualified than me to write about this stuff!
- Staying on the breastfeeding topic, Mark Sisson did a lengthy article about combining the Primal Diet (essentially similar to the Paleo diet) and nursing babies. I found a few interesting points in his article, in particular the point about allergies. I’ve come across people who have had problems with their baby being allergic to breast milk, therefore having to put them onto formula when they are still incredibly young. Something I’d not thought about (though it makes perfect sense) is that aspects of what you eat are passed onto the baby through your breast milk. If the baby is allergic to your milk it is possible that they are actually allergic to something you are eating. Mark gives some suggestions of things to try to take out of your own diet to see if this improves the situation for the baby. After all, it just doesn’t make sense that babies should be allergic to breast milk. It’s nature’s way of providing a good blend of nutrients and plenty of healthy fats while the baby grows during the first few months.
- Finally, an excellent article (really an email which has been posted up as a Guest Post) on Stumptuous about the way other people decide they are the experts on your pregnancy and the fact that you are pregnant gives them the right to instruct you in what you should be doing. For older people it is often that their knowledge is outdated by more recent studies, some friends may just be peddling old wives tales and what they imagine is good advice. Lieke tells us what it has been like for the first six months of her pregnancy fighting back against the tide of “good” advice and provides a few tips on how to get people off your back.
Well! That was a few more pregnancy-related links than I thought I had up my sleeve! I hope they are useful to you all. As always, best of luck to those of you who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy and congratulations to anyone who has recently added a small bundle to their brood.
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