Strollerderby : low birthweight

They Say: Miscarriage Means More Risk

Amy Kuras — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:08:00 GMT

For women who’ve experienced the crushing blow of a miscarriage, one of the small comforts is the conventional wisdom that a single pregnancy loss doesn’t bode ill for future pregnancies.
A University of Aberdeen (Scotland) study of more than 32,000 expectant mothers showed an increased risk of many pregnancy complications among women who has suffered even one miscarriage.

They were 3.3 times more likely to have preeclampsia, twice as likely to have an induced labor, and almost six times more likely to need intervention like the use of forceps at birth.

Continuing the litany of suckage, they were 1.7 times more likely to show symptoms of a miscarriage but not actually lose the pregnancy, 1.3 more times likely to have bleeding after 24 weeks in the next pregnancy, and also had increased risk of a premature baby and of having a child with a low birth weight.

It should be noted that the risk of all of these things overall is pretty low, so an increased risk at that level is a concern but doesn’t mean your pregnancy is doomed to difficulty if you’re among the 20 percent of women who have suffered a miscarriage.

What’s interesting about this is that most research has focused on recurrent preganancy loss, defined as three or more miscarriages in a row. Most doctors won’t even begin to look at underlying causes for miscarriage until that’s happened. That’s an awful lot of heartbreak to go through before getting some answers, so hopefully this study will lead to women getting additional support in their pregnancies sooner rather than later.

Wha? Smoking NOT Bad During Pregnancy?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:02:00 GMT

I've often complained about how pregnant women are given all kinds of conflicting information and told not to do all kinds of things, even when the evidence against such things is dubious. There seems to be an all-or-nothing approach to pregnancy dangers, which makes it hard for pregnant women to engage in any activity without feeling guilty or anxious (I suppose it's practice for new motherhood.) However, even I was pretty floored by a new study by the London School of Economics that says smoking during the first four months of pregnancy does almost no harm to the baby unless it is combined with other factors, and even after the first trimester the impact on birthweight is negligible. Um, excuse me?

The study looked at birthweight, and the researchers basically said the greatest risks are to women of low socio-economic status, who combine smoking with poor diet and alcohol. They add that for middle-class women who smoke during the first four months of pregnancy, there is little risk to the fetus, and even after there is a very small effect on birthweight. Low birthweight is linked with developmental problems and mortality. One immediate criticism of the study is that smoking is also tied to other problems like miscarriage, SIDS, and respiratory problems, and the study didn't address this.

Of all the things in the world, few are tied so clearly to serious health problems as smoking, so I'm totally skeptical of this one. And before anyone launches into an account of how their mother smoked like a chimney during pregnancy and they are just fine, I should add that almost no study offers a guarantee of destructive health effects, but that doesn't mean risks don't exist for a large percentage of the population.

Smaller Babies = A Hard-Knock Life

Karen Murphy — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:06:00 GMT

Tinier-than-average babies may be cute, but they face a whole host of problems down the road, not only through infancy and childhood but as adults as well. Recent research performed by the National Institute on Aging suggests that babies born at less than 5.5 pounds face significant and lasting effects from the low birthweight which proves a link between birth weight, adult health and socioeconomic success. (My youngest son weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces...)

35 years of data on more than 12,000 people were analyzed to see how well-being and disadvantage are transmitted across generations within families. Kids with low birthweight scored significantly lower of tests, had a higher number of health problems in adulthood, and even earned less money that did their average-weight siblings, and in turn, these disadvantages were passed along to the subsequent generation.

I don't even know what to say about this, other than do your best to take good care of yourself during pregnancy. Which I know you're already doing. But sometimes there are outcomes that we can't predict like my son's (Down syndrome), but I already know that his choices may be limited in adulthood and that his health will likely be affected. But many babies are just...tiny, with no medical or developmental reason. And they're the ones I most want to give a hug to just about now.

Small Babies May Become Depressed Teens

Karen Murphy — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 13:15:00 GMT

Dear People Who Perform Research Studies,

Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of you people. Every day, practically, there's a new study about something, all of which seem to attempt desperately to make sense of various things by trying to provide links and clues as to why they happen. Take depression, for example. No one is sure why it happens, and about all they know is that it may be genetic, and it may happen more to women than to men (unless the men simply aren't reporting it, in which case it's anybody's guess), and it seems to be related to stress. That's it. That's about all anyone knows, for sure. That I know of.

So when I read about yet another new study that links low birthweight with depression in teens, my reaction is: Prove it! So you're saying that out of the 5.7% of girls who were born weighing less than 5.5 lbs, 38% experienced depression at least once between the ages of 13 and 16, while only 8.4% of those born at a normal weight experienced depression? Yeah, AND??

Come back when you have a little more information, willya? Until then, you're scaring people unnecessarily.

Love,