Does being born in the springtime make it more likely that your child will develop asthma, schizophrenia, MS or be autistic?

One of those ‘studies’ claims that it does.  Why does this happen and how does the season of your child’s birth have an effect to their health? The researchers have found a link between how much sunlight a pregnant mother gets and what effect the lack of the sun’s rays (and that all important vitamin D) has on the their fetus.

The best month to be born? Continue reading »

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Oh, is that a baby on my breast? I didn't notice.

Babble has two fascinating features up this week that sit firmly on either side of the breast vs. bottle debate. One, a slideshow of celebs breastfeeding in public, features photos of famous moms like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Salma Hayek and Gwen Stefani gleefully feeding infants.  (In Hayek’s case, she was photographed feeding someone else’s infant – one of the 10 biggest breastfeeding controversies, according to TIME magazine.)  The other is an opinion piece by Being Pregnant blogger Monica Bielanko on why she won’t apologize for formula feeding.  Titled “Not Breastfeeding is Fine,” Bielanko’s central argument is that because of her strict Mormon upbringing, she has “always associated nudity, especially breasts, with sexuality and then sin and shame,” a correlation that makes breastfeeding difficult, to say the least.

Bielanko has essentially been told to get over her insecurities by breastfeeding zealots who seem to be completely callous toward her emotional and psychological issues yet obsessed with the health of her baby – a child they don’t and will never know.  I think it’s one thing to advocate breastfeeding in general, but to attack specific individuals for their choices is a bit much.  (Those same breastfeeding advocates willing to attack an individual for choosing to bottle-feed would likely never attack a gay person for choosing to be in a same-sex relationship.)  Beyond a certain point, these extreme lactivists are not trying to help anyone, but rather are choosing to attack other mothers in an attempt to legitimize their choices amidst a culture that can seem to be anti-breastfeeding.

Then there are those, like most of the celebrity moms profiled in Babble’s Celebs Who Breastfeed in Public feature, who are simply trying to lead by example.  To make it known to the world at large that they are breastfeeding their children, perhaps in the hope that a new mother on the fence about breastfeeding will feel inspired, or maybe just because an essential element of breastfeeding is doing it on demand no matter where you are, even if you’re in the park/at a store/on the cover of a magazine.  (Don’t you hate it when your baby bugs you for food while you’re trying to pose for Vogue?  Kids!)

Michelle Obama has taken heat from conservative women for announcing last week that she supports the mantra, “Breast is Best,” in the same way that Bielanko (and many others like her) have been ridiculed by La Leche Leaguers.  Bielanko says, “Other women breastfeeding in public make me feel uncomfortable, too, even though I think it’s good that they’re doing it.  I can’t help that reaction, it just happens.  I can disguise my discomfort, I can smile at the breastfeeding mothers, and I do, but I can’t control how I feel on the inside.”  She’s certainly not alone.  Kim Kardashian famously tweeted about how gross she thought it was that a mother seated near her was breastfeeding in an LA restaurant (though I doubt K.K. made any effort to hide her feelings).  As an aside to the First Lady’s new focus on breastfeeding, the Surgeon General has made it clear that “No mother should be made to feel guilty if she cannot or chooses not to breastfeed.”  Yet clearly Bielanko does feel guilty, and some would suggest she should. Continue reading »

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New evidence suggests not all cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome are caused by shaking.

Imagine having been sent to jail for shaking a child who later died, except you know you didn’t shake that child, despite all evidence to the contrary.  Then imagine — based on “fierce disagreement among doctors about the shaken-baby diagnosis” — that after 11 years in jail, your conviction was overturned, and you were set free.  Only by then, your husband had divorced you and taken your three daughters to live with him.

That frightening tale is the real life story of Audrey Edmunds, a former secretary who left her job to start an in-home daycare.  In the early 90s, one of her charges, 7-month-old Natalie Beard, “suddenly collapsed while drinking a bottle of milk” and was found to have “the triad of shaken-baby symptoms.”  Natalie died, and Edmunds was convicted of “first-degree reckless homicide.”

According to Emily Bazelon’s New York Times expose on the problems with the Shaken Baby Syndrome diagnosis, “A small but growing number of doctors warn that there can be alternate explanations — infections or bleeding disorders, for example — for the triad of symptoms associated with shaken-baby syndrome.”   Continue reading »

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More fuel for the breast vs. bottle debate.

Okay, calm down.  Calm down.  Yes, I know you’ve been crying all day because your baby won’t latch and your nipples are bleeding but you’re putting yourself through hell anyway because “breast is best.”  BUT – a new study shows that while “breastfeeding definitely has protective benefits for baby’s immune system… The caveat is that these benefits diminish if a baby isn’t fed breast milk exclusively for the first six months of life.”

Dear scientists behind this study: on behalf of every mother out there, I salute you.  With a giant bird. Continue reading »

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Your big boy is likely to grow up to be a stud.

If you’ve got a son who was wearing size 12 months by 6 months, chances are he’ll grow up to be tall, strong – and get this – quite a Casanova!  “As adolescents, these boys are likely to reach puberty earlier, have higher testosterone counts” and are more likely to score with chicks before the other dudes, according to The Press Association. Continue reading »

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We’ve written a lot about BPA here on Strollerderby, and I mean a lot.  So much so that I think it’s time for me personally and maybe for some of you to really examine how much BPA is present in our lives and the effect that it’s having on people.  Especially since top scientists all around the world are sounding the alarm about the chemical at an alarming rate.

The most recent scientist to speak out against BPA, Exeter University Professor David Melzer, is urging manufacturers to cut down on BPA in food packaging and containers and believes the chemical “should be put through the same rigorous safety trials as new drugs,” according to The Daily Mail.  During a recent press conference at the Royal Institution in London, Melzer told reporters, “I think small effects for large numbers of people matter and it’s reasonable that a tiny proportion of the costs of BPA should be put to human drug trial-type assessments to settle once and for all whether this compound is bio-active in humans.” Continue reading »

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Bisphenol-a, or BPA, is everywhere. It’s in the lining of every can of soup at your grocery store. It’s in the Nalgene bottle you’ve carried with you since college (though not in one you bought this year, since the company has stopped using BPA). It’s even in our dental sealants.

BPA shows up in the urine of nearly everyone living in North America.

Should we care?

Maybe. The science on whether or not BPA harms humans is mixed.

BPA is a known endocrine disruptor. In animals, BPA has been linked to obesity, cancer, and diabetes. Studies of it’s effects in people are harder to quantify, leaving medical researchers with more questions than answers. A growing number of scientists, advocacy groups and elected officials are calling for a ban on the chemical in food containers, especially those marketed to children.

Continue reading »

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