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Premature babies are more likely to have autism.
Babies born under 4 pounds, 7 ounces, are five times more likely to have autism, a new study published in Pediatrics has found.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia looked at more than 1,000 children born with low birth weights (under 2000 grams), most often due to premature birth, and found they had a higher-than-average risk of developing autism spectrum disorders.
MedPage Today reports that while it has been well established that, “… low birth weight and prematurity put children at risk of cognitive and motor disability …,” this new study confirms that the risk of autism spectrum disorders among these children is high as well, though it doesn’t prove any direct link between low birth weight and autism.
The study also found that boys born with low birth weight were more likely to have autism than girls.
If your little one was born prematurely, you may be in for a lifetime of health troubles
Premature babies face major health risks at birth, and often require months of intensive medical care.
The health risks don’t stop when they head home from the hospital. A new study finds that people born prematurely face a substantially increased risk of dying as young adults. For the most part, if they survive infancy, they make it through childhood and adolescence. But between the ages of 18 to 36, survivors of preterm birth are at a higher risk of death than their peers who were born at term.
What is going on there?
Can mouthwash ward off early labor?
Listen up, pregnant ladies! In the “weird but apparently real” files, there’s a new finding that regularly using mouthwash can prevent preterm labor.
It’s long been known that women with gum disease have more premature babies than those with healthy gums. What hasn’t been clear is whether or not there’s a causal relationship.
This new study isn’t exactly proof positive of anything, but it offered up pretty phenomenal results for being a small, questionably conducted study. Women who used the mouthwash reduced their risk of premature birth by about seventy-five percent.
Premature birth leaves lasting health impacts
A new long-term study of preemies shows mixed forecasts for the little ones’ futures.
On the one hand, they’re more likely to become ill, suffer heart problems and face academic and social challenges, even into adulthood. On the other hand, researchers say babies born early prove to be extremely resilient. Supportive parents and schools can go a long way towards cultivating this trait, helping preemies get a leg up on the challenges they face.
It's hard to know what to say to the parent of a preemie.
Inspire.com, an online patient community, has published a report called Insensitive Comments and Their Impact on Preemie Mothers. “Out of 630 preemie parents who responded to an online survey, more than half said they had experienced insensitive comments about their baby, contributing to feelings of stress and isolation,” ABC News reports.
20 percent of the parents who responded to Inspire’s survey have “lost relationships with one or more people who were important to them” over things said after the premature birth of their baby. Before you stick your foot in your mouth, it’s important to understand how your words can affect the parent of a preemie, especially a mother, who is “at a much higher risk of experiencing postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder” after giving birth prematurely and spending months in the NICU.
With that in mind, here are five things you should never say to the parent of a preemie: Continue reading »
The story of a mom and her tiny baby
Today, Jessica Valenti shares the story of what she calls her “new normal” — life after giving birth to her daughter Layla after just 29 weeks of pregnancy. Layla weighed 2 pounds, 2 ounces.
Valenti had an otherwise normal pregnancy until, at a routine check up, she was found to have dangerously high blood pressure. Even after being immediately hospitalized, she and her husband were skeptical that there was a real problem, because as she says, she didn’t feel sick. But two days later, pre-eclamptic symptoms and HELLP syndrome set in and she became seriously ill. Doctors gave her magnesium sulfate for her blood pressure and pitocin to induce labor. After two hours, her liver was failing and she was rushed for an emergency c-section.
Eight weeks later, her daughter is still in the NICU and life for her family is not the same. Nor does she think it should be. Continue reading »
Remember the bizarre tale of the baby in Mexico who was found to be alive at her own funeral? In a cruel twist of fate for her devastated parents, she later died in another hospital. Now, Mexican officials have charged the doctor who made the mistake that cost the baby her life with homicide.
According to the AP, Dr. Jenny Gijon faces not only homicide, but abuse and misconduct charges. Because, in yet another surprising twist to this story, Gijon was not supposed to have been on call the day the baby was born. She’d been paid by another doctor, Dario Davila, to cover his shifts at the hospital in Tulancingo. Continue reading »
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