A Week in the News - 10th May 2013

The news this week has been dominated by two events; one being the discovery of three missing women in Cleveland, the other the shock resignation of the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The two stories couldn't be further apart in terms of how they impacted people but both events will have altered people's lives - although if you aren't a football fan you might not quite agree with that! The May Day bank holiday brought some more glorious weather across the UK, and perhaps has finally signalled the end of our horrible Winter. This week also brought out some interesting news in the world of pregnancy and babies, and we're here to show you the stories that came to our attention this week.

Giving Birth in Britain and a Walliams baby

As reported across various media outlets, including The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph Britain has come out as only the 23rd best place to give birth in the world. To some this will come as a shock, as they have received brilliant antenatal and postnatal care, whilst for others it may seem an all too familiar story. Whilst the factors that influence this ranking may be up for debate it is interesting to see that countries such as Iceland, Spain, Slovenia and Estonia all enter the chart before the United Kingdom. How was your experience giving birth in the UK?

It might be interesting to get the opinion of David Walliams who became a father for the first time this week when his wife Lara Stone gave birth to a baby boy. David quipped that the baby is going to have a 'normal' name, flying in the face of many a celebrity nowadays. Hopefully the experience that both he and his wife faced was not 23rd best.

Health During Pregnancy

The health of parents during pregnancy was also a feature in the news this week. The BBC ran an article that considered whether having the flu during your pregnancy could lead to babies developing bipolar. This seems like an odd link to make, but studies have shown that having the flu during pregnancy makes the chances of your baby developing bipolar disorder four times more likely. That being said it seems that this is quite sensationalist as many medical experts were quick to point out that the risk is still extremely small. Even so it may be worth exploring the possibilities of having the seasonal flu vaccination if you are worried about these kind of things.

Both the Telegraph and The Huffington Post also gave pregnant women and new mums the chance to talk about body issues this week. Both featured Q and A sessions in which women could ask for help with different issues. The Telegraph focused on baby weight as the issue of the week with some great tips to stop soon-to-be parents worrying about their body after birth. It seems to be a common theme as the Huff Post did a live broadcast focusing on the same issue, showing how important post-baby bodies now are to parents. I'm sure there are some mothers out there who will dismiss this advice, but it seems that as celebs are fighting to remove baby weight as quickly as possible the trend is also moving into everyday life as well.

The Mail also featured an interesting article on the health of babies. They claimed that sucking on your baby's dummy could prevent asthma and eczema. Whilst this seems like a long shot, studies have shown that dummies 'cleaned' in this way helped to cut asthma and eczema rates by 88% and 63% respectively. Obviously this is down to us passing bacteria into the baby from our own mouths - although it only applies to children under 36 months (although I know some parents would question why a 3 year old is still using a dummy). It seems that a larger trial is going to take place, but if this is proven to be a good way to stop babies developing such problems then it looks like we're all going to have to start sucking dummies!

More Children, Less Stress?

Finally this week it looks like the more children you have, the more relaxed you might be. Apparently three children brings about the most stress, but mothers of four are far more relaxed. I'll leave this up for you to decide, as I'm sure they'll be plenty of debate on how accurate this actually this!

See you next week for another look at the news, in the mean time if you find anything interesting please let us know.

About the author

James Brighton

Since 2011 James has been in charge of working with and organising all our writers to put together Pregnancy.co.uk and Babies.co.uk. Anna, his girlfriend, knows he will be an encyclopaedia of knowledge if she ever falls pregnant!

Click here to read my full biography.

share this page with friends and family

Tweet