A Week in the News - 11th April 2014

The week began with the tragic news of the death of Peaches Geldof, a mother of two young children. Whilst her death still seems to be of unknown causes, our sympathies lie with her young family and of course her husband. Elsewhere there has been the continued search for the black box of Flight MH 370, and another expenses scandal in the House of Commons - you have to wonder when these 'people' will ever learn to respect the position of authority they have, such abuse of the system is disgusting. We have seen some interesting stories in the world of pregnancy and children this week though, so without further ado lets have a look at what caught our eye!

Lifesaving, Inches and Activity

A study by Netmums which was covered by the Guardian has suggested that around 47% of new mums are not given the lifesaving information they need after giving birth. The study suggests that new mums are not given the information they need to spot the signs of issues which could affect the health of their child, with only around 27% of new mums believing that they got the information that they required. Clearly this is something that needs to change, if you don't have the information then how on earth can you know what might be happening to your newly born baby? What did you experience when you had your first baby, were you made aware of the symptoms to spot? Or did you feel that you were unaware of the situation that you might find yourself in?

A rather misleading headline in the Telegraph looks into the fact that women lose two inches when they give birth, but perhaps not where you think. The story looks at how women decide to drop their heel size by two inches when they give birth to their first child (although I'm sure a lot of you don't often wear heels with over two inches a lot of the time anyway!) - so did you decide that you'd chop the heels down once you'd become a mum? Whilst this may not be the most urgent of news, or even the most interesting, perhaps it is a small sign of how things change once a child is born.

Seb Coe also took to the Telegraph to ask us to look at ourselves and improve the amount of activing we do with our children post London 2012. There is no doubt that at the time of the Olympics a lot of us went out and tried a new sport, or decided it was time to get fit. Have you continued on in that vein though? The legacy of the London Olympics is meant to bring different opportunities for people across the country, but there are concerns that this hasn't been the case. Personally it seems like the 'legacy' might be a bit of a myth, but if there is anything that the games can help then it would be the improve the health of the younger generation. Surely that is a good thing.

Shouting, Crying and a Prince

Two reports in the Daily Mail look at different aspects of behaviour in our children. The first looks at how shouting a naughty children might make things worse - the problem being that no one knows why this is the case. Apparently the best way to get your child to listen is to reason with them. Have you found that this may be the case? The second report looks at how a crying baby might be crying to stop you having another child. Researchers at Harvard University have discovered that a newborn baby cries at night to ensure that it has all of its mothers attention, and that the attention doesn't go elsewhere. The spacing out of siblings ensures that a new born child has all the attention it needs, and according to the study can also improve mortality rates.

Finally this week Prince George has had his first royal engagement playing with some children in New Zealand. It was great to see him enjoying things, even if he did try and snatch another childs toy at one point!

We're off next week for Easter, so see you in a couple of weeks!

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.

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