A Week in the News - 21st June 2013

This week we've seen the attention of the Western world fall on Northern Ireland where the G8 summit was taking place. Of course the situation in Syria was at the top of the agenda and we'll see over the coming weeks whether anything has been possible. It looks like the war taking place in Syria is set to continue though - and no one is sure when it will stop.

As always it's been an interesting week for news in the world of pregnancy and babies, including the birth of the Kardashian-West child, more about that later! Lets see what hit the headlines.

Fertility, Toddlers and the NHS

The Guardian and the BBC reported this week that a woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy after being given the naturally occuring hormone kisspeptin. Undoubtedly this is good news for any couple who have been trying for a baby for not falling pregnant. If a natural hormone can be used to stimulate the process then it seems like this could be a giant leap forward in fertility treatment. I suppose it is important not to make things seem like a silver bullet - but this will give hope to families across the globe.

Whilst the Daily Mail is renowned for its rather sensationalist stories, from time to time they come out with something that is slightly interesting. This week they ran a story discussing how research has shown that toddlers use little words to form basic sentences. Not only that but they do it long before we realise. It shows that our cognitive development begins extremely early and speech doesn't necessarily just mean a few gargles! So perhaps we should start giving toddlers even more credit that we do!

Also this week as reported across various news outlets, including the Mail and the Independent was the shocking revelation of the failing of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the death of babies in hospital. Whenever we hear about the death of a baby we are shocked and saddended, but even moreso when it comes through incompetence and a cover-up. The facts revealed this week were truly shocking and we can only hope that the mistakes are learned from. Things like this should not happen, and this isn't the first time that the CQC as a regulator have failed to regulate properly.

Birth, Kate and Kimye

The Telegraph reported on a man who is trying to change the way that women give birth. He wants to get men out of the delivery room, ensure that women do not take drugs that they don't know and to stop the scaring of pregnant women. His book tries to take women back to how nature intended birthing to be, rather than the drugged labour that could be accepted today. Now I'm never going to give birth to a baby, thank God, so I feel that it isn't for me to judge. Perhaps Dr. Odent is worth listening to, as methods should always evolve, there's no point in being stuck with the same methods decade in decade out surely?

Kate Middleton is going for a natural birth though, and clearly isn't too posh to push. She has elected to go the natural route rather than having a c-section which I'm sure many healthy mothers are happy about. She also doesn't know the sex of the baby, which certainly puts paid to any gossip about facts over the baby's sex. Despite that it wont stop many people commenting on it, and I'm sure everyone will also have an opinion on Kate's decision to have a natural birth. In my opinion the most important thing is for her and Prince William to have as little intrusion as possible, I'm not naive enough to thing that they can do this all in private - but they deserve a little bit!

Finally this week, Kim Kardashian has given birth to a baby girl - although it wasn't without it's complications. The celeb world was waiting with baited breath as to what Kim and Kanye would call their baby, and we found out today. They've decided to call their baby North West. I think we've said enough about it, and you can find our blog here. North West?

A Week in the News will be taking a break next week, but we'll be back in a couple of weeks with a round up of everything pregnancy and babies, see you then!

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