A Week in the News - 21st March 2014

With the continuing mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysia Air flight 370 you could be forgiven for taking a sideways glance at the other news that hit the headlines this week. That being said the other big news we saw was the 2014 Budget provided by the Chancellor, George Osbourne. For some it has been a very agreeable budget, whilst for others it may seem a bit of a kick in the teeth. Have you got £15k to save in an ISA? Whilst the premise is great, I doubt many people have been thinking about putting that much away in recent times. Needless to say there were other changes too, and we'll look at that shortly.

Donation, Rapid Breathing and Childcare Subsidies

Doctors have been arguing for changes to legislation to allow parents to donate the organs of babies who die, which could lead to other sick children being given the chance to survive. Donation always causes a debate, so what would you think of this? At the moment rules seem to suggest that babies who die under the age of 2 months can not have their organs offered for donation, even though organs are sometimes imported from other countries. To me it seems if the family are happy for this to happen then that choice should be theres, although I can imagine that there will be disagreements over any change which is made.

A study has suggested that rapid breathing could be the best way to ventilate extremely premature babies, increasing the current rate of 30 breaths per minute to 600. The study found that premature babies who were subjected to the high rates of ventilation had airways in better shape once they reached adolescence in comparison to those who were given the normal 30 breaths per minute. This study has been following children over a long time scale, so it is interesting to see the results. If something so simple can make such a big difference then would it be wise to see this implemented in hospitals across the UK?

A change in the budget has offered parents up to £2k per child in childcare subsidies - although it will only be available to families where both parents work. Is this a fair solution? You'd think that a family where both parents work may potentially have more money, even if they are paying for daily childcare for their children, especially when couples earning a joint income of up to £300k could receive this payment. For many families though this will be a welcome change, and one which should see them feel slightly more comfortable. Childcare subsidies always cause debate though, what is your opinion?

Miscarriage and Breastfeeding

A link has been found between egg production and miscarriage in women who go through IVF. With over 100,000 pregnancies analysed since 1991, it was found that 20% of pregnancies where a women produced a fewer than four eggs after the ovarian stimulation phase of IVF led to miscarriage. This is a significant amount of pregnancies and there is no doubt that this study can be used to look at issues women who miscarry during IVF may be facing. Whilst studies like this may bring sad news, surely it is better for a couple going through IVF to know all the possibilities rather than be in the dark.

Finally this week a woman was asked to stop breastfeeding in a hospital - not really the attitude that you would expect from the NHS. Surely a hospital of all places would be accepting of any parent who had to feed their baby? Obviously not.

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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