A Week in the News - 3rd October 2014

This week has seen a variety of different stories hit the headlines, from Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis naming their baby girl Wyatt to the beginning of a British bombing campaign on ISIS targets in Iraq. We have also seen the sad story of Alice Gross continue with her body being found in a river near where she went missing. Hopefully they manage to find whoever committed this horrible murder. We move our focus onto the world of babies and pregnancy though.

Good Mums, Surprise Pregnancies and Surprise Genders

Do you worry about being a good mum? In the days that we live in there is constant pressure from the media and social networks to enforce the idea of what a good mother is. A story in the Guardian tells mums to not worry about what others think, and just enjoy being a mum. Do you feel any pressure to show that you are the ideal of a 'good mum'? There are many pressures from various different sources nowadays, but as the article says surely knowing that your doing your best and enjoying it is the main thing?

Are you married or do you just live with your partner? According to a study if you live together without being married then you are more likely to have a surprise pregnancy. Around 50% of all pregnancies in the UK are unplanned, and amongst couples this happens more often when living together without being married. Is this something that you recognise or do you believe that these statistics might not be quite accurate? It would be interesting to see the comparison between the amount of cohabiting couples and the amount that are married, the chances are that there are more cohabiting couples anyway!

Did you want to find out the sex of your baby? According to a report in the Daily Mail it is more common to discover this if you are poor, single or didn't go to university. Now we of course have to take into consideration that this is a report in the Mail and they have a bit of a vendetta against all of those categories of people! Personally I wouldn't want to know before the baby is born, but everyone is different. Would being single really mean that you are more likely to want to find out?

Smoking, Tooth Decay and Frozen Eggs

A study shown in the Telegraph has revealed that smoking during pregnancy or breastfeeding could harm the fertility of sons. Studies on mice have shown conclusively that smoking during this period causes damage to the development of reproductive organs. It has been said for years that smoking during pregnancy is extremely bad for your baby, and perhaps stories like this will ensure that parents are continued to be reminded that smoking is bad.

This week has seen tooth decay hit the headlines, and it has been noted that it is especially bad amongst young children and toddlers. A story in the BBC gives tips on how to avoid this with your own children. Now certainly some of these tips may seem obvious to parents across the country, but there is clearly a major concern amongst health professionals that such basic steps simply are not being taken.

A story which hit the news today, including the Guardian was the advise that all women should be given the opportunity to freeze eggs so they can have children at a later stage in life if they suffer from illness or for other reasons. Is this something that you think many women would take advantage of?

See you soon with another look at the news!

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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