A Week in the News - 9th May 2014

The sad story of kidnapped children in Nigeria hit the headlines this week, and it seems like whilst the world is slowly beginning to get involved in the situation, a solution may not be easy to create. There has also been the continued collapse of any kind of order in Ukraine as Russian influence plays a part, Vladimir Putin visited the annexed Crimea today. It's time for us to have a look at the news this week that we are also interested in, therefore here are some of the headlines in the world of babies and motherhood this week.

Bad Britain, Placenta Smoothies and Maternal Deaths

Is Britain a bad place to be a mother? According to the World Mothers index it is ranked 26th, alongside Belarus. In a report for the Telegraph Sally Peck tries to work out what can be done to make a change, which is something I'm sure we'd all like to see. In the report Sally gives us four points which she think should be improved, namely childcare, income inequality, lack of political participation and poor maternal health. She believes that if these things can be addressed then Britain would begin to become a better place to be a mum. Do you think that her four points are fair? Does a mother's role in society become better if we have more female MPs? To be honest I'm not sure on that point, whoever is in power seems to end up towing the same old line. Clearly an improvement on the other three points will be of benefit, and hopefully things do begin to change, there is no excuse in the age we live in for women and mothers not to be treated the same as everyone else.

Ever fancied a placenta smoothie? One company that helps to turn your own placenta into a smoothie or capsules is facing closure due to health concerns. I clearly don't know enough about this situation to comment with education, but it seems to be a concern that the placenta may not be stored properly by the parents before it is given to the company to turn into something else. Would you ever consider doing something like this, and should there be concerns if you are eating your own placenta?

Maternal deaths are falling worldwide according to the World Health Organisation, and have in fact dropped by 45% since 1990. This is a great statistic, but I'm sure that there is more that could be done. Clearly as the report states the gap between first and third world countries is still very large, and education and medicine can still play a big part in getting the rate lower. At the moment there are around 33 maternal deaths every hour around the world, do you think we can get this lower?

Heart Defects and Baby Brain

If you decide to smoke whilst pregnant over the age of 35 then you could be putting your baby at risk of heart defects. It could also increase the risk of miscarriage, small babies and premature birth. The study suggests that smoking in early stages of pregnancy causes around 1% to 2% of heart defects in babies, and mothers over 35 were twice as likely to give birth to children with a heart defect. The general advice from the government and all health agencies is to stop smoking when you fall pregnant. Although stories like this may shock some people, surely the point is that smoking is not good for you, and not good for your baby, so why would you risk it?

Baby brain is real according to one study, as revealed in the Independent. It apparently is natures way of preparing you for motherhood, so if you've forgotten what you went upstairs for then the psychologists have given you a 'get out of jail free' card!

See you next week!

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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