The responsibility of providing accurate information about the harmful effects of alcohol and its lifelong effects on the child falls on obstetricians and other health professionals. Only 16% of the obstetricians routinely provided information about the consequences of alcohol in pregnancy, while only 5% gave advice which were consistent with the latest guidelines of The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) - which states that, for pregnant women, ‘no drinking is the safest option’. Accurate recording of antenatal alcohol exposure will help identify children who require pediatric assessment, since the effects of alcohol may not be obvious at birth. However, the best known adverse effect of alcohol exposure on the fetus is the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) which is associated with a wide range of birth defects and ongoing educational, behavioral and psychological problems. read more

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News that 17 girls at a Massachusetts high school became pregnant this year is raising questions about whether pregnancy has become alluring to teens. Some say teens’ understanding of pregnancy and parenthood may be skewed by real-life celebrity pregnancies as well as some recent fictional movies . Barely a week goes by without some kind of celebrity baby coverage - speculation about “baby bumps”; coverage of swanky celebrity baby showers; and of course, loving pictures of the babies themselves, often with their adoring, perfectly styled moms. After the release of “Juno,” an Oscarwinning 2007 movie about a regular high school student who becomes pregnant, Weston received lots of letters from teens who wanted to have babies, she said. Ask your kids what they thinks about “Juno” and Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy, says Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Then you can get a sense of what she is missing - love, attention, career goals - says Ellen deLara, assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Syracuse. read more

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UTRECHT, Netherlands, July 18 (UPI) — Expectant mothers who eat nuts or nut products daily during pregnancy increase the risk their child will develop asthma, Dutch researchers said. It is “too early to make recommendations of avoidance,” but “it’s important for pregnant women to eat healthily, and what is true for many foods is that too much is never good. In a study by the Dutch government, nearly 4,000 expectant mothers completed a dietary questionnaire that asked how often they consumed vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, eggs, milk, milk products, nuts and nut products during the past month. Asthma and allergy symptoms were assessed yearly in the children until age 8. The study is published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. read more

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