You are currently browsing the archives for January 2010.

Calorie Count – Wrong?

  • January 29, 2010 10:13 pm

The calorie counts used as the foundation for diet plans and healthy-eating guidance for the past 18 years may be wrong. The recommended daily intake of calories could be increased by up to 16%, a draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition said.

Intake levels are currently 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men. However the panel stresses that people should only eat more if they exercise more, given rising levels of obesity. The committee says its report provides a much more accurate assessment of how energy can be burnt off through physical activity.
A 16% increase would mean that adults could safely consume an extra 400 calories a day, equivalent to an average sized cheeseburger.

The proposals, seen by The Times and The Grocer magazine, are due to go out for a 14-week consultation period. Final recommendations will then be made after that time. Health campaigners say the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency could seek to “sweep this report under the carpet” in a bid to avoid sending out mixed messages in the middle of an obesity epidemic.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said it was a “dangerous assumption” to say that adults could safely consume an extra 400 calories a day. “This is not a green light to eat yourself silly,” he said.

This seems to be another one of those situations where there is conflict such as the situation with alcohol some say that a glass of red wine is good for you where other say alcohol is bad, so I guess as long as you eat healthily and are not overweight then don’t worry about how many calories you are consuming as these figures are only guidelines anyway. Everyone’s calorie intake varies depending upon their activity level and their metabolic rate.

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To Cry or Not to Cry?

  • January 26, 2010 7:45 am

We all know that babies cry, so my question is, is it ok to let them cry sometimes or not?
Well on the one hand babies cry for a reason so if you drop whatever you’re doing as soon as you hear them crying and find out what they need then that can be good, as you are meeting the needs of your baby.

However allowing that child to cry teaches them to wait and can in some cases stop them from becoming a mardy child. From a parents perspective it seems to be that the general concensus is that it’s ok to choose a little from colum A and a little from colum B. Basically what this means is that in some cases it is best to drop whatever you’re doing and in other cases to let the child cry. As parents you quickly learn to distinguish the diffference between different cries and if in doubt you watch what they are doing, so you know which ones it is ok to delay attending to.

If you child is in pain then NEVER ignore this one, or if your child is ill. However if your child is crying because they are tired it is ok to put them in their cot or pushchair, to sleep and leave them to settle themselves checking every 5 mins to make sure that they are ok. THis has positive benefits for the child as it teaches them to settle themselves. Which in turn is beneficial for you as it means that you don’t have to spend ages trying to get your child to sleep then attempt to change the habit when they get older, as one parent found out. She was a single mother and would sit cuddling her son till he fell asleep, sometimes it took 5 minutes other times it took hours. As the child got older and moved into his own room it took her years to get her son out of this habit, 5 to be exact. Not only does it take ages to change the habits but it can also cause other problems such as only you can put the child to bed thus meaning that if you wanted to go out, you wouldn’t be able to go very far in case the child woke up. Plus if you have a partner then in some cases the child wont settle if your partner tries to put the child to bed.

Some parents say that they find that they can’t get anything done. As a mother of 2 I’ve found that the following things can help:

  • Putting the baby in a sling/baby carrier
  • Putting the child in a bouncer and moving it from room to room with you
  • Putting them on a mat surrounded by toys then move it when you leave the room (this only applies if you are out of the room for more than a few minutes)
  • If your child is mobile a playpen with plenty of toys in can be helpful

At the end of the day it is your child you have to do what is right for you and your lifestyle.

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Formula adverts should be banned

  • January 16, 2010 7:43 pm

A coalition of charities is demanding baby milk be treated like tobacco and subjected to a total advertising ban. The National Childbirth Trust, Save The Children and Unicef say the current partial ban is not enough, and parents have been left confused.

They want the government to extend a ban on infant milk adverts to include “follow-on” milks for older babies.
England’s policy on the promotion of formula milk is currently being reviewed by the Food Standards Agency.
At present, companies are not allowed to advertise formula milk for babies under six months. But they are allowed to promote so-called follow-on milks, a range for children aged between six months and two years.

Many mothers feel an immense sense of guilt and failure when they move on to the bottle, and this latest debate about advertising is likely to make them feel even worse. The charities accuse baby milk companies of using their follow-on milks to promote their products for younger infants by giving them the same name and logo so as to make them “virtually indistinguishable” to parents.

“In similar ways to how tobacco companies found their way through loopholes in legislation restricting the advertising of cigarette promotion, formula milk companies are finding ways to exploit ambiguity in the law and to continue aggressively marketing their products to parents,” says Belinda Phipps of the NCT.
The World Health Organization recommends that babies are given breast milk exclusively for the first six months, and that a mother should continue to breastfeed up to the age of two years.

The charities note that those children who are breastfed are better protected from infections and potentially from even more serious conditions later on in life. Formula milk companies are finding ways to exploit ambiguity in the law and to continue aggressively marketing their products to parents
Belinda Phipps

At present, some 76% of UK mothers start out breastfeeding – up 7% from 2000. However most move on to formula within weeks, and fewer than half still breastfeed by the time their child is six weeks old. By six months, only 25% of mothers are breastfeeding at all. But Dr Ellie Lee of the University of Kent who has researched women’s experiences of infant feeding said the impact of advertising on the decision to switch from breast to bottle was “negligible”.

In a study of mothers commissioned by The Infant and Dietetic Foods Association (IDFA), Dr Lee found that the decision to bottle feed was a “pragmatic decision based on personal circumstances”. “Some do it because of the pain of feeding or so they can feed their child at more regular intervals, some so they can share responsibility for feeding the baby, others because they are thinking of going back to work.

It has also been suggested that the increasing reluctance of health professionals to discuss formula milk as an option may mean some parents are not aware of the thorough sterilisation of feeding equipment that is needed to limit the risk of infection.

The Food Standards Agency is currently working on new regulations for the promotion of formula milk which would take into account the latest EU directive. The charities involved in the report want the FSA to agree to a ban, noting that the new European recommendations in particular stress that information on formula “should not counter the promotion of breast feeding”.

It is unclear whether a ban is likely, but it is thought that companies will no longer be able to make claims about similarity to breast milk on their packets under new restrictions. A number of companies have slogans such as “even closer to breast milk”, “the closest to breast milk” on their packaging, pointing to the fatty acids and probiotic bacteria found in breast milk that are included in the ingredients.

From a parents point of view there is a huge amount of pressure on mothers to breast feed for some this isn’t always possible for a variety of reasons. For those who don’t manage to breast feed for the full recommended time there is often a feeling of failure, guilt or disappointment. Advertisers shouldn’t add into the mix feelings of confusion and uncertainty, I think parents should be given the facts about breast feeding and the different formula brands then parents can make up their own minds without being pressured down a specific route.

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Babies ‘cry in mother’s tongue’

  • January 12, 2010 7:16 pm

According to german researchers babies begin to pick up the nuances of their parents’ accents while still in the womb. They studied the cries of 60 healthy babies born to families speaking French and German. The French newborns cried with a rising “accent” while the German babies’ cries had a falling inflection. They suggest that the babies are probably trying to form a bond with their mothers by imitating them.

The findings suggest that unborn babies are influenced by the sound of the first language that penetrates the womb. It was already known that foetuses could memorise sounds from the outside world in the last three months of pregnancy and were particularly sensitive to the contour of the melody in both music and human voices. Earlier studies had shown that infants could match vowel sounds presented to them by adult speakers, but only from 12 weeks of age.

Kathleen Wermke from the University of Wurzburg, who led the research, said: “The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are human neonates capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their foetal life. Newborns are highly motivated to imitate their mother’s behaviour in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding. “Contrary to orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants’ crying for seeding language development.” Dr Wermke’s team recorded and analysed the cries of 60 healthy newborns when they were three to five days old.

The analysis revealed clear differences in the shape of the infants’ cry melodies that corresponded to their mother tongue. They say the babies need only well-co-ordinated respiratory-laryngeal systems to imitate melody contours and not the vocal control that develops later. Dr Wermke said: “Newborns are highly motivated to imitate their mother’s behaviour in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding. Because melody contour may be the only aspect of their mother’s speech that newborns are able to imitate, this might explain why we found melody contour imitation at that early age.”

Debbie Mills, a reader in developmental cognitive neuroscience at Bangor University, said: “This is really interesting because it suggests that they are producing sounds they have heard in the womb and that means learning and that it is not an innate behaviour. Many of the early infant behaviours are almost like reflexes that go away after the first month and then come back later in a different form. It would be interesting to look at these babies after a month and see if their ability to follow the melodic contours of their language is still there.”

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Smoking Mums = problem kids

  • January 1, 2010 6:22 pm

It is a standard piece of advice during antenatal care to quit smoking and the reason for this is is could cause problems with development. However new research suggests that smoking during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of having a child with behavioural problems.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, they say the problems can be evident in children as young as three years old. They believe smoking in pregnancy may damage the developing structure of the baby’s brain. The researchers from the universities of York, Hull and Illinois looked at more than 14,000 mother and child pairs who were taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study. The mothers were categorised as light or heavy smokers depending on how many cigarettes they smoked every day during pregnancy.

They were asked to score their three-year-old children’s behaviour using a questionnaire called Strengths and Difficulties, which focuses on behaviour problems and hyperactivity, or attention deficit disorders. They took into account factors likely to influence the results, including the mother’s age at the child’s birth, her level of education and socioeconomic status, family stability and problematic parenting.

Mothers who were light smokers were 44% more likely to have boys who had problems with their conduct.
Heavy smokers were 80% more likely to have boys with these problems. Both heavy and light smokers were also significantly more likely to have boys who were hyperactive or had attention deficit disorders. For three-year-old girls, light and heavy smoking in pregnancy were significantly associated with conduct problems but not with hyperactivity and attention deficit behaviours.

Professor Kate Pickett, who lead the research, said their findings were consistent with previous research in older age groups. She said: “Smoking in pregnancy may have direct effects on the foetal development of brain structure and functioning which has been shown in studies of rats. “Or it may be a marker for the transmission of processes between the generations that are associated with both smoking in pregnancy and behaviour problems in children.”

“There are four thousand toxic substances in cigarette smoke and many of these will pass into the brain of the foetus and it is possible that they could have an effect on how the brain chemistry works.”

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Sexercise – the new way to get in shape?

  • January 1, 2010 6:04 pm

The NHS has some new advice for people struggling to schedule a fitness routine into their daily lives – a workout between the sheets. According to the NHS Direct website, “sexercise” can lower the risk of heart attacks and helps people live longer. Endorphins released during orgasm stimulate immune system cells, which also helps target illnesses like cancer, as well as wrinkles, it states.

The advice, published under the headline “Get more than zeds in bed”, is one of several sexual health-related articles to be found on the NHS Direct website. Sex with a little energy and imagination provides a workout worthy of an athlete, the article says. “If you’re worried about wrinkles – orgasms even help prevent frown lines from deepening forget about jogging round the block or struggling with sit-ups. Sex uses every muscle group, gets the heart and lungs working hard, and burns about 300 calories an hour.”

The advice suggests “regular romps this winter” could lead to a better body and a younger look. Increased production of endorphins “will make your hair shine and your skin smooth,” it adds. “If you’re worried about wrinkles – orgasms even help prevent frown lines from deepening.” The article goes on to say that orgasms release “painkillers” into the bloodstream, which helping keep mild illnesses like colds and aches and pains at bay.

The production of extra oestrogen and testosterone hormones “will keep your bones and muscles healthy, leaving you feeling fabulous inside and out”. I don’t know about anyone else but to me this sounds like another fad but we’ll see as the saying goes only time will tell.

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Younger Wife for Marital Bliss?

  • January 1, 2010 5:59 pm

According to UK experts from Bath University the secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you. They claim that they are more likely to go the distance, particularly if neither has been divorced in the past. The research involved studying interviews of more than 1,500 couples who were married or in a serious relationship then 5 years later they followed up 1,000 of the couples to see which had lasted

They found that couples where the woman was younger were three times more likely to go the distance and that couples where only one of them had been divorced before were the least stable. Having said this society has started seeing factors such as age as less important when choosing a partner. In the past it was thought that the man had to be older in order to provide for his family. So basically it would seem that the facts havent really changed just the reasoning that accompanies them.

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Cradle Cap

  • January 1, 2010 5:29 pm

Cradle cap is the name given to the yellowish, greasy scaly patches that appear on the scalp of young babies. It is a very common, harmless condition that does not usually itch or cause any discomfort.It usually begins in babies during the first three months and tends to last a few weeks or months. It normally clears up by the time the child is two years old, although in rare cases children can have cradle cap for a lot longer. The exact cause of cradle cap in unclear, although it is thought that it could be caused by overactive sebaceous glands.

Symptoms of cradle cap include:

  • greasy yellow patches on the scalp,
  • the affected skin area appearing red
  • scales and flakes on the scalp,
  • yellow crusts on the scalp.

There is a possibility that the child will have hair loss when the patch falls off or is removed. It is important not to scratch or pick at the cradle cap, in case an infection develops. It usually starts on the scalp and can spread behind the ears. The patches may appear on other parts of the baby’s body, such as the nappy area (groin), the nose, armpits or backs of the knees. In this case, the condition is called seborrhoeic eczema (dermatitis), rather than cradle cap.

Cradle cap normally requires no specific treatment, although gently washing the baby’s hair and scalp may prevent a build-up of the scale. To help to loosen the crust, massage a small amount of olive oil into the scalp at night. This will help to soften the patchy scales. In the morning, using a soft baby brush or cloth, gently remove any loose particles, and then wash the hair with a baby shampoo.

If this does not work then try a mild shampoo but be careful with baby’s eyes as these shampoos are stronger than baby shampoo. If the cradle cap becomes inflamed or infected, a course of antibiotics or an antifungal cream or shampoo, such as ketoconazole, may be prescribed by a doctor. A mild steroid cream such as hydrocortisone may be recommended for an inflamed rash.

If the cradle cap does not improve with treatment, or the baby has seborrhoeic dermatitis on the face or body, speak to your health visitor or GP for advice

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