Vaginal seeding after Caesarean 'risky', warn doctors

New mothers should not embrace the trend of "seeding" their babies with vaginal bacteria, say doctors.

It exposes children born by Caesarean section to bacteria that could have coated their bodies if they had been born vaginally.
The idea is bacteria help train the immune system and lower the risk of allergies and asthma.
But doctors in Denmark and the UK said there was too little evidence and it may be doing more harm than good.
Being born by Caesarean section is linked to a higher risk of some immune-based diseases.
And there is growing medical interest in the role of the microbiome - the microorganisms that call our bodies home - in preventing disease.
Swabs
Seeding involves taking a swab of vaginal fluid and rubbing it into the newborn's face, skin and eyes.
A report, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said more than 90% of Danish obstetricians (pregnancy and birth doctors) had said they had been asked about vaginal seeding.
It said there was no evidence of any benefit to seeding as there was only one proper study of the technique and it involved just four babies.

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However, it warned of clear risks to the baby, including infections such as group-B streptococcus, E. coli and a range of sexually transmitted infections.
Dr Tine Clausen, the report author and a consultant at Nordsjaellands Hospital in Denmark, said: "We know that women and their partners are increasingly speaking to their doctors about vaginal seeding."
She told the BBC News website: "I really understand, it's a fascinating thought that you're able to mimic nature by doing the seeding, but it's based on some theoretical thoughts and we don't have evidence to support it."
Dr Clausen said a swab may not contain the same bacteria as those transferred during a vaginal birth and any bacteria were more diluted because of blood and amniotic fluid in the vaginal tract during labour.
Her advice to women is to "avoid unnecessary [Caesarean] sections, aim for breast feeding for at least half a year and to have early skin-to-skin contact".
Each of which does have a beneficial impact on a child's microbiome.
In the UK, about a quarter of babies are born via Caesarean section
Dr Patrick O'Brien, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "There is no robust evidence to suggest that vaginal seeding has any associated benefits.
"We would therefore not recommend it until more definitive research shows that it is not harmful and can in fact improve a child's digestive and/or immune system."

HIV and Pregnancy

Hiv-superb women who are thinking about getting pregnant -- or already are pregnant -- have alternatives which can help them stay healthful and guard their toddlers from turning into hiv-inflamed.

Because the mid-Nineties, hiv trying out and preventive measures have ended in greater than a ninety% decline within the range of youngsters within the u.S. Inflamed with hiv in the womb. And after three many years of research, medical doctors now recognize how to craft a detailed plan to preserve infants of hiv-superb girls from getting the virus.

Medicinal drugs are key

Hiv is exceeded from one character to another thru blood, semen, genital fluids, and breast milk. Being pregnant, hard work and delivery, and breastfeeding all pose a risk of passing hiv alongside to the baby.

Seble g. Kassaye, md, an assistant professor of medicine at georgetown university, says prevention starts offevolved with antiretroviral capsules. These medications were first authorised within the Nineties, and researchers soon learned that combining three of them -- known as an antiretroviral (art) regimen -- added as much as quite a few safety for a toddler in the womb.

“with interventions that we've -- which consist of starting women on nicely-tolerated antiretroviral medicines as early as possible -- transmission danger may be decreased to much less than 2%,” says kassaye.

The medicine decrease the quantity of virus in the body, which lowers the risk of mom-to-toddler hiv transmission. A few anti-hiv medicinal drugs additionally bypass from the pregnant mom to her infant via the placenta. This enables defend the toddler from hiv.

No overlooked doses

For all of this to paintings, the mom need to commit to taking her artwork routine, that may every now and then be a mission all through being pregnant.

“the important thing to maintaining the virus suppressed inside your frame and your child’s frame is taking your medicines every day,” says dominika seidman, md. She's an obstetrician-gynecologist at san francisco wellknown sanatorium with area of expertise training in hiv. “if the aspect effects are bothering you or you could’t preserve the drug treatments down due to morning sickness, see your medical doctor proper away. He or she permit you to find a manner to live on them.”

Two tablets to avoid

Most effective  antiretroviral capsules have been proven to pose a risk to babies within the womb whilst taken within the early months of being pregnant. They're sustiva and atripla (which includes sustiva).

About 25% of infants whose hiv-nice mothers don’t cross on artwork will settlement hiv, says kassaye.

The first-rate plan, seidman says, is for hiv-wonderful girls to talk thru all of their options with their physician early on.

Installation a plan early

“the first-rate-case situation is for the woman to start speaking to her health practitioner or medical doctors approximately prenatal care even earlier than she becomes pregnant,” seidman says. “we want people to be on a good regimen previous to pregnancy, so we are able to talk about which tablets are safe to get on, and establish care as early as possible.”

Barring that, all pregnant ladies inflamed with hiv need to be taking anti-hiv medicines by using the second one trimester. Girls diagnosed with hiv later in pregnancy ought to start taking anti-hiv medications as quickly as viable.

Who Drinks More -- Couples or Singles?

Those who are married or live together drink much less than single humans, in line with a brand new examine.

The findings display that "when you're in a dedicated relationship, your drinking frequency declines permanently, while quantity goes returned up if you exit that dating," said lead creator diana dinescu, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the university of virginia.

The researchers checked out greater than 2,four hundred twin pairs (approximately 1,600 woman pairs and greater than 800 male pairs). They located that people who had been married drank much less alcohol and drank less frequently than folks that had been single or divorced.

This is not the first observe to reveal that married adults drink less than their peers without companions. But through specializing in twins, the authors said genetic predispositions and differences in upbringing could be less likely to affect the outcomes.

"it appears that evidently intimate relationships may also offer a actual gain in phrases of consuming behavior, perhaps via mechanisms which includes a monitoring effect that partners have on every other," dinescu stated in a university information launch.

The researchers determined that twins who lived with a accomplice drank greater often than married twins, but ate up lower quantities of alcohol than folks that were unmarried, divorced or widowed.

While men in common-regulation relationships drank much less according to occasion than married men, girls in not unusual-law relationships drank approximately the identical quantity per event as those who had been married, consistent with the look at.

The effects have been published lately inside the journal of own family psychology.

4 Soothing Moves for the Menopause Blues

Those sporting activities from mary beth janssen, author of rejuvenation: spa secrets for menopause, will help you loosen up—and may even help hold hot flashes at bay.

1. The bridge

Lie down on a mat with your knees bent and your ft flat, placed hip-width aside and near your butt. Your hands have to be by using your sides. Loosen up and awareness for your respiratory. As you let your frame sink into the mat, experience your returned lengthen and release. Firm your butt and draw your tailbone closer to your heels to guard your lower returned. Pressing your feet into the mat, slowly raise your backbone upward as you inhale, raising your pelvis as excessive as is relaxed. Hold respiration smoothly. You can stay in this pose for some breaths or longer, if desired. While you sense geared up, exhale and slowly roll go into reverse.

2. Downward-dealing with dog

Kneel on all fours. Knees ought to be beneath hip­bones, and fingers, with palms unfold, should be one-hand’s distance ahead of shoulders. On an exhale, elevate your butt towards the ceiling, pressing into the floor thru your palms. (it’s adequate in case your heels don’t reach the ground.) allow your head cling between your fingers. Breathe smoothly and naturally for several breaths. Launch your frame backtrack to all fours. Take a seat back to your heels, whilst lowering your torso and head to the ground. Rest in this function for numerous breaths.

3. Recuperation breath

Take a seat in a cozy function. Retaining your shoulders down, inhale through nostrils into lowest part of lungs, and watch your stomach moving outward. Exhale absolutely before the subsequent inhale. Repeat 10 instances

4. Upward-dealing with canine

Lie face down with toes hip-width aside and the tops of your feet urgent into the mat. Place arms, with palms spread, on both aspect of your chest, maintaining elbows near your body. Draw tailbone towards heels to protect lower again. Inhale and lift torso and hips off the ground, straightening hands. Maintain shoulders drawn down and lower back. Appearance forward, keeping neck long and cozy. Press down thru your arms as you maintain your body lifting away from the floor. Breathe. On an exhalation, decrease your body to the ground. Place your hands with the aid of your sides and turn your head to the right for a couple of breaths; repeat with your head became left.

Is it possible for a pregnant woman to be allergic to the placenta?

Even though many of us are well-educated about the diverse dangers and rewards of pregnancy, few have any idea that the placenta, grown inside a mother's own womb, can clearly turn on a dime and purpose allergy through a rare, painful autoimmune sickness.

This ailment, acknowledged in scientific circles as pemphigoid gestationis (pg), is characterised by way of painful, itchy, large blisters or welts on various frame elements. In maximum cases, the rash starts in the abdominal location, progressing to the limbs and buttocks over the years. Large, irritated blisters usually seem after the patient reports numerous weeks' really worth of lesions and papules (swelling that resembles a pimple) [source: Huilaja et al.]. Happily, the genitals, face, mouth and scalp are normally spared the rash in all its blister-y glory [source: EADV]. Thank heaven for small favors, right?

But before you swear off being pregnant altogether, undergo in thoughts that only a tiny percentage of pregnant women get pg. Internationally, the sickness is anticipated to affect one in each 2 million pregnancies, with a higher prevalence within the u.S. Of about one in 50,000 to 60, 000 pregnancies. Obviously, it influences most effective women of childbearing age, despite the fact that caucasian women are more likely to be identified with it than african-people. At the beginning referred to as herpes gestationis (the call changed into changed because it became out to have 0 relation to the herpes virus), current medicine nevertheless isn't sure why pg happens, however placental involvement is a famous theory. The prevailing concept is that normally innocent placental tissue enters the mom's bloodstream, handiest to be attacked by way of a stressed immune device, as is the case with different types of autoimmune diseases. Lady hormones, especially estrogen, may also aggravate the response, which can explain why the disease takes place for the duration of later being pregnant as estrogen stages upward push [sources: Freiman, EADV]. The offensive measures taken by means of the immune machine in error can eventually wreak havoc at the body, in this case resulting within the allergy rash. Not cool, immune machine. No longer cool.

Gestational Diabetes (Diabetes and Pregnancy)

Diabetes is a sickness wherein your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too excessive. When you are pregnant, high blood sugar stages are not right in your infant.

About seven out of each 100 pregnant women in the america get gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is diabetes that occurs for the primary time while a female is pregnant. Maximum of the time, it is going away after you've got your infant. However it does boom your chance for growing kind 2 diabetes afterward. Your infant is likewise at threat for weight problems and type 2 diabetes.

Most women get a check to check for diabetes at some point of their second trimester of pregnancy. Women at higher hazard may get a take a look at in advance.

If you already have diabetes, the exceptional time to control your blood sugar is before you get pregnant. Excessive blood sugar degrees may be harmful to your baby at some stage in the primary weeks of being pregnant - even earlier than you understand you're pregnant. To keep you and your toddler healthful, it's miles essential to preserve your blood sugar as near ordinary as possible before and at some point of being pregnant.

Either kind of diabetes at some stage in pregnancy will increase the possibilities of troubles for you and your child. To help decrease the possibilities communicate on your fitness care group about

• A meal plan for your being pregnant
• A secure workout plan
• How regularly to test your blood sugar
• Taking your medication as prescribed. Your remedy plan may also want to trade all through being pregnant.