fbpx

Pregnancy and Lactation Weekly Digest

For the Week Ending April 14, 2019. 

No need to burp

After feeding your baby, you pat her back to burp her. Everyone knows that. Ask your mother; she’ll tell you, probably multiple times, how important this is. And yet – it turns out that babies probably don’t need any more help burping than we do, and that the routine doesn’t alleviate spitting up, either. Read more here.

This is important for you because if you want to pat your baby’s back after feeding her, you should – but just know that like much handed down conventional wisdom, the practice might not be everything it’s advertised to be.

Black Maternal Health Week

The second annual Black Maternal Health Week, from April 11 –17, is a week of awareness, activism, and community building. Read more here.

This is important for you because Black Mamas Matter.

Anchor It

That gestating baby will be crawling around before you know it, and trying to pull himself up to stand by pulling on anything in sight – like heavy pieces of furniture. Make sure he’s safe by anchoring them to the wall. Read more here.

This is important for you because babyproofing will become relevant much sooner than you think. No reason not to get on it early.

Passover miracles

This Friday night, the first night of Passover, Jews will remember and celebrate their exodus from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea en route from slavery to freedom. The crossing was such an awesome spectacle that apparently even nursing babies – and those still in utero! – sang praises to God about it. How did the babies in utero know? Apparently, their mother’s uterus and skin turned transparent so they could see. Read more here.

This is important for you because sometimes your can learn new facets of even the most familiar tales.

The most popular article on The Pulse this week was One Daily Cigarette During Pregnancy Doubles the Risk of Sudden Infant Death. If you are planning to become pregnant, stop smoking first. Ask for help if you can’t stop on your own. If you find out you are pregnant while you are still smoking, tell your pregnancy care provider and get help to stop. Protecting your baby from nicotine could save your baby’s life. Read it here.

Diana Gitig
Dr. Diana Gitig has a Ph.D. in cell biology and genetics from Cornell University, and has been writing about issues in biology – from molecular biology to cancer to immunology to neuroscience to nutrition to agriculture - for the past fifteen years. She has three teenaged children.

Leave a Reply