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Pregnancy and Lactation Weekly Digest

For the Week Ending May 6, 2018. 

Win a Momcozy Electric Breast Pump for free!

The Momcozy Electric Breast Pump gives nursing mothers the freedom to go about their routine while pumping. If multitasking is not needed yet it gives a relief of hands-free pumping to mothers. All you have to do is ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE TO WIN!! After you enter your email address, you will receive an email. You must click on the link provided in the email to be considered for this giveaway.

Newborn Baby Kits

Many women in the third world give birth at home, which is not necessarily inherently risky but means that they don’t ever get to a clinic for medical care for them or their babies. The International Rescue Committee sells newborn baby kits that you can buy to be delivered to these new moms. The kits contain clothing, soap, and diapers – and serve as a gateway to get these moms into clinics for medical care. And Airbnb will match all IRC Rescue Gift purchases, up to $500,000, until midnight on 5/13/2018. Read more here.

This is important for you because it could make a nice Mother’s Day gift – on honor of you or your mother.

Mom Lit

Motherhood is enjoying a moment as a topic for a spate of new books – thrillers, memoirs, novels, and now a new collection of essays. Read more here.

This is important for you because reading is a great way to compare your experiences with a broader range of mothers than those you know personally. It is also a great way to occupy your mind while breastfeeding.

More doctor’s appointments

In the weeks leading up to giving birth you see your OB/Gyn more and more frequently, with appointments coming biweekly, then weekly. But after the big day – nothing for six weeks. In an attempt to alleviate the abominably high maternal mortality rates in this country, especially among African American mothers, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has just issued guidelines calling for doctors to see new mothers sooner and more frequently after they have their babies. Read more here.

This is important for you because in this “fourth trimester,” once your baby is out, your health is still as important as his.

Amniotic Fluid as Drug Delivery System

In X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, fetuses don’t develop teeth buds, sweat glands, or hair – the don’t make a protein essential for the development of these features, which occurs between about 20 and 30 weeks of gestation. Scientists have linked the requisite protein to an antibody segment and injected it into the amniotic fluid, where the developing fetus can drink it up. The antibody is important because it helps the protein get to where it’s needed: is known that fetuses get maternal antibodies into their blood by drinking amniotic fluid. The approach seems to have worked in four kids so far, and provides a valuable proof of context; hopefully, introducing missing or defective proteins at critical times in development via amniotic fluid could be applied to other selected conditions. Read more here.

This is important for you because it is always encouraging to learn about new ways being developed to combat inherited disorders.

The most popular article on The Pulse this week was Why Some Newborns Are Very Hairy. 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.

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