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Pregnancy and Lactation Weekly Digest

For the Week Ending December 11, 2022. 

COVID-19 Vaccines International Pregnancy Exposure Registry (C-VIPER)

More than 8,000 pregnant vaccinated women are already participating in our survey.

Help us understand the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on pregnancy and babies. Be a part of it!

Click here to Register

Pre-eclampsia pill

Pre-eclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, kills hundreds of thousands of women and babies annually. There is currently no treatment. But the UK has just approved a pill, using their new fast-tracked regulation, that can prevent at-risk women from developing the condition. Read more here.

This is important for you because this fast tracking was put in place for COVID treatments, but has been expanded to include other serious medical conditions that lack treatment options.

Birth method, the microbiome, and vaccinations

Babies born vaginally have different species of bacteria inhabiting their guts than babies born by c-section. This has been known for some time, but its significance was debated. New work suggests that babies born vaginally generate more antibodies when they get their vaccinations than babies born by c-section because of the specific bacteria they harbor. Read more here.

This is important for you because c-sections can be lifesaving–if they are necessary. But they may also have some negative consequences for your baby’s future health. 

Trying

In this British comedy, Nikki and Jason can’t have a baby so they end up adopting. It was just renewed for a fourth season. Read more here.

This is important for you because it’s always nice to see other people’s baby journeys–even if they’re fiction.

The (high fat) Western diet and kids’ immunity (in monkeys)

When pregnant  rhesus macaques were fed a typical Western high-fat diet their babies’ immune cells did not develop properly, leaving the kids more susceptible to infections. Read more here.

Thai is important for you because eating well is essential for your and your baby’s health.

The most popular article on The Pulse this week was Your One-Stop Guide to Medication Abortion. 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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