Boy or girl? New research finds that a simple blood test can answer that question for expectant parents at just seven weeks, significantly earlier than results from procedures like ultrasound and with less risk than invasive …
Pregnancy
‘Expected: Child’: Facebook Welcomes Fetuses to Social Media
It’s probably long overdue, but Facebook has just made it easier for expectant parents to announce their burgeoning bellies via their social network.
Why Are More Pregnant Women Suffering Stroke?
The rate of stroke is rising in pregnant women and in women who have just given birth, according to new research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A New Study Details the Effects of Smoking in Pregnancy
Pretty much everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. It’s particularly ill-advised for pregnant women, although data show one in five U.S. moms-to-be still cop to the habit. Lest smokers need another nudge to quit, the first …
What Does Bottle-Feeding Have to Do With Autism Risk?
As if there weren’t already enough tension between bottle-feeding and breast-feeding moms, now a researcher at the State University of New York at Albany is courting controversy by suggesting that bottle-feeding is associated …
Flu Season Prep: Pregnant Women Should Get Vaccinated
It’s summertime, which seems like a bit of an odd time to be publishing research about influenza. Who’s thinking about fever, chills and achiness when skies are sunny? Well, if you’re pregnant come fall when flu …
Sex and Spicy Food: Half of Women Try Folklore to Induce Labor
By the time a pregnant woman draws near her due date or breezes by it, with no sign of baby, she may get a little desperate. What to do? Many women turn to folklore.
Sleeping Position in Pregnancy Linked With Stillbirth Risk
A Gift for Expectant Fathers: DaddyScrubs
I’m not complaining, but for some reason, Mother’s Day always seems to generate more buzz than Father’s Day. Likewise, when it comes to the event that makes those days relevant — the birth of a child — it seems that the key …
Could Too Much Coffee Affect Chances of Pregnancy?
Caffeine may perk you up mentally, but it could have the opposite effect on your fallopian tubes, leading researchers to wonder whether women who drink coffee, tea and soda may have a harder time getting pregnant.
A 21-Week-Old Baby Survives and Doctors Ask, How Young is Too Young to Save?
Last month, a baby girl widely considered the most premature European baby ever to survive left a German hospital and headed home. Frieda Mangold was born more than four months early, at 21 weeks and five days. She weighed a …
Why Delaying Delivery by Just Two Weeks Boosts Baby’s Survival
What if you could make the difference between life and death for your baby, simply by being patient? A new study published in the June issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that mortality rates are halved by waiting until at …
A Blood Test to Predict Premature Birth Could Hit the Market Next Year
One in 10 mothers give birth prematurely, a biological mystery that often comes with little warning and a sideshow of dangerous health repercussions. Doctors historically have had little luck predicting which women will deliver …