My mother always wondered how female celebs postpone their childbirth till their 40’s. I have heard medical professionals over the years stating that 30 years is the ideal for a woman to give birth to healthy children. Down’s syndrome and congenital abnormalities are on the list of possibilities if one has to bear a child post 35. But medical technology has been touching new heights with new research and concept being adapted for the wellbeing of humankind. It has made the impossible, possible and women who have not had the chance to have children in their early 30’s can now think of having kids in their 40’s too. Lifestyle choices too have to be taken into consideration as one may have to rely on assisted instruments to conceive in their 40’s.

Let us understand what can make pregnancy possible after the ’40s:

Although pregnancy is possible to post 40’s, it is obvious that it has complications over a pregnancy before 40’s and 30’s. It is always suggested that one should have it as early as possible.

Take a Pre-consultation Before Pregnancy

Consider all the possibilities for a healthy conception. Discuss with the caregiver the probable complications and the ways to get rid of them. Get an action plan for conception or be aware of the fertility options that are available. One thing has to be kept in mind that childbearing after 40 has to be given special attention and is not as ordinary as it is before 40’s. The doctor may ask for necessary investigations to make sure you are capable of giving birth to a child. Get your possibilities of being pregnant evaluated by the healthcare professional. Understand the risk of chromosomal birth defects in infants if the pregnancy is after 40.

Be Aware of Gestation Induced Hypertension and Diabetes

Hypertension is likely during pregnancy and the risk intensifies with the increasing age. The blood pressure has to be continually monitored and the doctor may prescribe some medications and a special diet to keep the pressure under control. If not treated, this may lead to preeclampsia.

Gestational hypertension is a pregnancy induced condition and is more likely with increasing age. If left untreated, it can be fatal leading to a bigger baby. Hence, it is essential that the blood sugar level be in control with an exercise regime and a healthy diet. You may even have medication to keep diabetes under control.

Get Into a Healthy Lifestyle Even Before Conception

Living a healthy life even before pregnancy increases your chances of getting pregnant. A healthy diet with whole grains, fruits and vegetables and higher amounts of protein along with a good exercise regime will keep you fit for the imminent conception. Quit alcohol, smoking and substance abuse if you are into them as they considerably lessen the chances of getting pregnant.

Know About the Conditions After Conception

According to March of Dines, older women have more chances of premature deliveries, miscarriage, stillbirths, placenta previa etc. They may also have a tendency to bleed more post childbirth in comparison to younger women. Women in their 40’s do not produce fresh eggs and the number of eggs in them are decided genetically when she is born. So, the older she gets, the older the eggs are. However, at times, women after 40 might also have a complication free delivery and it can be easy too.

Older women are likely to be comparatively more inactive than younger women in raising infants, babies, and toddlers. If you are mentally and physically prepared to face all these conditions, you can go ahead and plan for a pregnancy with the help of your doctor. It has to be remembered that close monitoring is essential to have a safe pregnancy and risk-free delivery to be a mother. Keeping all these aspects under control will surely prevent a mishap and you can have a healthy baby despite your age.

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I have grown up hearing that infants learn multiple things in their growing years towards toddlerhood. When I had my first baby, I already knew this but I have got a different experience from what I have heard over the years. Although it is true that kids learn many things, the reality can be completely different to what I have heard in the past. Right from childbirth, you happen to witness many things they learn on a “daily basis”. You heard it right!! You will see them learning new things every day and it is a sheer joy to watch them picking up brand new things one after the other.

Identifying the bottle or the breast, fixing vision, turning aside, turning upside down, moving on the belly, responsive sounds, crawling, sitting, teething, standing, walking a few steps holding, walking without support, initial conversations through signs, developing speech, learning to hold a pencil, alphabets and so on….inherently, the child develops cognitive and motor skills in the course of crossing all these milestones. Developing speech involves a long period of time with variable steps comprised in it. They start communicating with the caregivers or parents when they are few months old.

They make responsive sounds at the sight of a milk bottle which may be the initial sign of communicating. The parents can make out the way their infants communicate when they are sleepy, irritated, hungry or when they need attention with the help of their facial gestures. Slowly signs develop into conversations and these progresses with the amount of conversations the child is able to have. The more the child hears, the more the communication is. It does not mean that kids do not learn conversing if we do not make much effort. They still learn it at their own pace. Then why is it important to start conversing with them to teach them our language.

• Teaching language increases the communication between the child and the caregivers or parents in order to understand the child better in emotional, psychological and physical aspects.
• Caregivers can understand the necessities of a child although the child is not well versed with the language.
• It becomes easier for the child to explore the world in a better manner with partially learnt language.
• It helps in safeguarding the child to a greater extent.
• It helps the child in learning proper etiquette during early childhood.
• It is possible to develop a loving bond with the child due to the understanding levels.
• Cognitive skills and motor skills develop in their early childhood.
• Responsive caregiving is possible with better conversing abilities.
• Language increases the socialization abilities of a child.

We can take it for granted that children learn conversing at their own speed even though sign language is not taught. However, to increase the overall ability of understanding a child, language and communication skills help parents a lot. The day to day usages such as foods, greeting gestures, activities like eating, drinking, walking, running, sleeping, sitting etc. body parts, friends’ and relatives, fruits and veggies can all be included in the sign language. We can in fact develop our own language at home making easy gestures creatively for the baby to understand. If it is a tedious job for you, there are experts who run tutorials to teach sign language for babies. Also, it would help channelizing the babies’ energy by engaging them in an interesting activity. The same language learnt can be used for the second and third child as well. Making this little effort towards conversing with your children in their early childhood will help them to explore the surroundings better and in a channelized way.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_sign_language
http://www.parents.com/baby/development/sign-language/baby-sign-language-first-foods/

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Blood sugar is a relatively serious condition wherein your body is unable to regulate the required sugar levels in your blood as it does not possess the essential amounts of insulin. More or less a common disease that grasps pregnant women, diabetes or more specifically gestational diabetes represents almost 3.3% of all live births. Regardless of the type of diabetes that you may have, one must ensure that the necessary measures are taken in order to have a safe and healthy pregnancy.

So you must be wondering about the connection between diabetes and pregnancy?

The baby in the womb receives a constant supply of nutrients and water through the placenta which also manufactures a number of hormones in order to maintain the pregnancy.  Dr. Devon says, “Hormones in early pregnancy can possibly affect the insulin secretion to increase resulting in a drop in the glucose manufactured by the liver. This may lead to hypoglycaemia, i.e., low blood glucose levels. Some of these hormones like estrogen, cortisol, and human placental lactogen at the advanced pregnancy stage can actually create a blocking effect on insulin thus creating a condition known as insulin resistance.”

The growing placenta produces more of these hormones and thus increases the insulin resistance. To overcome this resistance, the pancreas has the capability to produce additional insulin. However, if there isn’t sufficient production that can overcome the effect of the placental hormones, the results of gestational diabetes may actually worsen.

Babies may encounter greater risks and complications like birth defects, stillbirth, Macrosomia, Birth injury, Hypoglycemia, Respiratory distress, if the mother is diagnosed with blood sugar. The doctor will design the treatment depending on the severity of your condition and also taking into consideration your age, overall health, and medical history. Additional parameters include measuring your tolerance levels to medication, procedures and therapies along with expectations for the course of the disease is also studied.

Eating a healthy diet is important to keep gestational diabetes in check during pregnancy. Include a lot of fruits and green vegetables in your diet and also a good portion of healthy protein and complex carbs. Also, aim to limit your fat intake to 30 percent of your total daily calories and the best way to do it. is by avoiding sugary, processed food.

Try maintaining a normal weight and BMI. This ideally means that you aim to gain the right amount during pregnancy and lose the extra pounds post-delivery. Staying active in consultation with your doctor also helps.

Fortunately, all the potential risks associated with gestational diabetes can be eliminated if one can carefully control their blood sugar levels.  For this, you need to monitor your blood sugar level several times a day. Check the fasting sugar rate after waking up in the morning and then again an hour after each meal to ensure that your blood sugar levels are between a healthy range.

In the case of gestational diabetes, the blood sugar tends to return to normal post-delivery. However, keep in mind, that one is more likely to face gestational diabetes for subsequent pregnancies. In future, one may even develop diabetes. As Dr. Devon says, “Women with gestational diabetes have a 50% chance of developing diabetes within 10 to 20 years of delivery.”

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We all know that autism cannot be cured. But Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development researchers have found a way to alleviate the symptoms of autism, thereby offering a better life for children with the condition. And the key to this therapy lies within their own umbilical cord blood stem cells.

The researchers at the Duke conducted a study to find out if the symptoms of autism can be lowered down in degree by infusing blood, derived from their own umbilical cord. They have published their findings in April 2017 and since then it has all the media attention.

The trial involved 25 children between 2 and 6. Geraldine Dawson, director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development confirmed that all the children have displayed improvement in terms of the autistic symptoms. Dawson mentioned, “We measured the children’s social and communication abilities using various tests and parent questionnaires. We found that the infusion was safe and many children showed improvements in their social and language skills.”¹

In this study, the children received stem cells from their own umbilical cord blood. After the infusion, their improvements were being monitored thoroughly. The doctors found that the infusion was completely safe for the children. After one year, these children were called for another round of tests in order to measure their further improvements.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, the professor in the department of pediatrics, said that the process is entirely new to them. Dawson said that the study is still at its nascent stage, as they don’t have any standard comparison factor to compare the effectiveness of the therapy for autism, as there was no control group of autistic children involved in the study to compare the results. Dawson added, “Because there was no comparison group in this study, we don’t yet know whether the improvements we observed were because of the cord blood. As much as we’re hopeful that this is helping, we don’t want to prematurely make claims that haven’t been confirmed.”²

After the successful Phase I, the team is ready to start with Phase II trial, which is expected to be completed in two years. Unlike the Phase I, the second Phase will include a blind control group, where children will get a placebo infusion. Moreover, the Phase II will involve 165 children with autism.

Dawson said that the children will be divided into two groups. One group will receive umbilical cord blood stem cells and another group will receive a placebo. The groups will be switched after six months and the children will receive the opposite therapy. This will enable to researchers to find out the effectiveness of stem cell therapy for autism. Kurtzberg added, “There is a remodeling of certain abnormal brain connections [by the microglia], which then results in decreasing symptoms of autism.”³

Though the first trial showed immense improvements in the children, the team is still hesitant to call it a full-proof therapy for treating autism symptoms.  They will be able to answer all the unanswered questions after the comparative Phase II. Kurtzberg added, “At the conclusion of [the Phase II] study, we’ll be able to answer the question about whether cells are effective.”⁴ 

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Duchenne muscular dystrophy or DMD is a serious genetic disorder that affects hundreds of children every year. This disorder leads to conditions like atrophy and muscle weakness. There is no cure for the disease, however, supportive care can be offered to take care of their lungs and heart but these arrangements can only extend their lives till 27.

Now what causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy so dangerous for children? Kids, suffering from DMD cannot produce dystrophin, a protein that helps to keep away the muscles from breaking. The main reason is, these people have gone through a mutation in their gene in the X chromosome, which is responsible for providing the blueprint for dystrophin. The genetic mutation may lead to a more critical situation where most parts of the dystrophin get affected and a result the body stops producing the protein completely.

For some people with DMD, there are so many errors in the gene that the body cancels out the affected protein the moment it’s created. However, what’s more interesting to see is, the researchers have concentrated on the genes that are completely flawed and that interrupt in reading blueprint to produce dystrophin.

In order to address the criticalness of this condition, researches have conducted a study on a mice model. Multiple groups of researchers have harnessed the technique of applying gene editing enzyme complex CRISPR in order to modify the genes of mice with DMD. The technique allows cutting the errors in the genetic code, so that their effects can simply be avoided. After that the body starts to read the gene and then produce a shorter version of the protein that manages to protect the muscles from breaking down so easily, much like the process to treat patients with Becker muscular dystrophy.

The process involves loading the CRISPR complex into a virus and then injecting it to the mice fetus with DMD. The researchers have found that the mice began to create the shortened protein once the virus is injected into them. This helped the mice to resume the power of their muscles, which gradually led to a concrete treatment of their disease. So, the research was quite successful on the mice model.

The findings have generated a thin window of hope for the people, suffering with Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutation as well. But the process was easier for mice, and the researchers know that it’s not going to be the same easy game for humans. Moreover, no matter how foolproof the technique is proved for the mice, it may not deliver the same results on humans.

The scientists have established that the CRISPR can cut away additions to the gene but it will still take some time to show if it can address other kinds of mutations at all. Researchers are also not sure about the reactions of CRISPR complex in humans. Chances are that they might get rejected by the human immune system altogether. If it does not prove to be a 100% fix to the disorder, it means that the technique will not be able to treat all patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutation.

However, having said all these, it’s also true that this research is the first ever experiment to have shown success, even if on a mice model. And researchers are hopeful that with more clinical trials, they might achieve the desired results soon.

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Has it ever crossed your mind about when your little one will finally start following your directions? Is responding positively to your directions something that you wish to encourage in your baby? And is there an easy way to make a better listener out of her? What is the way forward so that you can have a positive influence on her communication skills?

Parents tend to spend a lot of their time talking and giving directions to their little ones. But have you thought of the number of non-verbal ways that are also available to us and using them we can probably communicate better with our babies?

“Dr. Albert Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, performed several studies on nonverbal language. He found that body language accounts for 93% of a message.”

I am a mother of two adorable children and am also an expert speech-language pathologist. Delving deeper into this subject, I’ve had the chance to analyse situations in a number of ways. Let me take a leaf out my personal life that will give a little more insight into this.

My one and half year old baby girl, I’ve seen responds much better to my non-verbal “messages”. This happens more when I transform my actions in a manner that makes me more receptive to her.

Just a few weeks ago, I thought it was time to get my daughter to be potty trained. Tons of instructions, did not work. I offered chocolates, stickers; whatever that she’d like as a bribe so that I could just make her sit on the potty. Alas, nothing worked.

I was literally tired of cleaning up after her wayward droppings all over the apartment. Hence, the time had come for me to change so that I could convince her to co-operate with me. The transformation on my part was to change my communication from giving directions to non-verbal mannerisms and connect with her on completely her level.

Bending down, reaching my daughter’s eye level, getting slightly closer and softening the tone of my voice. With a lot of love and tenderness, I asked her to look at me and smiled.

That was the moment when I made that positive connection with her. I communicated my request to her. This change in my communication mannerism gave out an encouraging and positive vibe to her. She accompanied me to the restroom and tried to go again.

A very miniscule breakthrough like this has far reaching effects. In the days to come, my little baby girl tried using the potty more and more.

This incident encouraged me to use similar non-verbal communication methods more during my interactions with my baby girl. And I definitely think that this has made me a better parent for sure.

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Mobile phones, tabs, PSPs and laptops – the average toddler has most likely logged in hundreds of hours on digital technologies before they are even admitted into playschools. The presence of these accessible digital technologies in turn has transformed traditional parenting methodologies.

Digital technologies today do provide parents with certain advantages like entertainment on the go or simply to keep track of their toddlers. However, the downside is parents are making more decisions, having to research a lot more, make new rules with their children because of this.

When Sunita first became pregnant 14 years ago, there weren’t so many online forums or websites to refer to. To Sunita, her pregnancy meant, delving into an entirely new world of motherhood. Traditional mediums of information like buying a copy of “What to Expect When You Are Expecting” or notching it up with reading articles on Baby Centre online was the furthest she went. Best advice and suggestions always came from family and friends.

Sunita had no idea that there were this many facets to a pregnancy, or raising kids and so many people debating possibilities on so many multiple parenting ways. She says, “If I screwed up, there wasn’t a stranger with an iPhone nearby to snap a picture and write “An Open Letter to the Mom Who (Insert Screw-Up Here)” and post it on Facebook to go viral. I couldn’t go online and discover that a large number of moms or doctors felt that whatever method of sleep-training I used (or didn’t) was going to leave my children socially isolated and unable to love for the rest of their lives.”

Today, many parents are using digital platforms as a babysitter. Alexis Lauricella, a researcher at the Center on Media and Human Development at Northwestern University in Illinois says, “We felt like we kept seeing iPads at every restaurant we went out to with every young child. We wondered: Was that really the case? Are parents just forking over an iPad to keep kids quiet?”

This helped Alexis Lauricella and colleagues to launch a research in which they survey approximately 2,300 parents on both traditional and digital parenting.

According to the survey, almost 70% of the parents reported that digital aides like smartphones and tablets did not make the job of parenting any simpler. What most parents tend to do is to use the gadgets towards creating a temporary distraction or even to appease an upset child. More often than not, access to these devices and digital platforms could be a reward for good behaviour too.

However, with constant access, parents are making many more decisions than one would have made even 10 years ago during traditional parenting days.

Lauricella says, “There really are a lot more options, which means parents have to dig into them a little bit more. Growing up, we had a PBS station — and that’s basically what my parents considered good television, and that’s what we were allowed to watch. It’s not that easy anymore.”

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