Premature Birth | Health News RSS

Should Women Say NO to Caffeine During Pregnancy?

Caffeine is a morning ritual most people don't think twice about. In this age of Starbucks and $4 lattes, coffee seems to have become a regular part of the daily diet. Getting pregnant means having to change that habit, and the amount of caffeine intake, whether it is from coffee, tea, soda or other forms. Women who are pregnant and consume caffeine, even as little as one cup of coffee a day, are at a higher risk of delivering an underweight baby.

Depression During Pregnancy Can Double Risk of Premature Birth

Mothers-to-be who suffer from depression have been shown to have twice the risk of delivering a premature infant than pregnant women that have no symptoms of depression. This risk for premature infants increases as the symptoms of depression become more severe.

Epsom Salt Reduces Risk of Cerebral Palsy in Premature Newborns

There is a simple treatment for women at risk of pre-term delivery that can reduce the risk of cerebral palsy in their babies by nearly half. It was recently found through a decades-long study that mothers given an infusion of Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) decreased the risk for cerebral palsy in their newborns by 45 percent. Healthcare providers consider the treatment a way of stabilizing an expectant mother's blood vessels that in turn keeps sufficient oxygen supplied to the brain of the baby.

Researchers Find Link Between Pre-term Birth and Infection

Each year in the United States, more than half a million babies are born prematurely, before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Many pre-term births are induced labor or cesarean delivery due to pregnancy complications or health problems in the mother or fetus, the premature rupture of membranes (PROM), or infections such as vaginal or urinary tract. But the trigger of almost half of all preterm births remains unknown.

Could Premature Babies Face Problems Later in Life?

Today, premature babies may have more risks to face than just those associated with the early weeks following the birth. The effects of a birth that is premature could last well beyond their childhood and affect their adult physical and mental health in numerous ways.

Preemies at Higher Risk of Autism

Premature and low-weight births seems almost epidemic in this country, affecting about one in eight newborns-or more than 520,000 babies each year. Many of these babies will suffer long-term disabilities and are three times more likely to die before the age of one. Now a new study shows that early births and low-birth weight can double the risk of autism in children, and for baby girls the risk may increase by as much as five times. (Even though, within the limits of this study, the risk factor for girls was much higher, autism overall seems to favor the male gender.)

Preemies Face Long Odds

Most of us take it for granted that we will have a healthy, full-term baby. But the reality is that the number of pre-term babies has hit an all-time high throughout the nation, with 12 percent of the U.S. babies being born prior to 37 weeks gestation, many with significant health issues or birth defects. In fact, babies born prematurely have twice the amount of major birth defects that their full-term counterparts have. And with premature births on the rise, federal officials have authorized more research and education into the causes and effects of preterm babies.

Bacteria Could be Linked to SIDS

The phenomenon known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of one. Today, British researchers say they may have found that bacteria could be a contributing factor in these deaths.

Premature Infants: Factors In Survival

Each year in the U.S., approximately 40,000 babies are born between 22 and 25 weeks’ gestation, far ahead of the normal 40 weeks. Some of the most agonizing decisions in medicine are when physicians and parents are forced to decide how much, if any treatment to give an extremely premature infant. Traditionally, gestational age is used to determine the type of care a "preemie" receives after birth.

Study Finds Premature Infants to Have Long-Term Complications

Premature birth, and the corresponding survival rate, are on the rise in the United States, and a new study shows that the health consequences are broader and more long-term than initially suspected. One in eight infants in the United States are born prematurely (37 weeks or less), translating to more than half a million babies per year. These pre-term births are not only the prime cause of infant death in the Western world, they are also responsible for a host of physical and neurological complications with long-term effects.