Robot Babies Don’t Prevent Teen Pregnancy

When you were in high school, you might have been assigned to carry around an egg, or a baby doll, as part of your sexual education coursework. It provided just enough awkwardness, and annoyance, to make teens realize that being a parent can be difficult. Today, some teens are assigned to care for a robot baby. Unfortunately, these adorable robot babies don’t prevent teen pregnancy. Robot babies are infant simulators with wireless programing and reporting capabilities. At first glance, you might think it was a real baby. The robot baby will cry when it needs to be fed, burped, rocked, … Continue reading

The Truth About Your Diet During Pregnancy

One of the assumptions I made about pregnancy prior to becoming pregnant is I’d have a diet-related Get out of Jail Free card.  I knew that there are certain foods it’s best to avoid, but I thought at least I’d have a free pass to eat, well, not quite as much as I wanted, but to feel a bit more guilt-free about evening ice cream binges. That turned out not to be the case at all.  First off, the whole “eating for two” thing isn’t true.  At most, you should eat for one and a quarter.  In addition to that, … Continue reading

Oklahoma’s Pregnancy Services Program is Part of Medicaid

Typically, the Medicaid program of an individual state will include a portion of the program that is designed to help low-income women who are pregnant to receive necessary health care. In Oklahoma, that program is called Pregnancy Services. You can tell by the name exactly what it is for. Medicaid is a public, or government run, form of health insurance. It is designed to provide health insurance for families and individuals who are low-income and who cannot afford to purchase a health insurance plan from a private company. Medicaid is funded, in part, by the federal government, and, in part, … Continue reading

Common Pregnancy Worries

Even if you are not usually a worrier, being pregnant can turn you into one, at least temporarily. It’s only natural to worry from time to time because you can not exactly see what is going on inside your body as the pregnancy progresses. I’m pretty sure that multiple times during each of my pregnancies I placed my hand on my belly and said “Is everything okay in there?” Worrying can make you feel isolated sometimes. It may be helpful to know that many other pregnant women are concerned about the same things that you are. Here are three common … Continue reading

Study Finds Preemies Have Higher Risk of Severe Mental Disorders

We know that babies who are born prematurely tend to have a lag between their chronological age and their developmental age. A study finds that they are also at a higher risk for developing certain types of severe mental disorders than are their peers who were born full term. There are statistics that say that one out of every eight babies is born as a preemie. This means that the baby was born before the pregnancy reached 37 weeks. Scientific research that has been done in areas that relate to health and medicine have helped even the youngest preemies to … Continue reading

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – April 8-14, 2012

The Special Needs Blog Week in Review is a great way to keep up with everything that has been posted on the blog in the past week. It gives you a brief description of each one, so you can quickly find something that you are interested in reading. What did you miss last week? The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on April 9, 2012. This week, I’d like to point out an episode of “Hold the Gluten” podcast, which is called “Help With Celiac Research”. The episode featured Dr. Daniel Leffler of Beth Israel Medical Center, who discusses a … Continue reading

Risk of Autism Increases When Mom is Obese

A study that was recently published in the journal “Pediatrics” suggest that mothers who are obese are more likely to have a child with autism, or with another type of developmental problem. Moms who have diabetes have the same risk. The implication is that obesity and diabetes are affecting early brain development. There has been a lot of research done in an attempt to discover the causes of autism. I’ve lost track of the wide variety of things that are said to be the cause of autism, or that are found to increase the risk of it. Perhaps, one day, … Continue reading

Teenage Pregnancy

One of the statistics that everyone is happy to trot out against single parenting is teenage pregnancy. Many single mothers were teenagers themselves which puts their daughters at higher risk, and being raised in a single parent family seems to raise the risk in general. Girls from intact families get pregnant as teenagers as well, but since no one is pointing the finger at their families it’s just us, single moms who are told our daughters will be another statistic. What can you do? How can you help your daughter make better choices when you may be guilty of those … Continue reading

Gestational Diabetes May Raise Risk of ADHD

A new study finds that babies who are born to mother’s who have gestational diabetes are twice as likely to have ADHD than are their peers, (whose mother’s did not have gestational diabetes). Another factor that increases the risk of ADHD is when children are born into families with a below-average socioeconomic status. There was a study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Researchers followed 212 children who lived in Queens, New York. The children were from “ethnically and socioeconomically diverse” backgrounds. A total of 10% of the children in the study were exposed to gestational diabetes. … Continue reading

Pregnancy Awareness Month (Part I)

May is pregnancy awareness month! In honor of the 4 million + babies born in the United States each year, P.A.M (Pregnancy Awareness Month) and O.N.E Coconut Water have teamed up to provide pregnant women with helpful tips for a healthy pregnancy. According to P.A.M., there are five things pregnant women want. Number One: Easy Uncomplicated Labor Easier said than done in some cases. I too desire and easy and uncomplicated labor. With my first pregnancy, I wouldn’t say labor was easy. Labor is hard and largely painful work. There are certainly factors that can make labor more difficult. For … Continue reading